Part 12

That patache, whose captain was Diego Lopez Lobo, a Portuguese, and which carried thirty Spaniards, waited two months in the said place, sailing about hither and thither. When the king of Cochinchina saw it, fearing lest it capture some vessels that he was expecting in his kingdom, he sent a father of the Society (one of those who reside in his court and other places, who I think are sixteen in number) in a small ship to tell the captain not to do any harm to anything belonging to his kingdom, and that he had always been a friend to us. Answer was returned that the presence of the ship in that region was not to do harm to Cochinchina, but to attain certain purposes which his captain-general had ordered him. Finally, on Thursday, the twentieth of April, a great freight ship was sighted, one of the sort that sail these seas. The Spaniards attacked it, and although its occupants tried to defend themselves, they were obliged to see that they had no defense against our artillery and musketry. They surrendered, and it was found to be the ship which was being sought. It was one which the king of Siam sends every year to Canton with some tribute for the king of China. It was returning with great wealth of silks and other things, and carried sixty Siamese and sixty Chinese. Half of the men were placed aboard our patache, and soldiers were transferred from the patache to the said Siamese ship. The strict vigilance necessary was maintained, as our men were so few, so that they should not be killed some night. The patache set out in search of the galleons, in the direction that had been set. But the winds were contrary in that direction, and they were unable to make any distance. Consequently, they had to sail with a stern wind to Manila. With their captured reprisal they reached this city on May 14. The cargo of the Siamese ship was unladed carefully, and it was found that it was worth about one hundred thousand pesos. It was placed on deposit in a building and excellent treatment is being given to the Siamese. But I think that they will be sent to their king, so that he may return us what he took from us, in which case we shall return what we captured from him. If that is not done, then we shall continue to capture their ships.

When the two galleons left Manila, the governor offered to send a patache after them to a certain place, and did so a little later; it was under command of Don Fernando Becerra, with about sixty men. They had bad weather. They looked for our galleons, and although they found traces of their having been in certain parts, they did not find the vessels. They only found a fine ship which was well equipped with artillery, and, thinking it to be one of our galleons, drew near it. But when quite near they saw that it was a Dutch ship, and consequently began to retire in all haste. The ship followed our patache, but as the latter was as swift as a bird it made so much headway in a short time that the ship abandoned the chase in despair. Our patache continued to retire toward Manila, where it arrived June 6, having lost fifteen men, who died of sickness, among them a Franciscan religious who was aboard. Consequently, our galleons were left without any patache, for one patache came in with the Siamese ship and the other did not find them. That was a matter of considerable damage; for, as the galleons were so large, they drew much water, and could not well go close to the shore in order to secure the desired results--as we shall see during the course of their voyage, which was as follows.

As soon as they left the patache in the said passage for the purpose of capturing the Siamese ship, they ran along the whole coast of Asia until they reached the island of Hainam, where the fishery of Great China is located, a place most plentifully supplied with food. They went to the kingdom of Champa, and anchored at Pulo Condor, where they sent out their lanchas with forty Spaniards, and about twenty Indians and negroes, to see whether they could get the water which was very necessary to them. In the meantime the galleons kept moving about on one tack or another; but they were overtaken by so violent a storm that they had to go to another island called Pulo Ubi, leaving the lanchas with their men ashore, and as yet nothing has been heard of the latter. But it is thought that they are in Camboja, for that king is friendly to us, and will have welcomed them, as they were only eight leguas from the bar of Camboja. [43] Thus the galleons were left without pataches or lanchas. They went to Pulo to land at the kingdom of Pan, where they anchored and got water; and they took food from the inhabitants of the country until the latter arose against and wounded some of our men. But our men killed some of them, among them a nephew of the king of Pan himself. The Spaniards took away two boats from them, from which they made boats such as we use. While at that place, a ship manned by Chinese and Malays was captured. They were coming with flags and passports from the Dutch, with whom they were trading. They were captured on that account, although they had nothing of any value, for they had left their merchandise in the kingdom of Pan. It was heard that there were Dutch ships in the strait of Malaca, which were committing depredations. The Spaniards sent a lancha manned by soldiers and an adjutant, to reconnoiter; but after spying carefully until they were quite near Malaca, no Dutch were discovered, and they returned to the galleons with that news. While they were there, the king of Pan wrote in very complimentary manner to our commander, and, not saying that he knew of the death of his nephew, offered our men everything that they needed, so great fear had seized him. A lancha was sent to the kingdom of Patani to see whether there was a Dutch factory there, as was usual. Two Javanese were brought back, who said that two years ago, when that kingdom was in power, they had driven the Dutch from that place. They had a great quantity of pepper (which is the product yielded by that kingdom), for there was no one to whom to sell it, as they had sold it to the Dutch before. The commander wrote to them to have their men take a load of it to Manila, and that it would be bought from them; and also that he would give them indemnity for a slight injury which some of his men had done them, not knowing that they were friends, by taking a small quantity of rice from them, which the fleet and those who brought it needed. The men fled, without giving any account of themselves.

The galleons went to the coasts of Ligor and Siam, and discovered three _somas_, freight ships of these seas. The lanchas attacked them; and, while fighting with them, fire was set to two jars of powder that the Spaniards had there. Twelve persons were burned, seven of whom died. Thereupon they retired, and the somas escaped. Afterward three other somas were discovered, which were coming from Siam. The lanchas were sent after them and defeated them, and brought them to the galleons. They were carrying as merchandise, rice, considerable pepper, and some cloth. The last named was much needed by the infantry, who already had rib shirts on account of the long voyage. The galleons entered the bay of Siam, and found three somas on the bar. One was Japanese, and carried drugs and merchandise. It was captured in good faith, but the justification of this act is being discussed. It is thought that the Japanese will be remunerated for the injury received, as they ought not to have been harmed.

Another of the somas belonged to the Siamese king, and was being laden to go to China for the purpose of trading lead, ivory, silver, leather, etc. As they were unable to get it outside of the bar, for it was very large and needed the high tide, they set fire to it and took the Siamese to the galleons. That would have been a prize or reprisal of importance had it been captured, and not burned. Then another Siamese soma laden with pepper and tin was captured, and a reprisal was made of it. The galleons returned, reconnoitering all those ports, to see whether there were any Dutch in them. Although they did not find any, they left those kingdoms in terror, for although our galleons were very large, report made them much greater. Rumor said that each one contained more than one thousand men, and pieces of vast size, which fear magnified greatly. Finally, the two galleons returned to port on the thirteenth of June after an eight months' voyage, with the death of more than forty men. The galleon "Peña de Francia" had many sick men, but only one man had died in the flagship; and he had died in port, as he was sick when he had embarked. The chief cause was the great care taken of the sick. That was attended to chiefly by the father and brother of our Society who were in the said flagship. Thus they all arrived safe and sound and happy, and all this city was joyful over their return. [44]

I said above that when our galleons arrived at Macan with the galliots they did not find the Dutch ships, and I said that I would tell why; and I shall do so now, before passing on. While the Chinese of Macan were awaiting the ships from Yndia, and thinking of making the usual voyage to Japon with four ships which they had already prepared, two ships and a patache and a galliot of the Dutch came in sight of the city, on July 21. The larger ship and the galliot stationed themselves in an entrance where the galliots from India enter and those for Japon leave. The other smaller ship and the patache took the other entrance, where the vessels that sail from Manila and other places enter. The design of the Dutch was to capture the vessels en route from Yndia, Filipinas, and other kingdoms; and to prevent the voyage to Japon, which forms the chief gain of the city of Macan. The people, seeing their affliction--and that a galliot en route from Yndia had escaped the enemy as by a miracle, and entered the city safely; and that they had scarcely been able to despatch to Japon one of the ships which they had prepared, at great risk of the Dutch capturing it, which the latter made all possible efforts to do--set about preparing a small fleet of merchant vessels to see whether they could lure away some vessel of the enemy, and attack and capture it. Five ships and six chos were prepared, the latter weak vessels which sail the Chinese seas. Artillery was mounted in them which could not have been very large, for the ships were not very large or strong. Commanders were appointed for all of them. A father of our Society embarked in each one for the expedition. In short, everything was prepared with the efficient care and solicitude of the chief captain of Macan, Don Felipe Lobo, who was governing that city. It only remained to assign the chief commander of all, over which there was great strife, for all wished to command and no one to obey. Consequently, one thing was resolved upon, which except among the Portuguese of Yndia, where there is so little practice in war or military knowledge, could not pass, and will cause laughter to whoever reads it--namely, that each one of the commanders of the ships should have command for his day, and should be superior of the others. They were to begin by lot, and he who should get the first lot was to have command the first day, and he the second who should get the second lot, and so one with the others, until the five days were finished. Then they were to take command again in the same way. They left port and found that the flagship of the Dutch was alone; for the galliot which accompanied it had gone to Japon, and the other ship with the patache had gone to their fort on the island of Hermosa. The Portuguese attacked the ship with great energy and valor, although with little plan, and defeated it. The Dutch captain-general, who was a circumspect man, by name Nicholas Cadem, sailed out to seek a hot engagement, and was killed. Thereupon the Dutch boldly set fire to the powder-barrels and blew up a great part of the ship, many of the Dutch jumping into the water. They were picked up by the Portuguese and taken into their ships. Twelve men of the Portuguese were killed and twenty-seven of the Dutch, while some thirty odd were captured. The half-burnt ship of the enemy was taken to Macan. They captured fourteen pieces of artillery in it and more than one thousand balls and other weapons. It was a pity that that ship was burned, for it was very fine and was well built. It was covered and lined with leather and sheets of lead. However, it is said that it will be of use if repaired. That victory happened on August 25, 1627. Consequently, when our galleons arrived with the galliots, the sea was already cleared of the enemy.

Since we do not find a port of China in Macan it will be right for us to enter the interior, and we shall tell what is passing [there] in the spiritual and temporal. Christianity continues to increase. There are twenty-two members of the Society in all China, established at the court of Pequin and other chief cities. Ours go about there with more liberty and publicity than they have ever done. Happy times are expected if the uncle of the king who is now reigning enters into the kingdom, as is heard, and if the king is held in guardianship, as he is a boy. The latter succeeded his brother who died. [45] Immediately upon entering his kingdom, he exiled from his court a eunuch, a prime favorite of his brother, who had command of everything and even played the tyrant; he also exiled other favorites. The seas of that kingdom of China are infested with pirates from China itself, and they are so numerous that it is said that there are more than a thousand ships of them. They pillage everything and infest all places, and have sacked and burned many maritime places of that great kingdom. They have been the cause this year of very few ships coming to these islands to trade; for the mandarins have put an embargo on all ships, in order to build a large fleet to oppose the said pirates. A large stone was found in the interior of China with Chinese and some Chaldean characters, which tell how preachers of the gospel came to China a thousand years ago and preached the gospel. They had bishops, and many churches and Christians, and the mysteries of our faith were established there. As it is a long matter I shall not relate it here, but shall only say that after having examined the circumstances, it appears to be true, without ground for doubt of it. [46]

Father Juan Adan, of the Society of Jesus, wrote the following. He lives in Pequin.

"The affairs of this kingdom of China are in a condition of perfect peace. A rumor was current many days ago that the Tartar king, the fear of this empire, was dead. [47] As he had many sons, and had conquered many lands from his other neighbors, the sons will be kept quite busy for some few years in coming to terms with one another, and in dividing and maintaining what their aged father left them. A few days ago, a mandarin related to Father Nicolas Longobardo [48] that he had seen in the palace an image of a woman with two small boys and an old man. It must be David who was playing the harp for them. It is not an idol of the Chinese, for the image is about a thousand years old, and was a present from foreigners in the time of Tam-Chao, when our holy law entered China, as your Reverence will already know from the stone which was found, and the painting of the old man on linen, a figure which resembles us. This point needs investigation, in order that we may know what it is with greater certainty." The father continues, making mention of an earthquake that happened in China.

Let us return to the island of Hermosa, whence a boat came on March 13, with the news that a great mandarin had come from China to our fort, to ascertain what people they had recently received as neighbors. I will briefly state the reason for his coming. A Chinaman bribed by the Dutch took certain memoranda to the mandarins, in which a thousand evil things were said of the Spaniards (namely, that they were certain robbers), while the Dutch were praised--all with the object that trade be forbidden with Manila, and opened with the Dutch, which is the thing that they have always been trying to do, and to which the Chinese have always been opposed. Another Chinaman was not wanting who took up the matter on his own account, and said: "The Dutch who pillage those kingdoms, and are rebels to their king, are rather the robbers and pirates, and not the Spaniards, who are good men; with them we trade in Manila, and they do not constrain us except by many very good works." Upon seeing that, the viceroy of the maritime provinces sent the said mandarin to the new port which we had occupied in the island of Hermosa, to examine and investigate what kind of people we were, and what were our purposes in making a settlement so near China. The mandarin was very cordially received by the commandant of the island of Hermosa, Antonio Carreño de Valdes, who regaled him and made much of him, and gave him a fine present at his departure. He told the mandarin that our intentions were good, and that we did not intend to harm China, but rather to aid them by punishing the pirates who infested those seas. The mandarin was despatched, but put back once and twice to the fort. He was received well each time and well treated by the said commandant. He put back the third time, and for shame refused to return to our fort, but anchored not far from it; there the natives cut his moorings one night, and, drawing the ship to land, entered it and pillaged whatever they wished, and treated the mandarin with contumely. In the morning, when the commandant got wind of the affair, he sent a troop of soldiers. Attacking the natives with orders not to kill them (for the soldiers shot their bullets into the sky), they captured some chiefs. Thereupon, the chiefs restored to the Chinese mandarin what they had pillaged from him; and, in order to regain their liberty, handed over to us their sons as hostages, who are being reared in our fort. Thereupon the mandarin was sent away, very thankful. An account of all this affair was sent to Manila to the governor, who immediately despatched the father-provincial of St. Dominic--who knows the Chinese language, and has tried by various ways and means for many years to enter China, but never has been able to succeed. [49] This despatch seemed now to be a good means to him--I mean to the said father-provincial--so that in company with the said commandant of the island of Hermosa, they might go to the viceroy of the maritime provinces with a very rich present of silver, cloth, and other things. Those articles were sent for that purpose so that those provinces might make a treaty with our fort on the island of Hermosa, where the said father-provincial is preparing to go with the commandant on the embassy, the result of which I shall tell next year.

The aid of food and ammunition was sent to the forts which we have in the Malucas Islands this year, as usual. Three pataches went, under the command of a valiant soldier, Captain Francisco Hernandez. The Dutch had received a very large and well-equipped ship, with which they were waiting to capture our relief expedition. The two pataches easily escaped, and sought the protection of our forts. But the ship in which the said Captain Francisco Hernandez was, seeing that it could not escape, courageously went to attack the [Dutch] ship. When that was seen from our fort of Terrenate, the galley was despatched to the aid of our ship. The latter grappled with the hostile vessel and fought so courageously, that its men were about to enter the latter, when, the Dutch firing a piece, it struck in the powder which had been brought up on deck for the fight. Thereupon our vessel caught fire, and the men took to the water, and reached the shore, which was near, by swimming. The galley, which through fear of the powder of our ship which was blown up, had approached very near the enemy's ship, was capsized by all the men going to one side. Consequently, all its men took to the water in order to escape by swimming. Thus the enemy were victorious, although more of their men were killed than of ours. They tried to take the galley, notwithstanding its condition, but it sank in a few moments. That was a great misfortune. The enemy were triumphant, and made much ado about the outcome.

The Camucones are certain robbers who live on the sea, and constantly infest our seas of Filipinas; they came this year, as they have done in others. A small fleet of our caracoas--vessels that look like galleys, although they are smaller and weaker--went out to attack them from the island of Oton. Our vessels captured three of the enemy's caracoas, while four others grounded on the beach. The latter were burned by our Indians, and the Camucones who disembarked were killed. Therefore, we are free from that canaille for this year, and they nave done us but little harm. A large hostile caracoa was discovered on the coast of the city of Cebu. The Spaniards went out to it and, having overtaken it, its people instead of surrendering and delivering up themselves, received our men with a volley of stones which they cast from certain slings, and showers of spears. When our men saw that the enemy would not easily come to terms, they attacked and killed them. Only six of them were left alive, who with the prize and boat were taken to the said city of Cebu, where the attempt was made to ascertain their purpose and from what land they came. But it was impossible to ascertain anything, for they understood none of the languages spoken here, although there are so many. They were thought to be people who had been blown from some island. [50] They were naked, and had no firearms, nor even weapons of iron. Their ship had no nails, and a chisel that was found was made of bone. They ate lice with a good grace--by that propensity, being people of good taste. Some thought them to be from an island more distant than Borney; for the inhabitants of that island eat lice, and the fat ones with especial liking.