Part 19

The King. To the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia resident in the city of Manila of the Filipinas Islands: Fray Melchor Manzano, of the Order of Preachers, in the name of the Chinese living in those islands has reported to me that it has been ordered for the security of the islands that the Chinese live in the village of the Parián, outside the walls of that city; but that for a few years past they have been scattered among different settlements outside of the said village. There with difficulty can the wrongs experienced at various times by such settlements be righted, as many of them do not go to mass or hear the word of God, but indulge in excessive gambling, to their own hurt and that of the inhabitants of that city. Any insurrection can easily be feared because they can arrange one very safely in the said settlements, where they can hold secret assemblies and meetings--from which resulted the impositions, false testimonies one against another, and false witnesses; and the fortifications of the walls of that city are in great danger. For if the said Chinese live in the village of the Parián, one can derive from that means to fortify the walls and prevent destruction and losses; but if they live outside the Parián, that will be lacking, and consequently the safety of that city [will be endangered]. I have been petitioned that I be pleased to order, under severe penalties, that no Chinese be permitted to have a dwelling outside the Parián; and that those now outside return there, except the married Christians who may live in the village of Vindanoc [i.e., Binondo], which has been assigned to them. Having examined the matter in my royal Council of the Indias, I have considered it fitting to refer the matter to you, so that you may proceed in it with all the haste that may be advisable for the service of God our Lord and my own, in order that those troubles cease. You shall advise me of what you shall do, on the first opportunity. Madrid, August 17, 1628.

_I The King_

By order of his Majesty: _Don Fernando Ruiz de Contreras_

The King. To Don Juan Niño de Tavora, member of my Council of War, my governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia therein, or the person or persons in whose charge their government may be: I ordered you by a decree of September 10, 627, to appoint to the office of protector of the Sangley Chinese (which was held by the fiscal of that Audiencia) a person who should prove competent, with the salary that was assigned to him; and to order that my said fiscal of those regions exercise the office no longer. You were ordered to charge the person whom you thus appointed to watch over the said Sangley Chinese most carefully, so that they might not be troubled or annoyed, or any ill-treatment shown them; and that any balance left any year in the fund that he keeps should remain there, in order that the Sangleys may be assessed so much less the following year. When that order was executed, you were to inform me of what had been done and what took place in respect to those who are mentioned in the said decree, as well as the advantages or troubles that its execution might cause, as is contained more in detail in the decree, to which I refer. Doctor Don Juan de Quesada Hurtado de Mendoza, whom I have appointed as my fiscal of that Audiencia, has reported to me that, having petitioned that the documents be given to him as to his predecessors, and one of them being the decree that orders that the fiscal of that my Audiencia be the protector of the natives and the Sangleys, he found that the above decree had been despatched, ordering you to appoint a competent person. The cause therefor was that Fray Melchor Manzano, of the Order of St. Dominic, urged it for private purposes, until he actually obtained it. The fiscal declared that it was advisable for my service to have the decree suspended, and that my fiscals of that Audiencia exercise the said office, as they had always done; and that the said Fray Melchor Manzano, while he was in those islands, and other religious of his order, having made themselves protectors of the said Sangleys, and having petitioned the governor to order that the fiscal be not the protector of them, and that the salary of whoever should be protector be moderated, the said governor did not change the custom of whether the fiscal should or should not be the protector. In regard to the salary, it was moderated only to eight hundred pesos. When the matter came before that my Audiencia, it declared by acts of examination and review that the said protection pertained to the said my fiscal. In consideration of that, Don Fernando de Silva, my governor _ad interim_ of those islands, ordered that the said acts be executed; and that, in conformity with them, the office of protector of natives and Sangleys be exercised by Licentiate Marcos Zapata de Galvèz, my fiscal of that my Audiencia at that time. I am petitioned, in consideration of that, to be pleased to have a decree despatched ordering that he and other fiscals who shall succeed him in that my Audiencia be protectors of the said Sangleys and natives, as they have been, notwithstanding the ruling of the said decree of September 10, 627. Having examined the matter in my royal Council of the Indias, together with what Licentiate Juan Pardo, my fiscal therein, stated and alleged--for I wish to know whether the Sangleys have need of that protector and whether they ask for him--I order you to inform me of what you find out concerning this; and in case that it appears necessary that they have one, I order you and that Audiencia to appoint six persons who may be suitable for such protector. You shall cause such nominations to be sent to the said my Council, so that it may indicate that one of the six appointees who is most suitable. He must not have trade or business relations with the said Sangleys; and the one named by the said Council shall be, for the time being, the one who shall seem most suitable to the Council. Madrid, March 27, 1629.

_I The King_

By order of his Majesty: _Andres de Rozas_

RELATIONS OF 1628-29

I

_Relation of affairs in the Filipinas and in other regions, for the year of 1628 and 629, sent by the fathers [of the Society]; and of a victory gained by our men_.

An excellent and large fleet has left this great island of Mindanao during these last few days to punish the insolence of the Dutch and of the Joloans, the neighbors of Mindanao, who are robbing the country from us and capturing the Indians of these Filipinas. The fleet is there, and I was to embark with it, but in order not to leave this district alone Father Fabricio Sersali, a Sicilian, went. The fleet consisted of thirty ships and more, and in them sailed two hundred Spaniards and innumerable Indian soldiers and rowers. May our Lord give us the success that we hope. [56]

A fleet of two galleons with high freeboard has also left, and in them four companies of soldiers, in pursuit of the Dutch enemy who were in Macan and along the coast of Great China. Advices were received of a Dutch ship which was carrying one million pesos' worth of wealth. The result has not been ascertained as yet.

[_Word in MS. illegible_] On March 13, fire fell from heaven upon the Parian or fair of the Chinese (according to what they themselves swear, namely, that they saw it fall), and burned it all, without a single one of the more than eight hundred houses that it contained being left; and the only thing that was left standing was a church which was in the Parian. [57] The Parian of Manila and almost all the city of Zebu were burned, with great loss.

The fleet which went from the province of Oton to punish Jolo has arrived at this very moment. I shall relate here a very fortunate result that our Lord gave them. It is as follows. The island of Jolo is next to that of Mindanao. The fleet left here, as I said, on the first of April. At dawn of Holy Saturday it reached the mouth of the river of Jolo, and entering it and attacking the village, the enemy fled as a single man to the mountain, so that the energy of all our men was directed to pillaging. The sack amounted to thirty thousand pesos. What was pillaged from the house of the king amounted to six thousand pesos in silk, cloth, wax, huge quantities of wax, innumerable weapons, and other things of great value. It was all divided among the villagers. That news was one of the best which this country has heard, as that enemy was the one who does us most harm. Father Fabricio Sersali, who was with the fleet, preceded them all with an image of St. Francis Xavier raised on a spear. In this manner did the aged saint enter the mosque, and leap for joy. Now boats are being prepared in this town of Arebalo to complete the uprooting from these islands of those nations who disturb them. They burned the town, and the house of the king, the mosque, and the rice which they could not carry away. They felled the palm trees, so that they might deprive those people of support. They did all that in one day. They burned one hundred and forty ships--forty large ones and the others of less burden. Such and such people were captured; and then they set out on their return in high spirits, in order to go out another time, for which they are preparing. Oton, May 30, 628.

_Hernando Estrada_ [58]

Will your Reverence aid me with your holy sacrifices and prayers, so that I may imitate many apostolic laborers whom we have had here, and of whom we have at present many, who have come from all those provinces of España; they have made and are making gardens pleasant to the sight of God, from the obscure forests which the devil has possessed so many thousands of years and still possesses in these islands. For, as we have been told, there are eleven thousand islands, of which that of Manila is the largest and most important. It has more Christians [than the others], and yet even in it there are many infidels, who make war on us. Among the other islands there are very few [with Christians] because of the many which are so full of infidel people who profess the devilish worship of Mahoma. I cannot depict to your Reverence how surrounded we are by that canaille on all sides, and the wars that they so frequently make upon us--so that, in the summer especially, no one can be safe in his house. Daily do they enter our villages, burn them and their churches, break into bits the saints and images, and capture the poor Indians.

I left Manila in a champan, which is a boat used by the Chinese, and in which they come from their country here. We were four of the Society who embarked in it, and God was pleased to give it so favorable a wind that by means of it we escaped from the hands of the enemy, who were in ambush, watching for an opportune moment. The father-provincial [59] took the same route in a caracoa--a boat used in this country; but that craft was knocked to pieces before reaching the place where the enemy had established themselves. Hence it was necessary for him and his associate to come overland, suffering extraordinary hardships, over mountains and through rivers, for more than one hundred leguas. Thus does it seem that they escaped as by a miracle, as well as did the champan.

Soon thirty or more boatloads of Camuzones Indians arrived here. They were naked, having only a bit of cloth with which they cover, etc. Their weapons are certain pointed bamboos, but those bamboos are very strong. They entered a village which was under my charge, and burned it, together with its house and church. They broke the saints into pieces, although the ornaments were saved. Nine persons were captured here.

Another brother and I were going to another village, without thought of enemies. We entered the bar of a river at about one in the afternoon. That afternoon the enemy entered the same river. The next day, while we were giving thanks, they made a sudden attack on the village, whereupon all the people fled. We two went to the mountains, where we remained eleven days. Thence the enemy took their way toward another village, where the father-provincial was, together with Father Juan Lopez, [60] his associate, and other fathers. Before the enemy arrived, they received the warning which I sent them. Consequently, all took to the mountains, and the father-provincial and the other fathers were among the mountains for a number of days, where they suffered hardships. But our Lord was pleased to order that the enemy should not reach that village nor the village where I was staying, for fear of the narrowness of the rivers, lest they could not get through them when they departed. But they went thence to another town located on the seashore, and burned it entirely. The enemy also went to other villages of our missions and burned them, and the fathers escaped as by a miracle from their hands. When the enemy capture the fathers they cut off their heads, as they did two years ago with a father whom they captured. They treat the Spaniards whom they capture in the same way. Consequently, we all go about as if we were soldiers; our ships are laden with arms; and forts have been built in the chief villages and fortified with firearms, with which to defend ourselves; while forts are being built in the other villages.

All those coasts of this sea have been crowded with sentinels this year, for it was rumored that many Dutch ships were to come, and they always come to sight land at the cape of Espiritu Santo.

When we go from some villages to others, we cross many deep rivers, which are all generally full of caymans or crocodiles. These [reptiles] swallow a bull, a cow, or a deer even to their horns, thus causing great loss. They also catch and eat the Indians daily.

There is a most abundant quantity of snakes, almost all of which cause death when they sting. There is but one remedy for the wounds, namely, if they happen to have a little of the earth from San Pablo. By having it blessed, they are infallibly cured; and he who is treated with this remedy does not die. There are other snakes which are not poisonous. They are so large that they can swallow a large wild boar, or a large deer, horns and all. A father and some Indians killed one which was eating a hog; they ran up on hearing the grunts of the hog, and speared and killed the snake.

There is great abundance of material products, and the country is very fertile. The grain of these regions is rice, and as a rule each fanega of grain sowed yields one hundred fanegas, and many yield two hundred fanegas, especially if it is irrigated and transplanted. There are oranges of many varieties, some of them resembling large melons. Honey and wax is found in the trees, where the bees make it. The wax is worth sixteen or twenty reals an arroba, and a jar of honey one real. I saw a tree which had many honeycombs hanging on the branches. The mountains are fuller of wild boars than are the commons of España of swine and cattle in acorn time. One of those swine, if it is fat, is worth two reals, but only one if not fat; and a deer is worth the same sum. There are almost no fruits of España. There are melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and radishes of the country, and quantities of cabbages and lettuce. There are many native fruits, some of which are excellent, but they are not so many or so good as those of España, while the food does not have the same nourishment as in España. The swine here are excellent, and better and more healthful than those of España; for they are eaten like mutton, and are given to the sick as mutton is in España.

God is ever our physician and apothecary in sickness, and but few times does one fall grievously sick when our Lord does not supply the lack of medicines, without which [_MS. holed_: we?] get along very well, and God helps [us]. Panbohen, July 6, 1629.

_Pedro de Prado_

We received a letter from Eastern India which gives very good news of its condition; for the Dutch are now in small numbers and are very much disaccredited, with both the Moros and the heathen, and these have revolted against the Dutch and driven them from their lands and from the houses of trade that they owned, because they have found them false in their commerce and deceitful in their trading. Our men went to help drive out the Dutch.

Good news comes from Zeilan and Tebet of the great conversion to Christianity that is being effected there and in other regions, and that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ continues to increase.

Ruy Freire went to besiege Ormuz with some ships, and the viceroy told him that he was going in person with [_MS. holed_] ships to capture it.

Father Geronimo Perez [61] had cut down, at a residence, a tree which was called nino, in order to dispel the superstitions of the Indians. That tree was twenty-five brazas in circumference, and there are other trees of this species whose trunks are used by the Indians as houses. [62]

Father Muxica writes from Macan that Father Trigautio had come from China to Macan, and said that there were many highborn and influential people in China who were being converted, and that they were living very exemplary lives. Manila, July 5, 1628 [_sic_].

II

_A relation of events in the Philipinas Islands, and other neighboring kingdoms, from the month of July, 1628, to July,1629._

Continuing my project begun last year, I will proceed in this account to relate the events which have happened this year, without observing any other order than that in which they occur to me.

At half past one on the night of November 25, Our church fell, with so terrible a crash that it seemed as if the heavens were falling. It was due to God's great providence that it did not happen several hours later, for without doubt some of our fathers would have been caught in the ruins. It is the third time that this church has fallen; for years ago, just as they finished saying the last mass, and locked the doors, the whole vault, which was built of brick, fell in a great earthquake. If it had happened an hour before, it would have wrought great injury, by imprisoning beneath it all the people who were in the church. Then six years later, in the month of September, on the same day, just as they were beginning to decorate the church for celebrating the feasts of St. Ignatius and St. Xavier, one large pillar and two arches fell, leaving the roof in the air, without any means of support for more than eight yards--a thing which seemed miraculous; two of Ours were caught, but neither received much harm. On this last occasion the ruin was greater, because one pillar, when it fell, carried with it half of the church. Thus it remained, without repairs being possible; there was nothing to be done but to finish the work of destruction, and build a hut in which to accommodate our fathers in their ministries, until we finish the new church building and house--which is a very good one, and well on its way to completion. [63]

On the twentieth of December, at eight o'clock in the evening, they omitted the holy sacrament in the Cathedral church of this city, because it had been stolen, together with the monstrance in which it was kept. Diligent search was made for it, arresting some and putting others to the torture, and making earnest prayers to placate the wrath of God, but no trace of the thief could be found in these or any other ways, even to the present day. [64]

On the twentieth of June an eclipse of the sun began at eleven o'clock, and at thirteen minutes after twelve it was so far eclipsed that it could not be seen at all. It seemed as if it were night, and the stars were seen in the sky, so that we were forced to light candles in order to eat; for there was a dinner that afternoon, on the occasion of a certain feast. As far as I know, this eclipse was not seen in Nueva España; it is the most complete one that I have ever seen, though I have seen many.

On the eighteenth of July last, in the village of Guiguan, which is a mission of the Society, an image of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady with a gilded face, began to weep piteously--in the sight of all, and of the father who was expounding Christian doctrine in that village--with a saddened countenance, to the great terror of all who were present. It seemed as if this was the announcement of the disasters and calamities which have been suffered by those poor islands of the Pintados (which are in our missionary charge) from their enemies the Camucones and the Joloans, who have become very insolent--plundering many ships on the sea, some of them valuable; robbing and burning towns, capturing the people, and destroying the images, which the fathers have kept well until their flight and refuge in the mountains. It has been considered a singular providence that no one of our fathers has been captured (although there are fears about one, but nothing certain is known about it). The enemy suddenly landing, one father was surprised in bed, but made his escape almost in his shirt; they surprised another while saying mass, and he was obliged to make his escape in his chasuble, fleeing through the marshes; another they found sprinkling with holy water the whole population of the town in the church; another they met on the sea, and having given chase to his vessel, the father leaped overboard and finally escaped. The father provincial was in great danger several times, but in the end God preserved him and all the other fathers. The greatest hardship is, that it seems as if those who conduct the government do not endeavor to check these raids; may the Lord do so by restraining the enemies.

Relief was sent this year to the Malucas Islands, as has usually been done in past years, in several pataches and a galley. The Dutch enemy had at their Malayo fort (which is almost within sight of our fort at Terrenate), a very powerful ship which passed in front of our fort several times discharging their artillery as if defying us to come out and fight. After this bravado our men and Pedro de Heredia, governor of those fortifications, armed two pataches and the galley (a force much inferior to that of so powerful a ship) and went out to meet the enemy. He boarded it and began to attack the soldiers in it; the enemy, seeing that the fight was going against them, cut loose from our ship, and retreated or fled to their fort. There their people arrested the captain, because, although he had had the advantage on his side, he had not sunk our little pataches, but instead had taken to flight. Some of the Dutch and some of our men were killed in this fight.

At Xacatra, which is the capital of the Dutch possessions in all these eastern regions, and at which their governor and captain-general resides, there have been many harassing wars this year, because King Xabo with a very powerful army had besieged them for many months, seized and burned the suburbs, and killed many men. However, on account of the many winter floods, Xabo had to retreat; but the Dutch are left in considerable fear lest he will return, with the Portuguese giving him assistance. On that account they have still further fortified their forts, made greater provision of all necessaries, and detailed there six galleons from the great fleet, which they maintain at Ormus for the aid and defense of the Persian, [65] in order that the Portuguese, who are threatening that fortress, may not recover it.