The artillery, which your Majesty orders me to send to the viceroy of Peru, I am preparing with promptness. Nevertheless, that which your Majesty has here at present is necessary for this stronghold, and for the other islands, where I have distributed a number of cannon for their greater security and prosperity.

I send the relation of the islands and their villages, and of their inhabitants and industries, which was forwarded to me to send you. I would send a longer account if more time had elapsed since the receipt of your Majesty's royal decree, which arrived the twenty-fifth of the past month.

No papers whatever of Fray Martin de Rada [46] were left in this country; nor have I been able to discover any, although most diligent search has been made.

Among the other orders brought by this ship was one directing that a considerable sum of money be paid to Doctor Francisco de Sande. He says that this is due to him as salary; and for the payment of this is designated the greater part of the villages which belong to the royal crown of your Majesty. The fleets are maintained thereby, as well as other expenses of your Majesty here. This order is received with regret and sorrow, and the royal officials have sent a petition to this effect; and I too beseech your Majesty to declare if it be your royal pleasure that this man support himself at the expense of the royal service. May it be provided that we be not constrained thus in similar things.

In the ship that just arrived from Nueva Espana, there came eighteen descalced friars, a class of people who do much good in this land, on account of their mode of life and their poverty. Nevertheless, they come so eager to pass on to China that it would not be right to keep them here. Accordingly, in order to console them, I am now giving permission to the commissary who accompanied them, and to four other religious, both to go to Macau [Macao] to visit the house which they have there, and to pass to the bordering kingdom of Cochinchin. News is had that the king of the latter country asks for ministers to teach him our holy faith. I hope to God that benefit may be derived therefrom, for the salvation of those souls. I have also improved the opportunity of the commissary's departure to send by him to the Portuguese of Macau the news of the certainty of the late coronation of your Majesty. [47] Therefore I expect that that stronghold will be as peaceful as that of Maluco.

Through your viceroy of Nueva Espana I am sending a copy of the residencia of the doctor Sande, as that sent a year ago was lost with the ship to which it was entrusted.

Much pleasure was caused in the land by the arrival of the bishop, [48] and I received him as well as I could. On account of the austerity of his disposition and his wish to dominate, people do not like him; and he has caused much discontent among both ecclesiastics and laymen. His Christianity and zeal is worthy, and he will undoubtedly prove to be true. As your Majesty is better informed, you may provide accordingly. May our Lord guard your royal Catholic Majesty and increase your kingdoms, as we your Majesty's vassals desire. Manila, June 15, in the year 1582.

Royal Catholic Majesty, the most humble servant of your Majesty, who kisses the royal feet and hands.

Don Gonzalo Rronquillo de Penalosa



Bibliographical Data

Most of the documents in this volume are obtained from the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla. The original MSS. (from copies of which our translations are made) are there preserved in two patronatos, as follows:

(a) "Simancas-Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del gobernador de Filipinas, vistos en el consejo; anos 1567 a 1599; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 6." To this belong Sande's report of 1576, his letters of July 29, 1578 and May 30, 1579, Penalosa's letter, and the two documents of 1582.

(b) "Simancas-Filipinas; descubrimientos, descripciones y poblaciones de las Yslas Filipinas; anos 1566 a 1586; est. 1, caj. 1, leg. 2 24." From this patronato we obtain Sande's report of 1577 (in ramo 40), and the record of his expedition to Borneo (no. 48). The former lacks a signature, and may be a duplicate copy, sent (as already explained) by another vessel to ensure the arrival of at least one copy in Spain, the signature being perhaps forgotten through some clerical oversight; but its date and composition show it to be Sande's report.

The bull erecting the diocese of Manila is taken from Doc. ined. Amer. y Oceania, xxxiv, pp. 72-79. The grant of indulgences is obtained from Fray Francisco de Santa Ines's Cronica de la provincia de San Gregorio Magno (Manila, 1892), pp. 215, 216.

The two royal decrees are translated from copies of the originals, which are found in the "Cedulario Indico" in the Archivo Historico Nacional at Madrid; their pressmarks are: for the decree of 1879, "Tomo 31, F deg. 132b, n deg. 135;" for that of 1580, "Tomo 31, F deg. 193b, n deg. 184." The "Cedulario" contains forty MSS. volumes of these decrees, with a calendar index of twenty-four volumes.



NOTES

[1] The Spanish phrase here is armas enastadas, literally, "weapons fastened to handles." See cuts of Chinese battle-axes (from specimens in Musee d' Artillerie, Paris) in Auguste Demmin's Arms and Armor (London, 1877), p. 442.

[2] The day of St. Andrew falls on November 30, according to the church calendars.

[3] This narrative is given in Juan Gonzales de Mendoza's Hist. China, part ii, book i, ch. ix-xxix.

[4] Marco Polo, the noted Venetian traveler, was born about 1256, and died in his native city in 1323. His father and uncle were also travelers; they went to Tartary in 1255, returning to Europe in 1269, as envoys from the noted Kublai Khan. Two years later, they returned to the court of that ruler, accompanied by the young Marco; and they remained in the service of the Mongol emperor until 1292, when they returned to Venice. Marco's account of his travels and observations was written as early as 1307. A Latin version of it was published in Antwerp, about 1485; and one in Italian at Venice, in 1496. Many other editions and translations of it have since been issued—perhaps the most notable being that by G. Pauthier (Paris, 1865). See this editor's account of Polo and of his work, in Hoefer's Nouvelle biographie generale, t. xxxix, art. Polo; Pauthier shows that this work must have been originally written in French. Kublai Khan at that time had his capital at Pekin, not at Kingsze.

[5] The Great Wall of China was constructed during the reign of Hoangti, the second emperor of the Tsin dynasty (about 244 to 210 B.C.); it was built to protect the Chinese land from the invasions of the Tartar hordes on the west and north, among whom were those later known as Huns.

[6] The oil extracted from sesame (Sesamum indicum); it is used by the natives for the hair, and in medicine.

[7] Chichimecos (meaning "braves") was a term applied to all the wild tribes of Mexico; it was also used specially to designate the hunting and pastoral tribes in the northern provinces of the present country of Mexico—who, according to Humboldt (New Spain, Black's trans., London, 1811, i, p. 133), came to that country about 1170. See also G.P. Winship's Coronado Expedition (Washington, 1896), p. 524.

[8] A Malayan tribe, living in the provinces of Abra and Ilocos, in Luzon. See Sawyer's account of them, in his Inhabitants of Philippines (N.Y., 1900), pp. 275-280.

[9] The residencia is a Spanish institution, dating as far back as the fourteenth century, although its beginnings may be traced to the Visigothic codes. It required a judge or a governor, at the end of a term of office, to reside for a certain time (usually thirty or fifty days) at the chief place where he had exercised his functions. During that time, complaints of his conduct might be made by any person aggrieved, before an official appointed for that purpose. The residencia was a prominent feature of Spanish colonial administration. See Helps's Spanish Conquest in America, iii, ch. iii, for an account of this institution.

[10] "In fortification, a work of extraordinary height, overlooking the surrounding parts as a horseman overlooks foot-soldiers." (Webster's Dictionary.)

[11] This decree may be found in Recopilacion de leyes Indias, lib. iv, tit. iii, ley xix. It seems to have been a general regulation, applied to any colonial possession as need might arise.

[12] Crawfurd says, in his Dictionary of the Indian Islands (London, 1856), p. 144: "In the language of the Bugis, whose country produces gold, we find a native word, ulawang, and this is again the case in the languages of the Tagalas of the Philippines, where we have the indigenous name balituk; while in the language of the volcanic Bisaya Islands we find the word bulawang, most probably a corruption of the Bugis word."

[13] There is some mistake in this calculation; for the Chinese tael is equivalent to 1.1334 ounces, and the Spanish onza to 1.0161 ounces, in English or U.S. avoirdupois. The mace is one-tenth of the tael. 8 onzas = 1 marco; 2 marcos = 1 libra = 1.016097 U.S. pounds. The equivalent of one libra, then, would be nearly 12 taels and 2 mace. By texuela is apparently meant the sheet gold previously mentioned.

[14] In New Spain, the hot and fertile regions along the coast, having an elevation of seldom more than 1,000 feet, are called Tierras calientes ("regions of heat"). On the declivity of the Cordilleras, at an elevation of 4,000 to 5,000 feet, there reigns perpetually a soft spring temperature, which never varies more than 10 deg. Fahr. The natives give to this region the name of Tierras templadas ("temperate country"), in which the mean heat of the whole year is about 70 deg. Fahr. The plains elevated more than 7,000 feet above the sea level are called Tierras frias ("cold regions"), where the mean temperature is under 62 deg. Fahr. See Humboldt's New Spain (Black's trans.), i, pp. 64-67.

The name Tierra Firme was applied not only to the northern part of the South American continent, but to a definite region which extended from the middle of the Gulf of Darien to Cape Gracias a Dios. It was at first called Darien, and Castilla del Oro.

[15] Span., de no aver pies ni cabeza, "as he had neither feet nor head."

[16] Cauchi is a phonetic form of Kuchi, the Malay appellation of the region known in recent years as Cochin-China, now a part of French Indo-China. Camboja is a better form of the name usually written Cambodia, also a part of French Indo-China; Sian is but a variant of Siam. Patani and Pahang are Malayan states on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula. Jabas is a corruption of Jawa (now commonly written Java), the name of the principal nation inhabiting the island—the most civilized and moral of the Malayan peoples. Samatra is only a variant of Sumatra—the largest island, next to Borneo, of the Malayan archipelago. Achin (or Achen) and Manangkabo (Manancabo) are states in the island of Sumatra; and Batachina evidently means "land of the Bataks," a tribe of cannibals dwelling near Achin. See Crawfurd's Dictionary for valuable information regarding all these regions.

[17] The three great military orders then vested in the crown of Spain—those of Santiago, Alcantara, and Calatrava.

[18] The order of Friars Minors (Fratres Minores), better known as Franciscans, was founded (1208) by St. Francis of Assisi.

[19] Mestizo: the offspring of a white man and an Indian woman, or of an Indian man and a white woman—of course, almost entirely the former. See interesting notes on this subject by Retana, in his Zuniga, ii, pp. 525*, 526*.

[20] Herrera says (Descripcion de las Indias, cap. 26), that: "The West Indies [Indias del Poniente] comprise all the islands and mainland [Tierra firme] beyond the line of demarcation of Castilla and Leon, as far as the western bounds of that said demarcation, the line whereof passes around the other side of the world, through the city of Malacca." This is conformable with the law of February 22, 1632 (Recop. leyes Indias, lib. i, tit. xiv, ley xxxiii), which locates Japan and the Philippine Islands in the West Indies; it also corresponds with the Constitution (Onerosa) of Clement VIII, issued December 12, 1600, to be found in section 4, wherein the Philippines are located, it seems, in the West Indies, or what are considered as such. However, what really is the dividing line has not yet been decided.—Rev. T.C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[21] The missionaries who effected the conversion [of the Malaysian tribes] were not, for the most part, genuine Arabs, but the mixed descendants of Arab and Persian traders from the Persian and Arabian gulfs—parties who, by their intimate acquaintance with the manners and languages of the islanders, were far more effectual instruments. The earliest recorded conversion was that of the people of Achin in Sumatra (A.D. 1206). The Malays of Malacca adopted Mahometanism in 1276; the Javanese, in 1478; the inhabitants of the Moluccas, about the middle of the fifteenth century. This doctrine has been received by all the more civilized peoples of the Indian archipelago. See Crawfurd's Dictionary, pp. 236, 237, 284.

[22] Throughout this document, the attestations and other legal procedures of notaries are enclosed within parentheses.

[23] The name fragata (from which is derived the English word "frigate") is here used to designate merely a light sailing-vessel which could navigate among the islands.

[24] Evidently one of the so-called "hand cannon," which were often used at this period, both by cavalry and by infantry—portable fire-arms, loaded sometimes at the breech and sometimes by a movable chamber. See illustrations and descriptions of these weapons in Demmin's Arms and Armor (Black's trans.), pp. 59-74, 485, 511-517.

[25] The arms of Portugal, consisting of five scutcheons, in memory of the five wounds of Christ.

[26] One of the numerous appellations of small cannon.

[27] The banca was a sort of canoe made from a hollowed tree-trunk (like the American "dug-out"), sometimes provided with outriggers, to prevent it from upsetting, and sometimes with a roof of bamboo. The barangay is the most primitive and most characteristic boat in the Philippines; it is described as a sharp and slender craft, pointed at both ends, and put together with wooden nails and pegs. It is this boat which has given name to the primitive groups of the social organization; see Bourne's mention of these, Vol. I of this series, p. 56.—Editors.]

"The people were divided or grouped into families, known as barangayes (the name of a small ship or vessel), thus preserving the remembrance of the conveyance by which their forefathers reached the islands. As the various families came hither, each in its own barangay—all, during the voyage, being under the command of a cabeza (a head captain, or pilot)—the land was partitioned among them, so much for each family; while all continued, on the land, subject to the cabezas who had directed them on the sea. These in time were known as datos, or maguinoos. See the Cronica of Francisco de Santa Ines (Manila, 1892), i, p. 57; Noceda and Sanlucar's Vocabulario Tagala (3rd ed., Manila, 1860); Diego Bergano's Vocabulario Pampanga (Manila, 1860); and Andres Carro's Vocabulario Iloco-Espanol (Manila, 1888)."—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[28] Meaning some plant used as an antidote for poison.

[29] Apparently a phonetic variant of pangeran (a Javanese word adopted in Borneo), meaning "prince."

[30] In this connection may be cited Rajah James Brooke's statement, as given by Captain Henry Keppel in his Expedition to Borneo (American edition, New York, 1846), p. 305: "The most detestable part of this traffic is Seriff Houseman ["a half-bred Arab" pirate in Borneo] selling, in cold blood, such of these slaves as are Borneans, to Pangeran Usop, of Bruni, for 100 rupees for each slave, and Pangeran Usop re-selling each for 200 rupees to their relations in Bruni."

[31] Apparently a sort of "dug-out," used mainly as a lighter, for unloading larger vessels.

[32] Pulo (incorrectly made polo in the text) is a term used throughout the Malayan archipelago referring to a small island or islet; this name means, then, "the small island Celemin."

[33] The habit of chewing buyo is common through the Malaysian archipelago. It is prepared by wrapping a leaf of the betel (Piper betel) around a piece of the bonga-nut (the product of a palm, Areca catechu) and a small piece of lime. It is thought to stimulate the nerves, especially in the digestion of food; and is a notable feature on ceremonious and social occasions.

[34] Fine East Indian muslin.

[35] Probably referring to the island now known as Boeton or Butung, lying southeast of Celebes.

[36] Evidently the old port in Mindanao so called.

[37] Probably referring to the island now known as Boeton or Buntung, lying S.E. of Celebes.

[38] Reference is here made to the starchy food procured from the sago-palm, called by the natives buri (Corypha umbraculifera). This tree gives name to the island of Burias, where it grows abundantly. By tapping the tree, as is done with the American maple, the sweet sap (called by the natives tuba or "water-honey") is obtained, from which are made a syrup and a dark sugar; also the natives manufacture from it wine and brandy. The young shoots or buds are edible, as is the entire inner part or pith of the tree. This pith is placed in troughs, wherein it is soaked in water, which washes out certain bitter substances; it is then pounded, which causes the starchy grains to separate from the tissues of the pith. These grains are collected and dried, and made into a flour called sago (or sagu), which furnishes a nutritious and healthful food; in the islands where this tree abounds, the sago takes the place of rice. The leaves of the sago-palm are used as a covering for houses, sails for vessels, and many other purposes. See Delgado's Hist. de Filipinas (Manila, 1892—but written in 1753-54), pp. 660-662, for a long and detailed description of this tree and its uses; also Blanco's Flora de Filipinas, p. 160, and U.S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 74.

[39] The lagoon of Liguasan, the waters of which are discharged into those of the Pulangui River at its "great bend," thus forming the Rio Grande. The Pulangui rises in the northern part of the island, about half-way between the present towns of Cagayan and Butuan. The Tirurey or Ytilurey River of our text apparently indicates a southern tributary of the Rio Grande, flowing from Mt. Tiruray.

[40] A tribe inhabiting the western part of Mindanao, but mainly located on other islands—Basilan, Sulu, Piragua, and others; they were Mahometan Malays.

[41] The ganta contains 3 litros, a little more than 1/3 of a peck (U.S.).

[42] At the top of the sheet is written, on the original MS., "Guadalupe, March 26, 1580," which apparently indicates that the decree was sent to New Spain, and promulgated by the viceroy there.

[43] "A fleet on which were some Franciscan missionaries being at Sevilla in 1576, ready to sail for the Solomon Islands, Felipe II obtained permission from Pope Gregory XIII that they should be sent to evangelize the Philippine Islands—where they arrived on June 24, 1577. They were received in Manila with enthusiastic demonstrations of joy, and soon founded a religious province, which they named San Gregorio Magno ["St. Gregory the Great"—named in honor of Pope Gregory I (A.D. 590-604)]. The marshal, Don Gabriel de Rivera, built for them the convent of San Francisco in that same year, 1577."—Algue (Archipielago filipino, i, p. 250).

On June 24, 1577, fifteen religious of St. Francis arrived at Manila, under the orders of Fray Pedro de Alfaro, the father custodian of the province. On June 15, 1579, Alfaro left Luzon (secretly, as our text declares, because Sande refused to permit him to go), to establish a mission in China; he was accompanied by the friars Juan Bautista, Sebastian de San Francisco, and Agustin de Tordesillas. The last-named wrote a detailed account of their journey and their experiences in China up to November 15 of that year; this relation is published in Mendoca's Hist. China, part ii, book ii.

[44] Maluco, the Portuguese post on Ternate, was taken over by Spain with other colonial possessions of Portugal, when Felipe II seized the government of the latter country (September, 1580), after the death of its king, the cardinal Henrique. This union lasted during sixty years. The possession of the Moluccas of course gave to Spain the control of the spice trade.

[45] Apparently a reference to the visit of Sir Francis Drake to Ternate, in November, 1578. A full account of this visit, the friendly reception of the English by the Malay ruler, and the expulsion of the Portuguese from the island, may be found in Francis Fletcher's World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake (Hakluyt Soc. pubs. no. xvii, London, 1854), pp. 137-148.

[46] Rada had died at sea, in June, 1578.

[47] Felipe II was crowned at Lisbon in April, 1581.

[48] The first bishop of Manila, and of the Philippines, Domingo de Salazar (a Dominican) arrived at Manila in March, 1581. With him came Fray Christoval de Salvatierra, of his own order; twenty Augustinians, and eight Franciscans; and two Jesuit priests, Antonio Sedeno and Alonso Sanchez, with the lay brother Nicolas Gallardo. See Juan de la Concepcion's Hist. Phil., ii, pp. 44, 45.

THE END