2. Calignao had an extensive and strong kindred. Because they did not flee with him, father Fray Domingo endeavored to win them over. He asked for an adjutant's staff from the commandant of the fort, and dignified Calignao with it. Then in order to restrain the other side, it was published that the murder of the nephew [of Dalinen] was by the command of the government, which had ordered that all who would not reduce themselves to village life should be killed. That method, however, was insufficient to quiet them, but, on the contrary, roused the factions to a higher pitch. To please the commandant and to give stronger force to his faction, Calignao promised to assault Dalinen. He went into the mountain to put that promise into execution, and after a short time, Dalinen was killed by a Negrito. His relatives were persuaded that the father had had a hand in that murder, and determined to pay him back. The same Calignao offered to do the deed, for this is what it means to benefit apostatized evil-doers. He sought an opportune occasion for the execution of his wicked intent, and found it in a journey which the father made to Baubuen to visit a communal house which he was building for strangers, and in order to confess father Fray Juan de Rois, [76] who was the minister there. During the absence of the father, Calignao descended the mountain, visited his relatives, and was informed that the minister would return in three days. He left his relatives, and in company with a faithless Negrito went to await the father at the bank of a large river, by which it was necessary to pass. When Father Perez reached that place, Calignao discharged an arrow, which passed before the father's breast without doing him any harm and lodged in a neighboring tree. When the father quite naturally turned his head to see who was firing at him, the Negrito Quibacat discharged his arrow, which, entering the father's body three fingers below the left breast, came out more than four fingers at the right side of his back. It was a twisted arrow, and when father Fray Domingo pulled on it, the wound became worse. With the most intense pain that he suffered, he broke out into "Jesus, be with me! Let them commend me to God, for I am dying."

3. He spurred on his horse, which ran until the father perceived that sight was failing him. Then he alighted, stretched himself at the foot of an agoso tree, [77] and, amid the outpouring of his blood, begged pardon from God for his sins. An Indian who accompanied him came up to him, and found him unconscious from great loss of blood. The father recovered consciousness, but for so brief a time that he could not tell the Indian what to do. He fainted once more, so completely that the Indian thought that he was yielding up his life. He again recovered consciousness, and sent the servant to Balacbac in order to get people to carry him thence. The Indian went to carry out that instruction. Meanwhile a man and three women arrived, and stayed with the father until the arrival of the men from the village who were very slow. For the Indian who had been sent could find no one who cared to take that charitable office upon himself, either the ministers of justice, the fiscals, or the sacristans. He was able to get three serving-lads in the convent, who made a hammock from a blanket, and carried the wounded religious in it. The latter, charging his messenger to go to Baubuen to advise Father Rois of his mishap, set out on his way to his village, where he arrived at nine o'clock at night. Father Rois, as soon as he received the news, got ready to go to the relief of his associate. After many frights, for everything was in an uproar, and his person ran no less risk [than that of Father Domingo], he reached the village at daybreak. He entered the cell of the wounded father, whom he found embracing a holy crucifix, and bathed in tears. Father Rois asked him "What is this, Father Vicar-prior?" "This means death," answered the sufferer. "I shall die; there is no relief." He was confessed, and received the sacred viaticum. He lived three days after that, without having his bed made, for his extreme pains would not permit it. Had they tended him well at the beginning, he would have recovered, for the wound was not mortal, and the Indians have medicines which cure other things more dangerous. But the greatest care was not exercised in this. The third day after nightfall, the pains attacked him much more fiercely, and convulsions and paroxysms followed. He received extreme unction, after which he lost his speech, and remained remarkably quiet; and in that calm he yielded his spirit to the Creator.

4. The malicious Calignao, after having wounded the father, went to Balacbac, and made an effort to enter the convent in order to kill the servants of father Fray Domingo. The servants barred the doors on the inside until the wounded father arrived, and during all the three days while the latter lived, the murderer remained in the village, without anyone daring to raise a hand against him. During that time Calignao assaulted the convent several times, but could effect nothing, because of the vigilance of Father Rois. The commandant of the fort desired to go in person to punish the treachery, but he was prevented from it by the other religious, for the reason that if he were killed the fort was in danger; and, if that presidio were captured by the Zambals, there would not be a father or a Spaniard in Playahonda who would not be sacrificed to their fury. He sent indeed a detachment of men, with orders to arrest or kill Calignao; but they were unable to do so, as all the village was interested in his liberty. They were present at the funeral, which took place in the church on the following day, with all possible propriety. A year and a half later the father's bones were moved to the church of his convent at Manila.

5. It is said that God honored the place of his death or where he was wounded, by marvelous occurrences. For instance the large river on whose shore he was shot, dried up, and was swallowed up by the earth, and no trace of it was ever found later, neither did it take a course elsewhere; while the bed of the river became full of agoso trees. And although the above tree is large, and needs more than ten years to grow tall, those trees grew up in so short a time that that place appeared a dense forest, so that they choked and parched the reed-grass, which never sprang up again. It was said that the earth which was dyed with his blood has never allowed any grass to grow since, although the grass about the agoso at whose foot the father fainted is abundant and very green. That tree is always more flourishing and luxuriant, so that in comparison with it the other trees seem like withered things. Also another smaller river which ran past Aglao and Baubuen dried up, and the earth was left very sterile. It is true that these things were said, but without any foundation. The large river still remains and flows in the same course, and that of Aglao has the same course, and there is no notice or tradition that it had ever dried up; and it is not possible that so remarkable a thing could be forgotten. It was true that the agoso under which he rested was preserved and is still preserved; but in that story are not registered the exaggerated circumstances, such as that of the grass and of the reed-grass. I say this with assurance because I have seen it at various times, and I have passed the large river with some risk. On the bank of that river I was shown the spot where the father was wounded, and the agoso in question, in which I found nothing worthy of wonder. In regard to the other agosos and those newly produced, I proved that there are both old and new trees, for they are produced without any cultivation, and are conserved from time immemorial, and their very great age is recognized by their failing condition. [78]

6. The Augustinian Recollect fathers, who had not left that administration [of Zambales] voluntarily, although they could not resist the change with Mindoro, asked for testimonies that they might present them at court. They protested in due form, and appointed ministers in their chapters, of whose election they apprised the Dominican fathers in legal form. Their recourse to court had the result that the parties [in the matter] were referred by the Council of the Indias to this royal Audiencia. The testimonies were brought to it, and it became sufficiently public. On that account the father procurator-general of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Juan Peguero [79] appeared before the superior government. He stated that his Excellency the archbishop and the governor had removed the Order of the Augustinian Recollects from the province of Zambales for reasons that they considered just, necessary, or reasonable, in accordance with the rulings of the laws of the new Recopilacion, [80] and had given it to his province, they on their part having first made no efforts to get it. His order had received it only that they might serve God and the king. The Recollect fathers had received the island of Mindoro as a recompense, without offering any objection, and had expressly given up their rights to the province of Zambales. Nevertheless father Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios had presented a writing before the supreme Council, which was sent to this royal Audiencia, where as yet, more than eight months after the arrival of the galleons at the islands, it did not appear to have been presented. Without petitioning in any tribunal, [he said], a rumor was spread to the discredit of his province and to the prejudice of the propagation of the faith among the Zambals. The latter, in the hope which they had received from their former ministers that they would soon return to take charge of them, were fleeing to the mountains to become infidels, apostates, and idolaters, as they were formerly. Consequently, the ministers of his province found themselves hindered in the conversions and the administrations of the sacraments, as they were so disturbed that it was necessary for the commandant of the fort to seize some persons who returned from Manila and spread such a report. Not even this was a sufficient relief for the continual flights of the natives. On that account he petitioned his Lordship, in the name of his province, to be pleased to employ suitable means, and what he believed best, for the avoidance of those scandals. His Lordship furnished a copy of the judicial proceedings [81] to the Recollect side, ordering that they, with the reply that they should make, should give account of the royal decree mentioned in the allegation [aforesaid, by Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios]. Notification of this was communicated, on May 2, 1685, to father Fray Joseph de Jesus Maria, procurator-general of the discalced religious of St. Augustine. The latter said that he heard it and would answer in due form.

7. He did so, and presented himself with the copy authorized in public form, of the proceedings of the royal and supreme Council of the Indias in the cause prosecuted by the father procurator-general, Fray Juan de la Madre de Dios, asking that his province should be restored to its former possession of the ministries of Mariveles, Masinloc, Bolinao, Puquil, and Playa-honda, and the rest of the province of Zambales. The decision thereon, as appeared from the said proceedings, was referred to the royal Audiencia of Manila. In regard to the contents of Father Peguero's memorial, notwithstanding what he might petition, it should be refuted as outside the truth, as a calumny, and as grievously offensive to his province—which with excessive and continual work, and equal zeal in the service of both Majesties, had assisted in the administration of the Christians and the conversion of the infidels in the aforesaid districts, from the year one thousand six hundred and seven to the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine, when it was despoiled actually and contrary to law, and the Dominican religious introduced into those missions. Notwithstanding the above, the said memorial, proceeding by malicious reports, and with a lack of accurate information, says that in the year seventy-six the said Father Peguero informed the government of these islands that the conversion and reduction of the Zambals—both the light-complexioned ones and those with the kinky hair, on both sides of the mountains that extend from Batan to Pangasinan, especially in the localities of Aglao, Buquil, Alupay, and Culianan, and many others—had not been thitherto in charge of any of the orders of these islands. In consideration of that, he petitioned that that care be assigned to his order. Despatches were given him in accordance with the terms of his petition, without summoning the party of the Recollect province, which was in possession [of that territory] from the time mentioned above. That order was then especially extending its labors, and working in the reduction of the infidels of those very same places, and in the administration of a great number of Christians in those districts, who paid tribute to their encomenderos. His order having offered opposition, and having made a petition before the royal Audiencia to be protected in its ancient possession, this was done, and the Order of St. Dominic was excluded from its demand, as appeared from royal provision and proceedings, which would be presented if it were necessary. After his order had been placed in charge of the administration of Mindoro, the Dominicans succeeded in getting the governor, then Don Juan de Vargas, to ask the father provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, to make a renunciation [of those districts]. The father provincial did it unwillingly, for it was a thing that he neither could or ought to do in regard to such districts, in order that other religious might be instituted—as were those of St. Dominic, in the year eighty. Two grave [Recollect] religious protested in the name of their province, against the renunciation made by their Recollect provincial; and all the ministers of Zambales protested against the violence with which they were despoiled of that administration, without their province having until then made any other judicial or extrajudicial effort than the conservation of their right, in order to demand it where and to what extent it may behoove them to do so. The provincial of his province had formally ordered his subjects not only not to solicit the natives of those districts to ask for, or allow them to ask for, these or other ministers; but they were to admonish them always to live consoled and contented, and to understand that the instruction which they received from the fathers of St. Dominic was the same, and [given with] the same zeal for the welfare of their souls. That order was obeyed, and there was no notice of its infraction. On the contrary, information was received that the present Dominican ministers told the natives that they were returning to carry forward what had been commenced by the Recollects. That proved that the Recollects did not keep their convents and churches, which they had abandoned to the Dominicans; as does the suggestion that father Fray Raymundo Verart [82] said that Captain Marcos de Rosales, encomendero of Marivelez, had made to him, for the latter earnestly entreated him to ask that the Recollects should be restored to the possession of those ministeries. He offered to make that request to him in writing.

8. Even though the religious of his province had represented to those natives that they would return to their ancient administration, one could not argue from that that any injury to the propagation of the faith, or to the credit of so holy an order [i.e., the Dominican] would follow, as the memorial declared—in formal prejudice to his own order [i.e., the Recollect] (in regard to which that order was protesting, in order to demand whatever was proper for its side). The proposed hopes of the restoration, however, would hinder the flight of the natives, which, it was known, proceeded from other reasons, through a great part of the villages of Zambales having been depopulated. That they had been living in idolatry from their first conversion, besides being an implicatory proposition, did not appear from the sentence of a competent tribunal, nor was it credible of all. And it was no new thing, that after some years, a few superstitions should be discovered [among the Indians], as was usually the case, and happened at every step; for it was not an easy thing to reduce mountain infidels to a civilized life, in which task the ministers must acquire thorough knowledge of their customs. Consequently, it had been impossible to eradicate their barbarous ferocity in committing murders, as they had done to a religious of the Order of St. Dominic. And because his province had shirked no labor for the service of God and the king, in the welfare of souls, especially in the administration of the Zambals during the space of sixty years, it desired to reap the fruit [of the harvest] that had been commenced; wherefore in furtherance of its claim he prayed his Lordship to order and command that the pleadings which had been presented be referred to the royal Audiencia, to the end that whatever should be ruled therein be considered as law. The decree enacted (with the opinion of the assessor) was, that the cognizance of the entire matter be referred to the royal Audiencia, so that the parties to the suit might there plead their claims in equity, and in fulfilment of the decree of the supreme Council of the Indias. The Recollect procurator general having been notified, appeared before the royal Audiencia with his claim together with the rest of the papers annexed, which, having been presented, were considered as referred to that tribunal for official action therein. Notice of that decision having been given to father Fray Juan Peguero, he said that he heard it, and pleaded that the papers be given him for his reply as was done. But I shall not give his answer here, because of the irregularity of his pleadings, his rashness of speech, his boldness of opinion, and his disrespect for the royal power, since his Majesty does not allow causes to be conducted in rude fashion, especially when they do not bear on the case in point, while personal defects of ecclesiastics were not under consideration in the present case, nor in the cause which was being prosecuted, as it concerned ministries only.

9. In conclusion his reply was that while maintaining the contrary of what was advanced by the Recollect fathers, as their province was not a party [to the suit]; he petitions and prays that his Highness deign to issue a citation on the party [of the Recollects], to the end that an investigation be made of all the aforesaid, as was necessary, and becoming, etc. The ruling was that the decree be communicated to the father procurator of the Recollects, who answered as follows, namely, that he acknowledged the indecorous manner in which, in view of the sovereignty of the royal Audiencia, the good name of his side and his subjects was injured. But that although he could answer point by point, he would avoid doing so, as it was a matter in which, leaving aside the requirements of law, which were to be complied with, the subject matter was getting to be a bone of contention, and a partisanship dispute—a matter which ought to be held in abhorrence by religious, who are placed as models for all in these regions, and because law enjoins the manner in which one ought to speak in the royal courts of justice, where it is expressly forbidden to bring forward incriminating libels in place of actions of laws; for these wound not only the sacredness of the religious orders, but even the sovereignty of such a tribunal, to which is due the highest respect. On that account they ought to order the withdrawal of the two allegations presented by Father Peguero as being indecorous, and notice ought to be given to the said father to answer as was fitting, by representing the authority that his province had in the administration of Zambales; in default of which, the court was to record them as having been duly pleaded. To this motion, the gentlemen [of the Audiencia] agreed that the decree should issue, and the clerk of the assembly summoned the said Father Peguero in due form for the examination, who thereupon refused such style of procedure until he had presented his grounds for opposing such action [i.e., the above decision of the Audiencia].

10. The said father procurator pleaded before his Highness that Doctor Calderon, the senior auditor, during his week had refused to sign a paper in which he [i.e., the Recollect procurator-general], pleaded in regard to the pending article; and having been ordered to present himself in the royal Audiencia, he did this by means of two religious at a time when the said doctor was the only member present in the Audiencia, because of the illness of his associate judges. There a decree was entered which ordered that the writ and other papers pertaining to this matter be presented by a procurator of the royal Audiencia, who could be punished in default for his negligence. And in view of the fact that he considered this measure burdensome and harmful to his order and person, as he was condemned before sentence was passed on the point, and the order was prevented from prosecuting this or any other cause in the royal courts, because of their well-known poverty, he prayed his Highness to deign to repeal the said act, and to allow his province the liberty of having it prosecuted by its own prosecutors. A decree to that effect was passed and the trial set for the first day, when the said Doctor Don Diego Calderon should be present.

11. The auditor, in order to justify his act in the royal Audiencia, related that Father Peguero had brought a paper to his house for him to fill out to the effect that the petition, which as he declared, he was going to present to the royal courts, should come before him, the said auditor, during his week; and that in consideration of the fact that it was a matter that concerned priests against priests, of religious missionaries against religious of the same institute, it could not set forth allegations that were wanting in fraternal charity and profound humility. This he signed without reading it, while charging the father procurator to present it in the royal courts, as was done on the day when his Lordship was the only member present [in the Audiencia]. The petition was granted and an order issued to have the papers served on the Recollect father procurator, who was bid to file his answer thereto; furthermore, in order to determine this point, the abovesaid auditor ordered that the case so far as concerned the examination of the same be laid before him. Peguero, not content with what was done, presented another petition in regard to the same cause, that it might be signed officially and passed. But having glanced over it, he found that this should not be done, as it contained other unbecoming expressions based on the one that had been presented previously, and therein at variance with the laws and ordinances of the royal Audiencia, wherefore he told the said father procurator to hand his petition back and present it when all the members [of the Audiencia] were assembled. The result was that their illness still continuing, two lay-brethren, religious of the Order of Preachers, entered the chamber and requested that the petition that they presented be granted, which was the same as had been presented by the father procurator Peguero, in which his Highness was able to recognize the irregularity of the statements, and his inability to sanction such proceedings, through his desire for public peace, and to the end that such holy orders be not embarrassed with injurious writs. Consequently, in order to prevent disrespectful petitions from being presented in those tribunals, his Highness had to decree what was most in consonance with loyalty to both their Majesties, and the public peace.

12. This decree was as follows: "Decision of the royal court this day, September eleven, one thousand seven hundred and five. [83] The measure passed by Senor Calderon is approved, and in accordance therewith, a decree to that effect shall be issued. Because of their great poverty, only the first petitions of the Indians shall be received without attorney."

13. The decree so enacted had the effect that the office of procurator-general of the province of Santissimo Rosario was changed and given to father Fray Domingo Escalera, [84] who together with the procurator-general of the Recollects, presented a joint petition to his Highness to deign to have the preceding writs annulled, as they were not suitable and germane to the case, nor respectful to the royal Audiencia and the parties [in the suit]. This was handed to the fiscal for review, who said that, because of their joint agreement, and moreover, because the writs were not germane to the case in the chief point of the pending suit, greater harmony would result to the two orders which were at law, and to the public cause, and that if the writs were juridically annulled because of their contents, his Highness could order the execution of what the parties petitioned, and such decree would be valid and efficacious—an opinion however that had no definitive result. Then in regard to the writ presented by the Recollect procurator Father Escalera rejoined that, inasmuch as such ministries were handed to his province by the government, if his Highness were pleased to order that they be restored to the plaintiff province his province was ready to do its part, and for that purpose he renounced this copy of the proceedings, and any other, as he had nothing to petition or plead. Therefore, in consideration of the decrees already passed in which he considered himself as cited, his Highness should deign to issue an order for whatever should be his pleasure. Consequently, a decree was drawn up embodying the ordinances that had been made in which the parties were recorded as having been cited, as they considered themselves as cited, and the Recollect procurator presented proofs to the effect that his province had never renounced such ministries, but had always violently protested against the fact of their having been despoiled thereof, in support of which it had been prosecuting the cause in the Council. For the Dominicans, their prior provincial, father Fray Christoval Pedroche, answered the citation by saying that his province had held those ministries in encomienda and trust in the name of his Majesty through the vice-patron, and consequently, if any act of spoliation had been committed, his province was not a party thereto, just as it was not a party to the present proceedings. Therefore he was ready to return them whenever his Highness so ordered; and hence he did not oppose the claim of the Recollect fathers. In answer to their statement that they had elected priors for those missions in all their provincial chapters, and that therein they had no other consideration than the service of God in those missions and the spiritual welfare of souls, he petitioned that his province be adjudged as not a party in the said suit, protesting moreover that he would not plead, or in any way oppose his Highness's decision. When the parties were cited, an order was issued by the court that with these decrees be united those which were enacted by the master-of-camp, Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado, for the assignment of the Zambals to the Dominican fathers. The decrees having thus been brought together, various motions were made, in which proceedings the Dominicans always by joint action refused to be recognized as a party thereto. Whereupon the members of the court having examined the proceedings after their previous examination by the fiscal, declared, that notwithstanding the reply of the father provincial of the Order of Preachers in which he petitioned that his order be declared not to be a party, they maintained, as they now maintained, that he was a legitimate party in these proceedings; moreover that they ordered him, as they now repeated their order, that he notify the father procurator-general of the said order to answer to the summons within three days, and to make full return thereto. He was also warned that if, at the expiration of said limit, he had not done so, the royal courts would declare the proceedings so far as taken as sufficient, and the case would be prosecuted in them. The Dominican procurator having been cited and notified, said that he obeyed the decree of his Highness, that he heard it, but that there was no answer to be given, as he was not a party, as he had already declared, and that in case that it was necessary he would repeat the same answer of his father provincial. This occurrence took place on November twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and ninety.

14. Thus this matter [expediente] rested until the year one thousand seven hundred and ten, when the alferez, Nicolas Guerrero, one of the ordinary attorneys of the royal Audiencia, presented a certificate empowering him as the chief authorized agent of the province of San Nicolas, to act as their attorney in the matter in hand. Thereupon, he declared that in maintenance of the claim of the said province, it was advisable to examine the minutes of the proceedings hitherto conducted in the royal courts, in regard to the restitution of their former missions of Zambales and everything pertaining to them. Accordingly, he prayed his Highness to deign to order the secretary to produce the said minutes, which on being given to the said attorney, he appeared before his Highness and stated that in accordance with the last royal order of six hundred and ninety, whereby the other party was required to answer fully, this had not been done, but that the party had merely referred to its former pleadings, and that any other answer had not been made during the space of twenty years, so that the suit had been unduly prolonged; and moreover, that the matter having been recently investigated, his side has a paper (which he now presents with all solemnity), namely, a private letter from the father provincial of the Dominicans, Fray Pedro Mejorada, [85] in reply to one from the provincial of the Recollects, Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios, in which he declares, that he answered in the same manner as his province had done on former occasions; that he would not oppose the abandoning of the said missions as he was not a party thereto, for his province had taken these under their charge solely in compliance with the orders of Governor Don Juan de Vargas and Archbishop Don Phelipe Pardo; that, moreover, at the present time when his province was so straitened through the lack of religious, if they were not succored in that regard it would be necessary for them to take other steps. Wherefore (he added), so far as matters have now gone he might do what he pleased, for his province would offer no opposition, and was prepared to give up those missions if so requested and charged to do. In this letter, moreover, among other points, it was inferable that his province was ready to leave the said missions of Zambales. Therefore the attorney petitioned and prayed his Highness to deign to have the case brought up for final trial, declaring his client as entitled to the possession of such missions, to whom they should therefore be restored. Thereupon the judges decided that the measures so far taken together with that letter should be acted upon; that the trial should be proceeded with without prejudice to whatever had already been decided, and that all the papers in the case be handed over to the fiscal of this royal Audiencia, for his opinion (within three days) of what steps it was advisable to take. Thereupon, for reasons given, the latter replied that what had been advised by the fiscal of the royal and supreme Council ought to be carried out, and hence a similar order might issue from this royal Audiencia, with notice to the reverend fathers provincial, parties in interest, that so far as concerned their spiritual care the natives might be relieved promptly. In accordance with this, the judges ordered that all parties should proceed to the chamber for final sentence. Thereupon their decision was that the reverend fathers provincial should be apprised of the sentence as given in this cause for their judgment in the exercise of their rights; and that whether they assented or not, they should appear to hear the decision to be given.

15. The parties being notified, and a report of the proceedings having been proclaimed, sentence was then given as follows: "In the city of Manila, October twenty-two, one thousand seven hundred and twelve: The president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancilleria of these islands assembled in the royal courts thereof, having examined in relation the proceedings prosecuted on the part of the Recollect province and religious of San Nicolas de Tolentino of these islands, against the province of Santo Rosario and the religious of St. Dominic in regard to the restitution of the spiritual administration of the natives of the province of Zambales, hereupon declared that they ought to restore—and they hereby have restored—to the said Recollect province, and religious of San Nicolas of these islands the spiritual administration of the natives of Zambales, in the same manner as they held it at the time when the very reverend and devout father provincial of the said order, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas de Tolentino, resigned, handed over, and separated them from his administration in the former year one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine. In consequence whereof they moreover ordered—and they have so ordered—that there be made out in due form for the party of the said Order of San Nicolas a warrant to that effect. Thus was it decreed, ordered, and subscribed to in the presence of his Majesty's fiscal.

Doctor Torralva Licentiate Villa The Fiscal"

In the presence of Antonio de Yepes y Arce, notary-public. Their decision was heard and obeyed promptly by the party to the suit, and proper warrants having been received, the spiritual administration of the Zambals was peacefully restored to the province of San Nicolas of the Augustinian Recollects. Perhaps the very reverend father chronicler, Fray Domingo Collantes, [86] did not have at hand these original documents when he penned the fourth part of the chronicles of his province of Santissimo Rosario which has been recently published; and this must be the reason for the so great diversity in the [story of the] restoration of Zambales, and for the minuteness with which it is discussed here.



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The documents in this volume are obtained from the following sources:

1. Jesuit letters.—From Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 1-3, 69-72.

2. Discovery of Palaos.—From Lettres edifiantes (1st Paris ed.) i (1717), pp. 112-136, from a copy in the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

3. Recollect missions.—From Pedro de San Francisco de Assis's Historia general de los religiosos descalzos de San Agustin (Zargoza, 1756), all that relates to Philippine missions; from a copy in the Library of Congress. Also Juan de la Concepcion's Historia de Philipinas, viii, pp. 3-16, 135-144, and ix, pp. 123-150; from a copy in possession of the Editors.

4. Appendix: Moro pirates.—From Combes's Historia de Mindanao, Iolo, etc.; Murillo Velarde's Historia de Philipinas; Diaz's Conquistas; and other works, as is fully indicated in the text.



APPENDIX: MORO PIRATES

Moro pirates and their raids in the seventeenth century.

Sources: This account is compiled from various historians—Combes, Murillo Velarde, Diaz, Concepcion, and Montero y Vidalas is fully indicated in the text.

Translation: This is made by Emma Helen Blair.



MORO PIRATES AND THEIR RAIDS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

I

[In previous volumes have appeared various accounts of the piratical raids made, down to 1640, by the Mahometan Malays of Mindanao and other southern islands against the Spaniards and the native tribes whom they had subjected in the northern islands. A very brief outline of that information is here presented, with citations of volumes where it appears, as a preliminary to some further account which shall summarize this subject for the remainder of the seventeenth century.]

[When Legazpi first explored the Philippines, he sent some of his officers to open up trade with Mindanao, then reputed to be rich in gold and cinnamon (Vol. II, pp. 116-118, 147, 154, 209, 210). At the outset, much jealousy arose among the Spaniards against the Mahometan Malays (whom they called Moros) of that and other islands in the southern part of the Eastern archipelago, for two reasons—the Moros were "infidels," and they far excelled the Spaniards as traders (Vol. II, pp. 156, 159, 186, 187; IV, pp. 66, 151, 174). Moreover, the natives were everywhere hostile to the Spaniards because the Portuguese representing themselves to be Castilians, had previously made cruel raids on some of those islands, notably Bohol (Vol. II, pp. 117, 184, 207, 208, 229; III, p. 46). In that first year, 1565, a Bornean vessel was captured by the Spaniards, after a desperate fight; but hostilities then went no further (Vol. II, pp. 116, 206). The Moros of the Rio Grande of Mindanao proffered (1574) their submission to the Spanish power, apparently being in some awe of it (Vol. III, p. 275). Governor Sande had expansive ideas of Spanish dominion, and in 1578-79 undertook an expedition for the subjugation of Borneo, Mindanao, and Jolo; he obtained a temporary success, but the Moros again asserted their independence as soon as the Spaniards departed (Vol. IV, pp. 125, 130, 148-303; XV, pp. 54, 132). This expedition was partly caused by piratical raids made by the Borneans (Vol. IV, pp. 151, 153, 154, 159; VI, p. 183), and the Joloans (Vol. IV, pp. 176, 236) against the northern islands. Apparently this punishment intimidated the Moros for a time; the next important raid by them was in 1595 (Vol. IX, p. 196; XI, p. 266). In 1591 Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa had made a contract with Gomez P. Dasmarinas for the conquest of Mindanao (Vol. VIII, pp. 73-77). The island had then been partly explored and much of it assigned to Spaniards in repartimiento; some of these allotments are mentioned in Vol. VIII, pp. 127, 128, 132 (a list of those bestowed in 1571 is found in the Pastells edition of Colin's Labor evangelica, i, p. 157, note 1). Instructions were given to Figueroa on November 13, 1595 (Vol. IX, pp. 181-188), and in the following spring he set out with an armed force; but hardly had he begun the campaign when he was slain by a Moro (Vol. IX, pp. 195, 196, 263-265, 276, 277; XV, pp. 89-93; XVI, pp. 270-272). Juan de Ronquillo succeeded him, and for the time "pacified" the hostile Moros (Vol. IX, pp. 281-298; X, pp. 41, 42, 49, 168, 169, 214, 215; XI, p. 236; XV, pp. 95-100; XVI, pp. 273, 274); see his own report of the campaign (Vol. X, pp. 53-74) and Tello's (Vol. X, pp. 219-226; cf. Vol. XI, pp. 135-139). In 1599 the Spanish fort at La Caldera was dismantled (Vol. XI, pp. 138, 139, 237; XV, pp. 190, 191); this emboldened the Moros to renew their piracies, and from 1600 on they harassed the Visayan Islands and even Luzon—not only the Mindanaos but their allies the Ternatans, and the Joloans (Vol. XI, pp. 238, 239, 292-301, 303; XII, pp. 32, 39-41, 134-137; XIII, pp. 49, 146, 147; XV, pp. 192-196, 209, 265-267; XVIII, pp. 185-187, 331, 333; XIX, pp. 67, 68, 215-218, 223-225; XXII, pp. 89, 90, 203-206; XXIII, p. 259; XXIV, pp. 35-37, 102-104, 139, 142, 143, 329; XXV, pp. 86, 105, 152-154, 199; XXVI, p. 285; XXVII, pp. 215-226, 316). Similar raids were made by the Camucones, Moros from some small islands near Borneo (Vol. XVIII, p. 79; XXII, pp. 89, 132, 133, 202, 296-298, 303; XXIV, pp. 97, 138; XXV, pp. 154-156; XXVII, pp. 314-316; XXIX, pp. 31, 200). These attacks kept the peaceful natives in constant fear; their villages were burned and plundered, and their fields ravaged; and thousands were carried away to be sold as slaves, being thus dispersed among the Malay Islands. In 1621 Hernando de los Rios Coronel stated that ten thousand Christians were held captive in Mindanao (Vol. XIX, p. 264). At times the Spaniards sent armed fleets in pursuit of these pirates, but the latter would escape, on account of the superior lightness and swiftness of their vessels. Punitive expeditions were sent to their villages, some of which were futile, but others inflicted on them severe punishment—Jolo: 1602 (Vol. XV, pp. 240-243, 264, 265), 1626 (XXII, pp. 207-210), 1628 (XXII, pp. 293-295; XXIV, pp. 143-145), 1630 (XXIII, pp. 87, 88, 98; XXIV, pp. 163-165); and Mindanao: 1625 (XXII, pp. 116-119, 218, 224). It was proposed to enslave any Moro pirates who might be captured (Vol. XVII, pp. 187, 296, 331; XXIX, p. 269), and this was sometimes done (Vol. XXII, p. 134). Finally, Corcuera undertook to chastise them effectually; and in 1637 he led a large and well-equipped expedition to Mindanao, which captured Corralat's stronghold and devastated nearly all the coast of that island, driving out Corralat as a fugitive and intimidating other chiefs who had intrigued with him against the Spaniards (Vol. XXVII, pp. 253-305, 319-325, 346-357; XXIX, pp. 28-30, 60, 86-101, 116-134). Corcuera followed up this success by another in Jolo, in 1638 (Vol. XXVII, p. 325; XXVIII, pp. 41-63; XXIX, pp. 32, 36, 43, 44, 135, 136), and in the following year a Spanish expedition severely chastised the Moros around Lake Lanao, in Mindanao (XXIX, pp. 159, 161-163, 273-275); further military operations in Jolo and Mindanao, on a smaller scale, occurred during 1638-39 (Vol. XXIX, pp. 141-166, 198-200). It may be noted, further, that the Jesuits established missions there at an early date, evangelists of that order going with Figueroa in 1596 (Vol. XII, pp. 313-321; XIII, pp. 47-49, 86-89; XXII, p. 117; XXVIII, pp. 94-99, 151, 171); and others were founded by Augustinian Recollects (XXI, pp. 196-247, 298-303; XXIV, p. 115; XXVIII, pp. 152, 175, 340-345).]



II

[The second reduction of Jolo—by Almonte, in 1639 (Vol. XXIX, p. 143)—subdued all of that archipelago, save the Guimbanos, a fierce Moro people inhabiting the mountains of Sulu (Jolo) Island, who were hostile to the Joloans of the coast. When Almonte ordered them to cease disturbing the pacified Joloans, the Guimbanos made an insolent reply, telling the Spaniards to come to their country and learn the difference between them and the Joloans. Almonte therefore sent (July, 1639) troops, under Luis de Guzman and Agustin de Cepeda, to subdue these proud mountaineers; and after a fierce battle the Guimbanos retreated, leaving four hundred dead on the field, and three hundred captives in the hands of the Spaniards—of whom eight died, including Guzman, besides twenty Indian auxiliaries. (Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 96 b, 97.) After the departure of Almonte from Jolo, affairs went ill, Morales being unfit for his post as governor of those islands, although he was valiant in battle. Having abducted a beautiful girl, daughter of a chief named Salibanza, a conspiracy against him was formed by the enraged father; this was discovered, and the leaders seized. This, with several arbitrary and hostile measures of Morales, stirred up the Joloans to revolt, and an affray occurred between them and the Spaniards, in which Morales was wounded. Juan Ruiz Maroto was sent to relieve him from office, and tried to pacify the natives, but in vain; he then sent Pedro de la Mata Vergara to harry all the coast of Jolo, who burned many villages and carried away three thousand captives. Mata, being obliged to return to Mindanao, was succeeded by Morales, who rashly attacked (near Parang, Sulu Island) a force of Moros with troops exhausted by forced marches; the Spaniards, although in numbers far superior to the Moros, were ignominiously put to flight, thirty-nine of their number being slain, including Morales and another officer. At this time Cepeda was governor of Jolo, and he soon found it necessary to chastise the natives, who were encouraged to rebellion by their recent victory. (Combes, Hist. de Mindanao, col. 402-412; Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 121-122; Montero y Vidal, Hist. pirateria, i, pp. 175-181, 199-211.) An account of his exploits in this direction is furnished by letters of the Jesuit Miguel Paterio to Father Juan Lopez, regarding the expeditions of Cepeda (to whom Combes dedicated his book), written in 1643-44 (ut supra, col. cix-cxv); we present them here as a specimen of the proceedings in these punitive expeditions.]

Relation of the exploit which was accomplished in the villages of Paran by Captain and Sargento-mayor Don Agustin de Zepeda, warden of the forts in Jolo.

After the disaster to Admiral Morales, the Guimbanos of the villages of Paran were very arrogant and haughty, so that, however much they were invited, with assurance of peace and pardon, to lay down their arms before those of our king, and to restore the Spanish weapons that they were keeping, they paid no heed to it. Seeing this, Sargento-mayor Don Augustin de Cepeda, the better to justify the expedition that he intended to make against them, sent word to them through other Guimbanos who were our friends, that they must restore the arms that they had taken from the Spaniards, and that if they did not restore these he would wage war against them. To this they replied that those arms were converted into lances, and that nothing would be given up to the Spaniards, whether Don Agustin marched against them or not. The captain and sargento-mayor received this reply on Tuesday, December 29, and on Wednesday, the thirtieth of the same month, he determined to make a daylight attack on them with the utmost secrecy. Accordingly, at four in the afternoon, almost all the soldiers made their confessions, and the sargento-mayor exhorted them to rouse all their courage, as brave soldiers, since they were fighting for both the majesties [i.e., the divine and the royal], and they had the sure protection of the mother of God, our Lady of Good Success. Then they set out from the hill of Jolo with only twenty-five Spaniards and three officers, [Cepeda's lieutenants being] Adjutant Diego de los Reyes and Alferez Gaspar de Chaves; and twenty-two Pampangos and Cagaians, with their officers, also ten or fifteen servants with their pikes and shields. Of this infantry the captain formed three divisions, giving to each one its own watchword—to the first one, "Jesus be with all;" to the second, "Our Lady of Good Success;" to the third, "Saint Ignatius"—and each division was ordered to render aid according to its watchword, and as the enemy should sound the call to arms. With this order, they began their march, and proceeded until nightfall, when they marched in single file, since the road and the darkness gave no opportunity for doing otherwise. They passed rivers, ravines, marshes, and miry places, until they arrived at a village of a Guimbano chief named Ulisten, near which they heard coughing in the houses; and [they moved] so cautiously that they were not perceived. The sargento-mayor did not choose to enter this village, not only because the chief had showed his friendship for the Spaniards, but because his only intention was to punish the people of Paran, who had merited this by their acts in the past and by the haughty spirit that they showed. For the same reason, he would not enter another village near this one, belonging to another chief, named Sambali—who, if it were not for the purpose that the commander had in mind, deserved to lose his head for his rebellious disposition in not being friendly to the Spaniards. From the hill to these two villages may be a journey of about two leguas and a half; the road is very bad, and of the sort that has been described, [passing through] marshes and rough places; and, with the darkness of a moonlight night, to go among trees, thickets, and tangled briers was intolerable and full of difficulty. Not less wearisome was the road which they still must take to reach the people and village of Paran, and even more difficult: but neither the one nor the other could weaken or diminish the tenacity, spirit, and valor which not only the captain but his soldiers displayed. They traveled all night in this way until a little before daybreak, when they mistook the road, and took another, which did not lead to the village where they meant to go; but God chose that the people of that very village should serve as guides [to the Spaniards], by furnishing them light—for on account of quieting some infants who were crying, they kindled lights in the houses. The sargento-mayor ordered them to march toward that place, where they arrived at daybreak; and there they remained about half an hour, waiting for the dawn to brighten so that they might break the countersign [87] and make the daylight attack [dar el albasso] on the said village, which they did. For when it became light, and the day was brightening, they broke the watchword, which was "St. Ignatius;" and the division to which that belonged made the first attack on the houses, jointly with the vanguard, which went ahead to reconnoiter. All the forces united to make this assault on the houses, and to break through the defenses of the village and enter, all in order, with lighted matches and to sound of drums, as they did. In their houses this occasioned a great tumult; some were slain by musket-balls, some by lance-thrusts; others escaped naked, fleeing without thought of their kindred or their possessions, abandoning their weapons and whatever they had; others, finally, were burned to death in their houses, to which our men set fire—the natives remaining in them either through fear, or that they might not fall into our hands and be slain by our lances. They hid themselves, therefore, for the greater protection—only to have their houses, and their granaries of rice, and their bodies burned [here], and finally their souls in hell. Besides this, their cultivated fields were laid waste, set out with all the plants that they rear—bananas, sugar-cane, and other plants which furnish them with food; and our men did the same with these, destroying and burning everything. This done they looked about, scanning the country in all directions, and saw an impregnable height; and when the commander understood that this was (as it proved to be) the citadel of the enemies, he gave the order to march thither. They proceeded by a path or trail so narrow that they were obliged to ascend in single file; and when they reached the top of the said hill they found a plateau, more spacious than that of our hill of Jolo, on which were houses, some fortified and some small ones. The former were full of provisions and contained some Guimbanos. These, seeing our men and recognizing them as enemies, immediately abandoned the houses and took to flight, throwing themselves headlong from the heights. Our men entered the place, and burned the houses with the rice and other things contained in them; and they laid waste the fields and destroyed what had been planted in them, as they had done in the villages before ascending the hill. Our men were occasioned no little anxiety by their failure, after this exploit, to find the road by which to leave the hill; for, as it had in every direction precipices and rugged heights, they had great difficulty and hardship in getting away from the hill, on account of not being able to strike the path by which they had entered. But finally the Blessed Virgin who hitherto had been our Lady of Success, chose to show also that she was our Lady of Good Success—which she did by enabling our men to depart in safety from the hill. For the alferez, going to make a hasty reconnoissance with four arquebusiers, and some servants armed with pikes and shields, saw [traces of men's] work among the trees that covered the hill; and, upon reaching the place, ascertained that there was a path by which he could descend. Notifying the troops of this, they went down the hill by this path, and thus returned to the houses that they had burned, all marching in regular order. They approached the seashore through a level field, passing near the harbor where the natives had slain Admiral Morales; and, as they advanced through the open country, they encountered four Guimbano Indians, shouting [or grimacing?—haciendo carracheo], who came from a grove that was growing on the said seashore. When our men tried to get near them, these Indians took to their heels, retreating toward the grove—where, it was understood, they had an ambuscade; and as it was now eleven o'clock, the sargento-mayor did not think it best to delay [his return] longer. Accordingly, they marched in the same order, and to the sound of drums, toward the fortification that stood on the seashore, going through fields and mangrove thickets, and along beaches and pools of water, another two leguas and a half, until they reached the harbor where they had provided some boats. In these the sargento-mayor and all his troops embarked, and returned to these forts, with great satisfaction and rejoicing at so complete a success, without losing one of our men, or encountering any danger. Many salvos were fired from the boats in which they came, and from the forts, in honor of their protectors, Jesus, Mary, and Ignatius.

From this expedition and victory I have learned some things about Guimba which are worth mentioning here. The first is, that two days afterward the people of Paran made war on the chiefs Ulis and Sambali whom we mentioned above, complaining that these chiefs had not warned them that the Spanish troops had passed close to their villages, and even because they had allowed the Spaniards to pass them. May God establish them in peace, and grant them light and a knowledge of the truth. And after this expedition, as I have said, one of the chiefs in the villages to the east named Suil, complained that the sargento-mayor had not informed him of it, so that Suil with all his men might have accompanied the Spaniards. Although he may not be sincere, thanks are returned to him, and probably his offer was prompted by the admiration and high opinion that he entertains for our men since this exploit; or because he feared lest the like fate might befall him. He and other chiefs beyond Guimba to the east have sent to tell me that, although those who killed the sargento-mayor are their brothers, they will not for that reason fail to be the friends of the Spaniards; and that they will come to the village of the Lutaos who are in this fort [i.e., at Jolo] to talk with the father and treat of peace. And it cannot be denied that there has been a great disturbance among them since this expedition, and it has caused among them all not only fear, but astonishment also, to see that so few Spaniards could dare to traverse almost all of Guimba, marching almost all the way among the settlements, without being seen. In this affair not only the caution of the Spaniards, but their courage in penetrating among so many barbarians, the most valiant in all these islands, is causing great admiration—which is increased at seeing how so few Spaniards made so great a number of enemies take to flight; for in all the villages there are nearly a thousand barbarians who carry arms. It is certain that, considering the circumstances of this exploit, it adds prestige to several others that have been performed; and I even venture to say that it is astonishing, if we consider what occurred in one night, the perils that they went through, the daring of so few soldiers among so many enemies, and, finally, their accomplishing what they did in destroying and burning the villages and their people, without injury to any one of our men. All this causes the Moros who see these occurrences close to them to wonder and fear, and apparently they are talking in earnest of becoming friends and vassals of his Majesty. [Marginal note: "For Father Juan Lopez, rector of Cavite."]



[Another letter by Father Paterio, written from Jolo, February 28, 1644, relates the particulars of another expedition by Zepeda into Guimba, six days previous to that date. The native chiefs on the east side of the island are intimidated by the punishment inflicted on Paran, and are inclined to submit to the victorious Spanish arms; but those on the west desire to take revenge for the massacre of their tribesmen. A conference of the latter chiefs is accordingly held at the village of Ulis, where they talk of making an attack on the Spanish forts at Jolo. They invite Suil, one of the friendly chiefs, to join them; but he sends word to the Spaniards (February 9) of the plot against them. Zepeda is then absent in Zamboanga, but returns soon afterward; and another warning from Suil being received ten days later, Zepeda decides to inflict summary punishment on the plotters. He therefore leads an expedition against the village of Ulis, on February 21, and, as before, attacks the village at daylight. This time, the natives have had warning of the intended assault, and attempt resistance; but they are defeated with considerable loss—among the slain being Ulis, "who was the idol of that island, and whom all obeyed," and three other chiefs. In this fight the Spaniards lose but four lives—a soldier, an officer, and two servants. This causes even more fear and awe than even the former expedition, and brings the recalcitrants quickly to terms—Suil and other chiefs proposing to leave their homes and go to dwell near the Spanish forts. Later, the Spaniards complete this castigation by ravaging the country, burning and destroying all before them, "by which the Spanish arms have acquired greater reputation and glory than that which they had lost on former adverse occasions." Then other islands adjacent to Jolo are intimidated, and two battles are fought with their natives, who lose many men therein. As a reward for his services, Zepeda is honored by Corcuera with the governorship of Zamboanga.]



The Joloans remained at peace, as thoroughly chastised as were the Mindanaos, curbing their haughty arrogance, and repressing their hatred in consideration of the advantages of the time. Among the agreements for the peace, they accepted one that a fort for the Spaniards should be erected at their harbor-bar; this was maintained with many difficulties and little advantage, unless from the pearl-fishery, which yielded many and valuable pearls. [88] The island of Jolo abounds in these, so that on the Dutch hydrographical maps they have given it the name "Island of Pearls," on account of the many fine pearls which the Joloans sent in those years to Nueva Batavia by ambassadors from their king, asking their alliance, and aid against the Spaniards. The Dutch granted them protection, those valuable gifts arousing in them greater desires for profit—although afterward the first aid that they furnished the Joloans cost them very dear. But in this year of 1641 the Joloans had a fortunate opportunity for recouping themselves for past expenses, with a mass of amber [89] as large as an ox's body, which the sea cast up on their shores, which yielded them great profits, and increased the reputation of their island. This sort of find is usually very frequent in those islands, since they are beaten by many currents which flow from the archipelago; and thus goes drifting on the waves what the sea hurls from its abysses, along with other debris, under the fury of the wind—this so precious substance, whether it be the excrement or vomit of whales, or a reaba which the sea produces in its depths. But in Jolo it is apt to be more often found, because those islands are scattered and their coasts prolonged for many leguas opposite many currents and channel-mouths. And for this reason some amber is usually found in Capul, an island beaten by so many currents—as the ships which come on the return from Nueva Espana know by experience—and also in Guiguan and on the beaches of Antique. Near Punta de Naso the sea cast up, in the year 1650, an enormous piece of amber, although it had not the fine quality and excellence of that which comes from Japon. (Diaz's Conquistas, p. 447.)

[For several years after Corcuera's expedition against the Mindanaos (1637), various military operations were conducted in that island by the Spanish forces, notably under Pedro de Almonte. Corralat and other Moro chiefs were sufficiently reduced to render them nominally peaceful; but they formed various plots and conspiracies against the Spaniards, and, on the other hand, these availed themselves of the jealousies and personal interests of the Mindanao chiefs to separate them and neutralize their efforts. The foolish arrogance of a Spanish officer, Matias de Marmolejo, caused an attack on his detachment by Corralat and Manaquior; all the Spaniards save Marmolejo and six others were slain (June 1, 1642), including the Jesuit Bartolome Sanchez, and the survivors were captured by Corralat. But when Corcuera heard of this encounter he was so angry that he ordered Marmolejo to be ransomed and afterwards to be beheaded in the plaza at Zamboanga, for disobedience to his orders. He also ordered that the fort at La Sabanilla be demolished, and the men there be sent to punish Corralat, which was done. That chief, to revenge himself, intrigued with the people of Basilan to secure possession of the Spanish fort there; but its little garrison defended it against the Moro fleet until aid could be sent them from Zamboanga. As soon as Diego Fajardo became governor of the Philippines in Corcuera's place, he endeavored to secure peace in Mindanao, and finally (June 24, 1645) a treaty of peace was signed by Corralat and his leading chiefs, and Francisco de Atienza and the Jesuit Alejandro Lopez. This treaty settled questions of mutual alliance, of boundaries of possessions, of trade, of ransom of captives, and of freedom for the ministrations of Jesuit missionaries. Christian captives in Corralat's domain should be ransomed at the following rates; "for men and women, in the prime of life, and in good health, each forty pesos; for those who were more youthful, thirty pesos; for aged and sick persons, twenty pesos; for children at the breast, ten pesos." In this very year Salicala, son of the king of Jolo, had gone to Batavia to seek aid from the Dutch; the latter sent some armed vessels, which cannonaded the Spanish fort at Jolo for three days, but finally were obliged to depart without having accomplished anything. This occurrence increased Fajardo's anxiety in regard to the cost and danger incurred in attempting to maintain three forts in Jolo; and he sent orders to Atienza, commandant at Zamboanga, to withdraw the garrisons from Jolo and demolish those forts—an embarrassing command, since both Joloans and Dutch were then making raids among the northern islands. Both Fajardo and Atienza relied on the Jesuit Alejandro Lopez to bring about the pacification of both the Mindanaos and the Joloans, a task which he accomplished so successfully that on April 14, 1646, a treaty was signed, by Atienza and Lopez, [90] with Raya Bongso of Jolo (the same who, with his wife Tuambaloca, was conquered by Corcuera's troops in 1638) and the envoys of Corralat. Combes gives the full text of both this and the former treaty. A Dutch fleet attempted to make a landing near Zamboanga, but were repulsed by the Spaniards with much loss. Corralat and Moncay came to hostilities, and the former implored the aid of the Spaniards; Atienza sent an armed force to succor Corralat, and Moncay fled. Salicala of Jolo and Panguian Cachilo of Guimba undertook (1648) to raid the Visayan Islands; but the latter was attacked and slain by a Spanish squadron, which so intimidated Salicala that he hastened back to Jolo. Meanwhile, a notable event occurred in Mindanao, the conversion of Corralat's military commander, Ugbu, to the Christian faith—which of course tended to strengthen the ties between Corralat and the Spaniards; and Ugbu afterward rendered them efficient service in the Palapag insurrection, which caused his death. Salicala died (1649) and his parents, Bongso and Tuambaloca, were thus able to maintain the peace which they had established with the Spaniards; that queen afterward left Jolo, retiring to Basilan. Moncay also died, soon afterward, and was succeeded in Buhayen by Balatamay, a Manobo chief who had married Moncay's daughter; he joined Corralat in alliance with the Spaniards. In January, 1649, Pedro Duran de Monforte went with an armed fleet to northeastern Borneo, to punish its people for aiding the Joloans in their raids; the Spaniards plundered several villages, burned three hundred caracoas, and carried away two hundred captives. The expedition was accompanied by Jesuits, who afterward opened successful missions in Borneo. The insurrection of 1649-50 spread to Jolo and Mindanao, but was quelled by the Spaniards (see Vol. XXXVIII). (Combes, Hist. Mindanao, col. 269-348, 425-498; Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 149-153. Cf. Concepcion, Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 205-281; Montero y Vidal, Hist. pirateria, i, pp. 182-189, 212-231.)]



[In 1653 Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara succeeded to the government of the Philippines.] One of his first undertakings was to establish peace with the ruler of Mindanao, Cachil Corralat, whom it was expedient to assure for the sake of the tranquillity of the Pintados Islands—which were more exposed than the others to the incursions of their armed fleets, since Manila had not enough soldiers and vessels with which our people could go forth to hinder the operations of the Moros. The governor sent as his ambassador Captain Don Diego de Lemus, and Father Francisco Lado of the Society of Jesus, who were very kindly received by the Moros; and he gave them to understand that no one desired peace more than he did, since the warning was still fresh that had been given him by the war which was waged against him by Governor Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera in person—which had obliged Corralat to wander as a fugitive through the lands of his enemy the king of Buhayen, exposed to many perils. It seems as if the desire which Corralat showed to maintain the peace might be regarded as sincere; for if he had chosen to avail himself of the opportunity afforded by the past years, when all our forces and power were fully occupied in resisting the cruel invasions of the Dutch, without doubt he could have made great ravages in the villages of the Pintados Islands; and therefore this must be attributed to an especial providence of the divine mercy. All [these dealings with the envoys] were cunning measures of the shrewd Moro to lull [91] our vigilance with feigned appearances of peace, for never was he further from pursuing it—partly through greed for the booty of slaves, a great part of which belonged to him; partly because his captains and other persons interested in these piratical raids persuaded him to avail himself of the opportunity furnished by the weakness of our forces. Corralat determined to renew his former hostile acts, and began by preparing vessels and supplies; and in order to cover up better his damnable intention, he sent to the governor of Manila an ambassador to confirm the peace. This man was called Banua, and was no less fraudulent than Simon the Greek. On the route he left many tokens of this; for in the village of Tunganan, among the Subanos, he treated very contemptuously [92] the father minister, Miguel Pareja of the Society of Jesus—who, as the pious religious that he was, turned the other cheek, as the gospel commands. Banua arrived at Manila in the year of 1655, where he discharged very well his office as ambassador, and even better that of spy—and well he knew his double trade; for among other things he demanded that restitution be made to Corralat of some Mindanao slaves, and of the pieces of artillery which Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera had taken from him in war; but this and other petitions of the ambassador had no satisfactory issue. Banua returned [to Mindanao], and Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara despatched to accompany him Captain Don Claudio de Rivera, and Father Alejandro Lopez of the Society of Jesus, who went with holy zeal for establishing in Mindanao the preaching of the true faith. They arrived at Zamboanga, where they had sufficient warnings of the danger to which they were going; but with fearless courage they continued their journey until they reached Corralat. He received them without any of the ostentation usual for an embassy, but rather with frowns and displeasure; and when he read the letters from the governor of Manila—which were excellent for an occasion in which our strength might be greater, but the present time demanded shrewder dissimulation—the Moro king was much disturbed, and displayed extreme anger. The end of this embassy (of which an excellent account is given by Father Francisco Combes in his Historia de Mindanao, book viii, chap. 3) was that Corralat ordered his nephew Balatamay to slay Father Alejandro Lopez and his associate, Father Juan de Montiel, and Captain Claudio de Rivera. [93] Corralat sent the letters of the governor to the kings of Jolo and of Ternate, to incite them to make common cause in defense of their profession as Mahometans, but they did not choose to risk breaking the peace; on the contrary, the king of Ternate handed over the letters to the governor of our forts there, Francisco de Esteybar, who restored them to the governor of Manila. (Diaz, Conquistas, pp. 549-551.)

Corralat, fearing the vengeance of the Spaniards, wrote to the governor of Zamboanga throwing the responsibility for what had occurred on his nephew Balatamay, whom he could not chastise on account of the latter being so powerful. He also wrote to Manrique de Lara, attributing the deaths of the Jesuits and other Spaniards to imprudent acts committed by Father Lopez, and entreated the governor that, mutually forgiving injuries, affairs might remain as they had previously been. But his complicity in the event came to be discovered, through another letter directed in June, 1656, to the sultan of Jolo, exhorting the latter to unite with him for defending the religion which both professed. The Joloan monarch sent his letter to the governor of Zamboanga in order to demonstrate his loyalty. Similar assistance was solicited by Corralat from the Dutch and from the sovereigns of Macasar and Ternate; and to the latter, in order to stimulate him more, he sent the original letter of Manrique de Lara, presenting the question under the religious aspect only—a letter which the Spanish governor of Ternate was able to recover, and he sent it to its author. The captain-general of Filipinas, not considering his forces sufficient for waging war on the powerful sultan of Mindanao, notified the governor of Zamboanga [94] to accept Corralat's excuses as sufficient until he could ascertain whether reenforcements were arriving from Nueva Espana and they could avenge so many injuries.

The sultan, seeing that his insolent conduct did not receive the energetic and effectual punishment that it deserved, gained new courage, and sent out his people to make raids through the coasts of Zamboanga and Basilan—terminating the campaign by looting Tanganan, where they took captive the headman of that village, named Ampi, and twenty-three persons besides. In the Calamianes Islands also the Mindanaos committed horrible ravages. The governor of the Moluccas, Don Francisco de Esteybar, received orders to go to Zamboanga, conferring upon him, besides the command of the said post, the office of governor and captain-general of all the southern provinces of Filipinas. On the second of December of the said year 1656 he arrived at Zamboanga. When this valiant chief was informed of what had occurred, and learned that the pirates were equipping at Simuay [River] a squadron to invade the Visayas, he declared war on Corralat, without stopping to consider whether his forces were inferior or not to those of the enemy, trusting to the courage of his followers and the justice of his cause for the issue of the undertaking. In this document he ordered that ten caracoas should set out, under command of Don Fernando de Bobadilla; and these vessels went to sea on December 30. This commander detached Admiral Don Pedro de Viruega at the village of Sosocon, and Sargento-mayor Don Felix de Herrera at Point Taguima. Through his spies, Corralat knew of the departure of the squadron, and declined to send his boats against the Spanish armada; and during twenty days Bobadilla waited in vain for the pirate vessels. During this time the dato of Sibuguey, Mintun, went to Zamboanga, offering the aid of his people against Corralat, perhaps in order not to be the leader in paying for the losses of the war. It was reported that the sultan had sent four vessels to the village of that chief for rice, and Bobadilla set out to intercept this convoy (January 2, 1657). On arriving at La Silanga, [95] two small caracoas went ahead to reconnoiter the place; these boats conquered a large vessel; but their crews intimidated the Lutaos who were in the Spanish ship, telling them that they would soon be destroyed by Corralat, who was expected in Mintun with fifteen vessels. As the Lutaos of Bobadilla's squadron were inclined toward the sultan, or were afraid of falling into his power, they threatened the commandant that they would abandon the field when the battle was at its height, if the Spaniards compelled them to fight against Corralat. In view of this, Bobadilla was obliged to return to Zamboanga, losing so propitious an opportunity to avenge the wicked perfidy of the old sultan. Nevertheless, he seized a considerable number of small boats, full of rice, and forty captives. The sultan, now a declared enemy, and attributing to our weakness the failure to punish the murder of the ambassadors, commanded his squadrons to commit piracies, under the command of Prince Balatamay. That deceitful Moro, after committing the most outrageous acts of violence in Marinduque and Mindoro, returned to Mindanao with a multitude of captives and very rich spoils.

While Balatamay was raiding the above-mentioned islands, a splendid squadron sailed from Cavite by order of the governor-general, in command of an officer whose name is not told in the histories, from whom brilliant conduct was expected, to judge from the valor of which he boasted in drawing-rooms; but, far from fulfilling his duty, he lingered in Balayan under pretext of securing supplies of rice, and then in Mindoro, carrying out his cowardly purpose of not encountering the Moros, notwithstanding that the forces under his command were more than sufficient to destroy the pirates. To the end that he might operate in conjunction with the said squadron, Esteybar ordered Alferez Luis de Vargas to scour the coasts of Mindanao; but as the commander of the squadron failed to carry out the instructions that he had received, Vargas, as he could not find him, confined his efforts to burning a village on the bay of Simuay, where he seized several captives. Bobadilla reduced to ashes the old capital of Corralat, Lamitan, its inhabitants having fled to the woods. Also in the said year of 1657 the dato Salicala of Mindanao scoured the seas with his squadron; the natives in consternation abandoned their villages without daring to resist him, and he carried away as captives more than a thousand Indians—his audacity going so far that he sailed into the bay of Manila.

Esteybar then equipped a small squadron of caracoas and vintas, which departed from Zamboanga on January 1, 1658, resolved to chastise the pirate severely. He spread the report that they were going to Sibuguey. He reached that river in seven days and, placing part of his forces in charge of Sargento-mayor Itamarren, he destroyed the village of Namucan, and at Luraya burned many boats. Four pilans captured the joanga which had carried Father Lopez to Simuay, manned by Moros from Mintun. Suddenly changing his course, he took the route to Punta de Flechas, in order to go to the capital of Corralat, but sent beforehand thirty Spaniards, with Captain Don Pedro de Viruega, to the district of Butig. Its chief Matundin, at the head of five hundred men, was defeated, the grain-fields ravaged, and the village reduced to ashes. The tilled land of this district was exceedingly rich, since it is the principal source of supply for rice in Mindanao. Great damage was also done in La Sabanilla by Captain Don Juan Gonzalez Carlete. On the nineteenth of January the squadron encountered a large Dutch ship surrounded by some pirate vessels. Esteybar attempted to secure a free passage without bringing on a contest, to which end he hoisted a white flag; but the commander of the Dutch ship displayed a red flag, firing all his cannon against the Spanish vessels. Then, without heeding the superiority of the enemy, Bobadilla came against the ship, all his men rowing as hard as they could; and Esteybar attacked it at the stern. The Spaniards then were going to board the ship with a rush, when a ball fired from the vessel of Esteybar set on fire the Santa Barbara [i.e., powder-magazine] of the Dutch ship, thus blowing it into pieces. Only twenty-four of its crew survived, and these were drawn out of the sea and made prisoners. Esteybar continued his voyage to Simuay, the bar of which was fortified with heavy stockades; moreover, at its ends were two forts, garrisoned by Malays, Macassars, and Dutchmen. This did not frighten Esteybar, and he made preparations to capture the posts of the enemy, in spite of advice to the contrary from his captains. While he was deciding the best method of accomplishing this, he passed with his squadron to the river of Buhayen, sending in by one of its entrances the valiant Bobadilla with some vessels, and by the other Sargento-mayor Itamarren. The former sacked the villages and ravaged the grain-fields of Tannil and Tabiran, the latter those of Lumapuc and Buhayen; they destroyed a powerful armada which had been prepared for raiding the islands, and carried away as spoil many versos, muskets, campilans, crises, and all kinds of weapons.

In the village of Buhayen resided Prince Hamo, son of Moncay, from whom the kingdom had been usurped; he mounted a white flag and a cross above his house, being desirous of forming an alliance with the Spaniards, but they, being warned by experience with the treasons of the Moros, continued the hostilities, without attaching any importance to that signal. While they constructed rafts with which to attack the fortress of Corralat, Captain Antonio de Palacios went to destroy the village of Tampacan and its environs; and Adjutant Antonio Vazquez disembarked with orders to cut off the retreat of the enemy's spies. These were twenty in number, thoroughly armed; Vazquez rushed upon them, and at the first encounter killed five and wounded six of them, and the rest were shot to death in the woods. Esteybar returned to the bar of Buhayen; he knew that at a day's journey from there was a village of Lutaos, called Maolo, and, desirous to chastise that settlement and obtain information about that coast, he sent Sargento-mayor Itamarren—who, finding it deserted, set fire to the village, killed four Moros, and captured two others, the only ones who waited for the attack.

Notwithstanding these provocations, and others that were directly offered to Corralat in the environs of his fortifications, it was impossible to draw him out into the open country. Having constructed a number of rafts, on which were placed pieces of artillery, the governor went aboard the largest of them, and with the aid of the vessels cannonaded the fort of Corralat for the space of four hours, but he defended it well. It was evident that the difficulties of assaulting it were insuperable, and that the artillery was operating with but little result, on account of the condition of the sea; accordingly it was decided to retire to the bar of Buhayen. The squadron went to La Sabanilla on the seventeenth of February; here Esteybar received orders to return to Molucas, and he proceeded to Zamboanga. Notwithstanding the well-known valor of this chief, and the injuries inflicted on the Moros during the two months of the campaign, this retreat gave much satisfaction to Corralat, since it freed him from [the danger of] going as a wanderer through the hills, as on previous occasions.

The valiant Esteybar had been replaced as governor of the military post of Zamboanga by Don Fernando de Bobadilla—a chief no less courageous and resolute—with the same titles and preeminences as the former. Corralat, in order better to secure his dominions against the aggressions of the Spaniards, made Namu, king of Buhayen, establish a fort at the mouth of the river, the opposite shore of which was likewise fortified by Corralat; he entrusted to Marundin the defense of the bar of Simuay, and to the Basilan chiefs Ondol and Boto the construction of a fortification at the entrance of the estuary of Zamboanga. Don Diego Zarria Lazcano took the place of Bobadilla, the former remaining at the head of the armada.

The datos Linao and Libot of Jolo, and Sacahati of Tawi-Tawi, with thirteen vessels, scoured the coasts of Bohol, Leyte, and Masbate. Near Luban they put to death father Fray Antonio de San Agustin, who on account of his ailments could not retreat to the interior of that island as did the rest who were going with him in their vessel. A squadron sailed from Manila in command of Don Pedro Duran de Monforte; they went to Luban, Mindoro, Panay, and Gigantes without discovering the pirates, and returned to the capital. The Moros were able to return to Jolo with many spoils and eighty captives; but the sultan of that island sent back the said captives, in order to prove that he desired peace with the Spaniards. (Montero y Vidal. Hist. pirateria, i, pp. 236-244. Cf. Combes, Hist. Mindanao, col. 533-549, 570-587.)



Great were the calamities suffered by the Filipinas Islands in these years of 1657 and 58, which might have occasioned their entire ruin, if divine Providence had not manifestly preserved them, at the expense of miracles and prodigies. Even the arrogance of the Dutch recognized this, when they saw their proud forces humiliated by the unequal strength of ours; and it was acknowledged by the inhabitants of these islands, recognizing the divine clemency. In the former of those years the scourge of divine justice was the great armada of Mindanao corsairs, which, commanded by Salicala, a Moro of much valor, infested the Pintados Islands; and their insolence went so far that they came in sight of the great bay of Manila. The poor natives who groaned under the yoke of captivity to these pirates amounted to more than a thousand; and as it was impossible for most of them to furnish ransom for their persons, they usually died as slaves of the Moros. I have not been able to learn the reason why no assistance was given to deliver them by going out to find those pirates—although I do not believe that it was the absence of compassion in Governor Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, but rather his lack of means, and his being engrossed with more pressing affairs. This was followed by the plagues of innumerable locusts, which, laying waste the fields, made general havoc, occasioning the famine which was the worst enemy of the poor; this was followed by its inseparable companion, pestilence, which made great ravages with a general epidemic of smallpox. (Diaz, Conquistas, p. 556.)

General Don Agustin de Cepeda went to Zamboanga as governor (June 16, 1659), without any events worthy of mention occurring during the time while he exercised that office; afterward he went to assume the government of Molucas. He who took his place [96] experienced great annoyances with the Jesuits, who in their histories relate in great detail how much he tried to injure their interests; but Don Fernando Bobadilla was again charged with the government of Zamboanga (February 15, 1662).

The authorities and citizens of Manila were the victims in May, 1662, of a fearful panic, on account of the claim by the powerful Chinese pirate Kue-Sing that the little realm of Filipinas should render him homage and be declared his tributary, under penalty of his going with his squadrons to destroy the Spaniards—as he had done with the Dutch, expelling them from Formosa. This embassy, which was brought to Manila by the Dominican father Fray Victorio Ricci, and the consequent indignation against the Chinese, were the origin of an insurrection by those who resided in Manila, which was subdued; and the conference of authorities resolved to expel them from the country and repel by force of arms the aggression of Kue-Sing—the governor-general making ready great armaments, and whatever preparations for defense seemed to him necessary that he might come out victorious from the tremendous danger that threatened the island.

But the most important and most far-reaching of the measures adopted by the council at which Manrique de Lara presided was the abandonment of the advantageous post of Zamboanga—the advanced sentinel of our domination over the coasts inhabited by the fierce Malay Mahometans—and those of La Sabanilla, Calamianes, and Iligan (which were also important in the highest degree), with the intention of concentrating in Manila all the forces which garrisoned those posts (May 6). This notification caused, among the Spanish subjects of those lands, or it may be among the Lutaos, profound sorrow and the utmost fear. They complained bitterly of the unprotected state in which they were left, remaining exposed to the vengeance of the Moros—who no longer could consider them as belonging to their race, and bore a mortal hatred to them for having become Christians. [97] These just complaints, and the knowledge of the damages which would result from the withdrawal of the Spanish forces, impelled the governor of the fort, Don Fernando Bobadilla, and the learned Father Combes to entreat the governor-general to revoke his mandate, both explaining to him the very cogent and strong reasons which prompted their advice. The news that the Spaniards were involved in so tremendous a conflict encouraged the Joloans to repeat once more their terrible incursions. The datos of Jolo, Tawi-Tawi, Lacay-Lacay, and Tuptup, equipped sixty vessels, and, dividing their forces into several small squadrons, sacked and burned the villages of Poro, Baybay, Sogor, Cabalian, Basey, Dangajon, Guinobatan, and Capul. They killed Captain Gabriel de la Pena; they captured an official of the same class, Ignacio de la Cueva, and the Jesuit father Buenaventura Barcena; they went even to the mountains in pursuit of the religious; and all the Indians whom they caught they carried away as captives to their own country, killing many of all ages and classes.