Part 17

_Testimony_: On this said day an oath was received for the further investigation of the aforesaid, from Fernan Caravallo, at present in this city. He, having sworn in due legal form, promised under this charge to tell the truth regarding everything he knew. When questioned concerning the subject aforementioned, this witness said that he is a citizen of Macan, and that there he has heard it said by many persons, sailing on trading-ships from Macan to Malaca, Canboja, China, and other countries, that the king of Chanpan is a very great pirate, usually cruising about with a large fleet, assaulting the merchants whom he meets and robbing them of their ships, imprisoning their crews, and stealing their property; and that he does them great violence and injury. About five years or so ago, Sebastian de Araujo, an inhabitant of Macan, sent some men to Chanpan to build a junk there. When it was almost finished, the king of Chanpan seized it, and imprisoned the said men who were building it. Two or three of them were killed; and for those who remained in captivity, the said Sebastian de Araujo procured ransoms. Some fled with the said ship, when opportunity offered. Witness has also heard it said that the king has seized many other Portuguese ships that have gone ashore there in storms, and others that he deceitfully causes to enter his ports by offering them a safe harbor, but whom he afterward imprisons, robs of their goods, and treats with great cruelty. All the above this witness has heard said by certain persons who have been in captivity there. It seems to this witness that it will be a matter of the greatest importance to attack the said king of Chanpan and crush him, because he is in the route of the vessels where he does a great deal of harm, because all the trading-vessels from Malaca, Canboja, Çian, Patan, China, and other neighboring countries have to pass by that place. It will be a great service to God our Lord, and to his Majesty, to remove so great a pirate from the vicinity. Everything that this witness has said is the truth, and what he has heard said concerning the things asked him. His information goes no farther. His age is about thirty-seven years or so.

Signed, _Fernan Caravallo_

Before me:

_Jhoan de Cuellar_

[_Endorsed_: "Inquiry against the king of Chanpa."]

Letter from Governor Don Francisco Tello

1. _This recounts that on all occasions the state of affairs of these islands has been reported, and was not enlarged upon because no instruction had been sent nor has been up to the year 1598, on which account many things pertaining to the service of his Majesty, and of importance for this country, have failed to receive attention._ [31]

As I have at various times written to your Majesty, you ordered me to come here and serve in this country, without giving me the royal instructions of despatches to that end. Accordingly many things of importance which your Majesty commanded me to attend to were left undone at the time I came. When I arrived in these islands I wrote to your Majesty at length of those things which could be managed in spite of the short time I had spent here. These despatches were lost in the ship "San Phelipe" which Don Luis Perez Dasmarinas despatched in the year 1596, and which was lost in Xapon. The next year, 1597, I awaited the royal instruction of your Majesty in order to govern my

## action by it; but neither did that come, until the past year, 1598. I

govern my action according to that of Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, my predecessor, and with that I have stumbled through various matters. In the past year, 1597, I wrote at length to your Majesty describing the condition of the country and that of Japon, together with the state of the expedition to Mindanao, and all other things which seemed expedient. I also wrote that I had married Doña Tomasina, my relative, and the daughter of Doctor Horosco, president of your royal Audiencia of Guadalaxara--humbly beseeching your Majesty to approve of this, since Doña Tomasina was not a native of this country; and I had not gone beyond your Majesty's intentions, for you gave me permission to bring my wife to this land. As she died on the way I married Doña Tomasina, whom I brought from Mexico. In the past year, 1598, I received the royal instruction of your Majesty and other royal decrees which were mentioned therein, at the time when the ships were being despatched. Those things which could be done at that time, considering the short time before they left, I attended to then. I have in everything worked for the service of our Lord and your Majesty, conformably to the pious zeal and spirit with which I am serving you here; and I have carried out those things entrusted in your royal service to my predecessor.

2. _That it is expedient, in order to realize the results of the great expense in these islands, that religious should be sent each year to gather the harvest which should be taken from it; and that an account should be sent of the Indians here, both Christians and infidels, and a memorandum of the religious._

As the holy intention of your Majesty, in the expenses which from your patrimony you incur in this country, is principally the conversion or the heathen here, and the establishment of the holy gospel in place of their idolatries, there is no better means than the teaching of the Christian doctrine and the presence of its ministers. That your Majesty may have a fuller report of it, I am sending an account stating how many Indians are pacified, and acknowledge the royal name of your Majesty in these said islands; the number of Christians and infidels; and how many are taught and how many to be taught--not only in the encomiendas under your royal crown but in the private ones. Accordingly I beg your Majesty to be pleased to further this, appointing each year, as usual, religious of exemplary life, so that they may bring with more love and gentleness our holy Catholic faith to the Indians; for certainly as much as a good minister edifies, finding fault injures. With this goes the memorandum which your Majesty ordered me to send, of the religious in these islands and those whom it will be necessary to bring from España each year. Those who are here are assigned as well as was possible, so as to give instruction to all. The mission villages are in some confusion and the orders somewhat mixed with one another. This could not be remedied as it should have been, owing to the untimely death of the archbishop, which occurred on the fourteenth of August of the said year of 1598.

3. _That the bishop of Camarines has not come, and that the other two arrived in the year 98, and did not bring bulls for the partition of their bishoprics, and that they are getting along well._

The bishop of the province of Camarines [32] did not come, and therefore it is being ecclesiastically governed by the chapter of the cathedral of Manila, _sede vacante_, as has been done hitherto. The bishops of the city of Nueva Segovia and of Cebu arrived in these islands in the past year of 1598, as I wrote to your Majesty. They did not bring bulls from his Holiness nor decrees from your Majesty, directing the division of their bishoprics. Each one has therefore taken what seemed best to him: he of Nueva Segovia took the territory beyond the province of Pangasinan, and he of Cebu took possession of the island of Panay, saying that his bishopric included all the province of the Pintados. The chapter of this holy metropolitan church, _sede vacante_, held otherwise, and the case was brought before this royal Audiencia. Its decision left the bishop in possession, to avoid disagreement, until your Majesty should command that the partition be definitively made. He is at present in this city celebrating confirmation in the place of the archbishop, and will officiate at the obsequies of the king our lord, of glorious memory. The bishop of Nueva Segovia is in his church. They are men of holy life and fulfil their duties well.

4. _That to finish the work on the great church entirely, there is needed a tower and sacristy; and that these are not built, for lack of money, which is being raised by various alms and grants._

The work on the great church of this city would have been completed some time ago, but for the lack of money; and, with the tower and new sacristy which are being built, it will be finished in all points. The work is of stone, moderately elaborate; when the means are at hand it will be continued to completion. I manage always to help it with various alms and expedients, and at present I am assigning it two toneladas for the chalices and ornaments, which sell at two hundred pesos. That you may know how the fourteen thousand ducats which your Majesty, in your royal instructions, ordered me to assign it, has been spent in it, that sum was given toward the building and ornaments; I have ordered that the accounts be rendered, and when they are settled I shall inform your Majesty of their substance.

5. _That, in accordance with a royal decree, inspection has been made of the great church, and it has been found very poor in ornaments; and that two prebends and two half-prebends have been erected._

In accordance with a royal decree of your Majesty, directed to the archbishop and myself, your Majesty directed us to make a visitation of the church, inspect the ornaments which it has, and give our opinion regarding the dignities and prebendaries which it would be expedient to have there, and with what stipend. The said visitation was made, and we found the church very poor in ornaments; and your Majesty is informed that for the time being it would be sufficiently supplied with two prebends and two half-prebends, which we established--the prebends with a stipend of two hundred pesos per year, and the half-prebends with a hundred and fifty. I await your Majesty's approval.

6. _That the hospitals are in good condition, and are being helped with alms and grants; and there has been incorporated, in that for the Spaniards, the Confraternity of La Misericordia; and that possession has been taken of that for the natives and the accounts audited, a sworn statement of which goes with this._

Your Majesty orders me, by a clause in your royal instructions, to provide carefully for the hospitals. In fulfilment of this I have inspected them, and have ordered the auditors to do the same in their turn. They are in very good condition, each one having two apartments of its building finished in stone, with its work-room, stewards, nurses, and two Franciscan religious for each, who live in the hospital. At the royal hospital for the Spaniards I have incorporated the Confraternity of La Misericordia, which includes the richest people of this country. It has more than a thousand eight hundred and sixty pesos of income, and I am adding five hundred more for eight years, making in all two thousand three hundred and sixty, besides which they have a farm for raising cattle. The accounts of these funds are kept, for the superintendent, by him who enters in his place each year. The royal hospital for the Indians has five hundred pesos of income, two hundred pieces of cloth from Ylocos, one thousand five hundred fanegas of rice in the hull, one thousand five hundred fowls (which your Majesty presents to them), and a farm for breeding cattle. I am aiding both of them with various alms and grants, and, as I have informed your Majesty, I regularly assign to that of the Spaniards eight toneladas, which are worth eight hundred pesos each year; and to that of the natives four, which are of proportionate value. I took possession of that of the natives in your Majesty's name, according to the royal patronage, and audited the accounts, a sworn statement of which will go with this.

7. _That the seminary for the training of girls is in good condition, and the building finished; but it has little income, and will have to be reduced to a convent of professed nuns, and its income somewhat increased._

The Seminary of Santa Potenciana is in very good condition; for not only has the church been finished for some years, but it has a capacious building entirely of stone, in which some thirty women are leading a religious life. Most of these are the maiden daughters of honorable men; others are poor mestizas, and still others have been left there who have husbands or fathers absent on your Majesty's service; there are also a few older women. They have a superior who is a woman of quality, and who lives a very exemplary and pious life. All of them intend either to remain there in the service of God, or to leave married, and in a bettered situation--as several have done and are now doing (thanks to the good name which the institution has), which is the holy intention of your Majesty. They have a director and a confessor who do not live in the building, as no apartment has been built for them. For two months past the holy sacrament has been administered there. These women, thus secluded, celebrate the divine offices with singing, and with as much veneration and as fittingly as if it were a convent of nuns founded forty years ago. It has four hundred pesos of perpetual income and as much more temporarily from a shop in the Parian of the Sangleys; but this is not enough to maintain it, and so they are in great need. I contrive to help it with alms and various grants wherewith it may be supported. I have tried to reduce it to a convent of professed nuns and have done my best with the viceroy of Nueva España, to have him send me two religious women, of pious life, from Mexico to found it. He answers me that there is no one who dares to go to these islands, on account of the difficulty of the journey and the inconvenience of the ships. I beseech your Majesty that--as this work is so important to this commonwealth, and in order to place in a better position here the daughters of honorable men who have not the money to marry them, on account of the depreciation of the encomiendas and property--you may be pleased to order the viceroy to be diligent in coming to our aid by enabling these religious to come; and that you will give to this seminary an income adequate for its maintenance, or give me permission to apply to it some repartimiento of Indians.

8. _That Captain Don Luis Perez and the fathers of the Society are establishing a seminary for the natives; that this had not been done earlier because the income assigned to it has not been furnished; and that the work should be furthered._

Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas, according to an order which he had from your Majesty, agreed with the fathers of the Society of Jesus that they should establish a seminary for the natives, where they might be taught civilized ways and instructed in religion; and that he should give them the wherewithal to erect a building, and a thousand pesos of income for its maintenance. To begin the work, he presented to the said Society six hundred pesos, and the income was put in the treasury of the fourths. When I arrived here I confirmed these negotiations, according to the royal decree of your Majesty in which you gave me the same orders; and likewise the royal Audiencia, being petitioned to confirm them, did so. This work has ceased because enough money has not been furnished for it, and because the income is not sufficient, owing to the fact that the said treasury of the fourths is much embarrassed. If it be your Majesty's pleasure, it would be well that this holy intention of your Majesty be furthered, so that the Indians may learn the Spanish language in an orderly manner, and in this way be better instructed. For this it will be necessary to give the said Society the means to build the said seminary, and the thousand pesos of income each year in perpetuity, from the royal treasury of your Majesty, or else a repartimiento of Indians, as soon as one becomes vacant--your Majesty giving me permission to apply it in such wise that, besides this instruction, education and a living may be given there to a few poor students, who will be learning the language at the same time. When they are ordained they will act as ministers of instruction, and will make it unnecessary for so many ministers to come out here at so great cost to your royal estate.

9. _That measures have been taken for the execution of the royal decree brought by the bishop of Nueva Segovia in regard to rendering submission; that difficulties have begun to arise in its execution, and that information concerning them is sent_.

From the hand of the bishop of Nueva Segovia I received the royal decree of your Majesty in which you ordered me, by the best and most gentle methods possible, to compel the natives of these islands to render submission to your Majesty (this ceremony having been neglected at first), so that the tributes which they pay may be collected with more justice. I was ordered to join with the archbishop, bishop, and other prelates, the superiors of the orders, in its execution. I acted accordingly, having the said royal decree read to them, and the intention of your Majesty explained, for the greater peace of your royal conscience. Havings conferred and consulted in regard to it, the said committee came to a decision regarding the matter, which your Majesty will order to be examined by the authorized copy which I am sending. This is what has been done since then, in virtue of their decision. Instructions and directions have been sent to the alcaldes-mayor and to the religious in all the provinces, that by the gracious methods which your Majesty directs, submission shall be rendered to your Majesty. In the province of Ylocos, in the diocese of the bishop of Nueva Segovia, this was very well done; and submission was rendered to your Majesty. Likewise the whole district of Manila, a mission of the Augustinian fathers, has rendered submission. La Laguna, in charge of the Franciscan fathers, has not so easily yielded; for the natives there have asked a year's time in which to answer; and I have left La Laguna in this state, until I should give an account of it to your Majesty, as you direct me. The same thing will be done in the other provinces which ask delays. Thus far I am not informed of what has been done. Things have always been as they are now, without there being any scruples; and, when these islands were conquered and subjected, they were placed in obedience to your Majesty with just as many requirements as the other parts of the Yndias. Your Majesty has lost here many troops and much money. It is more than thirty-four years during which they have had the true knowledge of God our Lord, and of His holy gospel law, by virtue of which your Majesty has possessed this country and collected tribute from his vassals--who have received great benefit in being such; for in the time when they were heathens they were subjected to many tyrannies, imposed upon them by the chieftains whose subjects they were, who took from them their wives and property during their lives. Now they are secure in all these things, and much benefited in spiritual and temporal goods. They are in no wise oppressed by the collection of the tribute; and if the effect of this royal decree must continue and be in operation as provided therein, there will be many difficulties, such as have already commenced with the seeking of delay. Your Majesty will hold nothing securely, and for the same reason will have no justification for possessing this land. I am sending your Majesty a copy of the instruction and directions which are ordered for the execution of these measures, and one of the answers by the natives of La Laguna; so that, seeing these difficulties, your Majesty may be pleased to order a review of this affair and a determination of what is most expedient for the service of your Majesty. In the meantime I shall put matters into the best state possible.

10. _That two sermons have been preached on the bulls, and that very little alms have resulted; that at present they are considering how to preach to the Indians and that no doubt they will succeed, when it will be necessary to send more bulls, according to the memorandum of the treasurer_.

Before I came to these islands the first preaching of the bulls concerning the holy crusade had commenced; and last year occurred the second, which is now in progress. I have written to your Majesty my sentiments in this matter; and now I say again to your Majesty that, although the bulls which are preached here and disposed of among the Spaniards are very necessary for them, the alms proceeding from this source, allotted to your Majesty, are of very little importance, because there are not many people here--for the Spaniards do not amount to two thousand, and of these there are very few who are not exceedingly poor. The proceeds of the first preaching, when reckoned up, do not reach two thousand pesos; and that these alms might be of more importance, I have considered how the bulls might be preached to the Indians. I have found that in the time of Don Luis Perez many difficulties arose, as it was said that they are a people only partly and newly converted, and that with the bull their present simple mode of life would be ended. For this and other reasons I did not resolve last year to have the crusade preached to the Indians. At present I am considering this more seriously, and the preaching will doubtless be begun at the pressing demand which the fiscal has made in your Majesty's name, although with a small number of bulls, because few have come from Mexico. I wrote to them to send more than usual, and gave an account thereof to the royal Council of your Majesty for the holy crusade. I am sending a memorial which will go with this, concerning the bulls which are necessary, with their kind and value, both for the Spanish people and for the natives, that your Majesty may provide according to your pleasure. [33]

11. _Establishment of the royal Audiencia_.

Last year I wrote how this royal Audiencia was founded, and sent an account of the reception of the royal seal; and how there were in the Audiencia three auditors, Doctor Antonio de Morga, the licentiate Telles Almasan, and the licentiate Alvaro Çanbrano, the licentiate Salasar as fiscal, the licentiate Padilla as reporter, and a clerk of court; and how the licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera Maldonado, the first auditor, had remained in España.

12. _Death of the licentiate Çambrano on the fourteenth of March; and in his place is proposed the name of the licentiate Salasar, fiscal of this royal Audiencia, and for the office of fiscal the licentiate Padilla, reporter._