When Legaspi's fleet, soon after its arrival, lay near the island of Bohol, the "Maestro de Campo" had a hard fight with a Moro vessel which had come up for trade, and took six prisoners. One of them, whom they call the "pilot," was closely interrogated by the Adelantado and some interesting information obtained, which is recorded by Padre San Augustin. [14] Legaspi had a Malay slave interpreter with him and San Augustin says that Padre Urdaneta "knew well the Malayan language." The pilot said that "those of Borneo brought for trade with the Filipinos, copper and tin, which was brought to Borneo from China, porcelain, dishes, and bells made in their fashion, very different from those that the Christians use, and benzoin, and colored blankets from India, and cooking-pans made in China, and that they also brought iron lances very well tempered, and knives and other articles of barter, and that in exchange for them they took away from the islands gold, slaves, wax, and a kind of small seashell which they call 'sijueyes,' and which passes for money in the kingdom of Siam and other places; and also they carry off some white cloths, of which there is a great quantity in the islands." Butúan, on the north coast of Mindanao, seems to have been quite a trading-place resorted to by vessels from all quarters. This country, like many other parts of the Philippines, has produced from time immemorial small quantities of gold, and all the early voyagers speak of the gold earrings and ornaments of the natives. Butúan also produced sugarcane and was a trading-port for slaves. This unfortunate traffic in human life seems to have been not unusual, and was doubtless stimulated by the commerce with Borneo. Junks from Siam trading with Cebu were also encountered by the Spaniards. Result of this Intercourse and Commerce.--This intercourse and traffic had acquainted the Filipinos with many of the accessories of civilized life long before the arrival of the Spaniards. Their chiefs and datos dressed in silks, and maintained some splendor of surroundings; nearly the whole population of the tribes of the coast wrote and communicated by means of a syllabary; vessels from Luzon traded as far south as Mindanao and Borneo, although the products of Asia proper came through the fleets of foreigners; and perhaps what indicates more clearly than anything else the advance the Filipinos were making through their communication with outside people is their use of firearms. Of this point there is no question. Everywhere in the vicinity of Manila, on Lubang, in Pampanga, at Cainta and Laguna de Bay, the Spaniards encountered forts mounting small cannon, or "lantakas." [15] The Filipinos seem to have understood, moreover, the arts of casting cannon and of making powder. The first gun-factory established by the Spaniards was in charge of a Filipino from Pampanga.