In the month of Dasmariñas' arrival, a company of Dominicans attempted to found a mission in China, and, an embassy coming from Japan to demand vassalage from the Philippines, four of the newly arrived Franciscans accompanied the Japanese on their return. A year later, in 1592, another embassy from the king of Cambodia arrived, bringing gifts that included two elephants, and petitioning for succor against the king of Siam. This was the beginning of an alliance between Cambodia and the Philippines which lasted for many years, and which occasioned frequent military aid and many efforts to convert that country. Death of Dasmariñas.--But the center of Dasmariñas' ambitions was the effective conquest of the East Indies and the extension of Spanish power and his own rule through the Moluccas. With this end in view, for three years he made preparations. For months the shores were lined with the yards of the shipbuilders, and the great forests of Bulacan fell before the axes of the Indians. More than two hundred vessels, "galeras," "galeotas," and "virrayes," were built, and assembled at Cavite. In the fall of 1593, the expedition, consisting of over nine hundred Spaniards, Filipino bowmen and rowers, was ready. Many of the Filipinos, procured to row these boats, were said to have been slaves, purchased through the Indian chiefs by the Spanish encomenderos. The governor sent forward this great fleet under the command of his son, Don Luis, and in the month of October he himself set sail in a galley with Chinese rowers. But on the night of the second day, while off the island of Maricaban, the Chinese oarsmen rose against the Spaniards, of whom there were about forty on the ship, and killed almost the entire number, including the governor. They then escaped in the boat to the Ilocos coast and thence to China. The murder of this active and illustrious general was a determining blow to the ambitious projects for the conquest of the East Indies. Among other papers which Dasmariñas brought from Spain was a royal cedula giving him power to nominate his successor, who proved to be his son, Don Luis, who after some difficulty succeeded temporarily to his father's position. Arrival of the Jesuits.--In June, 1595, there arrived Don Antonio de Morga, who had been appointed assessor and lieutenant-governor of the Islands, to succeed Don Luis. With Morga came the first Jesuit missionaries. He was also the bearer of an order granting to the Jesuits the exclusive privilege of conducting missions in China and Japan. The other orders were forbidden to pass outside the Islands.