[80] From this place we continued the said course until we reached an altitude of thirteen and three-quarters degrees, and in the two days that we sailed west in this latitude, we sighted the islands of Serpana [i.e., Seypan] and Guan in the Ladrones. We passed between the two and did not anchor there, because we had no cable for lowering and hauling up the boat. This was the third of the month of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-six. On the fourteenth of the same month we sighted the cape of Espiritu Sancto, and on the fifteenth we anchored in the bay of Cobos. [81] We reached there in such a state that only the goodness of God could have taken us thither; for human strength and resources would hardly have taken us a tenth of the way. We reached that place so dismantled and the crew so weak that we were a most piteous sight, and with only nine or ten jars of water. In this bay of Cobos the ship was repaired and the men recuperated as much as possible. On Tuesday, February second, we left the above port and bay, and on the tenth of the same month we anchored in the port of Cabite, etc. Besides my desire to serve your Grace, I am moved to leave this brief relation for you, by the fact that if, perchance, God should dispose of my life, or other events should cause me or the relation that I carry to disappear, the truth may be learned from this one, which may prove a matter of great service to God and to the king our sovereign. [82] Will your Grace look favorably upon my great desire to serve you, of which I shall give a better proof, if God permit me to return to this port. Will your Grace also pardon my brevity, since the fault lies in the short time at my present disposal. Moreover, since no man knows what time may bring, I beg your Grace to keep the matter secret, for on considering it well, it seems only right that nothing be said about the first islands until his Majesty be informed and order what is convenient to his service, for, as the islands occupy a position midway between Peru, Nueva Españia, and this land, the English, on learning of them, might settle them and do much mischief in this sea. Your Grace, I consider myself as the faithful servant of your Grace. May God our Lord preserve you for many years in great joy and increasing prosperity, etc. Your Grace's servant, PEDRO FERNANDEZ DE QUIROS To Doctor Antonio de Morga, lieutenant-governor of his Majesty in the Filipinas.