he would come on that very day, and that he would bring ten of the principal chiefs of that island. I waited for them that whole day; but as I saw that the people were much occupied in removing their possessions from their houses and carrying them to the mountain, and that during all this day and until noon of the next, Tupas, the son of Saripara, who killed the men of Magallanes, did not come, I sent a boat with father Fray Andres de Hurdaneta and the master-of-camp, in order that, in their presence, the government notary, with Hieronimo Pacheco, interpreter of the Malay tongue (which is spoken by many of the natives of this land), might request the natives, as vassals of the king of Castilla, to receive us peaceably. They were to assure the people that I did not come to do them any harm, but on the contrary to show them every favor, and to cultivate their friendship. Three times this announcement was made to them, with all the signs and kind words possible to win their friendship. But at length--seeing that all our good intentions were of no avail, and that all the natives had put on their wooden corselets and rope armor [101] and had armed themselves with their lances, shields, small cutlasses, and arrows; and that many plumes and varicolored headdresses were waving; and that help of men had come in _praus_ from the outside, so that their number must be almost two thousand warriors; and considering that now was the time for us to make a settlement and effect a colony, and that the present port and location were exactly suited to our needs, and that it was useless for us to wait any longer; and seeing that there was no hope for peace, and that they did not wish it, although we had offered it--the master-of-camp said to the natives through an interpreter: "Since you do not desire our friendship, and will not receive us peacefully, but are anxious for war, wait until we have landed; and look to it that you act as men, and defend yourselves from us, and guard your houses." The Indians answered boldly: "Be it so! Come on! We await you here." And thereupon they broke out into loud cries, covering themselves with their shields and brandishing their lances. Then they returned to the place whence they had set out, hurling their lances by divisions of threes at the boat, and returning again to their station, going and coming as in a game of _cañas_. [102] Our men got ready and left the ships in boats; and as the boats left the ships for the shore, in accordance with the order given them, some shots were fired from the ships upon the multitude of _praus_ anchored near a promontory, as well as at the landsmen upon shore, and upon the town. But, although they had showed so great a desire for war, when they heard the artillery and saw its effects, they abandoned their village without waiting for battle, and fled through the large, beautiful, and fertile open fields that are to be seen in this region. Accordingly we remained in the village, which had