it is clearly seen and inferred that his majesty is convinced and believes that the Filipinas islands are within his demarcation, for on the one hand he orders me to come to them, and on the other not to infringe the royal treaty of our kings and sovereigns. And in this faith and belief I came and have remained here in his royal name, and not with the intention of injuring the most Christian king of Portugal or harming any of his possessions, or in any way to transgress the said treaty. And even though the lands belong to his majesty, my will and intention has, up to the present time, not been to settle in them or in any others until I should have the authority of his majesty; and the assurances and letters of protection which have been given to the natives of this land were so given, to the end and purpose that the warriors and soldiers who go and come from one place to another in search of provisions should not be harmed or injured or robbed. In this, indeed--even though the lands do belong to his highness, as is set forth in the said summons--a service has been done him; for all was done with the intention of protecting and preserving the natives thereof. Moreover, just as soon as I arrived at these islands I endeavored to learn and ascertain if the Portuguese had come here, and if they had any intercourse and commerce with the natives; and if the said natives did them any service, or paid them tribute, or if the Portuguese derived any other advantage from them. And the said natives assured me that this was not the case, and that they neither knew them nor had ever seen them. This assurance emboldened me in thinking myself the more authorized to provide and supply myself from among them, without harm to anyone. As regards the tributes mentioned in the summons aforesaid, the fact is that on a few occasions no supplies were to be bought; and, in order not to make war upon the natives and do them any injury, or to take the supplies from them by force, we persuaded them to give us some provisions by means of which our people might be maintained. Some of them gave and have given, of their own free will, a certain amount of rice and other food, but nothing whatsoever through which his majesty has derived any profit--on the contrary, a large amount of gold has been paid out for the provisions aforesaid; and this, moreover, the natives gave, when, and in what manner, and in what quantity they themselves desired, without suffering any violence or receiving any reward. Everything which I have enumerated was to protect and defend the natives aforesaid, without doing them any harm or injury whatsoever. And as for what his grace says in the summons aforesaid about sending Antonio Runbo de Acosta and Baltesar de Soza to visit me, and how they came in the month of July of the past year to this camp, with letters from his grace and other captains entreating me to go to their fleet and fortress of Maluco with all my people, together with