Mindanao is closer to the equinoctial line than the islands of Ibabao, Leite, Sebu, and Bohol, and is larger than almost all those four together. I shall say no more of its richness and fertility than that it is not inferior to the most fertile of all of them. Besides that, it is this island only that abounds in civet and cinnamon. The cinnamon grows among the mountains, and the civet is obtained in large quantities from the many civet-cats which only this island breeds. The natives in nearly all of the island are friendly; but in the southern part along the river of Mindanao (which they call, and is, another Nile in its grandeur and breadth), the people, with those of some adjoining districts, are rebellious and turbulent, and are enticed by the Ternatans, who have introduced there the doctrine of Mahoma. As a result, both of those peoples are enemies, not only to us, but to our friends in the same island. An incident occurred there which I shall not fail to relate, to show the valor of those islanders. While the Spaniards had their camps and garrisons stationed on this river, together with some vessels anchored in the water, there was celebrated the marriage of a friendly chief with the daughter, or the sister, of another chief who dwelt farther up the river; and the commander of that camp, as a token of friendship, undertook to honor this event by despatching two galliots up the stream to convey the bride. The Mahometan enemy, Silongan, who dwelt in the district through which they must pass, upon learning that our people had gone by, and when they were to return, made no attempt to hinder their passage with the bride, although they were actually at open war with us; but he went unprotected to the bank of the river with dignified pace and sober garb, carrying a fan, and gazing with much interest on the galliots and their passengers. Recognizing him, our soldiers in the arrogance of youth, and in hatred to the enemy, applied their matches, and fired a few shots. The bullets, which were generously aimed at his feet, did not touch him, although they fell near by; nor did they cause in him any more agitation or anger than if the matter were some jest which he disregarded. This was the courage of an enemy--one of the dwellers in the southern part of the island; I will relate an instance of valor in a friendly native, an inhabitant of the northern region of Mindanao. A man went out from Botuan to fish upon the sea, embarking with his wife and children in two separate boats. On returning to land when the fishing was over, the man with his boat was somewhat farther from the shore; and the wife, with their children in her boat, made more haste to reach the land, on account of some vessels of Ternatans, which were coasting from point to point--their enemies and ours, as I have said. These invaders, seeing their prey alone and defenseless, were not willing to lose it; accordingly, some of them went in a little skiff, and seized the