The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 12 of 55: 1601-1604; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 12 of 55: 1601-1604; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
all this your Majesty may see, if you are so pleased, by the documents,
which I send translated into Castilian. But the devil, who seeks
his opportunity, furnished these evil men with a king so filled with
greed and so overpowered by it that he is almost mad on the subject;
and his actions indicate this, for he has had men made of gold and
women of silver, and has them at his feasts and gives them drink. He
sent to every one of his realms one of his eunuchs, who, in order to
secure gold and silver for the king, exacted great tributes from the
vassals. The empire of China feels very much oppressed by this, as the
Chinese here tell us, without any secrecy, that they believe that there
will be within two years, more or less, conspiracies and rebellion in
China. As the king is such a man, and the adventurers furnished the
said sureties, he was not willing either to follow the advice of the
viceroys and their councils, or entirely to reject it. He commanded
certain judges and mandarins to come to examine Keit personally,
and see whether what was said of it was true or false. Accordingly,
there came this year, in this month of May, three mandarins in all
their majesty, to this city of Manila. Governor Don Pedro de Acuna
received them and treated them very courteously and very prudently,
although to some persons this seemed unreasonable; and it certainly
was an irregular proceeding to give them permission to go to Cabite to
see whether there was gold or not. They went there, and took with them
the said chair-maker and carpenter Tienguen, whom they brought from
China for this purpose. The mandarins commanded Tienguen, when they
arrived at Cavite, to show them where the gold was and have done with
it. The man answered with good courage, in a word, and said to them,
"If you choose that this be gold, gold it will be; but if you do not,
it will not be gold. I tell you that you should cut off the heads
of the Indians of this country, and you will find their necks all
covered with chains and necklaces of gold; and this is the gold that
I told you of." Finally the governor sent back the said mandarins,
apparently satisfied; and he wrote to the viceroy, the eunuch,
and the inspector of the town and kingdom to which the Chinese
who came here belonged. By one of these men Governor Don Pedro de
Acuna wrote a very discreet letter concerning the matter. Now we are
waiting to see how the greed of the king of China and of his eunuch
will be affected by these things, and what measures the captain of
the guard and the sureties will take to right their falsehood and
save their lives; for, if they are declared impostors, they will
lose their lives. We hope in the Lord, that He will look upon this
Christian community which is being founded here, and will calm the
feelings of the Chinese in this region; and that, if they come, they
will find that the governor has the country so well prepared that
either they will not go back, or will return in such a state that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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