(See _Voyage of John Saris_, p. lxiv.) Regarding the competition and hostility between the Dutch and English in the trade of the Indies, which often led to open warfare (as at Banda in 1617-1618), see _Voyage of Sir Henry Middleton_ (Hakluyt Society's publications, London 1855), and Kerr's _Collection of Travels and Voyages_ (Edinburgh, 1824), viii and ix. The attempts of James I of England to win alliance with Spain lend some color to the proposed English-Spanish alliance in the Moluccas. [35] Apparently referring to the importation of quicksilver (via Manila) from China to Nueva Espana. (Sec _Vol_. XVII, p. 237.) [36] These islands were discovered in 1568 by Alvaro de Mendana; but for various reasons nothing was done to make them available as a conquest, and their location became so doubtful that many geographers disbelieved their existence, and even removed them from the maps. These islands were not rediscovered until late in the eighteenth century. See the Hakluyt Society's publication of the narratives of Mendana and others, _Discovery of the Solomon Islands_ (London, 1901), with editorial comments by Lord Amherst of Hackney and Basil Thomson. [37] From internal evidence it is apparent that this relation is written from Nueva Espana, a thing which the reader must constantly keep in mind; also that it was written in 1619--probably in January or February, as it was considered by the Council in May of that year. [38] Delgado (_Historia_, pp. 418, 419) and Blanco (_Flora_, pp. 428-429) describe a tree called _dangcalan_, or _palo maria_ (_calophyllum inophyllum_--Linn.), which is probably the tree referred to in the text. While generally a tree of ordinary size, it is said to grow to huge dimensions in Mindanao. Besides its use as above mentioned, an oil or balsam is distilled from the leaves, or obtained from the trunk, which has valuable medicinal uses, in both external and internal application. This oil sometimes serves to give light, but the light is dim, and to anoint the hoofs of horses. It blooms in November, the flowers growing in bunches of seven or nine each; and its leaf is oval and tapering. The wood is light, exceedingly tough, and reddish in color. It is very plentiful in the Visayas, and generally grows close to the water. It is known by a number of different names, among them being bitanhol or bitanjol, and dincalin. [39] Perhaps the guijo (also spelt guiso or guisoc; _Dipterocarpus guiso_--Bl.), a wood of red color, which is strong, durable, tough, and elastic; it produces logs 75 feet long by 24 inches square, and is now used in Hongkong for wharf-decks and flooring, but in Manila for carriage shafts (_U.S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands_). Blanco says that this tree is much esteemed for carriage-wheels, and is also used for topmasts and keels. The Indians call it guiso, but the Spaniards have corruptly called it guijo. It is common in Mindoro.