And if there were no more silver there than what has been taken from Mexico during sixty-six years of trade, it could make them most wealthy; and much more so, inasmuch as the Mexican silver is not the most that they get, for they take much from other quarters. They are the most greedy for and affectioned to silver of any race known. They hold it in the greatest esteem, for they withdraw the gold from their own country in order to lock up the silver therein. And when they see silver, they look at it admiringly. I am writing not from hearsay, but from the sight and experience of many years. Consequently, he who has any silver, and takes passage with them, is not safe. _Depraedari ergo desiderat qui thesaurum publice portat in via_. [40] It would not be bad if they only despoiled him, but they will beat him most cruelly with clubs, which they use as weapons. Great misfortunes have happened in these islands, some of which will be recounted in the proper place. Nevertheless, the Spaniard does not notice that no one receives any harm [from the Chinaman], except when he opens the doors to him, and brings him into his house. Besides this they are excellent merchants, and are very tractable; and in this regard they are far ahead of the Japanese. The Sangley, or Chinaman (for the two are one), when he makes any profit in his merchandise, trusts and waits very accommodatingly. We shall treat of their other customs as occasion offers. This trade, then, must doubtless have influenced our adelantado in going to the land nearest it, in addition to his own comfort, which was found there with advantages. Accordingly, when he had prepared his fleet of caracoas--the most suitable war-vessel in the islands--they set sail with them after two o'clock at night, with oar and sail, taking advantage of the weather. At five in the afternoon, they reached land and made port, where the men ate, and took what wood and water were necessary. These boats have bamboo counter-balances at the side, whereby it appears that they sail more securely; for the canes, being large and hollow, have great sustaining power. It has happened that a sea-going caracoa has kept continually above water during a hurricane, until driven by the waves upon some island; and, as there are so many islands, they cannot fail to strike one. The Indians embarked very willingly with the adelantado, for their greatest pleasure consists in cutting off a head. And they desired all the others to be subjects, since they were; and that no one should escape the fire, but that the law should be universal. Besides, the Bisayans were generally at war with the inhabitants of Manila--who were now Moros, through contact with Borney, and captured the former, since they were men of greater valor; and now the Bisayans wished to prove whether they could use their swords and cutlasses against them under the protection of Castilla. Father Fray Diego de Herrera went with the adelantado.