The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 27 of 55: 1636-37; 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 27 of 55: 1636-37; 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
After God had delivered us, without our knowing it, from perils so
great, considering the small numbers of our expedition, his Lordship
was marching in the vanguard, by the road which he had miraculously
chosen. We had crossed the river for the first time, and the artillery
and musketry were soon clearing the field as far as a stockade near
the river, where the Moros made their first stand. Here it happened
that, upon his Lordship's going forward for a moment to see what
enemy lay behind the stockade, four Moros set upon him with their
campilans; he very swiftly faced about, to fire at them his gun,
which a negro at his side always bore; and, not seeing the servant
(for he had fallen a little behind), his Lordship fell to with his
sword, with such spirit that the Moros, disheartened, soon fled. In
spite of this, one of the Moros--Borongon, Corralat's most valiant
captain--going out most courageously from the other side of the
stockade, tried to prevent our men (who were now ready to cross the
river for the second time) from attacking the fort, which had been
descried from this first stockade. He valiantly wounded two, and,
for a third, attacked Captain Lorenço de Ugalde who was leading half
the troops in this direction--the rest, under Captain Don Rodrigo,
marching along the right bank of the river, where a great number
of Moros was now gathering. Captain Ugalde parried with his shield
the first two blows of the campilan; and then, rushing in with his
sword, gave Borongon many wounds in the face, being unable to reach
his breast because of the arms that the Moro carried; but he forced
him to retire. His retreat, however, availed but little, because
of the furious musket-fire of our men; and finally Don Francisco
Olaceran's sword completed the work, and the Moro captain went into
the river. And now, after this man's death, our troops went on,
without further resistance, to the fort. It was furnished with a new
moat, and was full of arms; and it had eight pieces of artillery in
bronze, twenty-seven culverins [_versos_], many muskets with rests [?;
_de pinsote_], arquebuses, and other hand-arms. There was a garrison
of more than two thousand Moros for the fortress and the port, as we
were told by Sosocan (a Moro friendly to us, and very well informed in
regard to the equipment and strength of Corralat). All this profited
them little, however; for so pressing was our attack that very soon
we were masters of all, and Alférez Amesquita raised his flag above
the fort. Many Moros had been killed, and the rest fled badly wounded,
as we learned on the following day from our prisoners. At this place
we killed the commander of the fort, a grandson of Corralat--the son
of one of his daughters, who had married the lord of the lake [86]
[country]--a very spirited youth, of whom his grandfather was very
fond. He had that day vowed to Mahomet not to abandon the fort until
his death, and thus he fulfilled his promise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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