close to the deck, fortunately falling over the side so as not to injure the vessel or to kill any of the men. The mizzenmast, being badly wedged, began to topple, and had to be cut away. We sailed on under the foresail, hoping to reach a port. But the fury of the tempest and the force of the waves were such as to break the gudgeons of the rudder. Some of our men flung themselves into the sea after it and brought it back, but it was lost again; and we steered the vessel with two long spars fastened to the side of the boat with a cable. The ship was so strained that the boards on the sides began to play up and down like organ-keys; but we threw cables about her, and drew them taut with arquebuses. Then the bow began to work loose, from the weight of the foremast and bowsprit, and we were forced to bind it firmly with cables to the poop. All that we could do against the storm and the wind was like the strength of a child exerted to restrain the fury of a mad bull. In fear of another storm, we took refuge upon an island which we encountered, one of the group called the Babuyanes. We found a harbor, ran the bow ashore, and dropped two anchors from the poop. We put the ammunition and the provisions that we had on shore; and had hardly begun to dry our clothes, on the eve of St. Francis, when the storm broke upon us with such violence that it seemed to me to try to swallow us. The ship was broken in pieces; but the keel, and the artillery which was carried as ballast, being too heavy for the deck, were buried in the sand. We protected ourselves from the storm--which lasted two days, and was one of both wind and rain--in some huts, which we built on the beach of branches.] After the storm was over we dug up the artillery, which consisted of four medium-sized cannon, mounted, and set them up in a little fort which we made of logs, because there were many Indians on the islands, and we did not know whether they were friends or enemies. In a short time many of them appeared in a troop on the shore, with their weapons. These consisted of two lances, one for hurling, and the other large like a pike, with iron points; both were made of ebony, of which there is much here. For defensive armor they had sheets of the bark of trees, resembling cork. We sent to them a man as a hostage and mark of peace, and they made signs to him from a distance to put down his arms. He laid them at one side and went to the Indians; and then they sent to us one of their own number, whom we treated kindly, and after giving him some trinkets, sent him back to his comrades; agreeing with him that they should bring us provisions at a just price. They did this for two days, although very scantily; and on the third day they broke the peace by killing one of our Japanese, and badly wounding another who had come in our company. He came back with his arm pierced, and with a wound a span long above the pit of his stomach, but not entering it;