6. Between the two, the means most suitable for the expedition were discussed; and they agreed that the force prepared was sufficient to subdue all the lake. Since it is navigable, and its banks are swampy and cut up by more than fifty rivers, the undertaking would have to be conducted on the water. Consequently, it was determined to construct six boats, [each] capable of holding fifty or one hundred men, which were to be carried in sections on the shoulders of the men, until they reached a point where they could be made effective, where they could be put together easily and quickly. They made haste in this mode of construction, and went with all that equipment to the village of Bayog. They resolved to follow the way to Balooy--a path indeed more severe and more tedious; however, that seemed more suitable to them, for the way by that route led through the villages of friends. Although they were only neutrals, their own advantage did not fail to concur in this expedition. Dato Dolo Moyon, filled with passion to revenge an intended marriage which had been repelled with contempt by the inhabitants of the lake, joined them. That union was very pleasing to our people, for it brought them additional arms and men, and gave them a retreat and sufficient aid in that dato's village. At that place their march was retarded by showers of rain. The Malanaos abandoned their individual interests, and united for the common defense to the number of about six thousand armed men. They were not without some few firearms. The stay of our men in Balooy caused many of the Malanaos to abandon the camp, as being a people suddenly collected without any preparation for their maintenance; and without pay it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep those people a considerable time in the field and under military discipline. Noting that desertion, the chiefs of the lake sent their ambassadors to our camps, who offered the captain some wretched presents in the name of the assembly of their chiefs. The ambassadors, treating in order the matters with which they were charged, asked the Spaniards to go back, and said that they were proposing those expedients quietly and in a friendly spirit, in order to avoid greater damages; for, should the Spaniards try to tempt fortune by pressing forward, only a remnant of their men would escape death, and the undertaking would be costly and disgraceful. The captain answered them frankly and discreetly that it was better to die at their hands, for that would be an honored death, than dishonorably to retain life by retreating like cowards. He advised them to look closer to their own interests, in time, and to decide whether it was more useful to them to secure these in a friendly way, or to sacrifice them for their liberty. By this reply the Malanaos understood the firm resolution of the Spaniards, and that it meant their ultimate destruction. They discussed the matter in council;