The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 38, 1674-1683: 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 38, 1674-1683: 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
The soldiers grumbled much at the great caution and prudence of Don
Ginés de Rojas, who thought only of strengthening his fortifications,
to the great labor of those who now desired to busy themselves with
the enemy, and not the trees of the forest. That rose to such a pitch
that the sargento-mayor of the Lutaos, Don Francisco Macombo, went to
Don Ginés impatiently, and told him that neither he nor his men had
come from Zamboanga to cut timber but to fight with the enemies of
Palapag. Don Ginés was not displeased to see the willingness of his
soldiers to fight, and therefore, in order to employ it, he had the
men called to arms, and arranged the attack. He formed two divisions
[for attack] from the whole army, and left the third to guard the
camp. The assault was made in two parts--one by the open road,
although it was better defended by the opponents; and the other by
a precipitous path which was passable for the birds alone--for it
was a huge steep rock, and so narrow at the place where the camp of
the insurgents was established that only a single man could enter an
opening made by nature--a place called for that reason by the natives,
in their own language, "the eye of a needle." The men climbed up
by that path, using feet and hands without carrying their arms;
for these were carried by him who followed, and afterward given to
him who was ahead; and so they did one with another. In addition to
that, the insurgents had posted a sentinel there to advise them of
any new move, for which a few coming to his aid would be sufficient
to prevent many from effecting an entrance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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