He sent to Joló all the princes and princesses, the datos, and all the women, who were detained in Manila, leaving the king alone--who acknowledged his vassalage [hizo pleito homenaje] and took the oath of fidelity, until a decision [of his case] should arrive from the court of España, which had been informed of his detention. The princes and princesses arrived at Joló on October 5 of this year; they were graciously received by Bantilan, who, grateful for the generosity of the governor, promised to observe faithfully the treaty of peace which his ambassador and his brother had signed at Manila. It was necessary, in order to extricate ourselves entirely from the war, to make an agreement with the men of Mindanao; the governor undertook this, and sent ambassadors to them; but the petty rulers who are in that island are so numerous and so treacherous that it is impossible to establish a permanent peace with them. Even assuming that all the petty kings of the Moros may desire to observe the peace with the Spaniards, they will never succeed in it, because they possess so little authority over their vassals that they have never been able to restrain them, [103] and they never will prevent them from going out to plunder and to seize captives throughout our islands, for they have given themselves up to this kind of life; and only the spiritual conquest of their provinces is adequate to deliver us from these troublesome enemies. During this government was undertaken the reëstablishment of the missions in the islands of Batanes, which lie to the north of Cagayan. From early times the Dominican fathers maintained in the islands of Babuyanes religious ministers, who gave instruction to their inhabitants; but in the year 1690 they removed these people to Cagayan. The king having decreed that they should go back to their own land, the religious who directed them established a mission in the islands of the Batanes, [104] distant some thirty leguas from Cagayan; and after his death his companion withdrew, leaving the mission abandoned until the year 1718. It was then reëstablished by another Dominican religious, who fixed his headquarters in the island of Calayan, in which place he attempted to make the Indians in the other islands settle, in order that, brought together there, they might be instructed in the Christian religion. Great as was the desire of the Batanes to enter the bosom of the church, only a hundred and fifty persons took the resolution to change their place of abode; and half of these died in a short time. That island offered few means of comfort, for which reason the father missionary became sick; and, although he had a successor, the mission was entirely abandoned. [105]