must all abandon it. The said captain asked them if they had caught
the elephants as the said captain Esteban Rodriguez had ordered and
which they had promised to his Lordship. They said they knew nothing
of this and that if elephants had been promised, it was by Raja Yloi;
but he had gone to Borney and it was impossible for them to catch any
alive. The said captain went outside secretly, and informed himself,
through the said interpreters, from the Boholan who had been sent,
and from the people of this port of Cavite, regarding the famine from
which the said Indians asserted they were suffering. These declared
that it was very well known and true, and was current talk on this
coast, that the said Raja Ylo had gone to Borney with the people above
mentioned; and that, in the opinion of the people who came from the
island of Jolo, there will be much famine in the future. They are a
poor people and in need of food. All of them begged among the ships
of the fleet, and in the Spanish tongue, that, for the love of God,
_humay_ be given them for they are hungry. It was seen that they gave
their weapons and clothes in exchange for rice. Thereupon the captain
ordered the tributes brought by them, as they said, to be placed
before him. They brought some robes, daggers, dishes, and articles
of slight value and price, and cloth of their land, but no gold or
silver. When the said captain saw how slight was the tribute and that
it was in almost worthless articles, and as he had heard that there
was a large field-piece in the village of Jolo, taken from the lost
galley, he said that, since they did not have the tribute collected
and were so pressed by dire need, he would have pity and not take
the tribute, on condition that they would give the said piece. They
said they would all assemble and discuss this, and they asked the
said captain to await them there until they returned to Jolo. His
Grace told them that this would trouble him considerably because of
his great lack of food; but that he would send Pedro de Oseguera in
a fragata to bring back the said piece, and to ascertain whether they
had told him the truth. Thereupon that very night he ordered the said
Pedro de Oseguera to get ready and embark with ten soldiers in the
said fragata. He was to go to the said island of Jolo and examine
the people and their settlement and ascertain their need of food. He
was to take note of everything, charging his men to act cautiously,
and was n