y encountered a storm, which brought them all nearly to the verge
of destruction. One very dark and stormy night they lost sight of
the almiranta, and never saw it again. Seeing himself without this
vessel, the general chose as almiranta the fly-boat which he had
remaining. This was a vessel of perhaps fifty toneladas burden, called
"La Concordia," under command of a captain called Esias Delende. Then
they resumed their course, with the same intention of capturing our
silver, but, if unable to do more, to proceed to Maluco to barter for
cloves, for which purpose they carried mirrors, knives, basins, and
other small wares. They reached the Ladrones Islands--our Lord thus
permitting--four or five days after our vessels had passed. They
were detained there for several days, where, upon seeing their
plans frustrated, they burned the fragata that they had brought
from Piru. Thereupon they set sail and made the principal channel
of these islands, eighty or ninety leguas from this city of Manila,
where they stopped--either for iron, or, as our people here said,
because of a need of provisions; or, as I believe, and as they
themselves asserted, purposely. In short, instead of going by way of
Capul, the right and necessary path for the voyage they were making,
they entered a small bay called Albay, on the Camarines coast, where
they anchored as if they were in their own harbors, and with as little
fear and mistrust, as was clearly seen later on. They were hospitably
received in this district, for our people supplied them with abundance
of rice, with which to satisfy their need. They paid well for it,
in order to relieve their necessity--they could not, had they wished,
pay for more--for the purpose of assuring the natives that they had
not come to harm them. They told the natives that they were vassals
of the king Don Phelipe, our sovereign, in whose service and by whose
permission they were coming. As is proved by those selfsame papers,
the general showed the natives some counterfeit decrees, with which
they ought to be satisfied. A messenger was sent to Manila to give
information of the vessels that had arrived there. The news reached
here on the nineteenth of October, when Captain Xiron reported that he
was in the Camarines, and that he had boarded the general's ship, which
was coming well-supplied with munitions, arms, and artillery. He gave
information also concerning the number of men who, in his opinion,
were carried by th