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nd came in sight day before yesterday in the morning. Some vessels were sent in pursuit, in order to bring me word of the course which they steer, and whether they are together or separate, [_In the margin_: "This is well, and let him take good care until the news from them be known."] I have received a letter from Malaca, which Antonio Pinto de Fonseca says that he received from your Majesty, with notice and order to give it to me, to the effect that there and in these regions the confederated Dutch and English were about to come with fifty-one ships--sixteen of which had already left, and thirty-five were in two squadrons which were being equipped. Of these the sixteen which had left Holland have already arrived at their factories in Sunda, whence, likewise, it was learned that they say they are expecting this year the remainder. Fadrique Lopez de Soysa, commandant of that city [_i.e._, Malaca], gave me almost the same information. Conformably to this, and to several advices which I have had from Japon, and to others which I have been able to secure through my own investigations, it appears that these enemies are considering carrying on this war in earnest and with energy; for with these ships which have arrived, those which are expected, and more than sixty which I wrote to your Majesty in the last despatch that I understood they had, those of both nations amount to more than a hundred, without counting those which the French have. If I had the eighth part of that number, and sufficient men to man them, and to keep this city and the important posts and forts of this island garrisoned, it would not trouble me much to see them involved in the cost and expense of such a fleet; for if I had the means with which to withstand their first attack, or to inflict upon them some severe blow; or if they did not know my position, and I could cause them anxiety or divert them from their object--there is no doubt that their fleet itself would be disarmed and destroyed. But since I lack such resources, and the time is passing in which I expected the aid which your Majesty has offered to these islands--having sent the pilots to Malaca to guide and bring them here from there--I shall be obliged to make the best of the little which I have, and to take the best precautions that I can. I am raising and fortifying a few stretches of wall which are necessary, expelling the Japanese, and lessening the number of the Sangleys--who, although
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