ories, one called Masapotamia, [28] and the other
Petapulli; from them is carried cloth to trade and barter in Maluco.

_Item_. In the island of Bachan they have a garrisoned fortress;
more than a hundred bares of cloves are shipped thence each year.

_Item_. In the island of Maquian they have three garrisoned fortresses;
and 1,200 bares of cloves are gathered there each year.

_Item_. In the island of Mutiel they have a garrisoned fortress. From
this island they ship more than 350 bares of cloves each year.

_Item_. In the island of Tidore they have a garrisoned fortress,
and his Majesty has another. The whole island yields each year about
600 bares of cloves, of which half, or a little less, is secured by
the Dutch.

_Item_. In the island of Terrenate they have two garrisoned fortresses,
and his Majesty has one. The island yields each year more than 700
bares of cloves; and the profitable part of it is gathered by the
Dutch, as they have friendly relations with the natives, while his
Majesty obtains never a pound--although it is true that the greater
part is lost through war.

From these islands--Bachan, Maquian, Motiel, Tidore, and
Terrenate--which are the ones that Don Pedro de Acuna won back and
left in peace and quiet, with an amply sufficient garrison to maintain
them, the enemy enjoys and obtains each year nearly two million pesos
in profit. The reason for this loss to us was that, on account of Don
Pedro's death, so many quarrels arose between his adherents and those
of the Audiencia that they spent all the time in making war against
each other with ink and paper. In the meantime the enemy fortified
themselves in Malayo, and took possession of the island of Maquian,
and those of Motiel and Bachan, and the other ports which they now
hold, without its costing them a drop of blood. But this burnened
us with much ignominy; for we--being occupied in wasting paper and
ink in lawsuits, which have continued to this day--both by this loss
and that other which first arose from the dismantling of a fort in
Mindanao which had been built in the port of La Caldera, have given
the enemy an opportunity to take possession of so large a part of
these islands. And the worst is, that these factions are lasting to
this very day, and are causing the many losses and the great expenses
which your Majesty now incurs; and these hatreds will not be lacking,
for they are so deeply rooted. It is for us to apply a check to them,
for