e camp,
declaring themselves to be natives of the island of Luzon; and asked
the governor for permission to come to this village to trade with a
_prau_ which was stationed near this island. They said that if the
Spaniards would trade with them, they would be very glad to have junks
come from Luzon with much merchandise for the Spanish trade." They had
learned of the Spanish settlement through a Moro who had been sent to
Panay to buy rice for the fort, and that "they did no harm to anyone,
and were possessed of a great quantity of silver and small coins;
therefore they had come to find out our manner of trading." One of
the Moros happening to sneeze while trading for pearls, said "that
they could not buy; that that was their custom, and if they did, they
would sin therein." Through these Moros the natives of Cebu learned
to demand _tostones_ [a small coin] in exchange for their articles
of trade, which was a loss to the Spaniards; but the latter laid in
a good supply of provisions, by the aid of these same Moros. By the
latter, Legazpi sent word to the king of Luzon of his residence in
the islands and his desire to meet him and "deliver the message he
bore to him from his majesty; and requested that he send him for this,
a trustworthy person, or allow him to send some Spaniards thither to
treat with the same king." These Moros induced two small "junks from
Venduro [Mindoro] which is an island near Luzon" to come to trade at
Cebu, having told them of the good treatment afforded them. These
latter carried "iron, tin, porcelain, shawls, light woolen cloth
and taffety from China, perfumes, and other knick-knacks." The
master-of-camp and Martin de Goyti were sent with a body of men to
obtain provisions among the neighboring islands, in the month of
September of 1565. Guided by certain chiefs of Cebu, they visited an
island to the west, inhabited by blacks who lived in a town called
Tanay, stopping on the way at a village, hostile to Cebu, where they
obtained some food. The people of Tanay fled at their approach, and
the little food found there was sent to Legazpi; while the two leaders
remained at the island some days in a fruitless endeavor to make peace
and friendship with the natives. On All Saints' Day "about the hour
of mass" some twenty houses were burned in the Spanish settlement,
"among others that where the religious slept, and the hut where mass
was said," and many goods were burned. "It could not be proved whether