the
two small vessels went on ahead [because according to Alvarado they
could navigate nearer the shore] in search of food. Troubles from the
natives still pursued these smaller vessels. At one part of Mindanao
they tried to secure food. Fourteen of the crew were left ashore,
ten of whom were killed. The two brigs anchored at Mindanao, remaining
there for more than fifty days, awaiting the arrival of the ship and
galley. From this place they went to Tandaya, [28] where they were
well received by the natives. Here the sick men were left, while the
others went in search of the rest of their men, but failed to find
them where they had been left. A letter was found which directed the
searchers to the "islands of Talao, which are forty leagues south
of Maluco." Returning to Tandaya, it was found that the men left
there had been taken off by the "Sant Juan." Here Santisteban and
his party remained for two months, until the king of Tidore sent in
quest of Villalobos. A description of these people follows. Finally
Villalobos, forced to do so by hunger, cast anchor in Portuguese
possessions. Negotiations with the Portuguese followed. The "Sant
Juan" was despatched to New Spain May 16, 1545, but it was unable
to make the journey and returned within five months. Finally the
remnants of the expedition were taken in Portuguese vessels to Ambon
[Amboina], where Villalobos died; and thence to Malacca, where only
one hundred and seventeen of the three hundred and seventy who left
New Spain arrived, thirty remaining in Maluco. Santisteban justifies
Villalobos, saying "Your lordship will bear in mind your promise to Ruy
Lopez ... to be a father to his children. In the judgment of certain
men, Ruy Lopez performed no services for your lordship, for which
his children deserve recompense. I know most certainly that, in the
judgment of God and of those who regard his works without passion, he
did everything possible for the service of your lordship, and that he
grieved more over not having fulfilled exactly your lordship's design
than over all the other losses, sorrows, and persecutions that he
endured." (_Col. doc. ined. Amer. y Oceania,_ tomo xiv, pp. 151-165.)

Garcia Descalante Alvarado, who accompanied Villalobos, left an account
of the expedition, dated Lisbon, August 7, 1548, and addressed to the
viceroy of New Spain; it deals more fully with the later adventures
of the expedition. A brief synopsis follows. The fleet left the port
of