ct that trade be forbidden with Manila, and opened with the
Dutch, which is the thing that they have always been trying to do,
and to which the Chinese have always been opposed. Another Chinaman
was not wanting who took up the matter on his own account, and said:
"The Dutch who pillage those kingdoms, and are rebels to their king,
are rather the robbers and pirates, and not the Spaniards, who are
good men; with them we trade in Manila, and they do not constrain us
except by many very good works." Upon seeing that, the viceroy of the
maritime provinces sent the said mandarin to the new port which we had
occupied in the island of Hermosa, to examine and investigate what kind
of people we were, and what were our purposes in making a settlement so
near China. The mandarin was very cordially received by the commandant
of the island of Hermosa, Antonio Carreno de Valdes, who regaled him
and made much of him, and gave him a fine present at his departure. He
told the mandarin that our intentions were good, and that we did not
intend to harm China, but rather to aid them by punishing the pirates
who infested those seas. The mandarin was despatched, but put back
once and twice to the fort. He was received well each time and well
treated by the said commandant. He put back the third time, and for
shame refused to return to our fort, but anchored not far from it;
there the natives cut his moorings one night, and, drawing the ship
to land, entered it and pillaged whatever they wished, and treated the
mandarin with contumely. In the morning, when the commandant got wind
of the affair, he sent a troop of soldiers. Attacking the natives with
orders not to kill them (for the soldiers shot their bullets into the
sky), they captured some chiefs. Thereupon, the chiefs restored to
the Chinese mandarin what they had pillaged from him; and, in order
to regain their liberty, handed over to us their sons as hostages,
who are being reared in our fort. Thereupon the mandarin was sent
away, very thankful. An account of all this affair was sent to Manila
to the governor, who immediately despatched the father-provincial of
St. Dominic--who knows the Chinese language, and has tried by various
ways and means for many years to enter China, but never has been able
to succeed. [49] This despatch seemed now to be a good means to him--I
mean to the said father-provincial--so that in company with the said
commandant of the island of Hermosa, they might go to