in their revelries were wont, while singing, to
fit out a caracoa (a medium-sized vessel ten or twelve brazas long)
with those who have been their gallants; and for more verification of
this assertion, the women did not allow any man to have communication
with them unless he had a _sacra_, that is a small jagged wheel,
like the wheel of St. Catherine, with its points blunted. That wheel
was set with a bronze pin, which was thrust through it; for from an
early age the males pierced their privies with these, and by means
of them had communication with the women, as if they were dogs. All
of that has been done away with by the gospel and its ministers,
and they have grieved over it as at death. That would not be taken
from them but rather supported by the Mahometan law. They endeavor
to give themselves with great satiety to the eating of pork and the
drinking of wine, and they stuff themselves from time to time, never
losing an occasion that is offered. Many of those injuries which the
devil was working in the souls of those natives have been remedied;
and I hope, with the help of His Divine Majesty, that the evil seed
will be truly eradicated from these islands with the lapse of time,
so that the seed sown by His ministers may increase and bear a most
plentiful harvest." Our author continues:]

But the enemy of the human race, who recognized his loss, and that
the progress of the diabolical worship of Mahomet, by which he wished
to gain these islands, was shortened by our coming, tried to concoct
a scheme to drive the Spaniards from the islands, since there were
no longer any forces sufficient to drive them out. For although
the islanders were many in number, so great was their horror of the
arquebuses and other firearms, that the very report of these made them
tremble. They did not consider themselves safe from their balls and
fire, even in the deepest woods. Hence what we now hold was subdued
in a short time, of which a thousand years ago not one palmo would
have been gained, but rather lost. Hence in order to succeed in his
designs against us, the devil made use of another nation, as Spanish
as the Castilians, and of equal arms and courage. He contrived that
they should come from Maluco, where they had been for some days,
and with equal forces descend upon the Castilians in Sugbu to drive
them out. They claimed that they found the latter on territory that
was theirs, and belonged to the kingdom of Portugal. Over this