aiding the above-mentioned islands, a splendid
squadron sailed from Cavite by order of the governor-general,
in command of an officer whose name is not told in the histories,
from whom brilliant conduct was expected, to judge from the valor
of which he boasted in drawing-rooms; but, far from fulfilling his
duty, he lingered in Balayan under pretext of securing supplies of
rice, and then in Mindoro, carrying out his cowardly purpose of not
encountering the Moros, notwithstanding that the forces under his
command were more than sufficient to destroy the pirates. To the end
that he might operate in conjunction with the said squadron, Esteybar
ordered Alferez Luis de Vargas to scour the coasts of Mindanao; but
as the commander of the squadron failed to carry out the instructions
that he had received, Vargas, as he could not find him, confined his
efforts to burning a village on the bay of Simuay, where he seized
several captives. Bobadilla reduced to ashes the old capital of
Corralat, Lamitan, its inhabitants having fled to the woods. Also
in the said year of 1657 the dato Salicala of Mindanao scoured the
seas with his squadron; the natives in consternation abandoned their
villages without daring to resist him, and he carried away as captives
more than a thousand Indians--his audacity going so far that he sailed
into the bay of Manila.

Esteybar then equipped a small squadron of caracoas and vintas, which
departed from Zamboanga on January 1, 1658, resolved to chastise
the pirate severely. He spread the report that they were going to
Sibuguey. He reached that river in seven days and, placing part
of his forces in charge of Sargento-mayor Itamarren, he destroyed
the village of Namucan, and at Luraya burned many boats. Four pilans
captured the joanga which had carried Father Lopez to Simuay, manned by
Moros from Mintun. Suddenly changing his course, he took the route to
Punta de Flechas, in order to go to the capital of Corralat, but sent
beforehand thirty Spaniards, with Captain Don Pedro de Viruega, to the
district of Butig. Its chief Matundin, at the head of five hundred men,
was defeated, the grain-fields ravaged, and the village reduced to
ashes. The tilled land of this district was exceedingly rich, since
it is the principal source of supply for rice in Mindanao. Great
damage was also done in La Sabanilla by Captain Don Juan Gonzalez
Carlete. On the nineteenth of January the squadron encountered a large
Dutch ship surr