The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 24]

I630-I634]

MEDINA'S HISTORIA

I 39

to St. Nicholas; as they believed (and rightly) that
this was a greater danger than the past one, because
of the less mercy that they could find in the bowels
of those utter barbarians. At length, they boarded
the tender of-the champan and rowed ashore. The
glorious saint whom they were taking as patron hid
their route from the Camucones in such wise that
they were not followed, for they could have easily
been overtaken in two strokes of the oar. They betook themselves inland to the mountains, where their
sufferings were not abated, for they were barefoot
and naked, until they reached the convents of our
father St. Francis, where they found hospitable welcome, aid, care, and provision. In their journeyings
they reached the shipyard, where a vessel was being
built; for it was necessary to get a champan there
to go to Panay, and they found one. They left the
shipyard November 21, and reached Panay next day.
After a few days the enemy from Jolo went to the
shipyard, burned it, killed many people, captured
others, took away the artillery, and committed great
damage, although there were sufficient men in the
shipyard to defend it from a greater force. But the
Spaniard can never be persuaded of any danger,
until it is upon him. Juan Martin, the best and most
reliable shipmaster in the Filipinas, was killed there.
It was a great loss, for there was no other who could
fill the position like him. But the Lord did not
choose that the champan should be lost; for the
Camucones did not break it up, as is their wont, but
abandoned it after having plundered its articles of
value -which were considerable, and which caused
great loss to the province. The Sangleys, after seeing that the enemy had gone, went out to the cham