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. 36]

I649-I666] RECOLLECT MISSIONS, I646-60

I I"5

sand. The very reverend father Fray Juan de la
Madre de Dios left Tandag, without other army or
arms than his virtues. He went to meet Inuc and,
by the force of the divine word, he alone conquered
Inuic, who was accompanied by squadrons; the religious conquered the soldier, the lamb the lion, and
forced him to lay aside his arms and reduce himself
to the obedience of the king our sovereign, and to be
baptized with all his family." Thus did he give in
that one action, peace to the country, a multitude of
souls to heaven, and an exceeding great number of
vassals to the Spanish monarch.
233. The seasons continued to pass interwoven
with various incidents, now prosperous, now adverse;
although as the world is a vale of tears, it gave its
pleasures with a close hand and its sorrows with
prodigal liberality - especially in the years 46 and 47
when the Dutch, having become the ruler of the seas,
forced or compelled all vessels to take refuge in the
ports. The commerce of the Sangleys or Chinese
fell off almost entirely; and according to the common
opinion, the Dutch were so victorious that their invasions, painted with those rhetorical colors that fear
is wont to give, filled all the islands with terror. Don
Diego Faxardo, knight of the Habit of San-Tiago,
was then governor and captain-general of Philipinas,
and also president of that royal Audiencia. He was
most vigilant in defending those wretched villages
from the powerful invasions of the enemy, who, by
the specious pretext that they were going to set them
free, induced the chiefs to [join] a general conspiracy. Don Diego tried to ascertain the forces of the
enemy with accuracy; he ordered the ports to be
reconnoitered and the presidios to be fortified. He