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. 44]

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THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 44

for destruction of property5 when the galleon was
wrecked in the year 726. The day before he took
possession of the government, I waited on him with
a baton [of office] made of gold, with a diamond
which I caused to be set in its tip, which was valued
at more than six hundred pesos. Don Fernando still
continues in his kind regard for me, although these
knaves have not relaxed in their perverse designs.
Your Grace may rest assured that, on my part, not
only will not the slightest cause be given to him for
growing cool toward me, but I shall, on the other
hand, endeavor to secure the opposite result, in whatever concerns the behavior that is due him. Your
Grace will please say the same to all your honored
friends, who, influenced by the [same] affectionate
loyalty [fina ley] which I acknowledge toward your
Grace, have always favored us, pledging themselves
to advance my interests with him - especially Sefiors
Legarra and Maturana." The latter himself has
told me that Don Fernando is under obligations of
great friendship to them, and that they will take
especial pains to talk with him in my behalf. While
on my part I give them grateful thanks, suited to the
extraordinary obligation to them under which I shall
always remain, I am meantime fulfilling that obli55 Spanish, lo que se llevo la trampa; literally, "twhat the trap
carried away with it;" a variant of the phrase llevarselo el demonio. It is translated above in accordance with the definition in
Caballero's Diccionario de modismos (2nd edition, Madrid,
1905), p. 744.
"Fairs" [ferias] here alludes to the annual sale or fair at
Acapulco which took place at the arrival of the galleon from Manila; in this case the goods from Filipinas evidently were sold
at a loss.
6 Apparently referring to Juan Ventura de Maturana, who
was royal secretary in the Council of the Indias in I734-35.