History of the Philippine Islands, vols 1 and 2 | Page 4

a settlement near Tampacan, called Murcia.
The administration of Governor Francisco Tello forms the
subject-matter of chapter VI. At his arrival in 1596, news is received in
the island of the appointment of Fray Ignacio de Santibañez as
archbishop, and of two appointments for bishops. News of the death of
Estevan Rodriguez is brought to Manila, and the machinations of Juan
de la Xara to carry on the expedition independently of Manila learned.
His death shortly after arrest, while on his way to Oton to push his suit
with Rodriguez's widow, frustrates his plans. Juan Ronquillo is sent to
Mindanao and takes over the command there, but being discouraged by
the outlook advises an evacuation of the river of Mindanao and the
fortifying of La Caldera, on the Mindanao coast. However he gains a
complete victory over the combined forces of Mindanaos and Ternatans,
which causes him to send another despatch to Tello. But the latter's
reply to the first despatch having been received, in accordance with its
orders he burns his fort, and after establishing a garrison at La Caldera,
returns to Manila with the rest of his command. There he is arrested for
not awaiting Tello's second despatch, but is liberated on producing a
letter ordering him in any event to return to Manila. Gallinato, on his
return from Cochinchina is accused by his own men of not following
up the victory at Camboja, for had he done so, "all that had been hoped
in that kingdom would have been attained." An incipient rebellion in
Cagayan is checked by the murder of its leader by his own countrymen
"who had offered to do it for a reward." In the year 1596, the remnants
of Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira's expedition that had set out from Peru
to rediscover the Solomon Islands reaches the Philippines after great
sufferings from famine and disease, and after the death of many men,
among them the commander himself. The voyage is related in detail in
a letter from the chief pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros to Morga; it is

full of stirring adventure, and of keen and appreciative observation.
One of the vessels, the "San Geronymo" despatched to Nueva España
in 1596, is forced to put in at a Japanese port because of storms. There
they receive ill-treatment, and the efforts of the Franciscan missionaries
in Japan in their behalf lead to the edict sentencing them to death, in
accordance with which six Franciscans, three Jesuits, and seventeen
native helpers are crucified in 1597. Taicosama's wrath, intensified by
the accusation that the Spaniards conquered kingdoms "by first sending
their religious to the kingdom" and by entering afterward "with their
arms," is satisfied by the crucifixion of the religious and their assistants,
and the men of the "San Geronymo" are allowed to return to Manila.
The religious write a letter of farewell to Dr. Morga, in which they
inform him that Japan intends to attack the Philippines. Luis Navarrete
Fajardo is sent to Japan to demand satisfaction, but accomplishes little.
Faranda Quiemon, one of Taicosama's vassals, a man of obscure birth,
obtaining permission to make an expedition of conquest, sets about his
preparations, but owing to lack of resources and initiative fails to
complete them. Meanwhile great caution is exercised in Manila, and
the Japanese residing there are sent back to Japan, while those coming
on trading vessels are well treated but gotten rid of as soon as possible.
Cambodian affairs are again set on foot, although against the advice of
some, through the instrumentality of Father Alonso Ximenez, a
Dominican who had accompanied Gallinato on the former expedition,
but who had been left behind at Cochinchina through his own
disobedience of orders. Affairs in Mindanao and Jolo assume a
threatening aspect. One Juan Pacho, commander of La Caldera, is
killed in an incursion into Jolo with twenty of his men, and a new
commander of La Caldera is appointed until a punitive expedition can
be undertaken. In 1598 the archbishop arrives, and the Manila
Audiencia is reëstablished by royal order, and the seal received with
great pomp and ceremony. A letter received that same year by Morga
from Blas Ruiz details events in Camboja since he and Belloso went
there with Gallinato's expedition. Blas Ruiz seeks to excuse their
actions in Camboja and holds out the hope of Spanish conquest and
influence on the mainland, and asks help from the islands. As a
consequence of this letter, Luis Perez Dasmariñas secures permission to
attempt an expedition to the mainland at his own expense to aid the

king of Camboja and then to seize the kingdom of Champan, whose
king was a constant menace to all navigators throughout that region.
Negotiations with China and the granting of an open port to Spaniards
called El Pinal, are