Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 02).djvu/188

was disclosed to us after we had sailed about in this archipelago for two months, namely, that the Portuguese who are in the Malucos came to an island called Bohol, where we remained thirty-seven days, and there committed the following mischief: after they had made peace with the natives and given them to understand that they came to trade with them, they called together one day as many natives as they could; and while the latter, thinking themselves safe, were trading with them, the Portuguese gave a war-signal and killed five hundred people, capturing six hundred more whom they took to Maluco as slaves. This has caused us great anxiety, because the natives, having received such cruel treatment, were so frightened that whenever they saw a sail they ran to the mountains; and, if any of them remained, it was to tell us that they desired none of our friendship. Thus from the day we arrived until now, we have suffered much hardship. We stopped at an island where Magallanes's men were killed, and there the people received us somewhat peacefully; but the following day, after they had placed in safety their wives and children, they said that they did not wish to give us in exchange for our goods anything of what we had asked, namely, their provisions. As we have just said, they declared that not only they would not give us anything, but that they were willing to fight us. Thus we were forced to accept the challenge. We landed our men and disposed the artillery of the ships, which were close to the houses of the town, so that the firing of the artillery from the said ships and the arquebuses on land drove the enemy away; but we were unable to capture any of them, because they had their fleet ready for the sea.