o avoid the expense and delay.

Your Lordship commands that the mining of gold be done with the aid
of quicksilver, as is done in Talpaxagua. In another letter I gave
an account to your Lordship of what has been done in mining here.

We have seen the royal decrees concerning the harmony which his
Majesty commands us to maintain with the viceroy and captains of
India and Maluco, whom we must aid. On one occasion they sent an
urgent request from Maluco, the captains assuring me that with two
or three hundred men the whole matter could be settled, and the fort
and islands be restored to his Majesty. They had been usurped by
the petty king of Terrenate, as will appear in a copy of the letter
accompanying this. As these men could be spared from here without
risk, I sent about four hundred arquebusiers and a large number
of natives with artillery, powder, and ammunition. There were also
twenty-seven small boats and fragatas and one galley, sufficiently
provided for one year. Although they became separated on the way,
and because of the weather six boats were lost on the coast of Panay,
I had others provided, and they continued their voyage--all except
one boat with two pieces of artillery and fifteen or twenty men,
and some powder and ammunition. Moreover a galleon sent as succor
from India with two hundred Portuguese did not arrive; and the
Moros had fortified themselves, together with many Jabos [Javanese],
Turks, and those of other nationalities. There was also negligence
on the part of Diego de Acambuja, the commander of that fort, [12]
by whose order this aid was sent, in accordance with the commands of
his Majesty. Some suspicions were entertained of this commander and
there were indications that he did not wish the war to end, because
the bartering in cloves and the trade thereabout would also come to
an end, as your illustrious Lordship will see by the accompanying
relation. Although in our camp there was great eagerness to attack
the Moro, nothing was accomplished--a result partly due to the
controversies between Captain Pereyra, whom his Majesty had commanded
to take charge of the place, and Diego de Acambuja, who held it, over
the latter's surrender of the fort. I have been assured by persons who
have witnessed the affair, and I have so understood, that, should his
Grace desire not to abandon that holding and to keep the government of
Maluco in the power of Castilians, there will be great difficulty in
winning it