t I may
be pardoned. When I took the site of Buyaen I was so nearly out of
supplies that there was not a cannon-ball left for me to use; and on
this so important occasion, as I with reason believe it to be--and I
may say that since the Philipinas were discovered there was never a
better one in them--I had no others than what, by my own diligence,
I gathered from some fishermen's cast-nets, and well they did their
duty, since they fished so well on land.

When I left that city I told your Grace that, even if I found myself
in the utmost need, I should not turn my prow back thither; but first
should go to the land of the enemy, and my duty should be well done. If
I have accomplished this against so many difficulties as your Grace
may see, I believe there are few men who would not have been moved by
the circumstances and the necessity which urged me on. When I was most
pressed and the troops most in want--so much so that it would bring
pity to the heart of anyone who saw it, no matter how hardened he was;
for their shirts, shoes, and hose but ill sufficed them, and their
food was only a dish of rice with nothing else--even at such a time,
I conquered the island; for we may say that it is already conquered,
as the larger part pays or gives tribute; and I hope, God willing, that
a year from now the whole island will pay us. All this occurred in the
midst of the winter, in water waist-deep, with no change of clothing,
and the men weary from head to foot. What I think most of is, that I
kept the men free from discontent, which seems almost a miracle. And
when it was understood that I must depart for lack of supplies, I put
in the warehouse eight hundred sestos of rice of forty gantas each;
and I supplied almost the whole camp for a month and a half with the
crops; the Spaniards and Indians brought in food enough for another
month, and the friendly Indians did the same. Much more than what was
gathered was destroyed and ruined, as it was not the harvest season.

On all these occasions soldiers and captains worked so gallantly that I
have never before so much regretted being poor, since I cannot provide
them with some little part of all that they deserve. The sargento-mayor
and Captain Juan de Valencia arrived on the twenty-eighth of the last
month in a fragata, in which they had been despatched from that city
to Butuan. They brought a thousand sestos of rice and some fish,
wine, and some clothing which Captain Guenca gave them