to the enemy, for he fired from a short distance and with
safety. Had there been six guns, they would have sunk the enemy;
but that was not the first or the last act of carelessness.

On the twelfth of the month, the galleons were converted into ashes,
and the Maluco relief expedition was destroyed. After the battle and
disaster many quarrels arose among the nobles by land and sea, over
the question who was to blame. Each one blamed the other, attributing
the loss to many excesses that they mentioned. The truth is that such
excesses existed, and they and our sins were the cause of so great
a chastisement.

On February 25, Don Juan de Silva, governor and captain-general of
the Filipinas, reached the strait with ten galleons, four galleys,
and one patache. The Dutch were informed of his coming, for having
captured Juan Gallegos, a pilot who came from Macao in a patache, he
told them the plans of the governor. Thereupon the enemy took refuge a
week beforehand. They had been awaiting two vessels that were coming
from China with all the wealth of Yndia; and the Portuguese considered
it a foregone conclusion that these would fall into the hands of the
enemy. They had resolved to land on the island of Bintan or Pulo
Timon and burn the galleons, so that the enemy should not benefit
therefrom. For that purpose they sent Captain Fernando Acosta to
Malaca. But at the news of the governor's coming, the enemy abandoned
their station and left a free passage to the ships, which arrived one
day after the governor. It is reported that the two vessels had ten
days of contrary southeast winds which prevented them from reaching the
strait sooner, where their danger was. But God our Lord did better,
and He deprived the enemy of the prize, which would have enriched
them enormously, and allowed them to make war on Europe.

For that good result and benefit given to all Yndia by Don Juan de
Silva, the Portuguese were extremely thankful, and accordingly received
him in Malaca under a pall and with great acclamation. On March 26
all confessed that God had delivered them from the Dutch by his means;
and they hoped that he would drive the enemy from these seas later. But
death, which comes when God pleases, finished all their hopes; for it
brought him to his bed, and from that to a grave on April 19, 1616,
of a fever that carried him off in eleven days. During the course of
his sickness, the city made a procession from the _asse_ or cathedral
to