at three ships will arrive tomorrow, and one of them
will be Spanish." That was a fact, for two ships from Java entered,
and that of the said Spaniard. Thereupon the favorite exclaimed:
"Great Saint Corralat, there is no other truth." With such things
he has established so much credit that if God do not bury his body
in the depths [of the sea], the Mindanaos will worship him and will
found another house of Mecca, such as they had in Jolo. With that he
has become a greater king than any of his forbears; for their fear
of him is incredible, as they recognize in him one who has superior
power to avenge himself. Consequently, they do not dare undertake
anything against his will; for they regard it as certain that they
will be unlucky. Since the devil has been so advantaged by that way,
he manages to make their fears come out true at times, by which credit
for the others is assured.

CHAPTER XIII

The moderation of their conduct, and the sobriety of their
living

Among all the Indians it is a general fact that in what relates to
their own persons natural law is more conspicuous, and has a more
firmly established empire, than have the nations. Part of that is
founded on the slothfulness of their natures, and part on the rudeness
of their civilization; the former makes them content with little, and
the latter causes them to ignore the niceties of art. Their food proves
the first well; and the havoc that they cause, the second. The food
is very poor among the wealthy, and requires little labor; for they
neither know condiments nor for that purpose are drugs valued among
them, of the use of all which they are ignorant. Both slave and ruler,
plebeian and prince, eat bread; for, since that consists of a little
boiled rice, one cannot eat it more adorned than the other. Since all
of them are bakers of this bread, he who wishes to clean it better
eats it whiter. He who has no slaves to relieve him from that eats
it as he chooses; and, consequently, there is no one who does not
know how to cook his food. For they are under the daily necessity,
even the richest, of making it; and, as ostentation in ordinary life
is so little, it is unavoidable that service is lacking to them on
their voyages and navigations, so that they are forced to use their
own hands. Those who do not obtain rice--either because the land does
not bear it, or because it is limited in any year--eat of many roots,
which supply the lack fully, and