g of Tidore with his caracoas. That
same night the Dutch ship weighed anchor and went to Amboino. At dawn
of next day, April first, soldiers were landed with some difficulty,
with the intention of marching along the shore (which was a very close
and narrow stretch) to the fort, in order to plant the artillery,
with which to bombard it. As the governor thought that mischief would
ensue because of the narrowness and closeness of the pass, he landed
a number of pioneers on the high ground, to open another road, so
that the remainder of the army might pass, and the enemy be diverted
in several directions. By these efforts, he placed his camp under
the walls, although a great number of Terenatans came from various
directions to prevent him. The vanguard of the camp was in charge
of Joan Xuarez Gallinato and Captains Joan de Cuevas, Don Rodrigo
de Mendoca, Pasqual de Alarcon, Joan de Cervantes, Captain Vergara,
and Cristoval de Villagra, with their companies. The other captains
were in the body of the squadron. The rearguard was under command of
Captain Delgado, while the master-of-camp aided in all parts. The
army came up within range of the enemy's artillery, which suddenly
began to play. The governor came to see how the troops were formed,
and, leaving them at their post, returned to the fleet to have the
pieces brought out for bombarding, and to obtain refreshment for
the soldiers. Some high trees intervened between the troops and the
wall, in which the enemy had posted some scouts to reconnoiter the
field. They were driven down, and our own scouts posted there, who gave
advice from above of what was being done in the fort. Captain Vergara,
and after him, Don Rodrigo de Mendoca and Alarcon, went to reconnoiter
the walls, the bastion of Nuestra Senora, and the pieces mounted on
the ground there, and a low wall of rough stone which extended to
the mountain, where there was a bastion in which the wall ended. It
was called Cachiltulo, and was defended with pieces of artillery and
a number of culverins, muskets, arquebuses, and pikes; while many
other weapons peculiar to the Terenatans were placed along the wall
for its defense. Having seen and reconnoitered all this, although not
with impunity, because the enemy had killed six soldiers with the
artillery and wounded Alferez Joan de la Rambla in the knee with a
musket-ball, the Spaniards returned to the army. A trifle past noon,
a lofty site was reconnoitered, in the direction