he viceroys)--to the number
of thirteen great realms and provinces, which they call Pouchenti,
beside the two powerful provinces and courts [or "circuits "] which
they call Kin, one called Lam Kin, which means "the court of the
southern region," and the other Pac Kin, [19] which means "the court
of the northern region"--all the said viceroys and councils wrote to
the king, trying with many arguments and examples to persuade him that
what these deceivers said was false, and that he should beware of them;
all this your Majesty may see, if you are so pleased, by the documents,
which I send translated into Castilian. But the devil, who seeks
his opportunity, furnished these evil men with a king so filled with
greed and so overpowered by it that he is almost mad on the subject;
and his actions indicate this, for he has had men made of gold and
women of silver, and has them at his feasts and gives them drink. He
sent to every one of his realms one of his eunuchs, who, in order to
secure gold and silver for the king, exacted great tributes from the
vassals. The empire of China feels very much oppressed by this, as the
Chinese here tell us, without any secrecy, that they believe that there
will be within two years, more or less, conspiracies and rebellion in
China. As the king is such a man, and the adventurers furnished the
said sureties, he was not willing either to follow the advice of the
viceroys and their councils, or entirely to reject it. He commanded
certain judges and mandarins to come to examine Keit personally,
and see whether what was said of it was true or false. Accordingly,
there came this year, in this month of May, three mandarins in all
their majesty, to this city of Manila. Governor Don Pedro de Acuna
received them and treated them very courteously and very prudently,
although to some persons this seemed unreasonable; and it certainly
was an irregular proceeding to give them permission to go to Cabite to
see whether there was gold or not. They went there, and took with them
the said chair-maker and carpenter Tienguen, whom they brought from
China for this purpose. The mandarins commanded Tienguen, when they
arrived at Cavite, to show them where the gold was and have done with
it. The man answered with good courage, in a word, and said to them,
"If you choose that this be gold, gold it will be; but if you do not,
it will not be gold. I tell you that you should cut off the heads
of the Indians of this country,