rancisco Sarmiento_

I, Francisco Sarmiento, clerk of the government of these Philipinas
Islands for the king our lord, was present at that of which I make
mention above, and caused this copy to be made of the said official
act which was in the archives of my said office, with the notification
to them of the request made by Senor Don Pedro de Acuna, governor
and captain-general of these said islands. This is a corrected,
exact, and faithful copy. Witnesses of the correction and accuracy
are: Geronimo Suarez and Juan de Aldabe, citizens of this city of
Manila. Made therein, on the seventh of October, one thousand six
hundred and two. Interlineations: _nao, el, Vala_. In testimony of
the truth, I have affixed my seal.

_Francisco Sarmiento_

Gratis.

Letter of Pedro de Acuna to Felipe III

Sire:

By the ships that left these islands this year for Nueva Hespana I
wrote for your Majesty, in duplicate, an account of my voyage and
arrival here, and of the other events which have happened to me; and
as a ship was about to depart for Malaca I was unwilling to let slip
the opportunity to write these lines and to send them in it by way
of Yndia, that your Majesty might be informed of what other events
have taken place and have come under my notice.

In my previous letters I gave your Majesty a detailed account of
the state of affairs in Mindanao and Jolo, and sent a report of
the retreat to Pintados of Captain Juan Xuarez Gallinato with your
Majesty's force that was at Dapitan. The reason of this retreat was
the information received that the enemy were preparing a great fleet
to attack Pintados, which rendered it desirable to place the force
at a point whence it could better be transported to the region where
it might be needed. The result showed the importance of the retreat;
for the enemy, being informed of it, dared not go to the said islands
of Pintados, but advanced with a squadron of ships against Cuyo and
the neighboring islands, distant from Pintados, where they pillaged
everything and killed and took captive more than seven hundred
persons. [3] This is misery enough; and, as I wrote your Majesty,
this unfortunate condition of affairs _cannot be remedied except by
arming galleys [underlined in original]_ or large galliots, with which
it will be possible to hasten from island to island. In many regions
the mere knowledge of their existence will be sufficient to put a
bridle on the audacity of these barbarians;