my, having caught them off their guard, made a pastime
of it, killing twenty-six men, and carrying off arms, powder, balls,
and fuses. I regard that event as the greatest of all our losses. Among
those of our men killed there by the enemy was Captain Lopez Suarez,
a fine soldier. Our men were not disheartened by these reverses,
except such and such men. The governor well sustains the undertaking
with [all his powers of] mind and body. He has surrounded the entire
hill with a stockade and a ditch, and has sown the ground with sharp
stakes so that the enemy may neither receive aid nor sally out from
it. At intervals there are sentry-posts and towers, so close that they
almost touch. There were six barracks along it, so that if any tower
should be in need the soldiers in them could go to its defense. Some
of them have six men, others four, and those which have least three
men, as a guard. The enclosure is one legua long and surrounds the
hill. I do not know which causes the more wonder, the fort of the
Moros or the enclosure of the Spaniards--which restrains the Moros,
so that they issue but seldom, and then at their peril. We are day
by day making gradual advances. Today a rampart was completed which
is just even with their stockades, so that we shall command the hill
equally [with the enemy]. God helping, I hope that we shall reduce
their trenches, and then we shall advance from better to better. May
God aid us; and _si Dominus a custodierit civitatem frustra vigilat qui
custodit eam_. [18] Father, prayers and many of them are needed. Will
your Reverence have them said in your holy college, and excuse me and
all of us for what we can not do. I forward this letter, [hoping] for
its good fortune in the holy sacrifices of your Reverence, etc. Jolo,
March 31, 1638. To the father-prior of Manila.

_Pax Christi, etc._

I would like to be the bearer of this letter, and to fulfil my desires
of seeing your Reverence and all the fathers and brothers of your
Reverence's holy college. That is a proposition for which credit
may be given me, but the time gives space only to suffer; and thus
do we have to accommodate ourselves to it, and to check our desires,
drawing strength from weakness. I must content myself with writing,
which would be a pleasant task, if I could do it at my leisure, and not
so hastily as I have made known in certain letters that I have sent
to your Reverence--not losing or neglecting any occasion at which I
c