in return;
but, since weapons are the articles most esteemed among soldiers,
I am sending you with this a dozen of swords and daggers. They are
the finest that we have, and you will receive them from me as from
a private person who desires your well-being and greatness, with the
good will with which they are offered, and as a token of affection. [I
send only these, too,] because the bearer of this letter is going
only for the purpose of assuring me of what I have stated above, so
that we may have the information here that is desired. May our Lord
preserve your royal person with great prosperity. Manila, June xi,
1592 years since the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[_Endorsed:_ "Copy of the letter, from the king of Japon--I mean,
to the king."]

Three Letters from Governor Dasmarinas to Felipe II

Sire:

Last year I wrote to your Majesty that I had arrived in this city of
Manila, on the first of June of the year ninety, having been nine
months on the way, counting the time I spent in Mexico recruiting
troops; the total of these was two hundred and seventy soldiers,
including those I brought from Spain. On my arrival here, I ordered
the soldiers whom I had brought, inasmuch as they were drawing pay from
your Majesty, to mount guard and do sentry duty, posting sentinels at
the forts, and excusing those whom I found here, and the townspeople,
from acting as sentinels. Although I understood that they were very
grateful to me, and that they kissed your Majesty's hands, for this;
and as there was, on other accounts, no reason why they should fail to
do their duty; still, some ungrateful rogues counseled the soldiers
that they should resist authority, and that they should not perform
their guard duty, or carry their muskets--all of which, they said,
was only to make trouble for them. Besides, they did other things
well worthy of punishment. Along with this fiction, they instantly
bombarded me with memorials and importunities for rewards for
services. I assure your Majesty truthfully that, even if you had
here three hundred encomiendas and a like number of offices, you
could not recompense them for their services, which they exaggerate
and overestimate beyond what they have actually performed for your
Majesty. The most deserving of them merits very little, unless it be
a reward for having conducted himself with great freedom, and for
having destroyed the property committed to his charge. I do not in
c