he had made a treaty with all of them to surrender
their forts to him if Don Juan arrived. God did not so ordain it,
for our sins or for His secret judgments. So great an opportunity,
which might have ended the war, was lost, for all the natives were
resolved to become our friends; for they always cry "long live the
conqueror!" Sections 1, 9, and 15 of Don Geronimo's letter are of
the following tenor.

Letter of Don Geronimo de Silva, Governor of Maluco

I am replying to the duplicate of your Lordship, which I received by
the hand of Captain Juan Cutirez Paramo and Sargento-mayor Don Pedro
Tellez, dated at the Strait of Sincapura, March 15, in which your
Lordship gives me advice of the resolution that you took in Manila
to make your voyage to Malaca, expecting to find there the viceroy of
India, or at least the squadron of galleons from that state--a thing as
generally desired by all as it is deemed difficult by me. For I could
never persuade myself that the viceroy of India would decide to send
a larger fleet this year than the four galleons; and, supposing this,
I would have been glad had your Lordship not gone in search of the
viceroy this year. For, as I understand the decree of his Majesty,
the preparations were for the coming year; and by that time matters
would have been suitably arranged, and, both powers having united,
his Majesty's will would have been realized, without the possibility
of any fears of danger. But if the resolution taken by your Lordship
to go out with your fleet, because of the great expenses incurred,
had been taken then to come to employ that fleet here, it would have
arrived at so good a season and opportunity, that all these islands
would have surrendered to you. I could answer with my head that his
Majesty would possess them without your Lordship's needing to fire a
single shot, for the material for this truth was very well arranged. I
alone was unfortunate in that your Lordship did not come directly here
when you left Manila. I would give you as a witness of that the king of
Tidore, only he cannot declare it in writing; but he will be a witness
on that day that our Lord brings your Lordship to these islands.

Your Lordship orders me at present to despatch to you what galleys are
here. In fulfilment of that order Don Pedro Tellez is returning in the
galley that brought him, for Captain Juan de Guassa's galley was such
that it could not be repaired at all, although I summoned the roy