from Nueva Espana that year, the royal
treasury was considerably in debt, and had no money with which to
prepare the fleet; that for the same reason the citizens could not
possibly loan what was needed; that most of the artillery was under
suspicion, and it was necessary to recast it; and, above all, that if
it did not succeed well the entire kingdom was about to be endangered.

While affairs were in that perplexity and confusion, the vessels that
had gone out laden with the goods of the kingdom returned to port;
for, as they had sailed late, they could not make the voyage. That
is a matter that is never remedied, although by its neglect the
people are so heavily punished. They had some artillery, more than
one hundred and fifty sailors, and many passengers. That was very
important, and it was a fine piece of luck that the enemy did not
know it, for it would have been easy to capture them; for one of
those vessels had discharged its cargo about twenty leguas from the
enemy and transfered its goods overland to the city. The other went
to a port at a distance from there, at an island called Cibuian.

At this same time, the Mindanaos who had remained with the other
squadron of caracoas came to the coast of Manila, to a village called
Balayan. The Mindanaos landed, and the inhabitants fled. They set fire
to the village and to more than one thousand quintals of your Majesty's
rigging, through the fault and neglect of him who was governing. For
although the master-of camp, Don Juan Ronquillo, had advised them--on
account of the news that had come that the Mindanaos had burned the
shipyard, and were pillaging--that fifty soldiers be sent to Balayan
for its defense, and because the alcalde-mayor had sent to request it,
they did not do so, but postponed it from day to day; and consequently
the enemy was able to destroy that place. But as the inhabitants
were warned, as soon as they saw the Mindanaos coming, they had a
chance to get into the place of safety that was being prepared for
them. Our Lord ordained that, although they set fire to the rigging,
little of it was burned; for God kept it for the preparation of the
fleet, without which that would have been impossible.

At the news of the coming of the Mindanaos, two galleys were sent
under one commander, in order to prevent the junction of the Moros
with the Dutch, and to try to scatter them. Although the Mindanaos
had thirty-five caracoas, that would have been done withou