conduct with them, it is quite certain
that the enemy would be ruined, and could not maintain himself a
year in his forts; for it is the natives who aid and sustain him,
and furnish the cloves for his profit.

Fifth, it would be easy to make an invasion with the galleys on all
the factories where they have not fortresses--and especially in Bantan,
which is in Greater Xava, whither they carry all the spices which are
shipped to Holland--and then to gain them all and burn them. They have
no port there for large vessels, but only a bay where vessels which
anchor there are kept at a distance from the land in the mud, aground,
so that they cannot make use of them when they wish. Accordingly
the galleys could easily burn those which lie there. If Don Juan de
Silva had adopted this measure, the enemy would already be subdued;
and your Majesty would not have spent so great sums of money, and so
exhausted the Filipinas Islands.

Sixth, the forces which your Majesty possesses in Maluco would
be maintained with much less cost than at present by means of
these galleys. For as there are no supplies in those islands it
is necessary to send them from the Filipinas, which entails three
difficulties. The first is that prices are thus made higher in
that country, and the natives thereof are oppressed; the second,
that it costs your Majesty a great deal, with the ships and men that
are needed to man them; and the third, that the enemy gets a great
deal of the aid which is sent. All this would be obviated by keeping
galleys there; for it must be understood that the island of Macacar
is very large, rich, and abundantly supplied, and lies a two days'
journey from Maluco. The king there is desirous of friendship with
us, and has even sent to the governor of Terrenate to seek religious,
as he says in the letter which is at the end of this relation. Last
year he wrote a letter to the governor of the Filipinas, offering
to furnish him all the supplies that he might need for the forces in
Maluco; and saying that, if he had not the money to pay for them, he
might have them on trust until the money came. Things are very cheap
there, costing less than half as much as in the Filipinas, and the
said galleys could transport them easily, without the danger which
they now encounter of being taken by the enemy. Rather, on the other
hand, those which the enemy carry from there could be taken away with
ease, and they would be caused to perish with hunger.