a and other regions. I should advise that the captains of
both forces should be paid at the rate of fifty pesos, the ensigns
at twenty pesos, and the sergeants at the rate of ten, as they are
now paid here. The captains here receive only thirty-five pesos,
while those of the expedition are paid sixty ducados, which amount to
eighty-two pesos and six reals. Your Majesty will give such commands
as you shall be pleased to issue. Until we receive the decision of
your royal will in this matter, the accounts of the members of the
expedition will not be closed. May our Lord keep the Catholic and royal
person of your Majesty, as Christendom has need. Manila, July 1, 1605.

_Don Pedro de Acuna_

[_Endorsed:_ "The requests in this letter were honored, in virtue of
advice given to his Majesty by the council, August 5, 1606."]

Sire:

In two ships which left here for Nueba Hespana last year, 1604,
General, Don Diego de Mendoca, of my order, [6] wrote to your Majesty
in duplicate, giving information of all the events which had happened
here. It pleased God that the flagship should return to port, after
having suffered from a tempest during which it was obliged to cut off
the mainmast. It returned to this port today, four months after it had
left it, although without any loss of the property which it carried,
[_Marginal note_: "Let him be informed that this letter has been
received and that the council has been advised of what he reports."]

The ship "San Antonio," the almiranta, which left port first,
has not been heard from up to the present time. It is regarded as
certain that it was lost, by having struck upon some desolate island
or some shoals as it was driven by the tempest. A few days before
the arrival of the flagship, there were seen on the coast of this
island opposite Manila, and on the Babuyanes, which are some islands
in the province of Cagayan, a quantity of bales of cloth from the
lading of the almiranta. It is accordingly inferred that the ship was
lost on its way to port here, during some very severe storms which
took place during that season and in that region. Still, some hopes
were entertained that it might have made its way to Nueva Espana,
although with a very small amount of cloth; but these hopes were lost
with the coming of the two ships on which arrived the master-of-camp,
Juan Desquivel, and the officers of the expedition for Maluco. These
vessels, having left Acapulco on the twenty-second of March,