t their ship
was run down by one of the Portuguese vessels. When the Hollanders saw
that they were lost, they themselves set fire to the powder; and those
on board were hurled into the water, where they were despatched with
pikes. The Portuguese rescued only a Japanese who had been to Olanda,
and was on the ship coming back with the Hollanders. [73]

_Of Mindanao_

The island of Mindanao is one of these Philipinas; it is inhabited
by Mahometan and heathen people, who make fierce war upon us. They
sally out with their little fleets, repeatedly plunder the towns,
desolate the fields, capture many Indians, and even Spaniards, and
kill a great number of people. This year the Lord has been pleased
that they should not be able to sally forth as usual, as they have
been very much occupied in civil wars. And if the Hollanders were
not so constantly engaging our attention, and we were to go there,
they might be destroyed--as is asserted by a Franciscan friar who
has been a captive among them for a long time, and has recently come
from there. [74] But we leave it to God; for He, with His most lofty
providence, knows how to govern in His own way.

_Of the Malucas_

To begin with spiritual affairs, a wide door to the holy gospel has
opened in the island of Manados, which borders upon that of Macacar;
and it is hoped that through it will come a rich harvest. At present a
father of our Society, named Father Cosme Prieto, is there. The fathers
of Portugal, to whom the Malucas Islands belong, plan to send more
laborers there. The king has been converted, as well as nearly all the
princes of the kingdom; and only the queen persists in her heathenism.

The people of the island of Tidore, who long have been our friends,
and through whom we are able to maintain ourselves in the Malucas,
broke the treaties which they had made with the Terrenatans. They
are engaged in war, and every day there are deaths on one side or the
other. These circumstances are very advantageous for us, because the
Terrenatans are warm friends of the Dutch and enemies to us.

All the aid sent last year from this place reached Maluco, without
suffering any loss on the way, either from the sea or from the enemy,
as has usually been the case other years. To furnish this aid five
ships went laden with supplies, and with fifteen thousand pesos to
pay the infantry. Hence our forces there are, for the present, well
and even abundantly supplied, although there is