f these seas to all
Japanese ships bearing it. So the ship continued on its way here till
it met the Hollander, with whom it remained two or three days. The
Hollander inquired if it carried munitions, which would be contrary
to his wish. Although in fact the ship had on board a large quantity
of munitions underneath a great number of sacks of flour, the question
was answered in the negative. Thereupon the general allowed it to pass,
and gave it an arrogant message for the governor. In this he said that
his Lordship might well be preparing his fleet little by little, which
he [the Dutch general] would await a long time; that he just now had
learned that galleons were being built in the shipyards, but that the
governor should not be disturbed; that, indeed, if it were necessary,
he would go with his men to aid in finishing and launching them,
just for the opportunity of fighting them; that this was what he most
desired, as he had strong hopes of victory, which would be glorious
in proportion to his Lordship's nobility; and that he therefore would
welcome the governor's coming. This message the Hollanders sent with
the Japanese ship. Later on, another Japanese ship came along; and,
as it carried a _chapa_, it was able to enter. Then a Spanish ship,
which likewise came from Japon, arrived; but, as it carried no license,
it came by a different route, to avoid falling into the enemy's hands,
and took shelter in another port of the islands before coming to the
city. A Portuguese ship coming from Macan did the same, and thus the
enemy captured nothing.

Four Ternatan slaves fled to the enemy, at which the latter were much
elated. When the slaves reached them the Hollanders were seen from
this city to discharge some pieces of artillery. One morning later on,
when the Hollanders wished to land upon a beach not far from Manila,
to take some recreation, they sent these slaves ahead that, like
house-thieves, they might spy out the land. Information had just come
that the enemy were accustomed to disembark in that neighborhood, so
two companies were sent to lie in ambush to deal them some blow. The
slaves landed, and our men seeing them, attacked them, killed two,
and captured the other two alive. From these we learned in detail the
forces which the enemy had. When the latter saw that his scouts did
not return with the information, he was afraid to disembark. If he
had landed, he might well have expected us to have won a very signal