and
commerce of the archipelago. He asks again that the king will aid his
faithful subjects who have begun a colony there; no assistance has
been received since their arrival there, and they are in great need
of everything. The Portuguese are jealous of any Spanish control in
the Philippines, and already threaten the infant colony. He sends
(1568) a considerable amount of cinnamon to Spain, and could send
much more if he had goods to trade therefor with the natives. Legazpi
advises that small ships be built at the Philippines, with which to
prosecute farther explorations and reduce more islands to subjection;
and that the mines be opened, and worked by slave-labor.

The Spanish settlement on Cebu was regarded with great jealousy by
the Portuguese established in the Moluccas, and they sent an armed
expedition (1568) to break it up. As the two nations were at peace,
the Portuguese commander and Legazpi did not at once engage in war,
but carried on protracted negotiations--a detailed account of which is
here presented, from the official notarial records kept by Legazpi's
chief notary, and transmitted to the home government. Legazpi claims
that he has come to make new discoveries for his king, to propagate
the Christian religion, and to ransom Christians held captive by the
heathen in these regions; and that he had regarded the Philippines as
being within the jurisdiction of Spain. If he has been mistaken, he
will depart from the islands at once, if Pereira will provide him with
two ships. The latter refuses to accept Legazpi's excuses, and makes
vigorous complaints against the encroachments of the Spaniards. Pereira
summons all the Spaniards to depart from the islands, promising to
transport them to India, and offering them all aid and kindness, if
they will accede to this demand; but Legazpi declines these proposals,
and adroitly fences with the Portuguese commander. These documents
are of great interest, as showing the legal and diplomatic formalities
current in international difficulties of this sort.

_The Editors_

Documents of 1525-1528

_Expedition of Garcia de Loaisa_
1525-26
_Voyage of Alvaro de Saavedra_
1527-28

[Resume of contemporaneous documents, 1522-37]

Translated and synopsized by James A. Robertson, from Navarrete's
_Col. de viages_, tomo v, appendix, pp. 193-486.

Expedition of Garcia de Loaisa
1525-26

[These documents are all contained in Navar