ns, but they did not choose to risk breaking the peace;
on the contrary, the king of Ternate handed over the letters to the
governor of our forts there, Francisco de Esteybar, who restored them
to the governor of Manila. (Diaz, Conquistas, pp. 549-551.)

Corralat, fearing the vengeance of the Spaniards, wrote to the governor
of Zamboanga throwing the responsibility for what had occurred on his
nephew Balatamay, whom he could not chastise on account of the latter
being so powerful. He also wrote to Manrique de Lara, attributing the
deaths of the Jesuits and other Spaniards to imprudent acts committed
by Father Lopez, and entreated the governor that, mutually forgiving
injuries, affairs might remain as they had previously been. But
his complicity in the event came to be discovered, through another
letter directed in June, 1656, to the sultan of Jolo, exhorting
the latter to unite with him for defending the religion which both
professed. The Joloan monarch sent his letter to the governor of
Zamboanga in order to demonstrate his loyalty. Similar assistance
was solicited by Corralat from the Dutch and from the sovereigns of
Macasar and Ternate; and to the latter, in order to stimulate him
more, he sent the original letter of Manrique de Lara, presenting
the question under the religious aspect only--a letter which the
Spanish governor of Ternate was able to recover, and he sent it to
its author. The captain-general of Filipinas, not considering his
forces sufficient for waging war on the powerful sultan of Mindanao,
notified the governor of Zamboanga [94] to accept Corralat's excuses
as sufficient until he could ascertain whether reenforcements were
arriving from Nueva Espana and they could avenge so many injuries.

The sultan, seeing that his insolent conduct did not receive the
energetic and effectual punishment that it deserved, gained new
courage, and sent out his people to make raids through the coasts of
Zamboanga and Basilan--terminating the campaign by looting Tanganan,
where they took captive the headman of that village, named Ampi,
and twenty-three persons besides. In the Calamianes Islands also the
Mindanaos committed horrible ravages. The governor of the Moluccas, Don
Francisco de Esteybar, received orders to go to Zamboanga, conferring
upon him, besides the command of the said post, the office of governor
and captain-general of all the southern provinces of Filipinas. On the
second of December of the said year 1