Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 02).djvu/136

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132
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
[Vol. 2

New Spain.[1] To a Moro who presented himself as a deputy from the chief Tupas, Legazpi expressed his sorrow that the natives were fleeing to the mountains, and would not give credence to the friendship and peace offered them in the name of the king, by the Castilians. Word was sent to Tupas that Legazpi regretted the necessity of warring with the natives, and that, when they wished to return, they might do so peaceably. Although they treacherously had killed a Spaniard, he, on his part, had treated well the two women and two children captured by him, and would restore them freely to their husbands and fathers, without ransom, whenever they chose to return to ask his pardon and to make peace. That same afternoon two chiefs—one of whom, Simaquio, was the husband of one of the women and the father of the two children—came into the fort. They declared themselves to be brothers of the chief Tupas. Simaquio "came to deliver himself to the governor, saying that the latter could do what he wished with him and his, and that he should hold them as slaves, or sell them in Castilla, or do what he pleased with them." Legazpi permitted him to see his wife and daughters, telling him "that he had been as watchful of their honor, as if he had kept them in his own house." Simaquio signified his desire "to be … the friend and vassal of the king of Castilla, and to have perpetual peace and friendship, and that he would never be found lacking in it." To this Legazpi replied that it was nec-

  1. This relation may be considered as the continuation of that which records the voyage from New Spain, until the departure of the "San Pedro" from Cebú. Neither is signed, but the former seems to have been written by a military officer, as he speaks in one place of "the men of my company."