Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 02).djvu/157

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1521–1569]
RESUME OF DOCUMENTS
153

to bring provisions to the settlement. The deaths of the Mexican Indian and a sailor and the sickness of several others, were attributed to poison, and Legazpi called Tupas to strict account, telling him that his treatment of the Spaniards was the reverse of what was to be expected for such good treatment on their part. Finally it was discovered that a woman had poisoned wine that had been sold to these men. She was executed, after having made a full confession and embraced the Christian religion. In consequence a stringent order was issued by the governor that no one should buy the native wine. On the same night of the execution of this woman one of the chiefs implicated in the murder of Pedro de Arana was captured upon information furnished by Tupas; he was executed on the following day, in the place of the murder. Expeditions sent out to explore and gather provisions, learned of gold and mines. On March 5, 1567, the large frigate was completed and launched, and it was named "Espiritu Santo." An expedition was despatched to the island of Gigantes in search of pitch for the boats.[1] "What we call pitch in this region is a resin from which the natives make candles in order to use in their night-fishing, and is the same as the copal of Nueva España, or at the most differs from it very little in color, smell, and taste; but it is very scarce, and occurs in but few places, and is found with great trouble." None was found here, and a boat-load of rice was brought instead from Panay. On the anniversary of the finding of the child Jesus in Cebú, the twenty-eighth of April, one of the two

  1. In regard to this use of precious gums, see East Africa and Malabar (Hakluyt Society Publications, no. 35), pp. 31, 230; in that text yncenso is incorrectly translated "wormwood."