cutting off men's heads. They are accustomed to the use of bows and arrows. Consequently three soldiers in a rough country could not have escaped, unless God had kept their boat from being entirely destroyed by the Sangleyes.
6. The corsair continued his journey, and, intending to make an attack at dawn, anchored outside the bay, and sent all his small boats ashore in charge of some captains, in the early part of St. Andrew's Eve. They say that the corsair remained with the ships; but that in the boats there were seven hundred men, among whom were a few arquebusiers, and many pikemen, besides men armed with battle-axes.[1] They were clad in corselets which are coats lined with exceedingly thick cotton. They had durable bamboo hats, which served as helmets; they carried cutlasses, and several daggers in their belts; and all were barefoot. Their manner of warfare or of fighting, was to form a squadron composed of men with battle-axes, among whom were placed some arquebusiers, a few of the latter going ahead as skirmishers. One of every ten men carried a banner, fastened to his shoulders and reaching two palms above his head. There were other and larger banners also, so that it appeared as if some important personage was coming who served in the capacity of master-of-camp. These, then, were the people who made the first attack.
7. The entrance to the bay of this city of Manila is southwest of Manila. On its southern side, and
- ↑ The Spanish phrase here is armas enastadas, literally, "weapons fastened to handles." See cuts of Chinese battle-axes (from specimens in Musée d' Artillerie, Paris) in Auguste Demmin's Arms and Armor (London, 1877), p. 442.
