The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898/Volume 9/Memorial on navigation and conquest

MEMORIAL ON NAVIGATION AND CONQUEST

 

[This memorial, addressed to Felipe II by Hernando de los Rios, is prefaced by a letter from Luis Perez Dasmariñas, as follows:]

Sire: In these islands resides a person named Hernando de los Ryos, a colonel, a man of much information concerning important matters, and particularly learned in mathematics and astrology, and possessed of such virtue and such uprightness of life, and so zealous and desirous of the service of God and your Majesty, and of the common welfare, that I know not if there be a man in these parts to exceed him in this; and may it please our Lord to give us many who shall succeed in being so disinterested in worldly things and earthly claims. At any rate, in the secular estate, in my opinion and perhaps that of many good men, I know not if you will find in this country, or even for the most part in others, a man of more learning, respectability, and virtue, accompanied by other good qualities and gifts with which God has graced him, and which are so well employed and profited by, as in himself. For his sole object is to serve God and desire his service and that of your Majesty, and the great good which can be accomplished in these regions; and he is not interested in the occupations and advantages of office, although it would be well indeed if all those who hold them had the qualifications that he has for them. At any rate, he has refused and rejected some of the best offices of this country, particularly an offer to be a royal official of the royal exchequer of your Majesty, when I desired him to be so during my government, as I understood that he was a fit man for the service of God and of your Majesty. It was impossible, however, to persuade him. His intention, as I have understood, is to become a priest. He has made a very peculiar instrument of general usefulness in many curious and important ways, particularly in navigation, for getting bearings and taking measurements, which are rendered very easy. I do not send one to your Majesty, because he has not finished a book of description and explanation of this instrument. I have persuaded him to send one to your Majesty, as I also shall do, as I consider it well that your Majesty should have information of the learning, virtue, and parts which are found in him, as it may be of use and importance for the service of God and your Majesty—whom may our Lord protect many years of life, according to His power and the desire and need of us all. Manyla, June 27, 1597.

Luys Perez Das Marinas

 

Memorial

Indeed, the desire which possesses me of serving your Majesty and ending my life in your service, as I am a humble vassal of your Majesty, was too mixed with awe to allow of this boldness, if Don Luis Perez de las Marinas, former governor of these islands, had not encouraged me and persuaded me to give information to your Majesty of several matters concerning these parts, as a person who has spent nine years here. I could wish that it was with better reason, if time had been given me to finish a book which treats of the use of an astrolabe, very important for the service of your Majesty, for use in the art of navigation. This I would send you this year, with an ample relation of various matters, if Don Francisco Tello, governor of these islands, had not occupied me in ridding them of a great number of Chinese and Japanese Sangleys, who, under pretense of being merchants, were seeking to remain in this country, and with whom there is no manner of safety. They know how to set about so cunningly to gain the good-will of the citizens that it appears almost impossible, if your Majesty does not send and order a remedy, to better the matter here, although I have used all possible diligence in it. The reason for this is that each particular citizen defends those whom he needs, as they are a people who are cunning at all crafts. Accordingly they keep them in their houses, and hide them; so that they sleep inside the city at night, to the number of about two thousand. There are more than five thousand who remain this year with the governor's license in the service of the colony, for they tell the governor that this is expedient. It appears to me that three thousand is enough, and even with this number more care and precaution could be taken than is done here, and there should be no more of the infidels. I give this account . . .^[1] as a person who has them in his charge, in other matters touching . . . that which Don Luis Perez de las Marinas gives your Majesty . . . I have informed him so that, being so Christian and zealous a knight in the service of your Majesty, he will give a true and certain relation of all.

With this astrolabe, which, with the aid of God, I have discovered, can be found the altitude from the pole, and the latitude of any region whatsoever at any hour of the day, and at the same time it will tell the hour, in the same way that it gives directions at night by any known star, more easily than the mariners usually take it at midday. Besides this, it also serves like other astrolabes at midday, to indicate the various points of the compass, and show and verify with precision the deviations and deflection of the needle from the pole. In this way it serves to give the longitude where one is sailing, on whatever parallel to the equinoctial. Likewise it shows the position of the stars, even when all their latitudes [i.e., altitudes?] and declinations are unknown, so easily that even the most uninstructed can in a short time learn it. It is of use in other curious, useful, and important ways, for the perfection of this art, which can by its aid be verified. As it is an article so curious and useful, the said Luis Perez de las Marinas persuaded me to give an account of it to your Majesty, with a brief relation and discourse concerning the information which I have of these parts.

Although your Majesty has so little profit from these islands, we can see that it is a place of much importance for the service of your Majesty, and the spread of the most holy Catholic faith, since it has as neighbors, and surrounding it, many extremely rich and fertile countries. The disposition of matters is . . . that they are propitious for your Majesty easily to make himself master of those lands. Your Majesty will see that this is so by the relations which the governor of these islands, and likewise Don Luis Perez de las Marinas, formerly governor of them, have sent you.

It is very necessary and expedient that several expeditions and conquests should be made in these parts for the service of your Majesty in view of the advantages that the Castilians would gain if they held a good post on the mainland—such as the kingdom of Sian, which is very rich and abounds in many things, and could be conquered and kept with a thousand men, according to everyone who has been there; or the kingdom of Canboxa, which is seeking our friendship, and offers to maintain troops at its own expense, and furnish them to us on occasions when aid may be necessary; or the kingdom of Chanpa, which could be conquered and maintained with three hundred men, and is the pass for this archipelago, and the key to Cochinchina, which is a very rich and fertile country, and could be conquered with a thousand or fifteen hundred men. The latter is more to the east than the said kingdoms between Chanpa and China, close to these islands, and with everyone . . . of them on account of the many wars and enmities, which exist among them, this . . . would be easy to spread the royal sovereignty of your Majesty with great . . . so that all would seek for our friendship and alliance; for . . . said, and with a little shrewdness and cunning a great deal of it might be gained . . . with our protection and oversight the ministers and preachers . . . could spread over all those parts in safety, to convert those souls and bring such a great multitude of heathen to the true knowledge of our Lord God. It is no little shame to consider that among those peoples, by way of Burnei and other Mahometans the venom and poison of their false doctrine is being scattered—although this is of so great importance, as your Majesty must see by the accounts which are sent you, and to which I refer.

But for the present the thing which appears very expedient and necessary, and should be attended to at once, is to take a port on the island of Hermosa, which lies distant from the farthest part of this island (which is the province of Cagaia), thirty-six leagues in a northwesterly direction. In circumference it measures about two hundred leagues, and stretches in the same direction from the twenty-second to the twenty-fifth degree. From there to the mainland of China is not more than twenty leagues. . . . informed by a person who has been there that it is fertile and inhabited by a people similar to the natives of these islands, who rob and kill those who go there in vessels, as it is the necessary route from China to this city, from Japon here, and to other parts. The country is well supplied with provisions. It has few ports, but there is one which lies at the head of it, on the side which faces toward Japon, which is very well formed and strong. It is named Keilang, and at present has no defense. If three hundred men were placed there with a fort, all the power of those parts would not be sufficient to dislodge them; for the entrance is very narrow, and with artillery they could resist any efforts which were made against them. It is a large port with deep water, and the entrance is closed by an island on the northeast part, inhabited by about three hundred Indians. I have sent a care

Map of islands of Luzón and Hermosa, with part of China; by Hernando de los Rios Coronel

[From MS. map (dated Manila, June 27, 1597), in Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla]

fully traced sketch of this to your Majesty with this letter. The reason why it is very necessary to occupy this port is for the safety of these islands; for it is known to a certainty that . . . that if a fort is built at . . . which is very . . . will be able to send it from there without great difficulty, and being installed there, would make us anxious at all times, and harry the land, without there being any help for it. For they are a warlike and numerous people. The other reason is because all the trading ships which sail for this city from China make land there, and will not dare sail from their own country. They are very much afraid of those people, and will cease their trade with this city, and thus that will be lost—even more than the great wealth which the ship "San Felipe"^[2] carried, which arrived in their country in the past year, ninety-six. That wealth made them covetous of it; and perhaps their principal intention is to come here and attack these islands. It is not worthy of the Spanish reputation to allow this barbarian to use us thus, without experiencing our power through some injury. It would be a great loss to him to take that passage from him; and, for any purpose that your Majesty may desire, it will be a very important station; since, if your Majesty sends a large number of troops by way of Nueva España or of India, that is so difficult an undertaking, and entails so much expense and the death of so many.

It is of no less importance to give an account to your Majesty of two routes which can be explored at little expense and are short and easy. The first is by the strait which is called Danian [i. e., Anian], which lies between the farthest land of China and the regions of Nueva España . . . a relation which I [received] there, which was left in manuscript by Fray Martin de Rada, of the order of St. Augustine, a great mathematician, of whom your Majesty had information in this . . . of the letter.

A worthy Vizcayan, named Juanes de Ribas, a native of San Sebastian, told me that while he was going after whales to Terranova [i. e., Newfoundland] he received information that in the year forty-five some Bretons were carried [by storms] from the cape of Breton, which lies about eighty leguas west of the cape of Bacallaos, which lies in forty-nine or fifty degrees of latitude. He said that in latitude fifty-two degrees, after sailing to the northwest a hundred leguas, they encountered a strait. And, according to this relation, some Portuguese came to India and China; they say that in forty-five days they arrived from Ucheo at Lisboa; and, believing that the king would show them favor, they gave him an account of it. But he threw them into prison, and they died there. One of the Portuguese who went in that ship afterward came to Nueva España and accompanied Francisco de Ivarra in the exploration of Nueva Viscaya.^[3] The said Francisco de Ivarra intended to go to explore this strait, but there were difficulties in the way, and they did not accomplish it. This Vizcayan and the Portuguese became friendly and told to each other what each one had seen and knew. They said that from the cape of Breton they go to the northwest until they reach the mainland and afterwards coast down toward the southwest, as the coast runs in this direction, and they come upon the entrance which, although it seems very small, yet is large and deep. Then sailing to this sea of China to the west-southwest, they said that at the mouth of the strait, toward the South Sea as toward the North Sea, there are many small islands, although more . . . in the direction of the north, coming from China outside of . . . which to Manil . . . The country of China is very high, and wooded with pine trees and . . . partly lower, also with forests. He said that in the strait they use no wind at all, but that the currents take them in and float them through. They said that those who consider that the island of Bacallao is all one are wrong; for it consists of several small islands in a chain, reaching to Cape Gata, which is in sixty-two degrees, and where there is a deep channel which enters into the great bay. They say that the point of Vacallaos is in fifty degrees, and they run along the coast of this island as far as Cape Breton, about eighty leguas. Those who place Cape Breton on the maps should put it on the same large island, and it lies nearer to the point of Vacallaos than to Cape Gata.^[4]

It may also be inferred that these seas communicate with each other, because on the coast of Nueva España those who are coming from these islands in forty-two degrees latitude see a great number of whales, who must enter by that strait to winter in a warm climate. Accordingly your Majesty can send as many troops as you wish in this way with ease, and become lord of these parts. Although this voyage being in so high a latitude appears to entail some difficulty, there will be none, in view of the fact that by leaving España at the end of March, when they arrive in the high latitudes it is the hot season, and the days are long and the weather is fair; and the winds are brisas, as is necessary. Thus they will come here very easily, and in the island of Hermosa, in this port of Kielang, your Majesty may send and have stationed a considerable fleet, safe and well provisioned; for the country is fertile, and productive of food stuffs, rice, meat, and so much fish that they load every year two hundred ships for China—especially as the coast of China is so near, where for money . . . what they wish in abundance; and also from Japon they can . . . examine.

The other route for navigation is through Nuevo Mexico, in forty-five degrees of latitude. This was related to me by a friar named Fray Andres de Aguirre, of the order of St. Augustine, who died about three years ago, being prior of the convent of his order in this city. He was learned in cosmography. He said that in his presence, at the time when Don Luis de Velasco the elder was governor of Nueva España, a Vizcayan gave an account of this route, who said that he had seen it while he was sailing with a French pirate. They entered through an arm of the sea above the main coast opposite Florida, and after sailing west for many days they found that the said arm ended in a bay. They saw straightway a half a league distant another arm of the sea, and building a brigantine they went through it sailing for several days, and came upon a very populous city, where they were furnished with whatever they needed, and had built for them some wooden houses on the shore, until, on account of a certain difficulty which one of them had with a woman, they were driven out of the country, and went back. From this it may be inferred that in that region, which they said lay in forty-five degrees of . . . From here having ships there, rather . . . of this. Father Antonio Sedeño, rector of the Society of Jesus of this city, who died about two years ago, said that it was told him many times by Pero Melendez in Florida.^[5]

These two explorations will be very easy to make, at little expense, from these islands rather than from España. For their entrances from that side are difficult to find, and from this side one cannot go astray, nor is there any obstacle. The first year after Gomez Perez de las Marinas arrived in this country as governor, he conferred with me about sending me to explore the strait of Danian. By reason of the expedition which he intended to make to Maluco, he deferred the other; and when he was so unfortunately killed it put an end to the project. He, I believe, would have far advanced the affairs of these parts if he had lived, and would have done good service for your Majesty, judging by the valor and zeal which he showed; and his absence, and the need for him, have brought this city to a sense of what they owe him, and now they deplore his loss.

I have given this brief account to your Majesty, begging humbly that you will pardon my boldness (which zeal for your royal service and the good of these regions has caused) in advising your Majesty, that you may see how glorious opportunities our Lord God has kept for you to extend and widen out the holy Catholic faith. But it is necessary that your Majesty should entrust this to a person of high rank and great worth, and that he should not come for a limited time, with the intention of gathering riches and the fruit of the land, and then returning; for those who have this intention will not be watchful for its welfare, nor zealous for the honor of God and for the service of your Majesty. I have informed the governor of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, of this, so that he may write to your Majesty and make use of the opportunities which are offered him. I know not what he will do. May our Lord God, for whom we labor, protect your Majesty many years, according to the needs of Christendom, and augment your estate with greater lands and majesty, for His glory and the good of . . . may it prosper. Manila, June 27, 1597.

[Endorsed: "Examined on the thirteenth of September of 1599. As to what he says of the astrolabe, have a copy made and delivered to Cespedes, that he may examine it and give his opinion in regard to it. As for the rest, join everything in regard to this matter, and have all the papers brought in a bundle."]

[Memoranda at beginning of document: "Memorial addressed to the king, dated at Manila on June 27, 1597, by Colonel Hernando de los Rios, which gives an account of a book which he is engaged in composing, concerning the approved usage and art of navigation, and of the importance of taking a port on the mainland of China, and particularly in the island of Hermosa, of which he gives a very circumstantial description, accompanying it with his map, and finally a very valuable discourse on the two routes which are the most expeditious and direct for navigation from Spaña to those kingdoms, that can be found. The first is through a channel or narrowing of the sea which enters Nuebo Mexico above Florida at forty-five degrees latitude, according to the information received from Father Federico of the Society of Jesus, and from a friar of the order of St. Augustine, who was very learned in cosmography, and who died in that city. The other is through the strait called Anian. There is inserted in the said memorial a relation which was left written by Fray Martin de Rada, of the order of St. Augustine. It was received from a Vizcayan named Juanes de Rivas, a native of San Sevastian, wherein he sets forth that various Portuguese have passed by that way to Yndia and China, and by way of Ucheo returned to Lisboa in forty-five days of voyage. He gives a condensed description of the ship's courses, and the navigation which must be accomplished until they have arrived in the harbor, either here or in China, etc., etc.

Memorial directed to the king of España by Benito Escoto, a Genoese noble, in the year 1616, giving an account of a certain method which he had discovered of putting together certain tables of longitudes in maritime voyages and navigation, etc.; and to find that navigation which, up to that time, so many serious men and mariners had sought and had not found—namely, the passage by the northern part of China, Japon, Malucas, and Philipinas, with a condensed discourse concerning the advantages which will accrue from the proposed action. And in continuation a letter from the prior of the convent of Santa Maria, written to . . . in recommendation of the good circumstances and worthy qualities both of the author and his work."]

1. The original MS. of this document is illegible or torn in many places: these are indicated by leaders (. . .).
2. This ship was wrecked on the coast of Japan, driven thither by tempests; and its rich cargo was seized by the Japanese. Detailed accounts of this event and its consequences are furnished by Morga in his Sucesos (Hakluyt Soc. trans.), pp. 75-79; Santa Inés, in the Crónica, ii, pp. 252-272; and La Concepcion, in Hist. de Philipinas, iii, pp. 106-119, 143-148.
3. Francisco de Ibarra was a prominent Spanish officer in Mexico (1554-72); he subjected to the dominion of Spain the province of Copala, which he named Nueva Vizcaya, founding therein the cities of Durango, Sinaloa, and others.
4. For accounts of early explorations on North American coasts, see the following works: On the northeastern coast, Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, iv, pp. 33-102. On the Pacific coast, H. H. Bancroft's History of the Northwest Coast, i, pp. 1-136. The voyages mentioned in this document are regarded by Bancroft as apocryphal. Bacallaos ("cod-fish") was an early designation of the island of Newfoundland, but was afterward extended to the mainland of eastern Canada. The cape of Breton evidently refers to Cape Breton, on the island of that name.
5. Sedeño, as vice-provincial of his order in the islands, governed all its missions there. On a journey of inspection he suffered greatly from the hardships of a stormy voyage, and died at Cebú on September 1, 1595. La Concepcion gives an interesting sketch of his life and labors, in Hist. de Philipinas, iii, pp. 7-12. Before coming to the Philippines, Sedeño had accompanied the expeditions of Pedro Melendez in Florida.

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