This
income will be greatly increased, for both Castilla and Portugal, if
Nueva Espana and Filipinas be no longer allowed to trade with China and
Japan. The writer (apparently one of the king's councilors) suggests
various expedients for attaining this end, and closes by urging the
king to confine the Filipinas merchants to trade with Nueva Espana.
The events of the year from June, 1617, to June, 1618, are chronicled
by some unnamed writer (apparently one of the Jesuits in Manila). The
battle of Playa Honda deals such a blow to the Dutch power in the
archipelago that the natives in some of the Malucas Islands rebel
against it. A small English post is destroyed by the Dutch; and their
ships that flee from Playa Honda go to Japan. Their adventures in
that country are detailed. Some Dutch ships come again to the coast
of Luzon, and plunder the Chinese trading vessels as they appear;
the Spaniards cannot prevent this, as their galleons are laid up for
repairs. A shipload of supplies for the garrison and the missions at
Ternate is sent from Manila; the master of the ship, taking advantage
of the absence on shore of part of the passengers and men, steals away
with the ship and its cargo. The Jesuits secure a new supply of food
for their mission, by soliciting alms. The islands still suffer from
the depredations of the Moro pirates. The writer describes the special
festivities in honor of the Virgin Mary, and the martyrdom of some
missionaries in Japan.
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