_
Liao?]. [63] They routed the Chinese armies, made a great slaughter
among them, took some cities, and destroyed many villages; and then,
because the winter is so cold, they retired to their own country
to remain till another year, when, they say, they will come with a
great force. And although they fear that they are not possessed of
everything necessary for this invasion, yet a short time before, [64]
a violent storm demolished for them that famous and strong wall, six
hundred leguas long, which separated China from Tartaria. The events
of this war and the state of the kingdom of China will be set forth
in a petition, or memorial, which the mandarins presented to their
king. Our fathers of Macan sent it to us, saying that the Christians
of Paquin had sent it to them. The fathers put it into Portuguese;
translated into Spanish, it reads as follows:
_Memorial which the mandarins of Paquin sent to the king of China in
the year 1618, when the Tartars invaded that kingdom._
This year, 1618, in the sixth moon, which is the month of August,
the president of the council of war presented to the king a memorial
for the defense [of the kingdom] against the Tartars, who entered
by the north walls. He humbly begs of you, my king, that you give
attention to this matter, and quickly open your treasuries in support
of this war to raise soldiers and to collect supplies. The facts
of the situation are, as I just now heard from the mandarins who
are in the province of the north walls, that the Tartars assembled
with the determination to seize this country of China.
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