And if the Hollanders were
not so constantly engaging our attention, and we were to go there,
they might be destroyed--as is asserted by a Franciscan friar who
has been a captive among them for a long time, and has recently come
from there. [74] But we leave it to God; for He, with His most lofty
providence, knows how to govern in His own way.
_Of the Malucas_
To begin with spiritual affairs, a wide door to the holy gospel has
opened in the island of Manados, which borders upon that of Macacar;
and it is hoped that through it will come a rich harvest. At present a
father of our Society, named Father Cosme Prieto, is there. The fathers
of Portugal, to whom the Malucas Islands belong, plan to send more
laborers there. The king has been converted, as well as nearly all the
princes of the kingdom; and only the queen persists in her heathenism.
The people of the island of Tidore, who long have been our friends,
and through whom we are able to maintain ourselves in the Malucas,
broke the treaties which they had made with the Terrenatans. They
are engaged in war, and every day there are deaths on one side or the
other. These circumstances are very advantageous for us, because the
Terrenatans are warm friends of the Dutch and enemies to us.
All the aid sent last year from this place reached Maluco, without
suffering any loss on the way, either from the sea or from the enemy,
as has usually been the case other years.
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