To furnish this aid five
ships went laden with supplies, and with fifteen thousand pesos to
pay the infantry. Hence our forces there are, for the present, well
and even abundantly supplied, although there is some lack of men,
because many have died of _bebes_, which is a disease of the legs
very common in those islands. [75]
In 1619, ships went to Olanda loaded with cloves and drugs and
other things of various values; we fear, therefore, that the power
of these Hollanders will increase in these parts, because what they
carry enriches them and enables them to send large fleets here. The
enemy, the Hollander, built another fortress besides the ones that he
had in the islands of Ternate; and we also built another in Tidore,
and are building still another. We may thus be able to inflict much
injury upon our enemies.
In Nambrino it happened that in a drunken revel of the Hollanders the
powder took fire, and a large part of the fortification was blown up;
but they have already repaired it. They say that in this accident
nearly two hundred men were burned. The inhabitants of the island
of Vanda are much of the time at war with the Hollanders, of whom
they have killed many--notable among them the commander-in-chief--by
poisoning the water that they used. It is said that they do not like
the Hollanders, but prefer the Portuguese, with whom they have been
friendly for many years. A Portuguese just now arrived from Maluca,
fleeing from the Hollanders who had held him prisoner more than three
years, and with whom he had been in various places.
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