Four Ternatan slaves fled to the enemy, at which the latter were much
elated. When the slaves reached them the Hollanders were seen from
this city to discharge some pieces of artillery. One morning later on,
when the Hollanders wished to land upon a beach not far from Manila,
to take some recreation, they sent these slaves ahead that, like
house-thieves, they might spy out the land. Information had just come
that the enemy were accustomed to disembark in that neighborhood, so
two companies were sent to lie in ambush to deal them some blow. The
slaves landed, and our men seeing them, attacked them, killed two,
and captured the other two alive. From these we learned in detail the
forces which the enemy had. When the latter saw that his scouts did
not return with the information, he was afraid to disembark. If he
had landed, he might well have expected us to have won a very signal
victory. In the shipyard feverish efforts were made to finish at
least one vessel in time for service this year. Nearly three thousand
men--Spaniards, Indians, Chinese, and others--were employed in this
construction. From this may be gathered what our missions must have
suffered in the Pintados Islands, in the midst of which the ship was
being built, since almost all the Indians who worked there were from
our doctrinas. So large was the equipment, and so great was the zeal
shown in the work, that early in March a very beautiful galleon was
finished, which would mount forty pieces.
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