However much the viceroy be urged on, this country will
not have what it needs, until your Majesty be pleased to have sent
here the reenforcement of the fleet that was promised--adding to the
men and ordering it to be provided with sufficient money for their
sustenance and the execution of what must be done with the fleet. I
trust in our Lord that, if it reach here safely, it will give us very
good results. I offer on my part to procure those good results with
its aid, as far as possible. I shall not again mention in detail the
reasons existing as to why your Majesty should send us this aid, as
they have been written so often by so many men, and are so evident
and well known; and in order to conquer or conserve, or to make war
in any manner, that reenforcement and money are needed. As there is
so great a need of both these things and of small boats, as I wrote
your Majesty in those letters that you acknowledged, I heard that
the rebels of Olanda were coming to these islands with fourteen ships
and a number of caracoas. These latter are the craft of our enemies
of Mindanao, and they do the most harm to these natives. Although
it appeared impossible to make sufficient preparation to resist them
and prevent the depredations which were to be feared from so large a
squadron, I resolved to exert my utmost efforts in order to attend to
our defense, notwithstanding my lack of all things necessary for it
that should have been sent me.
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