Doctor Francisco de Sande

[Endorsed:  “Doctor Francisco de Sande.  June four, 1581.  He requests a habit and an encomienda.  To the Council of the Indies.”  “Seen, and no answer is required.”]

Expeditions to Borneo, Jolo, and Mindanao

In the galley named “Santiago,” on the nineteenth of the month of April, one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight, the very illustrious Doctor Francisco de Sande, governor and captain-general for his Majesty of the Western Islands declared:  that, inasmuch as his Lordship is going with a fleet of galleys to the island of Borney, both to teach the natives there the Christian law, and to reduce them to the dominion of his Majesty—­as well as to ascertain and inform himself about the customs, past and present, of the said natives, what law and ceremonies they observe, and the mode of life among the natives thereabout and in other parts, who are vassals of his Majesty—­in order to attain this he ordered to be conducted, and did conduct, the following inquiries and procedures: 

For the investigation of the above-named matters, the aforesaid governor summoned to his presence an Indian who, through the medium and speech of Juan Ochoa Ttabudo, an interpreter, declared his name to be Magad-china, and himself an inhabitant of Balayan.  Without taking the oath, he promised to tell the truth; and, being interrogated according to the tenor of this declaration, said that he knows that the king of Borney is wont to detain many Indians who resort to Borney for trade and intercourse, and that he does not permit them to leave the country, especially those Indians whom he knows to be rich.  The witness knows that the king forces them to marry in that country, so that at their death he may obtain their possessions.  In this way he has seen detained against their will, Indians of Cubu, the island of Lucon, Balayan, Bonbon, and other districts of these islands—­all rich and influential men.  In especial was he acquainted with an Indian of Manila, a messenger of Raxa Soliman, by name Simalinquidlan; another named Siparan, a native of Manila; and a chief named Siganbal, a native of Balayan, whom he (the present witness) knows to have been detained by the king of Borney, in his country, and he does not allow them to leave it.  The said chief of Balayan has been detained six years, and some eighty or ninety tacs of gold were taken from him, besides slaves, and all these were kept by the king.  At the end of the said six years, the said chief fled returning to Balayan, his native village.  In like manner, the present witness knows that the king of Borney is detaining many Indian chiefs and timaguas [freemen], and that he will not allow them to leave his country.  Likewise this witness, upon going to Borney to trade, was detained in the island against his will for eight or nine years, until the said king of Borney sent him to Balayan to sell a trifle of camanguian and other articles—­whereupon he remained in the said town, and would not return to Borney.  He has seen this done and practiced by the king of Borney against many persons, both chiefs and timaguas, of the region about Manila, who are vassals of his Majesty.