Fernando Riquel.)

(Response: This is the copy of a response which the very illustrious Miguel Lopez de Leguaspi sent to Guoncallo Pereira, captain-general in these regions of the south for the king our lord.  I, Pero Bernaldez, notary-public of the said fleet, copied the same from the original at the request of the said Miguel Lopez de Leguaspi.)

I, Miguel Lopez de Leguaspi, governor and captain-general for his majesty King Don Felipe, our lord, of his people and royal fleet for the discovery of the islands of the West:  in response to the summons of the very illustrious Gonzalo Pereira, captain-in-chief of the Portuguese fleet, served on me the twenty-seventh day of this present month of October I declare that it is true, as contained in his summons, that “actions speak louder than words,” as also do offers without actions—­which in his case we have seen to be very different.  For it is manifest and known to all that his actions have been, and are, very different from good words; since on the twentieth day of this month, without any cause or legitimate reason, or without the removal of the assurances given by one to the other, or without making or giving any warning or information, his grace ordered his galleys and small vessels to make an attack on certain fortifications and defenses of ours.  And they attacked and fired many cannon and arquebuse-shots at the people on the shore and bank near the fort aforesaid, without any artillery being fired at them in return from this camp, which could do them harm, until the outcome of the affair was seen.  On the contrary, astonished at the treatment afforded us when we had not given any occasion whatsoever for the same, I wrote to his grace that very day.  He, without any reply to what I had written, sent, the next morning, two galleots and a pinnace to take up a position in the other entrance of this harbor (where they now are), in order to prevent us from receiving any supplies or provisions.  He has blockaded us upon all sides; and, what is most intolerable of all, the galleys and pinnaces aforesaid have sacked, fired, and burned all the neighboring villages, and killed the natives and inhabitants, without exempting even women and children, in the towns of Gavi, Cotcot, Diluan, Denao, and Mandavi—­for the sole reason, and no other, as I understand, that they had been at peace with us, and had supplied and sold us provisions for our money.  All this cannot be denied, inasmuch as we have seen it all with our own eyes.  This may well be called deeds, and not words:  and he has answered with a war of incredible cruelty.  And in view of this, it is not surprising that we should have taken or that we do take some precautions, since he has made war so openly, and now tries to do us so open violence and injury.  As far as the pleasing of God and of our rulers is concerned, it is of very little service, or none at all, to say that we should go to his fleet; for this cannot be done without violating his majesty’s