Undaunted by these failures, another expedition sets forth (1542) to gain a footing for Spanish power on the Western Islands—­that commanded by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos; it is under the auspices of the two most powerful officials in New Spain, and is abundantly supplied with men and provisions.  The contracts made with the king by its promoters give interesting details of the methods by which such enterprises were conducted.  Various encouragements and favors are offered to colonists who shall settle in those islands; privileges and grants are conferred on Alvarado, extending to his heirs.  Provision is made for land-grants, hospitals, religious instruction and worship, and the respective rights of the conquerors and the king.  The instructions given to Villalobos and other officials are minute and careful.  At Navidad Villalobos and all his officers and men take solemn oaths (October 22, 1542) to carry out the pledges that they have made, and to fulfil their respective duties.  In 1543 complaint is made that Villalobos is infringing the Portuguese demarcation line, and plundering the natives, which he denies.  An account of his expedition (summarized, like the other documents), written by Fray Jeronimo de Santisteban to the viceroy Mendoza, relates the sufferings of the Spaniards from hardships, famine, and disease.  Of the three hundred and seventy men who had left New Spain, only one hundred and forty-seven survive to reach the Portuguese settlements in India.  The writer justifies the acts of Villalobos, and asks the viceroy to provide for his orphaned children.  Another account of this unfortunate enterprise was left by Garcia Descalante Alvarado, an officer of Villalobos; it also is written to the viceroy of New Spain and is dated at Lisbon, August 1, 1548.  Like Santisteban’s, this too is a record of famine and other privations, the treachery of the natives, and the hostility of the Portuguese.  Finally, a truce is made between the Castilians and the Portuguese, and part of the former embark (February 18, 1546) for the island of Amboina, where many of them perish.

Nearly twenty years elapse before any further attempt of importance is made to secure possession of the Philippine Archipelago.  In 1564 this is begun by the departure from New Spain of an expedition commanded by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, with which enterprise begins the real history of the Philippine Islands.  Synopses of many contemporaneous documents are here presented, covering the years 1559-68.  This undertaking has its inception in the commands of Felipe ii of Spain (September 24, 1559) to his viceroy in New Spain (now Luis de Velasco) to undertake “the discovery of the western islands toward the Malucos;” but those who shall be sent for this are warned to observe the Demarcation Line.  The king also invites Andres de Urdaneta, now a friar in Mexico, to join the expedition, in which his scientific knowledge, and his early experience in the Orient, will be of