The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 316 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 316 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55.
of Tanay fled at their approach, and the little food found there was sent to Legazpi; while the two leaders remained at the island some days in a fruitless endeavor to make peace and friendship with the natives.  On All Saints’ Day “about the hour of mass” some twenty houses were burned in the Spanish settlement, “among others that where the religious slept, and the hut where mass was said,” and many goods were burned.  “It could not be proved whether this fire was set, or happened through carelessness.”  It having been discovered that the inhabitants of Matan and Gavi who would not make peace with the Spaniards, but were friendly to the natives of Cebu, came freely to that island, and even entered the Spanish settlement, the master-of-camp and Goyti were despatched to Matan to receive the homage of the chiefs or to make war upon them.  Warned by the natives of Cebu, those of Matan fled.  The invaders burned their village, for which the natives threatened retaliation, saying they would burn the houses of the Spanish settlement.  Meanwhile the food problem assumed threatening dimensions, and the men became discontented and began to grumble because they were not allowed to take anything from the natives without pay.  “And although the governor and captains, the religious and other chief persons ... tried to encourage them with good words and promises,” a mutiny was arranged among certain men, which, “if God in his infinite mercy had not caused it to be discovered, might have caused great loss and trouble.”  Certain of the petty officers (some of them foreigners), and some of the soldiers and servants, conspired to seize the “San Juan,” and, making first a cruise through the islands, to seize “the junks of Borneo, Luzon, and Venduro, trading among these islands.”  Then they planned their course by way of the Strait of Magellan to New Spain, Guatemala, or Peru, or to Spain or France.  If the weather were contrary then “they would go to Malaca, where the Portuguese would receive them with open arms ... because they had fled from this camp and settlement.”  All officers had been selected.  The mutiny had every appearance of succeeding, for the master of the “San Pablo” had in his care all the artillery, powder, and ammunition aboard the ship.  The twenty-seventh of November was set for their desertion, and to avoid pursuit the “San Pablo” and the frigates that had been built were to be sunk.  The date, for some unknown reason, was postponed until the twenty-eighth.  On that day the master of the “San Pablo” divulged the conspiracy to the master-of-camp, who immediately informed Legazpi.  Pablos Hernandez, a native of Venice, the head of the conspiracy, fled, first making an ineffectual attempt to assume the ecclesiastical garb, in order that he might escape with his life.  Finally “he determined to die as a Christian, in order that his soul might not be lost;” he gave himself up, and was hanged.  The French pilot Pierres Plin, and a Greek were also hanged.  The others were pardoned after being
Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.