such is the attitude that your Majesty is pleased should be taken toward them—­but the said natives would not consider it.  They put the governor off with long delays for four days, during which the latter permitted nothing to be landed from the fleet.  Thus he made the natives certain of his intention.  At the end of the four days, the chiefs of the said town and vicinity came to seek peace for themselves and their villages.  The said governor, in your Majesty’s name, received the acknowledgment and vassalage which they owed your Majesty.  Peace and friendship being thus effected, the governor disembarked with all his men, and in your Majesty’s royal name took possession of the whole island of Luzon.  He founded and settled the city of Manila, and called the said island El nuevo reino de Castilla ["the new kingdom of Castilla"].  Having done this, he tried in every way to bring the most of the natives to actual acknowledgment.  Many did not do so, nor have they been willing to; on the contrary, they induced others not to submit, saying that the Castilians, as they call the Spaniards, could not remain in that land, since they were so few; and that the people, by making war on them, could make an end of them.  So it was necessary to subdue those rebels.  This made trouble, because in the end they will be subjected by the said governor and the troops whom he has brought with him.  The governor was diligent in reconnoitering the said island, which he found to be very rich in many gold mines, which the natives improve and work, especially in the province called Ylucos.  The latter is very fertile, abounding in provisions:  rice, fowls, swine, goats, buffaloes, deer, and many kinds of lake-birds, all in great abundance.  In this island there are many provinces, and in each one of them there are different tongues and customs.  The greater number of the people are Mahometan Moros and Indians; besides other Indians who tattoo themselves in the fashion of their ancestors, and invoke the demon.  They have no native king.  Certain of the richest individual chiefs rule the country.  They wage war with one another, take prisoners in their wars, enslave them, and sell them from province to province.

This island of Luzon is sixty leagues from the mainland of China.  The city and harbor of Manila is in thirteen degrees north latitude.  This island measures five hundred leagues in circumference.  It has fine harbors, bays, and rivers of good depth, better harbors being found along the south side.  This island is little more than one hundred leagues east of the island of Burney.  Likewise the islands of Maluco, Filolo [Gilolo], Tidore, Ternate, and Ambon, called the Malucos, are three hundred leagues south of this island of Luzon.  So also the rich country of Japan, whence is brought great quantities of silver, is three hundred leagues, more or less, distant from die island of Luzon.  Every year Japanese ships come to these islands laden with merchandise.