Before now I have written that it is best not to allow any Portuguese to come over with the other people.  This matter ought to have careful attention, for the Portuguese are not to be trusted, and will profit us little.  Many of them, both soldiers and sailors, came on the flagship, and I would be glad to see them far from here.  I beseech your Excellency to be pleased to take the necessary measures in this respect; for it is certainly an important matter, upon which much depends.  Felipe de Salzedo is coming in this patache and will give a more complete relation of everything; I refer you to him.  May our Lord keep, etc.

From this island of Cubu, July seven, 1569.

Relation of the Filipinas Islands and of the Character and Conditions of their Inhabitants.

This archipelago is composed of many islands.  Some of them are large, and most of them thickly populated, especially on the seacoast and all along the rivers.  The mountains are also inhabited; but there are not as many large towns as along the coast and the rivers.  The inhabitants of these islands are not subjected to any law, king, or lord.  Although there are large towns in some regions, the people do not act in concert or obey any ruling body; but each man does whatever he pleases, and takes care only of himself and of his slaves.  He who owns most slaves, and the strongest, can obtain anything he pleases.  No law binds relative to relative, parents to children, or brother to brother.  No person favors another, unless it is for his own interest; on the other hand, if a man in some time of need, shelters a relative or a brother in his house, supports him, and provides him with food for a few days, he will consider that relative as his slave from that time on, and is served by him.  They recognize neither lord nor rule; and even their slaves are not under great subjection to their masters and lords, serving them only under certain conditions, and when and how they please.  Should the master be not satisfied with his slave, he is at liberty to sell him.  When these people give or lend anything to one another, the favor must be repaid double, even if between parents and children, or between brothers.  At times they sell their own children, when there is little need or necessity of doing so.

These people declare war among themselves at the slightest provocation, or with none whatever.  All those who have not made a treaty of peace with them, or drawn blood with them, are considered as enemies.  Privateering and robbery have a natural attraction for them.  Whenever the occasion presents itself, they rob one another, even if they be neighbors or relatives; and when they see and meet one another in the open fields at nightfall, they rob and seize one another.  Many times it happens that half of a community is at peace with half of a neighboring community and the other halves are at war, and they assault and seize one another; nor do they have any order or arrangement in anything.  All their skill is employed in setting ambuscades and laying snares to seize and capture one another, and they always try to attack with safety and advantage to themselves.