as concerns those where the Spaniards have been.
The second is the island of Negros, which is absolutely
peaceful. It contains about twenty thousand inhabitants,
and is divided among the Spaniards who remained in
Cubu. There are said to be gold mines there.
Next is the said island of Cubu, which is poorly populated.
Between these three islands there are many insignificant
islets, some of them inhabited and some not. These
I shall not mention, in order to avoid prolixity,
but in all of them there are mines. Farther to
the northwest from Cubu are Baybay, Bayugo, Abuyo,
Cavalian, Tandaya, Barciogama, and other islets, among
these which I have mentioned. They are divided
among the same citizens of Cubu. Very few of
them have peaceable inhabitants. With them as
with the others, it is best to bring about peace in
these islands. Rice, cotton, great numbers of
swine and fowls, wax, and honey are produced there
in great abundance. There are many mines, as has
been shown, and the natives say that they are well
populated. There is gold in all of these islands;
but the most important thing is wanting, Spanish people
to colonize them. There remains to the west the
island of Panay, which was very populous and fertile,
and yielded great abundance of rice, swine, fowls,
wax, and honey. The natives say that there are
gold mines in this island; and, since they say it,
it must be true. The gold found there is very
pure. When the governor was in that island there
fell upon it—because of our sins and those
of the natives, or God knows what—an extremely
great plague of locusts, which has lasted three years
and still continues. No field is sown which they
do not destroy. A great famine and pestilence
have sprung up among the natives of that island, so
that more than half of them have died; and they will
continue to die until God our Lord is pleased to remove
his anger from over it. From that island to the
island of Luzon it is about sixty leagues, and in
the course is that of Mindoro. This is an island
where much wax and honey is produced. It contains
many gold mines, and rivers where gold is gathered.
I have been all about it; on the farther coast, which
is to the south, it is well populated, while on the
northern coast is the village called Mindoro, as well
as other thickly-populated rivers. Those who
have not seen it or set foot upon it say that it contains
about eight thousand men. I shall dare to affirm
from what I have seen of it that it has more than fifteen
thousand. It is very near the island of Luzon.
Between this island and the others above named, lie
many small islets, which are friendly, although they
have but small populations. As I say, next is
the island of Luzon, where the governor resides now,
and which was settled in the manner above related.
This island is thickly populated and large. The
greater and better part of it is still to be conquered,
I would say from what I have seen of the villages
and land. It does not seem to me that there will