arrived at Camboxa with their commander. Considering
what had just taken place, and that the land was in
rebellion and the legitimate king in the country of
the Laos, he thought that it would be impossible to
set foot there on account of the unfavorable condition
of affairs. He started to return to these islands;
but, as the weather was not suitable for the voyage,
he coasted along Cochinchina, where he repaired his
ships, and sent overland, to the kingdom of the Laos,
Bias Ruiz and Diego Bellosso, well-known to the king
of Canboxa, to acquaint him with what had taken place
in his kingdom, so that he should descend upon it.
Thereupon he left Cochinchina, where he had had some
unpleasant encounters with the king and natives, in
which, however, he sustained no loss. He reached
these islands in September of ninety-six, with the
flagship and part of his men. The other ship was
crippled by a storm and made port at Malaca, and the
rest of the men came in the following year from Malaca.
When Blas Ruiz and Diego Bellosso reached the kingdom
of the Laos, they found that the king of Canboxa and
his elder son were dead, and that the younger, called
Prauncar, alone remained, together with his mother
and grandmother. This son, in company with Blas
Ruiz and Diego Bellosso, descended upon Canboxa, with
an auxiliary force of six thousand Laos. They
found the country divided by factions, and that a
son of the tyrant whom the Spaniards had killed had
returned to reign over the greater part of it.
There were many battles with these enemies of theirs,
all of which—by the help of Blas Ruiz and
Diego Bellosso, and about ten Spaniards, from those
who had made port at Malaca, who joined them—were
gained by Prauncar. These few Spaniards did marvels
in the sight of all these heathens, so that Prauncar,
the legitimate king, has recovered his whole kingdom,
except one small province which still remained for
him to subject. On account of this, and of the
friendship which his father had had with the Spaniards,
and the assistance which he had just received from
them, he wrote to me by an ambassador of his, who
came to this city, of the outcome of all these matters,
asking me to send religious and Spaniards to settle
his kingdom, make Christians, and build churches,
offering every facility for it. At this time Don
Luis Dasmarinas, having some knowledge of affairs in
Camboxa, urged me to give him permission to go with
some men at his own cost to begin the conversion of
that kingdom, and its settlement by Spaniards.
This expedition being proper, in my opinion and that
of the Audiencia, because of its many consequences
for the service of God and his Majesty—whence
the so desired entry to the mainland could be begun,
in order that the many heathens there may come to the
knowledge of the holy Catholic faith, and submission
to his Majesty—I made an agreement, regarding
the expedition, with the said Don Luis, with the conditions
and in the form which is contained in the copy which