when he was leaving the island of Mindanao already
pacified—the chiefs, with whom he had used
gentle means, that they might all be more contented,
having again rendered submission to his Majesty; and
likewise as the king of Jolo again rendered obedience
and submission. Confiding in this, Captain Cristoval
Villagra, whom Don Juan Ronquillo had appointed commander
of the garrison of La Caldera, had sent thirty soldiers
to the island of Jolo for supplies. They found
at this time in Jolo a Mindanao chief—an
uncle of the king of Mindanao, and a brother-in-law
of the king of Jolo—who had been driven
out of Mindanao because he was rebellious. He
treacherously killed thirteen Spanish soldiers.
When news of this was brought, Juan Pacho was sent
to take the troops of La Caldera in charge; and, when
it should seem best to him, to try to inflict punishment
on the king of Jolo. Having gone out to inflict
the said punishment with six hundred Spaniards, the
enemy unfortunately killed the said Juan Pacho and
twenty-nine Spaniards, the rest of them retiring without
any success. This news having come to the governor,
he sent in place of Juan Pacho Captain Toribio de Miranda,
a person in whom he had entire confidence, with an
order not to attempt any punishment until he had force
enough for it. After this Captain Toribio de
Miranda arrived at La Caldera on the twenty-sixth of
August in ninety-nine. When the garrison was
given into his charge he put the defensive works in
order; and with the arms which he brought, and those
which he found in the fort, he armed all the troops,
amounting to a hundred and fourteen soldiers.
As directed by an order of the governor, he sent a
chief of the Pintados to Mindanao with letters to
the chiefs of the island, in which he informed them
that they would be protected, favored, and upheld
in justice, as vassals of his Majesty, and that with
this object a garrison had been placed in La Caldera;
and that to aid in maintaining it, and in covering
the expenses which they had caused in the war by their
disobedience, the largest possible quantity of tributes
would be collected for his Majesty, and that he would
send for them shortly—which had not been
done earlier because the Mindanaos had been so spent
and afflicted. Having arrived on the second of
September at the river of Mindanao, and delivered
his despatch, this chief was well received, and found
the people in the settled state in which General Don
Juan Ronquillo had left them. Adiamora, the main
chief of Mindanao, in the name of them all, sent him
back on the fifteenth of the said month, offering to
give to his Majesty all the tribute which they could
collect.