and examples to persuade him that what these deceivers
said was false, and that he should beware of them;
all this your Majesty may see, if you are so pleased,
by the documents, which I send translated into Castilian.
But the devil, who seeks his opportunity, furnished
these evil men with a king so filled with greed and
so overpowered by it that he is almost mad on the subject;
and his actions indicate this, for he has had men made
of gold and women of silver, and has them at his feasts
and gives them drink. He sent to every one of
his realms one of his eunuchs, who, in order to secure
gold and silver for the king, exacted great tributes
from the vassals. The empire of China feels very
much oppressed by this, as the Chinese here tell us,
without any secrecy, that they believe that there
will be within two years, more or less, conspiracies
and rebellion in China. As the king is such a
man, and the adventurers furnished the said sureties,
he was not willing either to follow the advice of the
viceroys and their councils, or entirely to reject
it. He commanded certain judges and mandarins
to come to examine Keit personally, and see whether
what was said of it was true or false. Accordingly,
there came this year, in this month of May, three mandarins
in all their majesty, to this city of Manila.
Governor Don Pedro de Acuna received them and treated
them very courteously and very prudently, although
to some persons this seemed unreasonable; and it certainly
was an irregular proceeding to give them permission
to go to Cabite to see whether there was gold or not.
They went there, and took with them the said chair-maker
and carpenter Tienguen, whom they brought from China
for this purpose. The mandarins commanded Tienguen,
when they arrived at Cavite, to show them where the
gold was and have done with it. The man answered
with good courage, in a word, and said to them, “If
you choose that this be gold, gold it will be; but
if you do not, it will not be gold. I tell you
that you should cut off the heads of the Indians of
this country, and you will find their necks all covered
with chains and necklaces of gold; and this is the
gold that I told you of.” Finally the governor
sent back the said mandarins, apparently satisfied;
and he wrote to the viceroy, the eunuch, and the inspector
of the town and kingdom to which the Chinese who came
here belonged. By one of these men Governor Don
Pedro de Acuna wrote a very discreet letter concerning
the matter. Now we are waiting to see how the
greed of the king of China and of his eunuch will
be affected by these things, and what measures the
captain of the guard and the sureties will take to
right their falsehood and save their lives; for, if
they are declared impostors, they will lose their
lives. We hope in the Lord, that He will look
upon this Christian community which is being founded
here, and will calm the feelings of the Chinese in
this region; and that, if they come, they will find
that the governor has the country so well prepared