fifty of them seized, the first whom he could find, and put them in the galleys at the oar.  Thereupon the rest, being cowed, assembled, and made up from among their number all the two hundred and fifty.  And inasmuch as no one of them wished to be of that number, they distributed among those who accepted that service twenty thousand pesos, which were given as a present to those Chinese who would go on the galley, each one being given eighty pesos, besides the king’s pay.  With this good aid, Chinese were not wanting to consent to act as rowers, although the twenty thousand pesos were spent among them—­or, more correctly, among the officers.  From those two hundred and fifty Chinese, five companies were formed, and five Chinese Christians appointed as captains.  They made their musters and reviews, with pikes and catans—­which are but slightly different from cutlasses—­and appeared to be happy and contented.  Amid these occupations Brother Gaspar Gomez came unexpectedly to Manila, loaded with information which he referred to the governor in a number of private conferences.  He said that the king of Ternate was not badly prepared, although his forces were somewhat weakened by his not being in very great harmony with the majority of the chiefs of his kingdom.  Many were threatening to rebel because of his tyrannies and excessive levies of tribute.  Now Javanese, Lascars, and Moros from Meca no longer resorted to Ternate, as they did in the time when Captain Morones went there during the term of Santiago de Vera.  Gaspar Gomez gave very detailed information about the two forts of Talangame.  He found that the king of Ternate usually had about three thousand soldiers, one thousand of them arquebusiers; while a considerable number came from the other kingdoms of his crown.  They fought with missile weapons, campilans, and shields, and other armor of coats-of-mail and helmets, which Portuguese had traded for spice.  They had considerable ammunition, all made by themselves from materials taken there by the Javanese as payment for cloves.  Their chief place was the city of Ternate, where the king and all his court resided.  Consequently it was the best guarded, and from that place the others obtained strength, courage, and all reenforcement.  Gaspar Gomez advised that our army attack before dawn, for all assaults made at dawn on that people had always succeeded well.  If our fleet could arrive unseen, it would without doubt conquer.  But that king had placed spies and sentinels on almost all of his islands, and even in Canela, Sarrangan, and Mindanao.  From the fort of Amboyno and from the kings of Syan [i.e., Siao] and Tidore, a goodly number of bronze culverins and much other artillery could be brought in their caracoas.  The Amboynos would send these at command, and they would be sent from Syan and Tydore as soon as requested; for, besides doing homage to the crown of Espana, those kings are hostile to Ternate.  The supplies necessary to finish the war, even in