plying between Filipinas and Nueva Espana.  Silva replied to him that it was not time for those vessels to sail, either way; for the first [i. e., those from Nueva Espana], arrive about May ten, and the others [i. e., those going to Nueva Espana], sail June ten.  Notwithstanding, this was the end or desire of the Dutchman’s navigation; for he determined to get information in Mindoro, to depart thence to Macan, to send an ambassador to China, and to avenge the insult offered by Don Pablos of Portugal in those provinces.  Thence he would lade pepper in Patane, then see if he could defeat the Chinese ships at the strait of Sincapura [i.e., Singapore] on their way to Malaca; and at all events, continue along that same route his return to Holanda, laden with wealth.  All this did the Dutch general communicate to Antonio de Silva, as to one who would go to Holanda with him; for he was a soldier and a skilled interpreter of both languages, and Estevan Drage made much of him for that reason.  Certain others who had fought and escaped the slaughter of Tydore confirmed this news.  Don Pedro learned it, and grieved over it, as he was so zealous in the service of the Church and of his king.  He considered sorrowfully when he saw that not even one turret of a fortress was left in Maluco to the crown of Espana, and how securely a rebel to God and to his legitimate sovereign held them.  And because the prosperity of Dutch affairs made the Dutch powerful and determined, the governor assembled his council of war, and appointed Captains Antonio Freyle, chief of the fleet of Pintados, Pedro Sevil, Estevan de Alcacar, and Bernardino Alfonso to go to the garrisons of the Pintados and those of other islands that were in danger, with their infantry companies.  He strengthened the ships, and prepared his artillery, as if he were near a victorious enemy who was executing his threats with so great success.  Antonio de Silva showed an original letter from another Dutch general, written in the island of Borneo to the king of Ternate, sent by Philipo Bissegop, a ship captain.  In it the general expressed his compliments and sent him a present of a number of varas of different fine cloths from Holanda, six bales containing vessels of musk, twelve flasks of rose water, six arrates [295] of Amfion [296]—­a Dutch compound used, as above stated, for fighting, which takes away or disturbs the reason—­and six barrels of powder.  He gave the king an account of the unfortunate voyage, and the obstacles, storms, and dangers that Andres Furtado had until his arrival at Malaca after leaving Ternate.  He called the king “most serene prince and powerful king of Maluco, Bandas, Amboino,” and an infinite number of other islands.  He congratulated him on the success attained upon his arrival at Maluco.  He promised him to go to Ternate with the greater forces that he was awaiting from Holanda, and garrison the forts, in order to extirpate entirely their common