a failure, for various causes.  The king of Spain sends the “invincible armada” against England (1588), desiring to check the inroads of Northern heretics against Spanish commerce in the Orient; but that fleet is defeated, and dispersed.  Santiago de Vera also sends an expedition against Ternate, but it also is a failure.  One of the princes that island asks for Spanish aid to gain its royalty for himself—­offering, in return, to become a vassal of Spain; but his death prevents any further arrangement of this sort.  Gomez Perez Dasmarinas undertakes an expedition for the conquest of the Moluccas, of which and of his tragic end a full account is given in book vi, furnishing much interesting information thereon which is not elsewhere to be obtained.  Dasmarinas drafts rowers from among the Filipino natives and the Chinese, by force; this causes much resentment among them.  He obtains full reports of affairs in the Moluccas, and advice regarding the conduct of the campaign, from the Jesuits in those islands.  Dasmarinas sets out on this expedition (October 17, 1594), his own galley being manned by Chinese rowers.  These, being harshly treated, mutiny, and murder all the Spaniards on the galley save two (October 25), a friar and the governor’s secretary.  The governor’s death renders necessary the appointment of a temporary successor to his office; this is his son, Luis Perez Dasmarinas.  The murderers return to Luzon, with armed vessels, hoping to find the country defenseless and conquer it; but the forces at Manila are sufficient to overawe the Chinese.

At this juncture, Langara, king of Camboja, asks for aid from the Spaniards; and Dasmarinas sends for this purpose an expedition under command of Gallinato.  The Spaniards slay the usurper of the Cambojan throne; this dignity is offered to Gallinato, but he refuses it, and Ruiz and Velloso replace the rightful heir on the throne.  Dasmarinas himself undertakes another expedition to Camboja, at his own cost; but he is driven by storms to the Chinese coast, some of his ships are wrecked, and another is destroyed, with most of its crew, by Malays at Camboja.  These disasters put an end, for the time, to any further attempts against Ternate.

Argensola relates the exploits of Figueroa and his successors in subduing the Mindanaos, who are aided by the king of Ternate, as being in a sense his vassals.  Felipe ii dies (1598), and for a time the affairs of Moluccas are neglected.  Book vii mainly relates to Dutch voyages to the Eastern Archipelago; the presence of the Dutch encourages the Ternatans to keep up their resistance to the Spaniards and Portuguese.  Governor Acuna arrives in the Philippines (May, 1602), and for some time is occupied with the internal affairs of the colony and the establishment of amicable relations with the Japanese.  These matters being settled, he turns his mind toward the conquest of the Moluccas; and he cooeperates with the expedition under Furtado de Mendoza, which had been sent for this purpose from India.  The combined fleets meet with temporary successes at Ternate, but are finally compelled to abandon the undertaking.  The home government finally decides that it must be again and effectively prosecuted; and that Acuna himself shall conduct another expedition against the Moluccas.  The royal decree for this (dated June 20 1604) is given in full.