Of the Malucas

To begin with spiritual affairs, a wide door to the holy gospel has opened in the island of Manados, which borders upon that of Macacar; and it is hoped that through it will come a rich harvest.  At present a father of our Society, named Father Cosme Prieto, is there.  The fathers of Portugal, to whom the Malucas Islands belong, plan to send more laborers there.  The king has been converted, as well as nearly all the princes of the kingdom; and only the queen persists in her heathenism.

The people of the island of Tidore, who long have been our friends, and through whom we are able to maintain ourselves in the Malucas, broke the treaties which they had made with the Terrenatans.  They are engaged in war, and every day there are deaths on one side or the other.  These circumstances are very advantageous for us, because the Terrenatans are warm friends of the Dutch and enemies to us.

All the aid sent last year from this place reached Maluco, without suffering any loss on the way, either from the sea or from the enemy, as has usually been the case other years.  To furnish this aid five ships went laden with supplies, and with fifteen thousand pesos to pay the infantry.  Hence our forces there are, for the present, well and even abundantly supplied, although there is some lack of men, because many have died of bebes, which is a disease of the legs very common in those islands. [75]

In 1619, ships went to Olanda loaded with cloves and drugs and other things of various values; we fear, therefore, that the power of these Hollanders will increase in these parts, because what they carry enriches them and enables them to send large fleets here.  The enemy, the Hollander, built another fortress besides the ones that he had in the islands of Ternate; and we also built another in Tidore, and are building still another.  We may thus be able to inflict much injury upon our enemies.

In Nambrino it happened that in a drunken revel of the Hollanders the powder took fire, and a large part of the fortification was blown up; but they have already repaired it.  They say that in this accident nearly two hundred men were burned.  The inhabitants of the island of Vanda are much of the time at war with the Hollanders, of whom they have killed many—­notable among them the commander-in-chief—­by poisoning the water that they used.  It is said that they do not like the Hollanders, but prefer the Portuguese, with whom they have been friendly for many years.  A Portuguese just now arrived from Maluca, fleeing from the Hollanders who had held him prisoner more than three years, and with whom he had been in various places.  People say that at present the Hollanders are on very bad terms with the nations where they have factories.  It is also said that there have come to them from Olanda six ships and a new governor.

With oil of cloves and drugs people go to the Malucas from almost all over the world; it is therefore believed that in these seas there must be for a long time to come some of the hardest battles ever seen, and that many in attempting to trade in cloves will have to encounter iron. [76]