cousin, wrote to him, whose letter I have.  I heard afterward from the same man that he had made a treaty with all of them to surrender their forts to him if Don Juan arrived.  God did not so ordain it, for our sins or for His secret judgments.  So great an opportunity, which might have ended the war, was lost, for all the natives were resolved to become our friends; for they always cry “long live the conqueror!” Sections 1, 9, and 15 of Don Geronimo’s letter are of the following tenor.

Letter of Don Geronimo de Silva, Governor of Maluco

I am replying to the duplicate of your Lordship, which I received by the hand of Captain Juan Cutirez Paramo and Sargento-mayor Don Pedro Tellez, dated at the Strait of Sincapura, March 15, in which your Lordship gives me advice of the resolution that you took in Manila to make your voyage to Malaca, expecting to find there the viceroy of India, or at least the squadron of galleons from that state—­a thing as generally desired by all as it is deemed difficult by me.  For I could never persuade myself that the viceroy of India would decide to send a larger fleet this year than the four galleons; and, supposing this, I would have been glad had your Lordship not gone in search of the viceroy this year.  For, as I understand the decree of his Majesty, the preparations were for the coming year; and by that time matters would have been suitably arranged, and, both powers having united, his Majesty’s will would have been realized, without the possibility of any fears of danger.  But if the resolution taken by your Lordship to go out with your fleet, because of the great expenses incurred, had been taken then to come to employ that fleet here, it would have arrived at so good a season and opportunity, that all these islands would have surrendered to you.  I could answer with my head that his Majesty would possess them without your Lordship’s needing to fire a single shot, for the material for this truth was very well arranged.  I alone was unfortunate in that your Lordship did not come directly here when you left Manila.  I would give you as a witness of that the king of Tidore, only he cannot declare it in writing; but he will be a witness on that day that our Lord brings your Lordship to these islands.

Your Lordship orders me at present to despatch to you what galleys are here.  In fulfilment of that order Don Pedro Tellez is returning in the galley that brought him, for Captain Juan de Guassa’s galley was such that it could not be repaired at all, although I summoned the royal officials, and persons who understood it, to examine it.  To my summons they replied that it absolutely had nothing of use on it but the nails; accordingly, with their advice, it was beached.  I have only the galliot left here and that is as free from iron and rigging as the galleys here have always been.  The galliot is the feet and hands of these islands, and that which serves as a caracoa; for, glory be to God, the Meldicas [sic; sc. mestizos] and native Christians are wanting to me.  The reason that moves me to this will be told your Lordship by Don Pedro Tellez, whom I wished to make a witness of this unfortunate state of affairs, and of what the service of his Majesty suffers.