From Xapon a great quantity of silver; [abundance?] of tunny-fish; certain catans (which resemble cutlasses, and are very large), and daggers wrought very richly in gold; and other things.

From Sunda and many other places they bring various other articles.  The Spaniards take from the Philipinas many pieces of cotton of very fine quality, and many pieces of various-colored damask; all kinds of taffeta, in greater or less quantity; much spun and loose silk of all colors; a great quantity of earthenware—­which, together with the silk, is all brought to Manila by the Chinese themselves, who also bring a great amount of gold, wrought and unwrought, and of different carats.  The following are the names of the gold in the Philipinas and their carats:  first, gold of ariseis, of twenty-three carats three granos, and worth per tae in the said islands, nine eight-real pesos; gold of guinogulan, of twenty carats, worth seven pesos; gold of orejeras, of eighteen or nineteen carats, and worth five and one-half pesos per tae; gold of linguin, of fourteen or fourteen and one-half carats, and worth four or four and one-half pesos; gold of bislin, of nine or nine and one-half carats, and worth three pesos; gold of malubay, of six or six and one-half carats, and worth one and one-half and two pesos. [70]

NOTES

[1] The twelve-year truce between the States-General and Spain, signed in 1608.

[2] This squadron was sent for the succor of the Philippines, in December, 1619; but soon after its departure it encountered a severe storm, which compelled the ships to take refuge in the port of Cadiz.  Learning of this, the royal Council sent imperative orders for the ships to depart on their voyage; the result was that they were driven ashore and lost on the Andalusian coast, January 3, 1620, with the loss of one hundred and fifty lives.  Among the dead was Fray Hernando de Moraga, O.S.F., who had come to Spain some time before to ask aid for the Philippine colony and the missions there.  A council assembled by the king, after discussing the matter, recommended that Spain abandon the islands as costly and profitless; Moraga’s entreaties induced the king to disregard this advice, and to send a fleet with troops and supplies, in which embarked Moraga with thirty friars of his order.  See La Concepcion’s account, in Hist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 474-479.

Another letter from Otaco, dated February 18, 1620, says:  “There has been a very heated discussion (which still continues) regarding aid for the Philipinas, between the lords of the Council and all the procurators and agents of those islands.”

[3] Translated:  “[This blow upon us], beyond measure, still we are the Lord’s and He is just, and His judgment is upright.”

[4] So in the MS., but apparently a copyist’s error for Leatum, the form given in later pages; apparently a phonetic blunder for Liao-tung, the name of the province where the contest between Russia and Japan is now centered (May, 1904).