It cannot be denied that the men who have come to this country have lacked the desire for investigation, since neither ecclesiastics nor laymen have undertaken to relate what occurred in this land at the time of its conquest; and, although it is said that father Fray Alonso de Buyca has written a large volume in Mexico on this subject, I doubt the assertion, because I have seen his letters which came last year, in this ship “Sanct Martin.”  In these letters he asked for exact information about events in this region of sixteen years ago, because he mistrusted the accounts which have been sent to him from here; he also requested any one of the settlers of this land, who should write, to give a faithful account of all things for times to come.  At present, it will be difficult to arrange such information, and much time will be needed therefor.  In view of this and the short time before me, I shall not treat of that particular subject; but I shall fulfil what his Majesty has ordered from your Lordship by his royal decree; and I shall also add a description of some customs of the natives, in order that, since they are his Majesty’s vassals, he may know of the barbarous life from which he has delivered these natives, and of the civilized manner in which they now live under his gracious sway.

Chapter First

Of the island of Cubu, and of the other islands under its jurisdiction.

Island of Cubu.  The island of Cubu, the first to be settled by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, has a circuit of nearly a hundred leagues and a length of about fifty leagues, for it is very narrow.  At the two extremities it is, at the widest place, about twenty leagues wide.  One extremity, the one lying toward the north, is called Burula.  The other extremity, which we call Las Cabecas and the natives Sanbuan, lies at the south; for, as is inferred, this island runs nearly north and south.  One cannot sail very close to the island; because all along the coast where the town of Cubu is situated are to be found bays that curve in different directions.  On the other and western side of the island the land lies almost northeast and southwest.  The entire island contains about three thousand five hundred Indians, living in different, and for the most part small, villages.  Here I shall mention only the principal ones, for the others are small, numbering only from eight to ten houses.

Jaro.  Jaro is under the charge of an encomendero who also holds an encomienda elsewhere; the village is inhabited by five hundred Indians.

Daraguete.  Daraguete is also an encomienda, with two hundred Indians.

Penol.  El Penol is also an encomienda, with two hundred Indians.

Jaro.  Jaro is likewise an encomienda, with two hundred Indians.

Temanduc.  Temanduque is also an encomienda, with five hundred Indians.

Temanduc.  In the same province of Temanduque another encomendero has seventy Indians; and it is also an encomienda.