The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIV, 1630-34 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 320 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIV, 1630-34.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIV, 1630-34 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 320 pages of information about The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIV, 1630-34.
made a half-way rudder and a jury-mast, and set sail on the sea for Panay, from which they were not very far.  But, after sighting the land of Panay, so furious a storm struck them that they were unable to contend with it, as the champan lacked strength in the rudder.  They ran aground stern first on the coast of Camarines, which was very near by, and which they had been prevented from reaching by a calm, and had been awaiting a slight breeze.  It was our Lord’s pleasure that they should be espied by a fleet of Camucones, who were going through that region, plundering whatever they might encounter in their raids.  These are a very warlike people, and so cruel that, whenever they capture a Spaniard, they will not let him escape alive under any consideration; for after they have tied him to the mast of the boat, they cut off his head and drink from the skull.  They slit the religious up the back and roast them, or set them in the sun, for they say, just as we do, “So many enemies the less.”  Then indeed did they re-commend themselves to St. Nicholas; as they believed (and rightly) that this was a greater danger than the past one, because of the less mercy that they could find in the bowels of those utter barbarians.  At length, they boarded the tender of the champan and rowed ashore.  The glorious saint whom they were taking as patron hid their route from the Camucones in such wise that they were not followed, for they could have easily been overtaken in two strokes of the oar.  They betook themselves inland to the mountains, where their sufferings were not abated, for they were barefoot and naked, until they reached the convents of our father St. Francis, where they found hospitable welcome, aid, care, and provision.  In their journeyings they reached the shipyard, where a vessel was being built; for it was necessary to get a champan there to go to Panay, and they found one.  They left the shipyard November 21, and reached Panay next day.  After a few days the enemy from Jolo went to the shipyard, burned it, killed many people, captured others, took away the artillery, and committed great damage, although there were sufficient men in the shipyard to defend it from a greater force.  But the Spaniard can never be persuaded of any danger, until it is upon him.  Juan Martin, the best and most reliable shipmaster in the Filipinas, was killed there.  It was a great loss, for there was no other who could fill the position like him.  But the Lord did not choose that the champan should be lost; for the Camucones did not break it up, as is their wont, but abandoned it after having plundered its articles of value—­which were considerable, and which caused great loss to the province.  The Sangleys, after seeing that the enemy had gone, went out to the champan, righted it, and returned it to its owner—­who never lost hope of obtaining it, for he believed thoroughly in the saint.  Sargento Jacinto de Lanzacorta, very thankful for this, celebrates a feast to St. Nicholas every year.  Father Fray Pedro de Torres [67] says that he arrived at Sugbu in the first part of February, where he had been regarded as lost, for he was more than five months in making the trip from Manila to Sugbu.  During the whole time he suffered very many hardships, from which St. Nicholas freed him.  The most Holy Child returned to His house, so that He might be served therein.

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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIV, 1630-34 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.