Note 32 — Chapter XXIX

In the year 1625 Don Fernando de Silva was governor of the Philippinas. He determined to send a fleet to take possession of a port in the island of Hermosa, in the name of the king of España, that the designs of the Dutch might be frustrated. He counseled with the provincial of the Order of St. Dominic, Fray Bartholome Martinez, who promised to go to the island of Hermosa and to take religious there, hoping in this way to gain an entry into China. In order to keep the design secret it was said that the troops were going to pacify the rebellious Indians of Yrraya, who had fled to the mountains. On February 8, 1626, the fleet sailed from the port of Cavite; it was composed of twelve champans and two galleys. There were three captains of infantry and their companies, and the force was under the command of the sargento-mayor, Antonio Carreño de Valdes. The ecclesiastical authority was in the hands of the provincial, Fray Bartholome Martinez, who took with him five religious, including those whom he later brought from Nueva Segovia. They anchored in the port of Nueva Segovia on the fifteenth of March, and remained there for some time. During the interval troops were sent to the river of the Mandayas, the Indians of which had rebelled in the previous June, as was said in the foregoing chapter. In order to reduce them, a great number of palms were cut down, that they might more easily be brought to subjection for lack of food. Since the reduction of the Mandayas took more time than was expected, and the voyage to the island of Hermosa was urgent, this matter was left without being brought to a conclusion. To carry out their principal purpose they sailed on the fourth of May, coming in sight of the island on the seventh of the same month. They coasted the island for three days, and on the tenth of May anchored on an estuary which they named Sanctiago. The provincial and Pedro Martin Garay, the chief pilot, went in two small vessels to the northern headland, exploring the coast. Within five hours they discovered a port which they called La Sanctissima Trinidad. They took back the news to the fleet, which came on to the port and in the divine name of the most Holy Trinity took the port under the protection of España. They built a fort upon an islet32 a little more than a legua in circumference. This they called San Salvador. They also constructed a rampart on the top of a hill three hundred feet or more in height, which made the place impregnable. The Dominicans erected a humble church, dedicating it to St. Catharine of Siena. Here they heard the confessions of the Spaniards, preached, taught, and filled the office of parish priests, up to the year 1635. The inhabitants of this region had fled from fear of the arquebuses of the Spaniards, and desired to avenge themselves for the wrong which they felt that they had suffered because the soldiers made use of the rice which the natives had left behind them. To quiet and satisfy them, the religious set about learning their language; and, although they knew very little of it, they began to communicate with the natives, caressing them and giving them presents. The Lord prospered their work, and the barbarians, who had lived the lives of savages, drinking the blood of their neighbors, and eating the flesh of their enemies, were tamed by the treatment of the religious. They brought their wives and children to be baptized. The first fruits were delicate and tender children, many of whom, after being laved in the baptismal font, went to enjoy the possession to which they had acquired a right from the waters of the holy Jordan. The convent of All Saints of the island of Hermosa was accepted in the intermediate chapter of the year of our Lord 1627, and was erected into a vicariate, father Fray Francisco Mola33 being appointed as its vicar and superior.