Note 5 — FORMOSA LOST TO SPAIN

Finally, while our men were voyaging to their forts of Tay-quan, we encountered the four other ships that were going to them with succor, and with these came the general and leader of them all, who had been unable to arrive before.5 He went to our island, and began to govern it and direct its affairs; and it was he who went to look for gold, and who hanged the said Indians, and built a fort at Tanchuy. He despatched four ships to the coasts and routes of Japon, in order that they might attack the champans of the Sangleys who might go to trade in that empire; for the Dutch say that those traders go without chapa (or license) from their king. In Tay-quan they detained some of our men a month and a half, or more; others they immediately sent away, with our governor, in the first ship that sailed to Jacatra; and afterward, at the end of October, those who remained in Tay-quan went in four other ships.6 Having thus sent all our men to Jacatra, the Dutch again undertook an expedition to discover the gold mines at Torboan; and they actually set out with a large force of men in November, which is a rainy season in the Tay-quan region. On this account, and because it is nearer, they crossed by land the middle ridge which Hermosa Island has, from Tay-quan to Torboan; but, as we afterward learned in Jacatra from the people on the other ship (which sailed later from Tay-quan), they did not reach the river of gold, on account of the great ruggedness of the mountains, and the bad weather which through November and December prevails in the Torboan region. Therefore they only punished some villages which lay nearer; and they burned these because, years before, the natives had killed a [Dutch] factor. With this they returned, leaving that expedition for the spring-time; this will cost them much hardship and perhaps many lives, for there is great difficulty in both the entrance and the ascent; and the Indians who are now among them will have changed their settlements, and will make great resistance to them—and will do so quite safely—since in the mountains they are very dextrous and experienced, and the Dutch clumsy.