Note 93 — Chapter XXXII

I cannot refrain from mentioning what happened to that galleon when it was at Capul, an island of the Embocadero of San Bernardino; namely, that when the nineteenth of July dawned the galleon was joined by a craft of peculiar shape—somewhat like those used by the Indians of the Marianas Islands, painted with the same color of vermilion earth, but larger than four of their boats. It held six persons, whose entire bodies were painted93 black. But they were so weak that they seemed to be living skeletons, except one of middle age who was fat and robust, tattooed, and with a long beard. They ascended into the galleon without showing fear or distrust; but no one understood their language, although we had a sailor who knew the language of Marianas well, as he had been shipwrecked in the galleon “Concepción” in the year 1636, and had lived for some time in those islands. It could only be conjectured from the signs that they made that they had come from the south. They remained in the galleon, where they were relieved in their necessity, which was lack of nourishment. They ate nothing that had touched the fire; but rice and fish, all raw. All of them died except the boys, of whom the commander and pilot took charge. After some years, when they knew our language, they said that they came from an island near Nueva Guinea—without doubt the Garbanzos, Columnas, Jardines, or others which the maps show; or the islands of the Palaos, in the discovery of which Father Andrés Serrano of the Society of Jesus toiled so much, until he lost his life by drowning, with other religious and many Spaniards, in the year 1711, after having gone to Roma, Madrid, and Paris, to negotiate the affairs of that discovery and the conversion of those souls. But he will have already received the reward for his holy zeal and great labors.