Note 89 — Chapter XX

By these so calamitous events the islands were reduced to a miserable condition, on account of the loss of two good galleons and of so much wealth, belonging to so many that one might say it was the wealth of all [the citizens of Manila]. There was a little alleviation of our affliction that year, but it was so little that it could hardly be regarded as succor—that before the great galleon left Cavite a small patache entered that port which the viceroy of Nueva España had sent with some slight assistance, in charge of Don Andrés de Arriola, a Sevillan gentleman of great courage and renown. He returned to Nueva España in a small vessel which was purchased for 6,000 pesos from a Portuguese merchant named Juan de Abreu; it was so small that the authorities ordered, under heavy penalties, that no citizen should send in this vessel anything except letters, a rule which was enforced most rigorously. This patache made a very prosperous voyage; for, having passed the Marianas Islands, which is the most difficult part of this navigation, and finding that their provisions were nearly gone, and that it was almost impossible to pursue their voyage, divine Providence aided them by revealing to them an unknown island, not set down on any navigation chart. They found it uninhabited by men, but abounding in certain birds, large and heavy, and little inclined to fly, and so easy to catch that the men gave them the name of “fool birds”89 either because of their stupidity, or as being the same as those birds which are found in Brasil and some islands of India which the Portuguese call dodos, which is the same as tontos [i.e., “stupid”]. The flesh of these birds is very good, and so, by killing many of them and drying their flesh in the wind, the sailors made a very good provision of food. They also found very good water and firewood, so that they were able to continue their voyage to Acapulco. What they most regretted was, that they could not fix the latitude and situation of this island, for lack of seeing the sun; and thus the island became again unknown, and inaccessible for another like emergency. [If its location were known], it would be a great assistance in making easier this arduous and severe navigation from Filipinas to Acapulco.