Note 1 — EVENTS OF 1701–1715

[Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora is succeeded, after eleven years as governor, by Don Domingo de Zabalburú y Echeverri, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was appointed in 1694, but does not take possession until September 8, 1701. Finding considerable money in the royal treasury, he employs it on important public works. He constructs wharves at Cavite, completes the royal storehouses, and rebuilds the powder-factory lower down from Malate, with suitable fortifications for its defense; and he pays careful attention to the construction of galleons for the Acapulco trade-route. A quarrel arising between the petty kings of Mindanao and Joló, the former (named Curay) is slain, and his successor asks Governor Zabalburú for aid against the Joloans, which the governor prudently declines to furnish. In the year 1705 the Manila galleon “San Xavier” departs from Acapulco, and is never heard from, being lost with all it contains, to the great sorrow and loss of the citizens of Manila. One of the auditors goes (1702) as official visitor to the province of Camarines,1 and disturbs its affairs with his “scandalous proceedings,” especially his accusations against the Franciscan friars who are in charge of the Indian villages there. In consequence, they hasten to Manila to secure the aid of the courts there, leaving their charges without spiritual ministrations; the Franciscan provincial is therefore despatched to that province with orders to station ministers therein. Those missions had previously been for forty-five years in the hands of the Recollects.]