Note 6 — THE GOVERNMENT AND DEATH OF BUSTAMANTE

In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 433–435, is a letter, apparently by one of the Jesuits, describing this attack; it differs from that of Concepción in some points. The attack was made by Malanaos, from La Sabanilla, under the chief Balasi; and warning of it was sent to the governor, Sebastian de Amorena, five days beforehand, by Prince Radiamura, brother of the sultan of Mindanao. The attack was made by the “king” of Joló and Buhayen, with 104 joangas, and a force of 3,000 men by land and sea. In the fort were not more than 200 men—Pampangos, creoles (probably “Morenos,” that is, Malabars, etc.), and a few Spaniards; but they fought so bravely that the enemy could accomplish nothing in a siege of three months. Finally Radiamura sent a force of 1,090 men to aid the Spaniards, and at this the enemy raised the siege and went back to their homes. The above document is preceded by an account (pp. 409–432) of affairs at Zamboanga from its rebuilding to 1721, also from a Jesuit hand. The writer says that 3,000 men were sent for this enterprise, who built a town in a few months, although under the greatest difficulties, the former buildings being destroyed, and the site overgrown with shrubs and trees. By that time Bustamante seemed to have forgotten the undertaking, and they were neglected and left without aid. Of the soldiers, “some had but small wages, and most of them none; and the workmen were almost all obliged to serve at their own expense.” Desertions ensued, so that “at the end of six months, hardly 300 men remained; and of these no small number died and many of them were sick, overcome by labor, or hunger, or the unusual difficulty of working the hard soil.” So great were their miseries that they talked of abandoning the fort and returning to Manila; but in the following February several Jesuits arrived at Zamboanga and brought tidings that a new governor (Amorena) was to come with reënforcements, and supplies of money and food. This was accomplished in June, when 200 soldiers arrived from Manila; while in May the Jesuit José de Zisa had brought from Cebú supplies of money and food, with 200 Boholans—who, however, “are very much afraid of the Moros.” Governor Cuesta sent orders for the old soldiers at Zamboanga to return to Manila, and for the Boholans to go back to their own villages; thus the garrison was left in poor condition to withstand an enemy, which probably emboldened the Moros to attack the fort in the following December, as is told above. The writer here mentioned states that the Jesuits had succeeded in making a surprising number of conversions, almost 600 persons being baptized in the Zamboanga district. ↑