WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES— VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 269 



They come out to the ships with native fruit, poultry, etc., to trade 

 for iron, which is what they most highly prize, to use for their 

 weapons and the tools they use for working their land. They are 

 such remarkable swimmers that if an iron cannon ball is thrown 

 down from our ships, they dive after it till they catch it under water ; 

 but once they have it, they are so apprehensive that it will be taken 

 from them that they take to their boats and sail ofif with it. 



769. These savages live in a degraded state, never having known 

 kings or lords, but merely divided up into clans or families ; this 

 is the way they govern themselves, and they maintain peace, except 

 that at times those of certain islands are apt to make war against 

 natives of others. These islands are healthy, with a good climate ; 

 the natives are well-disposed and could easily be converted to our 

 Holy Faith. 



770. Sailing along the same westerly course from these islands, 

 at less than 200 leagues one comes into the Archipelago, full of islands 

 almost all of which are inhabited by heathen and Negritos (Morillos) ; 

 since they are innumerable and have been described by other writers, 

 and since my sole purpose is to give an account of what belongs 

 to the Crown of Castile, I shall only discuss the famous island of 

 Luzon and those subordinate to it. Eighty leagues after entering 

 the Archipelago, and having passed various islands mostly to the N., 

 one reaches the island of Luzon. This is rich in gold ore, both high 

 and low grade ; it is fertile and very productive of rice, chickpeas, 

 barley, and other cereals and vegetables, and many kinds of fruit ; 

 it has large cattle ranches with both native and imported cattle. 



771. The first to discover these islands was the celebrated Fernando 

 Magallanes (Magellan) in the year 1520, under orders from the 

 Crown of Castile on an exploring expedition for the Spice Islands ; 

 but his bravery led to his being killed on the island of Cebu. Later, 

 they were rediscovered under orders from the Viceroy of New Spain, 

 Don Luis de Velasco, in the year 1560 by Gen. Miguel Lopez de 

 Legaspi ; he completed the exploration and charting of the island, 

 which is over 200 leagues in length, but narrow, although in places 

 its width surpasses 40 leagues. In that same year he established on 

 this island the city of Manila, at 14° N. 



772. The President of the Circuit Court makes appointments to 

 18 judicial posts; 13 are Alcaldias Mayores: Pampanga, which lies 

 10 leagues from the city ; Bulacan, 6 ; La Laguna de Bay, 10 ; Batan- 

 gas, 15; Camarines, 100; Pangasinan, 30; Ilocos, 50; Cagayan, 100: 

 Cebu, 100 ; Oton, or town of Arevalo, 50 ; Panay, 50 ; Leytezamari- 

 babao, 50 ; and Caraga, 100. He appoints to five Corregimientos : 



