confinement and illness, he decides to return to Manila; and he advises
Sande that a settlement of Spaniards in Borneo must, to be successful,
be made in the town where the Moro court resides. In June, 1578, the
king of Sulu submits to the Spanish power. From the Moluccas comes the
news that the people of Ternate have revolted against the Portuguese,
who have been compelled to abandon their fortress there and retreat
to Amboina. Their trade in spices is therefore greatly injured, for
the time; and other Malayan peoples are also hostile to the Portuguese.

Sande again sends (January, 1579) an expedition to Mindanao and
Sulu, under Captain de Ribera, to secure their submission to Spanish
authority. His instructions lay special stress on proper care for the
health of the troops. The tribute desired from Sulu consists of "two or
three tame elephants." Ribera goes to the Rio Grande of Mindanao, but
can accomplish nothing; for the natives, in terror of the Spaniards,
have abandoned their villages, fleeing to the mountains. Ribera erects
a fort at the delta of the river, and receives the submission of a few
neighboring chiefs; but, as his men are being prostrated by sickness,
he obtains from a friendly _dato_ (chief) a list of the Indian villages
and their population, with such information as he can gather, and
departs--sending a small detachment of troops to pacify the district
of Butuan. Going to Cavite, Ribera finds there a deputation from Sulu,
who bring a little tribute saying that their people have been harassed
by famine ever since Figueroa came, a year before, to demand tribute
from them. Finding upon investigation that this story is true, he
gives back their tributes, receiving instead a cannon which they had
taken from a wrecked Portuguese galley. Ribera then returns to Cebu.

A royal decree of March 26, 1580, provides for appointments to
fill vacant benefices in the cathedral at Manila The new governor,