Legazpi ordered that in future no slaves be killed at the death
of their chiefs, an order which they promised to obey. The natives
desired to procure iron in their trading, but Legazpi ordered that none
be given them by anyone. However, the trade was continued secretly,
the iron being concealed in clothing, even after some of the men had
been punished. By various dealings with the natives Legazpi discovered
that they were deceiving him in regard to other natives of Cebú and
the island of Matan; they had said that these men would make peace
and friendship, but they never appeared. The inhabitants of Matan
had always been hostile to the Spaniards, "saying that they would
kill us, or at least would drive us away by hunger." One day Tupas
told the governor that "his wife and daughters would like to come
to see him, because they had a great desire to know him. He replied
that he would be very glad and that Tupas should bring them whenever
he wished; accordingly, Tupas did so after a few days. Their manner
of coming was such that the women came by themselves in procession,
two and two, the chief one last of all. After this manner came the
wife of Tupas with her arms on the shoulders of two principal women,
with a procession of more than sixty women, all singing in a high
voice. Most of them wore palm-leaf hats on their heads, and some of
them garlands of various kinds of flowers; some were adorned with
gold, and some with clasps on their legs, and wearing earrings and
armlets, and gold rings on their hands and fingers. They were all
clad in colored petticoats or skirts and shawls, some of them made of
taffety." The usual good cheer followed, and presents were made to
all the women. The same good treatment was accorded to the wives of
other chiefs who visited the settlement in the same manner. Legazpi
"after his arrival in these islands, tried always to put the minds of
the natives at rest, not allowing them to receive any wrong or hurt,
or permitting that anything belonging to them should be taken from