by the Moro, who acted in the capacity of interpreter, as he knew the
language of the natives. A negro "who had been in India and Malaca,
and knew the Malay tongue" acted as interpreter between this pilot and
the Spaniards. "The Borneans said that the Indians had two Spaniards,
and that sometime ago they had given one of them to Bornean merchants;
they did not know whether they had the other yet, or what had been done
with him. The Portuguese had ransomed the one taken by the Borneans and
had taken him to Malaca." As the men sent to Cebú did not return within
the time appointed by Legazpi--they had been provisioned for but one
week--a canoe of natives, who offered themselves, was sent to look for
them. Meanwhile the "San Juan," which had been despatched to Butuan,
returned without having accomplished the full object of its mission,
namely, to procure information regarding cinnamon. The captain reported
having "found at the port of Botuan two Moro junks from Luzon," with
which they traded for gold and wax. The soldiers, hearing that the
Moros had much gold in their junks, were insistent that they should
seize them, alleging as an excuse the deceit practiced by the Moros in
their trading. The captain would not permit this, and in order to avoid
a collision with the Moros returned to the fleet, leaving part of his
duty unaccomplished, for which Legazpi reprimanded him severely. The
general, calling a council of his officers and others, consulted with
them as to the advisability of colonizing one of the islands. All but
the religious were unanimous that a settlement should be made on one
of them, but the latter did not care "to deliberate upon this." [58]
Questioned as to what island they preferred, if Legazpi should
order a settlement made, they signified as their choice the island of
Cabalian, where although there was no port, a settlement could be made
in the interior, as food was abundant there, and the return vessel to
Spain could be easily provisioned. The unanimous opinion was that the
"San Pedro" should return with news of the expedition to New Spain,