The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 03 of 55 - 1569-1576 - Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Sho by Unknown
page 67 of 268 (25%)
page 67 of 268 (25%)
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the twinkling of an eye, the Spaniards attacked and took the palisade,
hurling down the bombardiers with linstock in hand, giving them no chance to fulfil their duties. After this first artillery had fallen into their hands, they immediately took the town, and set fire to it, on account of its being large. The Moros abandoned the burning town, for they were unable to resist the attack of the arquebusiers, or rather the will of God, who had ordained it so--a self evident fact, since for every Spaniard there were a hundred Moros. The large ship was firing upon a Moro boat with long-bladed oars, which was far up the river. This vessel was said to have three or four hundred fighting men and rowers on board, with many culverins and large pieces of artillery. The cannonball struck the water, for the vessel was some distance away, surrounded by more than five hundred Moro _praus_ and other large ships full of armed men, bowmen, and lancers. All these ships were scattered by the artillery of the large junk. The town was rapidly burning. The master-of-camp hurriedly took the artillery from the Moros--thirteen pieces, small and large. He took care to protect the vessels of the Chinese, who had been greatly frightened. He ordered the return of the sails and helms which the Moros had taken away from them; and the Chinese, attaching the helms to their ships as quickly as they could, proceeded to cast anchor near the junk, so that the firing should do them no harm. The master-of-camp, having captured the enemy's artillery, fired upon them with their own pieces, while they were fleeing, thus inflicting upon them severe losses, both on land and water. About one hundred dead were found on land, having been burned to death, or slain by arquebus bullets; more than eighty persons were taken captive; and many others were killed in the _praus_, as they fled up the river. The rain expected by the Moros came when the town was quite destroyed by fire. The loss |
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