View of volcano and town of Ternate (with inset showing
fortress of Gamma-Lamma); photographic facsimile of
engraving in Valentyn's _Beschryving der Moluccos_
(contained in vol. i, _Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien_,
Dordrecht and Amsterdam, 1724), first part, p. 4; from
copy in library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.
281






PREFACE


More than half of this volume is occupied with the concluding
installment of Juan de Medina's early Augustinian history. He recounts
the leading events therein, from one provincialship to another,
and furnishes biographical sketches of the more prominent members
of the order: and he relates various important secular events,
especially those bearing on the work of the missionaries. The most
striking occurrences in this period (1602-30) are the coming to the
islands of missionaries from the Recollect branch of Augustinians,
the assassination of the provincial Sepúlveda, the frequent
attacks on the colony by the Dutch, and certain revolts among the
natives. Miscellaneous documents, dated 1630-34, comprise the rest of
the volume. Affairs in the islands are in fairly prosperous condition,
in the main; the insurgent natives have been pacified, the religious
orders are at peace, the Dutch have been quiet of late, and the