Sangleys. And had we not found there Alferez Domingo de Artacho
and Marcos de la Cueva, who were pleading against the Portuguese,
we would have fared very ill. It was God's will, that, with their
aid, we settled the case in court; and, although without proofs, and
without taking our depositions, they condemned us to a fine of fifty
taes of silver. There we learned that for one and one-half months they
[i.e., the men of Juan Zamudio's vessel] had been defending themselves
against the Portuguese, who, as soon as the Spaniards had arrived,
went about saying that they were robbers and rebels, and people who
seized the kingdoms into which they entered, and other things not
worth writing. But in the end, all their efforts, good and evil--and
indeed very evil--profited them nothing, because, by means of great
assiduity and a quantity of silver, the Spaniards negotiated a matter
which the Portuguese had never imagined, namely, the opening of a
port in this country, in order that the Spaniards might always come
safely, and the granting of houses in Canton, a privilege which was
never extended to the Portuguese, on account of which the latter are,
or will be, even more angered. Besides, silence was imposed upon the
Portuguese, although this was no part of the negotiations, so that they
might not attempt by other means to do us all the injury possible (as
the Sangleys who were among them tell us). It is impossible to tell
how much the Portuguese abhor the name of Castilians, unless it be
experienced as we have done for our sins, for they have placed us in
great extremity, as Don Joan will relate fully. For, when our general
wrote to them that we had been wrecked, and were dying of hunger among
infidels, and in great peril, and that he was not coming to trade,
but was engaged in the service of his Majesty, the welcome given him
by the Portuguese was to seize his messengers and keep them up to the
present time in a dungeon. Lastly, while we have been in this port,
undergoing the difficulties and perils which Don Joan will relate,