Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 02).djvu/200



Illustrious Sire:

I wrote to your excellency from Puerto de la Navidad giving as full an account as possible up to that port. Now I shall do the same, for I consider it a debt justly due, and I shall always consider it so whenever the opportunity presents itself. I am enjoying good health, thanks be to our Lord; and the same can be said of the whole camp, a thing which ought not to be looked upon as of little importance. May our Lord grant to your excellency the good health that I wish.

On Tuesday, November 21, three hours before dawn, I set sail with the fleet that was at Puerto de la Navidad. For five days the fleet sailed southwest, but on the sixth we directed our course westward until we reached the ninth degree. We sailed on in this latitude in search of the island of Los Reyes, in order that we might go from that point to the Felippinas. A week after we had taken this course, we awoke one morning and missed the patache "San Lucas," with Captain Don Alonso de Arellano in command. There had been no stormy weather to make it lose sight of us; nor could it have been Don