Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 06).djvu/147

 either war or friendship. After sailing for eighty leagues, one reaches the city of Manila, located on the island of Luzon. Here the governor of all the said islands, and his Majesty's officials, reside generally; and here is the bishop and the cathedral church. This city lies in fourteen and one-fourth degrees. About it lie many islands, which no one has yet succeeded in numbering. They all extend northwest and southwest [sic] and north and south, so that in one direction they reach to the strait of Sincapura [Singapore], twenty-five leagues' distance from Malaca, and at the other almost to the Malucos and other islands, where a fabulous amount of cloves, pepper, and ginger is gathered, for there are whole mountains of these spices. The first to discover these islands were Spaniards, who went thither with the famous Magallanes, but did not conquer them, for they were more experienced in navigation than in conquest. Therefore after passing the strait (which to this day bears his [Magallanes's] surname), they arrived at the island of Zubu, where they baptized a number of the natives. Afterward at a banquet, those same islanders killed Magallanes and forty of his companions. On account of this Sebastian de Guetaria [Elcano], a native of Vizcaya, in order to escape with his life, embarked in one of the vessels remaining from the voyage—afterward known as the "Vitoria"—and with it and a very few of the crew who aided him, arrived, with God's help, at Sevilla. Thus they circumnavigated the world, from east to west, an event which caused universal wonder, and especially to the Emperor Carlos the Fifth, our sovereign. After the latter had bestowed great favors upon Sebastian de Guetaria, he ordered a new fleet to be prepared, to