Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 06).djvu/96

 among these people (as has been related in the history) that prohibited them from warring with anyone outside of their own kingdom. They were enjoying this peace when Limahon, a pirate from the kingdom of China—of pirates there is, as a rule, no lack along this coast, both because of the dense population of the kingdom, so that necessarily, vagabonds are by no means uncommon; and (the principal reason) because of the tyranny exercised by the rulers toward their subjects—came to these islands with an immense fleet, as will be related hereafter, with the intention of working them harm. This pirate was born in the city of Trucheo in the province of Cuytan, called by the Portuguese Catim. He was the son of parents in moderate circumstances, who, while he was a child, reared him in the midst of vice and license. On this account, and by his own nature, he was quarrelsome and evilly disposed. He would learn no trade, except to commit robberies along the highway, in which he became so proficient, that very soon he had a large following—more than two thousand—of whom he was the acknowledged chief, and came to be feared throughout the whole province where he committed his depredations.

When the king and his council learned of this, the former ordered the viceroy of the province where the pirate was, to assemble all the garrisons of his frontiers, and to try to capture him, and carry or send him alive to the city of Taybin, or if that were impossible, to secure his head. The viceroy ordered the necessary forces to assemble for this pursuit, with all haste. When the pirate Limahon was aware of this