Chapter VIII: Of my stay in the kingdom of Macasar (4)

The commander-in-chief, Francisco de Esteybar, although he at first set out by land, was detained for some time because he halted at Arayat, to wait for the Pampango troops who were being levied for this campaign--until on the sixth day he was constrained to begin the march by the news which he received about the natives of Magalang, the furthest village in Pampanga, by a chief from Porac named Don Andrés Manacuil. This man had been snared and captured by Malóng, with eleven companions who were lying dead from lance-thrusts, and he alone had escaped. He declared that Don Melchor de Vera was approaching with an army of six thousand Pangasinans, and that they would reach that village on the following day; that it was not strong enough to resist the enemy, and therefore it would be necessary for the Spaniards, unless they received reënforcements, to abandon the village and take refuge in the mountains. The general's reply was prompt action; he gave the signal to march with all the energy and promptness that the emergency demanded, and on the same day reached Magalang, at nightfall. There he learned that the rebel army had lodged that night at Macaulo, a hamlet two leguas distant. Francisco de Esteybar proposed to push ahead, but this was opposed by the leading officers, on account of the men being exhausted with marching all day long. The cavalry captain Don Luis de Aduna offered to go, with the freshest of the men, proceeding until he encountered the enemy, so as to ascertain how strong they were, and doing them what damage he could. The commander-in-chief gladly accepted the offer, and, adding a detachment of thirty foot-soldiers to the cavalry troop, he despatched them very quickly. The enemy Don Melchor de Vera came to meet the army, ignorant and unsuspecting that he would find it so near and in the field; and the night, the fatigue of his men, and the present hostile attitude of the people, rendered futile the activities of his spies. The troop of Don Luis de Aduna marched in good order, and, although he sent forward men to explore the road, when daylight came he found himself in the midst of the enemy, who were stretched out in a pleasant open field--nearly all of them lying on the ground, either from their natural sloth or overcome by sleep. The Pangasinans raised an alarm, uttering a loud shout, a signal with which all these peoples begin their battles, in order to arouse their own courage and weaken that of the enemy; but such was not the effect of their activity on this occasion, for apprehension awoke, without enlivening their courage, and, their fear of unforeseen danger prevailing, it made them run away in disorderly flight from the perils that they dreaded. As for our men--whether the horses, frightened by the unaccustomed shouting, could not be held in by the curb; or their riders, at sight of that frightful multitude armed, felt the natural effect in their hearts; or their ears were deafened by the hideous shouts, of for some other reason--the cavalry of the squadron turned their backs, with the same haste as did the enemy, without either side waiting to prove the danger with their weapons. Who doubts that Don Luis de Aduna, already informed of the multitude of those whom he was going to seek, had carefully considered the hazard? But it is not the same thing to look at the danger from afar, and to consider it while in the midst of it, if the leader has known danger beforehand from similar experiences. If he had fought in other campaigns, he would have known that mere numbers do not make these peoples more valiant; for they do not know how to wage war except in their ambuscades, where they are quite safe, and in the open field they cannot, for lack of military discipline, maintain battle for an instant. At last the cavalry arrived in safety at the camp, to report to their commander, General Francisco de Esteybar, without having accomplished anything worthy of note.

The commander, not only to proceed with the foresight which the remoteness of the country and the laborious march required, but to make sure that the enemy's army should not leave Pampanga, waited there a week, going round a hill opposite, which had a spring on the other side. Don Melchor de Vera, although he had seen his own men take to flight, as he saw that our soldiers did the same thing, attributed to his own valor that panic of terror of which the incidents are perhaps noted among the barbarous exploits of these peoples, in recording the events of war in these islands. Don Melchor de Vera returned to the presence of his [superior, the] usurping king, and assured him that he had left the Spaniards conquered, and cut off the heads of three hundred of them and more than a thousand Pampangos, without losing a single man of his own. But all the exploit that he had performed was to cut off the heads of three Indians from the village of Cambuy (a visita of Arayat), whom Don Juan Macapagal had sent on business to the village of Telbán; their bodies were found this side of the village of Paniqui. What these peoples gain easily they regard with credulity and confidence; accordingly they supposed that the failure of the Spaniards to follow them was a recognition of their power. This delay, which they attributed to fear, gave them assurance; and as General Felipe de Ugalde had not yet set his troops in motion for Lingayén, they all considered themselves safe, and talked of following up their enterprise, to which they were led by their eagerness to make an actual raid on the province of Ilocos; for it was rich in gold, and its inhabitants had little courage. They were encouraged to this by the favorable result of the raid which "Conde" Don Pedro Gurcapos had effected a few days before, although he only went as far as Bauang; but now, with their troops still further reënforced, they wished to go as far as Cagayán, to stir up the minds of those natives, so that, if they succeeded, they could induce those people to join them. For this purpose, they detached from the best troops of the rebel army as many as four thousand men, Zambals and Pangasinans, and placed them under command of Don Jacinto Macasiag, a native of Binalatongan, for the new conquest--which they supposed would be very easy, as the minds of some of the chiefs there, with whom they had held correspondence, were prepared for it.

Soon Don Andrés Malóng repented of having separated so large a number of troops from the main body of his army, when, on the ninth of January, General Ugalde gave the signal for hostilities by way of Lingayén; and on the seventeenth of the same month the commander, Francisco de Esteybar, came unexpectedly with all the strength of the Spanish army. The rebels of Binalatongan had torn down and burned the bridge, which was built of planks--a difficulty which might prove an obstacle to the courage of Francisco de Esteybar; but a courageous soldier named Cristóbal de Santa Cruz, with two bold Merdicas, made the crossing easy. The latter leaped into the water, swimming, and the Spaniard walked upon their shields or bucklers; and in this way, fastening together all the logs and bamboos that they could collect, they made a raft large enough to transport on it the infantry. Malóng sent to summon Don Melchor de Vera, and in the interval, urged on more by the fear arising from their guilt than by the number of the Spanish soldiery (which, compared with that of the rebels, was much smaller), all the rebels took refuge in Binalatongan; but this did not last them long, for the two generals, having united their forces, marched forward to attack them and thus end the war at once. Don Andrés Malóng, having been informed of this intention, would not wait to confront the chances of fortune. He set fire to the village of Binalatongan, and plundered it of everything; and he burned the church and convent, the images of the saints which were therein becoming the prey of that barbarous multitude, who trampled on them and broke them in pieces, venting on, these figures of the saints the fury and madness which obliged them to retreat to the mountains. This they did in such haste that many fell into the hands of the soldiers whom the commander-in-chief, observing their flight, quickly sent for this purpose. The main body of the troops--not only the cavalry but the infantry--followed the rebels, as far as the ground allowed them to, killing, while the pursuit lasted, more than five hundred Zambals and rebels. After this the army not being able to continue the pursuit, returned to Lingayén in order to aid the other provinces wherever necessity might require. Soon afterward, troops of Indians began arriving, to cast themselves at the feet of the commander-in-chief, entreating pardon; and he in virtue of the powers with which he had been invested, detained those whom he considered guilty, and allowed the rest to go to their villages. The natives, in order to check the just wrath of the Spaniards, thought best to offer themselves to bring in Don Andrés Malóng a prisoner; and Francisco de Esteybar, having learned where this man had concealed himself--which was in a forest between Bagnotan and Calasiao--sent Captain Simon de Fuentes and Alférez Alonso de Alcántara with sixty soldiers, fifteen Spaniards, with fifteen Merdicas and creoles, and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado of Ternate and some Pangasinans, who served as guides. They found the hut of Don Andrés Malóng, where they arrested him and his mother, Beata de Santo Domingo; they also took away a girl of ten years, a sister-in-law of Francisco Pulido, whom he had kept a captive for the purpose of marrying her. They found a large quantity of gold, pearls, and silver, which Malóng had taken with him. Carrying him to Binalatongan, they placed him in prison, under close guard. It is quite worth while to note what happened to Don Francisco de Pacadua, one of the principal rebels, who in this farce played the role of judge to the king Don Andrés Malóng. They had carried him a prisoner to Binalatongan; and, as he was very rich he formed a plan to escape from the prison by bribing the guards with much gold. He succeeded in this, and in his flight, while crossing the river, a crocodile seized him; but it did him no further harm than to carry him held fast in [its mouth], to the mouth of the river of Binalatongan, where some soldiers were on guard, and to leave him there, half-dead with fear, with only some slight wounds from the creature's claws. The soldiers ran up to see who he was, and recognized Pacadua; they took him prisoner, and in due time he atoned for his crime on the gallows. They conveyed him to the presence of General Francisco de Esteybar, who ordered that he be carefully guarded until his punishment should be duly adjudged; for in the province of Ilocos very lamentable events were making pressing calls upon the Spanish forces--since, as will be seen in the proper place, the natives there had slain two religious.

Francisco de Esteybar was informed how, among the ravages and cruelties which the rebels had committed in the village of Malunguey, they had demolished the church and convent in order to use the planks in these for making their fortifications; and in a thicket had been found an image of the mother of God, [that had been taken] from that church, showing marks of ill-treatment, and with its hands cut off. Francisco de Esteybar went to Malunguey with most of his army, and they carried the sacred image in a triumphal procession to Binalatongan, where it was reverently deposited. It is said that the rebels used the hands of the sacred image as spoons for eating their cooked rice [morisqueta]--an act of insolence which was made known as being insurrection and rebellion against both Majesties. It is also related that they trampled on the rosaries and committed other impious acts, tokens of their apostasy. The fathers of St. Dominic labored much in reducing and pacifying the insurgents, displaying the ardor and energy in insurrection which they are accustomed to exert in their missions and ministries; but as the hearts of the Pangasinans were so cold, and their wills were so obstinate in their treacherous rebellion, they would not be affected even by blows from the hammer of the strongest Cyclop. But many withdrew from the ranks of the insurgents through the counsel and persuasion of father Fray Juan Camacho--Don Carlos Malóng, the brother of the usurping king Don Andrés, and many others--who, being tractable, in time embraced his wholesome counsels.

Thus was finally extinguished this fire which rebellion kindled in the province of Pangasinán, which threatened great destruction--although it wrought no slight havoc in the burning of the two villages Bagnotan and Binalatongan, which were the most important in that province; and up to the present time they have not been able to recover the wealth and population that they formerly had. That the outbreak of these rebels was no more extensive is due to the fact that the governor undertook so promptly to apply the remedy, sending out by land and sea officers so valiant, and so experienced in conquest--as [for instance], Francisco de Esteybar, who was one of the most fortunate soldiers who have been known in these regions. In a printed history [85] I have seen mention of this rebellion in Pangasinán with much solicitude to exonerate the insurgents, and omitting many circumstances which aggravate it. But I am not influenced by prejudice, for I do not feel it; but I am guided by the relations of it made by disinterested persons of that period, and of soldiers who took part in the said reduction. Some of these are still alive, among them Captain Alonso Martín Franco, who was present in all the revolutions, those of Pampanga, Pangasinán, and Ilocos, and gives an account of all the events above mentioned and of those which are related in the following chapters. In the latter are recounted the ravages wrought by Don Pedro Gumapos, by order of his king Don Andrés Malóng, in the province of Ilocos, aided by the Zambals, a cruel and barbarous people, who inflicted so much harm on that province that it is deplored even to this day.

Raid of the Pangasinans and Zambals into the province of Ilocos; 1660-61

[This is related by Diaz, continuing the above account, in his Conquistas, pp. 590-616 (book iii, chapters xxi-xxiv).]

That I may give a more satisfactory relation of the melancholy tragedy in the province of Ilocos, I have thought it best to defer for later mention the march of the fantastic "Conde" Don Pedro Gumapos to that province, where we shall find him in due time, and to follow the relation of all those occurrences which was sent to our father provincial, Fray Diego de Ordas, by his vicar in that province, father Fray Bernardino Márquez--adopting the simplicity of his mode of writing, that I may without exaggeration accurately describe the events of all that occurred there; for a uniform style cannot always be employed, especially when the accounts of others are followed.

On the sixteenth day of December in the year 1660, the father preacher Fray Luís de la Fuente, prior of that district, having left the village of Bauang--to which he had gone to make his confession--to go to his village of Agoo, learned on the route of the insurrection in the province of Pangasinán, and the raid of the Zambals into that of Ilocos. He returned to Bauang with that information, and communicated it fully to the father preacher Fray Bernardino Márquez, [86] prior of that convent and vicar-provincial of Ilocos; and at the same time asked permission to go up to Lamianán, which is the most northern district in that province. Father Fray Bernardino attempted to turn father Fray Luís from this purpose, telling him that it was not right to abandon one's flock in time of tribulation--for which reason he was of opinion that Fray Luís should return to his ministry at Agoo; and in order to do so with safety he could go accompanied by an Indian chief named Don Pedro Hidalgo, who was much beloved by the Zambals. Father Fray Luís was as willing as prompt to comply with his superior's wishes; but Don Pedro Hidalgo answered that it was not proper to expose father Fray Luís's life to so evident a risk; and that it was better that he himself should first go to ascertain in what condition affairs were in the village of Agoo. This opinion of Don Pedro was approved by father Fray Bernardino, who thereupon gave permission to father Fray Luís to make his journey to Laminián. He set out for that place on the seventeenth of December, 1660, in company with a Spanish tax-collector named Juan de Silva, who had come [to Bauang] to escape the fury of the rebels in the province of Pangasinán.... On the sixteenth, father Fray Luís had warned Captain Aguerra and the alcalde-mayor of the province of Ilocos, Don Alonso de Peralta, of the disturbed condition in which those districts were; and on the same day a letter went by way of Bauang from Don Andrés Malóng, who styled himself king of Pangasinán. The letter was written to all the Indian chiefs of the provinces of Ilocos and Cagayán, and he advised them therein to take up arms and slay all the Spaniards, as he had done in his kingdom of Pangasinán; and declared that if they did not do so, he would go thither with his soldiers and punish them as disobedient.

On the day of the Expectation of our Lady, which they reckon the eighteenth of December, father Fray Bernardino Márquez, while in his church at Bauang ... [was warned of the approach of the Zambals]. He found at the door of the church two Indian chiefs of that village, one of whom was named Don Juan Canangán; they told him not to be afraid, as they were there determined to defend the father from the fury of the Zambals, who were already near, even if it cost them their lives.... While he was saying mass, the Zambals arrived; their leader or captain was he who had been titled "Conde," a native of the village of Agoo and married in Binalatongan, named Don Pedro Gumapos, who had been an associate of Don Andrés Malóng in that insurrection. The Zambals waited very quietly for the father to finish saying mass; and when he had returned thanks and begun to say the prayers, a message came to him from Don Pedro Gumapos asking permission to kiss his hand. Father Fray Bernardino gave it, and Gumapos came up accompanied by Zambals and Negritos, armed with balazaos [87] and catanas. He kissed father Fray Bernardino's hand, and told him absurd things about his rebellion against the Spaniards, and at the same time he asked permission for his soldiers to search the convent, to see if any Spaniard were concealed there. Father Fray Bernardino, certain that no one was there, told him that he might do as he pleased; Gumapos ordered his companions to make the search, and if they met any Spaniard to kill him. The Zambals carried out this order of Gumapos, and in the course of the search looted whatever there was in the convent. While this was being done, Gumapos remained talking with father Fray Bernardino Márquez; and, when he asked where was father Fray Luís de la Fuente, father Fray Bernardino answered that he had gone up to Bagnotan to make his confession. Gumapos replied to this that he had come to kill Fray Luís, unless father Fray Bernardino would ransom him for 300 pesos. To this audacious proposition the father answered that he had not so much money, and that Gumapos should therefore take his life, or carry him away as a slave, and let father Fray Luís go. Gumapos replied to this that no injury of any kind would be done to the father, for he himself would rather suffer such harm in his own person; but this was no virtue of Gumapos, but [the result of] an order given to him by his little king Don Andrés Maléng, who was very fond of father Fray Bernardino Márquez.

[Gumapos orders the headman of Bauang to go after Fray Luís with a troop of Indians, Zambals, and Negritos; they kill the Spaniard who accompanies him, and carry the father back to Bauang. Gumapos, after vainly trying to exact a ransom from the friar, orders the Indian to kill him; but they take pity on him, and collect among themselves the sum of eight and a half taes of gold, "the greater part of this being given by Doña María Uañga, chieftainess of the visita of Balanac." Finally Gumapos imprisons both the religious in a cell, where they remain under guard until the rebels go away.] All the time while the Zambals remained in Bauang, they were engaged in plundering and robbing the poor Indians, and did all the damage that they could. The religious emerged from their prison, half-dead from weakness, for they had remained almost three days without eating or drinking; but the Zambals had left nothing in the convent, and the religious therefore had to send to the Indians to beg food. That day father Fray Bernardino wrote a letter to father Fray Juan de [88] Isla, the commissary of the Inquisition in that province and his visitor, entreating him to notify the bishop--who then was bishop of Nueva Segovia, the illustrious Don Fray Rodrigo de Cárdenas, belonging to the Order of St. Dominic, and a native of Lima; a man who excelled in virtue as well as in learning--and that both of them should ask the alcalde-mayor, Don Alonso de Peralta, for the aid which those districts of Bauang and Agoo so greatly needed.

On the following day, the twentieth of December, nearly all the people in the village of Bauang confessed and received communion, most of those who had taken part in the murder of the Spaniard Juan de Silva doing penance--especially the headman, who, as he had a very quiet and peaceable disposition, had been constrained by fear of Gumapos to assist in such a crime. The fathers were greatly edified by the Christian spirit of the Indians, which is so great in this province of Ilocos. Father Fray Luís pursued his journey to Lamianán, accompanied by a native named Don Dionisio Maricdín--a friendly act which no other Indian is known to have performed on that occasion, as being disobedient to the orders of "Conde" Don Pedro Gumapos, of whom all had conceived so great fear. For this service he was afterward rewarded by General Sebastián Rayo Doria, who made the said Don Dionisio Maricdín sargento-mayor of the villages of Aringuey, Bauang, and Agoo, on July 5, 1661. Father Fray Luís reached the bar of Purao, and found there Alférez Lorenzo Arqueros, alguazil-mayor and deputy of the alcalde-mayor of the province of Ilocos; he had come with a troop of Indians from that province to set free the fathers, Fray Bernardino and Fray Luís, from the power of the Zambals. They all came to Bagnotán, from which place they notified father Fray Bernardino, who was in Bauang.

In consequence of the repeated advices of Zambal raids into Ilocos, the alcalde-mayor, Don Alonso de Peralta, called a council of war at Vigan, to provide suitable measures for averting the many dangers which were threatening the province. At this council were present the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Rodrigo de Cárdenas, the father visitor Fray Juan de Isla, and all the Spaniards; and it was decided that the alcalde-mayor should go in person to the succor of those districts infested by Zambals, accompanied by father Fray Gonzalo de la Palma and father Fray José Polanco. [89] The lord bishop was to remain in Vigan, in company with father Fray Juan de Isla, with the charge of sending a troop of Ilocan and Cagayan Indians who were being levied, and of taking such other measures as might prove desirable. In order to render aid and confront the Zambals as quickly as possible, the alcalde-mayor sent ahead Alférez Lorenzo Arqueros, with such men as could be collected in so short a time; and soon Don Alonso de Peralta followed him, [with troops] lightly equipped [a la ligera], accompanied by the two fathers, Fray Gonzalo and Fray José, as far as Namacpacán, the first village of the province of Ilocos.

I have already related how father Fray Bernardino Márquez had remained at Bauang, where he received notice of the arrival of Lorenzo Arqueros at Bagnotán for the succor of those districts; and at the same time he had very accurate information that the Zambals were planning to make a second raid on the province of Ilocos. He immediately warned Lorenzo Arqueros of this, who was still at Bagnotán--asking that officer to go down to Bauang, if he thought it best, that he might from a nearer station check the designs of the Zambals. Father Fray Bernardino continued to receive reliable advices of the coming of the Zambals, and on that account decided one night to leave Bauang in a boat, with six Indians as a guard, to go in search of Lorenzo Arqueros. At the cost of much hardship the father found him near the visita of Dalangdang, on his march toward Bauang; the father joined the troop of Lorenzo Arqueros, and they continued the march to Bauang. They arrived there at daybreak, but found the village without inhabitants, because for fear of the Zambals they had fled to the woods.

Lorenzo Arqueros ordered his men to beat the drums, and soon the village was full of people. Father Fray Bernardino talked to the Indians, and sent notice of this aid [just received] to the village of Agoo. Those people replied by informing him that the Zambals were ready to make a second raid; and that in any case the Spaniards ought to see that Don Miguel Carreño was hanged. He was a native of the visita of Aringuey, and the father of Don Pedro Gumapos, the head of the conspirators, to whom he communicated all the operations of the loyal Indians. In consequence of this advice, Lorenzo Arqueros ordered Master-of-camp Don Lorenzo Peding, a valiant Ilocan, to go with a hundred men to arrest Don Miguel Carreño. [Carreño is seized and hanged; the Zambals of his command, dispirited by losing him, are defeated and take to flight.]

Lorenzo Arqueros reported all this to his captain the alcalde-mayor, Don Alonso de Peralta, who was still at Namacpacán--asking at the same time that he would come to his aid, since he knew with certainty that the Zambals, with much larger numbers, were coming in search of him. At this, Don Alonso de Peralta resolved to go in person to the succor of his lieutenant; but this resolution was opposed by the fathers, not only because it was not right for him to go on so important a relief expedition with only six or seven Spanish mestizos, who accompanied him, but also because he ought not to leave his jurisdiction, which extended only as far as Namacpacán. They told him that it would be better to wait for the soldiers whom the bishop was to send from Vigan, so that he could with this reënforcement go to look for the enemy; but the alcalde-mayor, urged on by the letters of Lorenzo Arqueros, and, besides, encouraged by the latter's previous success, pursued his resolution, and marched for Bauang, accompanied by father Fray José Blanco [90] and father Fray Gonzalo de la Palma. As soon as he encountered Lorenzo Arqueros, he ordered the latter to set out for the village of Agoo, to succor Master-of-camp Don Lorenzo Peding. [Arrived at Agoo, Arqueros finds the Zambals in sufficient force to render more aid necessary; and his urgent request brings Peralta to Agoo. The latter brings with him two jars [tibores] of gunpowder, which had been kept in the convent at Bauang. Arqueros advises Peralta to retreat, since their auxiliaries are all undisciplined, and the Ilocans somewhat timid, while the enemy are superior in numbers--having more than five thousand men, while the Ilocans did not exceed one thousand five hundred. Peralta refuses to do this, especially as the Ilocans have firearms, "which the Zambal so greatly dreads." The Ilocans go, without orders, across the river, to form an ambush against the foe; Arqueros goes to their aid, followed by Peralta. "The fathers disguised themselves, fearing that the Zambals, if they should be victorious, would, angered by having seen fathers in battle, slay the Dominican fathers of the province of Pangasinán, who were in their power." At daybreak the enemy come to the attack; the Ilocans are soon overcome by fear, and take flight, neither the officers nor the friars being able to restrain them. Don Lorenzo Peding dies bravely fighting, after having slain many of his assailants; and all the guns and other weapons, and the gunpowder, of the Ilocans are captured by the Zambals. Peding's death utterly destroys the little remnant of courage in his followers, and they flee pell-mell, trampling on and drowning each other in the ford of the river. "The most pitiable thing was to see the children and old men in flight, and especially the women--some of whom gave birth to children, and others suffered abortion through fear, the infants being abandoned in the camp. The children were drowned, and the old people were overcome by exhaustion; all were in most pitiable condition. Those who felt it most keenly were the fathers, who aided some but could not help all, since all the people had fled." The Spanish leaders attempt to rally the Indians at Agoo, and afterward at Bauang, but all in vain; they are compelled to return to Namacpacán, where they arrive on January 4, 1661. Finding that they can obtain neither men nor arms, they continue their retreat to Vigan. On the route, they stop at Narbacán, and order "the Indians of that village, with those of Santa Catalina, a visita of Bantay, to erect a stockade and rampart in Agayayos [91] to prevent the Zambals from passing through there for Vigán and Cagayán. He garrisoned this post with a body of Indians, in command of one of them, named Don Pedro de la Peña, a native of Santa Catalina, and continued his journey to Vigán."]

The father visitor, Fray Juan de la Isla, had considered it expedient to command the father ministers to retreat to Vigán; they obeyed, although against the dictates of their paternal charity, which was unwilling to abandon their spiritual sons. Some fathers thought that they ought not to obey this mandate; and one of them made his way through the middle of the enemies, to go to his ministry of Taguding, and others to the hills, to which the Ilocans had retreated, for fear of the Zambals.

[Arriving at Vigan, the Spaniards hold a conference regarding the threatening dangers.] The alcalde-mayor, Bishop Don Fray Rodrigo Cárdenas, and father Fray Juan de Isla were of opinion that the most prudent measure was to place in a ship all the father ministers and all the Spaniards who were there, and send them to Manila, so that they might not experience the worst severity of ill-fortune. For, although it could not be doubted that aid would come from Manila, it was very uncertain whether information of the disordered condition of those provinces had reached the supreme government, while it was most evident that the Zambal army would soon come [to Vigan], aided, as was already conjectured, by their communication with some Indian chiefs of that province. Many forcible arguments were brought forward against this opinion by the father ministers, especially Fray Bernardino Márquez, Fray José Arias, and Fray Gonzalo de la Palma, who were followed by all the other ministers. They concluded by saying that if the ministers were to retreat, it would be utter ruin to the province, in regard, not only to God but to the king; for the Indians who yet maintained their faith and loyalty would abandon all if they had not the fathers--either through fear, or carried away by their heathen customs. In that council it was also resolved to build a fort at Vigan, so that they could resist the Zambals until aid from Manila should arrive. This work was begun, but not carried out; for the Indians who worked at it were continually disappearing. The alcalde-mayor, therefore, Don Alonso de Peralta, finally decided to give orders that all the Spaniards who were in the province--except Lorenzo Arqueros, who refused to embark--and all the father ministers, both secular and religious, who wished to go to Manila, should go aboard the champans which he had at the bar there. He himself embarked in a champan with the father visitor Fray Juan de Isla and father Fray Luís de la Fuente, the bishop promising to follow them. The retreat of Don Alonso Peralta caused great injuries to that poor province, although the rest of the religious remained in Vigán, in company with the bishop and in his house; he had at his side only two secular priests--one named Don Gerónimo de Leyva, the judge-provisor and commissary of the Inquisition for that bishopric; and the other, father Don Miguel de Quiros.

I have already told how the governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, hearing at Manila of the uprising and disturbances in the province of Pangasinán, commanded that an army and some vessels be assembled as promptly as possible, so that our arms might by land and sea punish the conspirators; and how he appointed as commander of the land forces Francisco de Esteybar--a valiant and fortunate soldier, a native of the town of Mondragon, in the province of Guipúzcoa--and of the armed fleet Felipe de Ugalde, also a brave soldier, and a native of the same province of Guipúzcoa. Don Sabiniano gave them orders that, in the emergencies that might arise in the campaign, each might act for himself, without waiting for the opinion of the other commander--for this reason, that often excellent opportunities in war are liable to miscarry. The instructions of Don Sabiniano were so judicious and clear that to this, more than any other cause, is due the speedy pacification of those provinces. At this time the Zambals--who, eager to plunder the rich province of Ilocos, and encouraged by the victory over its alcalde-mayor, had continued the pursuit of the conquered--arrived at Narvacan, where they waited some time through fear of the resistance which they would meet in the pass of Agayayos; but they were soon relieved from this fear by the very man, Don Pedro de la Peña, who had remained for the guard and defense of that pass. He tore down the stockade, and very gladly went to offer them a free passage; accordingly, they went on without further hindrance. This treason of Don Pedro de la Peña was the whole cause of the Zambals being able to raid the villages of Ilocos, from Vigan on; for this post of the Agayayos is so difficult of passage that it only affords easy entrance to one man, and a horse can go through with difficulty, between two great cliffs, which are inaccessible by the summits. And since the Zambals must pass through it one by one, it would have been impossible for them to succeed in penetrating it, with even a very few men to defend the entrance. But this traitor to his country was like Conde Don Julián in España, who gave free passage to the enemies. Don Pedro paid for it with his life, on the gallows; but that province even now bewails the harm [that he caused it].

On that same day letters arrived at Vigán from General Felipe de Ugalde, written to the alcaldes-mayor of Ilocos and Cagayán, informing them of his arrival by sea for the succor of the province of Pangasinán, and of the arrival of General Francisco de Esteybar by land. On account of the absence of the alcalde-mayor, Don Alonso, the letter which came for him was opened by the bishop, and his illustrious Lordship and his companions were delighted at the good news, and full of hopes that they would soon enjoy peace; but their joy was quenched by the information which soon followed that the Zambals had already arrived at Santa Catalina, a visita of Vigán.

On the following day, the twentieth of January, the Zambals arrived at Vigán. [The bishop waits for them to come, prepared to say mass for their benefit, since they have sent him word that they wish to hear it, "a singular mode of hostility, and a still more rare mode of devotion, which looks more like craft than simplicity, although all traits at once are possible in these people." A number of the Zambals, including their leaders, hear mass with much reverence, and even confess to the priests, saying that many of their men have come on this raid through fear, rather than their own inclination. Most of the troop, however, proceed to loot the village; the people take refuge in the bishop's house and the church, thus saving their lives, although they endure great suffering and privation by being shut up indoors for two days, with little food or drink. Finally the fathers persuade the Zambals to let the people return to their houses.] On that day the enemy appointed Don Juan Celiboto headman of the village, and from that time the Zambals made great haste to seize as many Indians as they could, both men and women, to be their slaves. Only the sacristans had been left on guard in the church; the Zambals slew them together in the baptistery, and plundered it of all the ornaments and cloth that they found; and there they also killed a negro who tried to avail himself of the church to escape from their hands. Many Ilocans died in various places on that day--so many that when the number was reckoned it was found that the village of Bantay alone had eighty [92] dead, whose bodies they hid among the hills, so that they might not be seen by the fathers. In those villages all was confusion, outcries, the ringing of bells, the discharge of arquebuses, and shouts; and among the ecclesiastics all was affliction and grief at seeing so many calamities, without being able to remedy them.

Some Indian chiefs, for greater security, had brought to the bishop's house the gold, silver, and other valuables which they possessed; and the amount thus brought together was so great that there was not space for them in the rooms above, and much property was even placed below the house. The Zambals cast their eyes on this wealth with eager desire, and their sentinels therefore watched very closely the house of his illustrious Lordship; this was a source of great anxiety to him and to the fathers, lest the poor owners should lose their property. The commander Don Jacinto [Macasiag] had promised to confer with the bishop about providing safety for these things, but did not keep his promise; his illustrious Lordship therefore commanded father Fray Gonzalo to go to talk with Don Jacinto in his quarters. The father did not shun making these journeys, because he lost no time on the road, hearing some confess, and baptizing others, even of the Zambals themselves. At the same time he gained the opportunity of seeing one of the champans of General Felipe de Ugalde arrive at the bar; it had been sent to reconnoitre those coasts, under the appearance of selling merchandise. Under the pretext of looking at the goods, father Fray Gonzalo went aboard this vessel, and informed the captain of the wretched condition in which they all were. Nothing was gained, however, by this effort, as the champan, on its return, was maliciously steered away from the place where the commander was who had sent it; but the ecclesiastics were left with the consolation that aid would soon come.

The Zambals came, plundering and killing, as far as the slope of Baduc, but they could not pass from that place to the province of Cagayán, on account of the resistance made by Alférez Lorenzo Arqueros with a troop of Ilocans and Cagayans. The bishop and the fathers were well aware of the greedy anxiety of the Zambals to plunder the valuables that were in the house of his illustrious Lordship--who, hearing reports of the abominations, thefts, and murders which they had committed in the churches, summoned them before him, and, when most of them were assembled, publicly cursed and excommunicated all those who should hereafter kill, or meddle with things belonging to the churches or to his house. Immediately after this, a sermon was preached to them by the father vicar-provincial, Fray Bernardino Márquez, rebuking them for the evil that they did instead of keeping the law of the Christians--for such were the greater part of the Zambal army. They listened very attentively to the sermon, much to the satisfaction of the bishop; and, as he always did when affairs of importance came before his illustrious Lordship, he availed himself of the Augustinian religious (especially of father Fray Gonzalo de la Palma), on account of the secular clergy being unacceptable to the Zambals. Nor is it to be doubted that not only the clerics but his illustrious Lordship would have perished, if it had not been for our religious, as is fully proved by letters written to the supreme government by the illustrious Don Fray Rodrigo de Cárdenas.

As soon as the coming of the Zambals was known, much silver belonging to the churches, and much silver and gold of private persons, were buried in different places; but on Wednesday afternoon the Zambals began to open [these] tombs, until no silver or gold was left. Our Lord granted that some of the church silver should afterward be restored; but all the gold and silver of private persons was lost. Father Fray Gonzalo asked permission of the Zambal leader, Don Jacinto, to dig up the silver belonging to the church of Taguding; Don Jacinto gave this, and promised that he would, for the father's greater safety, assist him in person. He did so, as he had promised; but while they were engaged in digging up the silver the Zambals rushed to the house of the bishop, and pillaged whatever hampers and chests they found under the house--with so much violence and clamor that the religious, affrighted, took refuge in the apartments of his illustrious Lordship.

[The eagerness of the Zambals for plunder soon induces them to send the bishop and the priests to Santa Catalina, so that they may loot the bishop's house and whatever of value remains in it. On the way they see many corpses of Indians slain by the foe; the village of Bantay is burned, only the church and convent, and a tiled house, are left standing. Arrived at Santa Catalina, the Zambals who escort the priests proceed to plunder and burn that village; and the fathers are unable to procure any food until the next day, save a little rice, and are compelled to flee for their lives from the flames--finally spending the second day with no shelter save a tree, and no food save what is given them by the Zambals from whom they beg it as alms.]

In the afternoon came Don Marcos Macasián to notify the fathers of the order given by his chief, Don Jacinto, that the bishop and the rest who were with him should go on with the rebel army, which included three hundred Ilocan Indians--some forced to join them, and others who were traitors; counting these with the Pangasinans and Zambals, the whole number was about three thousand. He brought some talabones [93] in which the bishop and the fathers were accommodated--although but poorly, on account of the few men available to carry them, and the ill-will of the bearers. On this account, and so that they might aid the bishop, who was in poor health, the religious and the priests were reduced to traveling on foot over most of the route from Santa Catalina to Narbacán--where it is necessary to go through the Agayayos, which are certain cliffs very difficult of passage.... In the middle of the [second] day they reached Agayayos, and at nine in the night they entered Narbacán. At the entrance to this village the Zambals had a skirmish with the Indians of that district, who, allied with the Tinguianes, did all the harm that they could to the Zambals. So daring were they that they seized and carried away one of the men who were escorting the fathers, and, without his companions being able to prevent it, the assailants cut off his head, and ran into the woods. In this manner more than four hundred Zambals had already died. Moreover, they had thickly planted the road from Narbacán with sharp stakes, in order that the Zambals might not use it; and for this reason the fathers suffered greatly, because they traveled on foot. As soon as they arrived at Narbacán, they notified the native governor [gobernadorcillo], (who was the father of the traitor Don Juan de Pacadua), who gave the fathers sufficient cause to fear; for between him and his blacks he held the fathers fast, unwilling to let them go, by saying that he preferred that they should be entertained in his own house, which was quite spacious, and not in the convent, which was ill supplied. The fathers would not go anywhere except to the convent, and thus the contest lasted until the arrival of the bishop; he also insisted on going to the convent, with which they gained their point; and the captain of the village went with them, to escort them and light the way. They arrived at the convent, where they found not even water to drink; then the father went out to get some, and to find also a little rice [morisqueta] for the bishop, of which he was in great need.

On the following day, January 31, the entire Zambal army encamped in Narbacán; it had been awaited by the leader, Don Jacinto Macasiag, who had been detained in Vigan by his plan of attacking a champan sent by Don Felipe de Ugalde with more than twenty soldiers. Don Jacinto returned to Narbacán, without having been able to carry out the intention which had delayed him; and found at Narbacán a letter from his kinglet, Don Andrés Malóng. The latter informed him of the arrival of the Spanish forces in his kingdom, for which reason Don Jacinto must make haste to go there with troops under him, so that they and his own men might together put an end to the "Spanish rabble;" and he must carry thither with him the Indian chiefs of the villages that they had conquered, so that these might be witnesses of the rebels' valor against the Spaniards. Many were the letters and papers written by that infernal monster to all the Indian chiefs in all the provinces; and in the last ones written to Don Jacinto Macasiag, which the bearers concealed without giving them to him, he ordered Don Jacinto to burn all the villages with their churches and convents, and to retreat to the woods with the Zambals, since he had already conquered the Spaniards. But the result was quite different; for when he wrote it Don Jacinto had already fled and taken refuge in the hills, and the Spaniards were pursuing him.

When the Zambals saw the letter from Malóng, they began to clamor against the natives of Narbacán, on account of the injuries which they had received from the latter; and they swore that for this cause they would kill them and burn their village. But they did not fulfil the latter threat, nor dare to carry out the first, not only because the Indians had concealed themselves in the woods, but on account of the fear that the Zambals had conceived of them--especially of the Indian who led them in battle, named Don Felipe Madamba, a native of the village of Bringas; he was so loyal to his Majesty, and so valiant, that he dashed alone, on horseback, among the Zambals and Calanasas, cutting off their heads, without any one being able to resist him. He was able to escape from these affrays, but his horse and he were covered with the arrows which they shot at him, although not one of these caused him any injury worth mention.

On the same day (that of St. Ignatius the martyr), the army of the Zambals set out to go to Pangasinán, leaving part of the village of Narbacán in flames; the fathers, having compassion for those people, entreated the leader, Don Jacinto, to order his men to put out the fire. He did so, by a public order; and immediately they extinguished the flames. Litters and carriers were already provided for the bishop and the fathers, that they might follow the army; but they all, with one voice and opinion, told the guards that they would not depart from Narbacán, even though it should cost them their lives. When the guards perceived their firm resolution, they notified their chief, Don Jacinto Macasiag, who was willing that the fathers should remain; but when this decision was learned by Gumapos, who had marched ahead, he commanded his arquebusiers to go there and slay the bishop and all the ecclesiastics. They would have carried out this order, if Don Marcos Macasián had not dissuaded Gumapos from it--the latter saying that the fathers did not serve in the army, and that they were more of a hindrance than anything else, and it was therefore better to kill them.