very necessary to them, in the condition of affairs there, for Father
Masonio having gone to visit the fort of Bachan, with nine slaves
who served him as a boat-crew, they were taken by the Dutch and their
Terrenatan allies. In the fight sixteen Spanish soldiers were killed,
besides some of the natives. Of the slaves whom the father was taking
with him, three were killed and six were captured by the Dutch. After
the father confessed the wounded and entered their fort, he escaped
and hid for a week in the woods; and, although many persons were paid
by the Dutch to look for him, they could not find him. In that place
the father lost a large supply of food, besides other things. It
was being sent to him there from Malaca, to whose province pertains
the port of Maluco. Not the least of his losses was to be deprived
of his companion, by the death of Father Gabriel de la Cruz, [41]
who was called Rengifo in España. The latter was his only associate
in that exile. A long illness preceded his death, although during it
he continued to work as if he were healthy and alone. He died after a
long life of glorious labor in the islands of the Moros, so devoid of
human consolations, but so full of the consolations of heaven--as our
blessed Father Francisco Javier certified, who was the first to sow
there the seed of the gospel. His death caused great sorrow, because
that field of Christendom remained without a shepherd. Although they
tried to send a companion to Father Masonio from Malaca, over three
hundred leguas away, sending by way of these islands Father Antonio
Pereira, they were not successful, for the latter died on the voyage,
in the manner that I stated at the beginning. [42] But we hope,
through our Father, that some day those seas will become free from
pirates, so that Maluco may be supplied from its own province with
men and other necessities.

Word is also received from Maluco that the Dutch commander, Pablo