Nueva-España vessels consume not longer than sixty days, and sometimes
less, the return voyage is of longer duration, and the whirlwinds and
gales more continuous. And although I believe that voyages made by
way of the cape of Buena Esperanza take more than the three months
that the prior and consuls assert (especially since the vessels
have to stop at one or two way-stations), yet, in regard to this,
I estimate the two routes as equal. But in point of certain security,
the advantage lies greatly with the voyages made by way of the South
Sea, as it is at all times so free from enemies. No further proof is
necessary regarding this statement than the fact that not a single
vessel going to and fro between Acapulco and Cavite and the port of
Manila has been captured; [64] while very many vessels take that other
route, which are so heavily armed that, in comparison with the first,
one may consider them as more than fortresses. The warning that the
Dutch make use of this route [_i.e._, through the Strait of Magellan]
cannot force me to believe the contrary; and by it without so many
advantages as those enjoyed by your Majesty's ships they have made
themselves almost complete masters of all the Spice Islands, for they
had no other routes from which to select this one. I assert from
the prudence with which the Dutch consider what is of advantage to
them, that if they could enjoy so great convenience as Nueva-España
possesses, they would not take the risk of running by the coast and
ports of your Majesty as they do today by the open sea, where they
might meet one who would resist their progress. An excellent proof of
this truth is their so-oft repeated effort to find a passage through
the strait of Anian. [65] For they consider it more conducive to the
peace of their voyage to experience rough and unknown seas, than to
be liable to the sudden surprises to which those that are milder and
more traversed are liable. The mastery that I know them to exercise in
those districts, is to enter for pillage and barter, as they usually