Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 11).djvu/144

In the city of Manila, on the thirty-first of October of the year one thousand six hundred, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancilleria of the Philipinas Islands having assembled, the president announced to the said auditors that news had been received that, on the sixteenth of the current month and year, two foreign ships had anchored in the bay of Albay, outside the mouth of the channel of these islands; whereupon he sent by land Captains Pedro de Arçeo, Cobarrubias, and Christoval de Axqueta with seventy soldiers—arquebusiers and musketeers—to the place where said ships were stationed, in order to make the defense and resistance that occasion and opportunity might offer. He also ordered several ships to be equipped and prepared at the port of Cavite, so that they could attack the said vessels. At this juncture of affairs, it was now reported that, on the twenty-fourth of the current month and year, the said ships had weighed anchor, left the said bay of Albay, entered the channel of Capul, and anchored at the island of Capul, where they still were. The enemy's intention, according to the president, is to advance upon this city. Accordingly, whatever may