- Author:
- Browne, George Waldo
- Publication Info:
-
Boston:
Marshall Jones company,
1907,
pg 237
Text on page 237
TIIE PHILIPPINES.
237
China of what wras taking place. An expedition was at once fitted out to be sent against the outlaw, upon learning of which Li-ma-hong abandoned his ambition and disappeared from the scene. A portion of his followers, who were left behind, fled to the fields, where some of their descendants are yet to be found.
The history of those trying periods is filled with conflicting accounts of battles with the pirates of the seas. A dependency of New Spain, as America was then called, the only course of communication between the islands and Spain was by way of Mexico, and the galleons coming from
arsenal at puerto princessa, palawan.
hither, laden with the manufactured goods and money needed by the colony, or returning with the rich cargoes of the tropics, were tempting prizes for the outlaws of the ocean. Thus the memory of the defence against the Chinese was still vivid in the minds of the Spanish when Dutch buccaneers appeared in the surrounding waters. Securely quartered on the Moluccas, these freebooters ventured forth on conquests in which mercy was neither shown nor expected. The galleons of Spain were ruthlessly seized, the last defender put to death, and the valuable prize borne away in triumph. So ineffectual was Spain's resistance that the colony was despoiled of gold, silver, and treasures of value beyond estimate.hither, laden with the manufactured goods and money needed by the colony, or returning with the rich cargoes of the tropics, were tempting prizes for the outlaws of the ocean. Thus the memory of the defence against the Chinese was still vivid in the minds of the Spanish when Dutch buccaneers appeared in the surrounding waters. Securely quartered on the Moluccas, these freebooters ventured forth on conquests in which mercy was neither shown nor expected. The galleons of Spain were ruthlessly seized, the last defender put to death, and the valuable prize borne away in triumph. So ineffectual was Spain's resistance that the colony was despoiled of gold, silver, and treasures of value beyond estimate.
