and twenty-six [sic] [8]—­the commander’s ship, two caravels, and the tender.  A few days afterward we had a very great storm, by the violence of which we were separated from one another, and we never saw each other again....  In these adversities died the accountant Tejada and the pilot Rodrigo Bermejo.  On the thirtieth of July died the captain-general Fray Garcia de Loaisa, and by a secret provision of his majesty, Juan Sebastian del Cano was sworn in as captain-general ...  On the fourth of August ... died Juan Sebastian del Cano, and the nephew of the commander Loaisa, [9] who was accountant-general.”  When they reached the Ladrones “we found here a Galician ... who was left behind in this island with two companions from the ship of Espinosa; and, the other two dying, he was left alive....  The Indians of these islands go about naked, wearing no garments.  They are well built men; they wear their hair long, and their beards full.  They possess no iron tools, performing their work with stones.  They have no other weapons than spears—­some with points hardened with fire, and some having heads made from the shin bones of dead men, and from fish-bones.  In these islands we took eleven Indians to work the pump, because of the great number of sick men in the ship.”  The trouble with the Portuguese in the Moluccas is well narrated.  Of the people of Java, Urdaneta says:  “The people of this island are very warlike and gluttonous.  They possess much bronze artillery, which they themselves cast.  They have guns too, as well as lances like ours, and well made.”  Others of their weapons are named.  Further details of negotiations with the Portuguese are narrated, as well as various incidents of Urdaneta’s homeward trip in a Portuguese vessel by way of the Cape of Good Hope.  He disembarks at Lisbon on June 6, 1636, where certain papers and other articles are taken from him.  The relation closes with information regarding various islands, and the advantages of trading in that region.  He mentions among the islands some of the Philippines:  “Northwest of Maluco lies Bendenao [Mindanao]...in this island there is cinnamon, much gold, and an extensive pearl-fishery.  We were informed that two junks come from China every year to this island for the purpose of trade.  North of Bendenao is Cebu, and according to the natives it also contains gold, for which the Chinese come to trade each year.” (No. xxvi, pp. 401-439.)

Voyage of Alvaro de Saavedra 1527-28

[These documents are printed in the latter part of the appendix to volume v of Navarrete’s Col. de viages; and although the voyage of Saavedra is connected so intimately with that of Loaisa, it is thought better to present it separately therefrom, as a whole, inasmuch as this was the first expedition fitted out in the New World for the islands in the far East.  It is evident thus early that the vantage point of New Spain’s position as regards these islands was clearly recognized.  The letter from Cortes to the king of Cebu is given entire, as being somewhat more closely within the scope of this work than are the other documents.]