The Indians refused to trade with them, because
enemies of the Spaniards, though some among them, for that very reason,
would willingly have transferred all the trade and riches of the country
to them. In Capul, where they arrived on the 11th, the people gave
them fat hogs and poultry in exchange for mere trifles. Having thus
procured abundant refreshments, they set sail on the 16th, passing
through the straits towards the bay of Manilla.
[Footnote 100: The three Marias are nearly in the indicated latitude,
but are only about thirty leagues from the western coast of N.
America. - E.]
They anchored in these straits on the 19th, where they saw a curious
fabric erected on the top of trees, looking at a distance like a palace,
but they could not imagine what it was. The 24th they passed the high
and flaming hill of Albaca, and came in sight of the other end of the
straits [of St Bernardino] on the 28th, when they anchored before the
island, of Mirabelles, remarkable for two rocks which tower to a vast
height in the air. Behind this island is the city of Manilla, and here
the pilots wait for the ships from China, to pilot them safe to the
city, as the passage is very dangerous.
