On the east is the open
ocean, and on the south the greatest of the archipelagos of the ocean,
which is divided into live archipelagos. These are broken up into so
many islands, kingdoms, and provinces, that one would believe that
nature did not desire men to ascertain their number. Both Javas,
our Malucas, Borneo, and Nueva Guinea are known; on the west,
and at a distance of three hundred leguas, Malaca, Sian, Patan,
Camboxa, Cochinchina, and other different provinces on the mainland
of Asia. The Chinese abandoned living in our Filipinas, but not its
trade; nor did the cultivation or the fertility of the islands for
that Reason cease. Wheat and other necessary grains are produced
there in abundance: deer, Cattle, buffaloes, goats, and wild boars;
and fruits and spices. If there be anything lacking, the Chinese from
Chincheo bring it, such as chinaware and silks. The wine always used
and drunk there is made from palms, by cutting off the clusters of
fruit that they produce, when green--that fruit is called cocos--from
which, after cutting the leaf stalks, they gather the liquor that
flows forth, and boil it in jars, until it becomes so strong that
it causes intoxication and has the same effects as the strongest
Spanish wine.
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