and also abaca in fiber, at the
rate of two reals per _chinanta_, which is one-half arroba. That abaca
is used to whip the strands of cables of the ships and boats instead
of hemp. They also pay lampotes, a kind of white cotton fabric, four
brazas long and one vara wide, at four reals. In Ilocos they present
thick mantas of cotton, which are called _ilocanas_, of which are
made the sails for the ships and boats, both of his Majesty and of
private persons. In other provinces, the natives offer on the tribute
account certain products (of which the alcaldes-mayor avail themselves)
such as balates and sigay, and other products which are explained in
their place; and these are valued at Manila, if there are champans
from China and pataches from the coast. For the balate (although we
do not eat it), is eaten in China by the princes and mandarins. The
sigay (which means certain shells that are gathered on the shore)
is the money and coin that is current on the coast of Bengala and all
those Mediterranean kingdoms. The natives give wax also in place of
money, at the rate of ten or twelve reals per chinanta, according to
its scarcity or abundance. Some gold is paid in certain provinces,
as those regions have placers and mineral deposits.

The two hundred and fifty thousand tributes which I mentioned are
collected annually throughout these islands, and are divided into
two parts--one of the royal encomienda, which amounts to two hundred
and thirty-one thousand five hundred and sixty-three whole tributes;
while the remaining eighteen thousand four hundred and thirty-seven
are from the encomiendas of private persons, whom his Majesty has
rewarded on account of their useful services, granting to them that
part of the royal tributes. But, from those tributes granted them,
they give his Majesty two reals per whole tribute, that sum being
called "the royal situado." They also pay to the ministers and parish
priests, from their encomiendas, the stipends of rice with the alms in
reals that belong to them--to the amount of one hundred pesos, and two
hundred fanegas of rice, for every five hundred tributes administered,
and one-half real from each whole tribute for the wine used in the
mass. His Majesty pays the same quantity to the said ministers from
his royal encomiendas; he also gives annually one arroba of wine for
masses, and ten of oil for each one of the lamps which burn before
the most holy sacrament, in all the ministries of the