gold-dust,
sapan wood, [18] holothurian, edible birds' nests, and skins. The
Islands were also in communication with Japan, Cambodia, Siam, [19]
the Moluccas, and the Malay Archipelago. De Barros mentions that
vessels from Luzon visited Malacca in 1511. [20]

[Early extension under Spain.] The greater order which reigned in
the Philippines after the advent of the Spaniards, and still more the
commerce they opened with America and indirectly with Europe, had the
effect of greatly increasing the Island trade, and of extending it
beyond the Indies to the Persian Gulf. Manila was the great mart for
the products of Eastern Asia, with which it loaded the galleons that,
as early as 1565, sailed to and from New Spain (at first to Navidad,
after 1602 to Acapulco), and brought back silver as their principal
return freight. [21]

[Jealousy of Seville monopolists.] The merchants in New Spain and Peru
found this commerce so advantageous, that the result was very damaging
to the exports from the mother country, whose manufactured goods were
unable to compete with the Indian cottons and the Chinese silks. The
spoilt monopolists of Seville demanded therefore the abandonment of a
colony which required considerable yearly contributions from the home
exchequer, which stood in the way of the mother country's exploiting
her American colonies, and which let the silver of His Majesty's
dominions pass into the hands of the heathen. Since the foundation of
the colony they had continually thrown impediments in its path. [22]
Their demands, however, were vain in face of the ambition of the
throne and the influence of the clergy; rather, responding to the
views of that time the merchants of Peru and New Spain were forced,
in the interests of the mother country, to obtain merchandise from
China, either directly, or through Manila. The inhabitants of the
Philippines were alone permitted to send Chinese goods to America,
but only to the yearly value of $250,000. The return trade was limited
to $500,000. [23]

[Prohibition of China trading.] The first amount was afterwards
increased to $300,000, with a proportionate augmentation of the
return freight; but the Spanish were forbidden to visit China, so
that they were obliged to await the arrival of the junks. Finally,
in 1720, Chinese goods were strictly prohibited throughout the
whole of the Spanish possessions in both hemispheres. A decree of
1734 (amplified in 1769) once more permitted trade with