, under pain of losing my favor. Given in San Lorenzo,
August the ninth, one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine.

_I, The King_

I, Joan Ybarra, secretary of the king our lord, had it written by
his order.

The licentiate

_Hernando de Vega de Fonseca_

Registered:

_Pedro de Ledesma_, Chancellor.

_San Joan de Sardaneta_

_Clause of the instruction_. The king, our lord, sent me, in such
capacity, an order through royal decree and instruction, signed by
his royal hand, the original of which does not accompany this on
account of its being inserted in other important decrees and secret
orders relating to his royal service. The order in question reads
as follows: "Whenever you think best to allow and give permission to
the inhabitants of the said islands to go to Xapon, Macan, and other
kingdoms or settlements of the Portuguese or the heathens, for the
sake of trade, you can do so after having first carefully investigated
whether there is any obstacle or danger in the journey." Since, for
the reason which will be stated below, his Majesty's desire corresponds
to two other royal decrees which will be shown, we have inserted here
a number of original documents which successively read as follows:

The King: To Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa, my governor and
captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, or, in your absence, to
the person or persons having charge of the government. According to
what I wrote you on the fourth of April of last year, eighty-one,
and what you have seen since in the despatches sent by the fleet
which left for Nueva Espana on the thirteenth of June of the said
year, you must have heard that, on account of the death of the most
serene, powerful, and lofty king, Don Enrrique, my uncle (may he
rest in peace), I succeeded to the kingdoms of Portugal; and that
their crown is united to that of the other kingdoms which I already
possessed. Since for this reason all become one and the same people,
and you and the Portuguese are all my vassals; and since it is right
that, for the better support of my service, there be agreement and
amicable relations among all, especially in these regions--where,
on account of their great distance from here, one must exert himself
to remedy the losses which may come from events that occur daily,
without awaiting orders from here, on account of difficulties which
would be caused by the delay--I command you that on all occasions,
whether together or separated f