ecretary--in
all amounting to 1300 pesos per year 1U300

The rice, wine, meat, fish, vegetables, and other minor
articles used by the persons who are supplied with rations--as
are the sailors, artillerymen, carpenters, smiths, pioneers,
commanders, and rowers of the galleys; the religious, and
others--will amount in Terrenate to more than twenty thousand
pesos per year 20U000

218U372

Beside what has been mentioned, attention must be given to what has
been spent on the fleets which have been collected since the year
one thousand six hundred and six, when Don Pedro de Acuna recovered
it--both in ships and on casting [of artillery], soldiers' hire,
and that which has been lost at different times, which has amounted
to a large sum each year; and little or no income has been secured
from the Malucas, for in nine years they have not brought in 20U
pesos. This has been due to negligence; for if there had been
a faithful administrator posted there, and his accounts had been
audited, and affairs had been orderly and regular (as they are with
the enemy), your Majesty might have secured [sufficient] profit to
maintain those forces without expending anything from your royal
exchequer, as you now do. The same argument applies from now on. On
this account it is very important to your royal service either that
correction be applied to this, or that some means be considered,
which it does not appear to me expedient to place in this relation, to
spare your Majesty so great an expense. When those islands are secure
from the Dutch enemy, your Majesty will suffer no expense, and will
be able to further the working of the above-mentioned mines which lie
near Manila. From them, with the favor of God, so great wealth may be
looked for as will suffice to clear your Majesty from debt, and this
can be accomplished in no other way; for with the ordinary practice,
which has prevailed thus far, there is no more hope than for a sick
man declared past recovery, to whom the physicians give no remedies,
and whom they declare to be at the end of his life.

Bibliographical Data

The documents of the present volume are from various sources (all
manuscript except No. 9). The following are from the Archivo general
de Indias, Sevilla:

1. _Reforms needed_--See Bibliographical Data, _Vol_. XVII