nds, and it is not used
in them. And even if they were used, there are shafts in the forests
of those islands, and the native Indian smiths can make the heads.

A number of old pipe-staves and iron hoops are also shipped from
Nueva Espana to the said Filipinas Islands. Delivered in the city
of Manila they cost your Majesty a considerable sum of ducados. That
expense can be avoided; for, when those staves arrive there, they are
full of holes and rotten, and quite useless. The hoops alone serve
in Manila to make nails and bolts from them, which thus come to cost
fifty ducados per quintal. They can be made there for thirty-three
reals. It is sufficient to carry those pipes that hold the water and
wine in the ships.

For the ships' supply of water, they generally make vats when the ships
leave there [_i.e.,_ Manila], each of which carries thirty pipes of
water. Further, there are many earthen jars, which are brought from
China and Japon. Consequently, one can make the above articles there,
and more cheaply, for much less money than what is paid there.

Flour is also shipped in pipes from Nueva Espana to the said Filipinas
Islands, which they say is for making hosts. That is unnecessary,
for the said islands have an abundance of flour, which is shipped
from Japon and China so cheaply, that it costs sixteen reals per
quintal in the city of Manila. That shipped from Nueva Espana costs
your Majesty, delivered in the said city of Manila, more than eighty
reals per quintal.

From Nueva Espana to the said Filipinas Islands are also transported
in the [ships], _habas, garbanzos,_" [51] and lentils, which are for
the provision of hospitals, fleets, and convents. It serves no other
purpose than to arrive at Manila rotten; and if any arrives in good
condition, it does not seem so. For the provision of the fleets,
a grain [_semilla_] is grown in that land [_i.e._, Filipinas] which
resembles beans, and is very cheap. Consequently it is unnecessary
for the ships to carry more than what they need for their voyage when
they leave Acapulco.

A quantity of _gerguetas_ [52] are also shipped from Nueva Espana to
the said Filipinas Islands. They are said to be for the use of the
soldiers, but that is unnecessary, for that land has other kinds of
cloth--both those that are produced there, and others that come from
China--which are better and cheaper. If your Majesty will order that
to be stopped, it will be of much importance to your royal