e; for they fought after
the manner of those people. Those vessels are not used so much
now, for in truth they cause great injuries to the natives. I do
not know whether I can say that they even care any longer for the
damage inflicted by the enemies, one reason being that they are
badly paid and badly treated, while their wives and children are
left to starve to death, and their crops go to ruin. The governors
of the Filipinas, in their effort to avoid that trouble [_i.e._,
of hostile raids] have built galleys there since the time of Doctor
Francisco de Sande until now. As I have seen personally, and as all
the inhabitants of that country know, the galleys of the Filipinas are
their destruction. The reason is that the rowers are a weak people,
and their food is not very nourishing. Accordingly, it has happened,
even lately--during Don Pedro de Acuna's term, when the galleys were
best supplied--that the crew have continued to row a galley for six
hours, and that two convicts fell dead, while the others stretched
themselves on the deck exhausted; and even if the overseers killed
them, they could not make them move. For that reason, and because the
seas have strong currents between those islands, and continual winds,
the galleys are of little use.

Another reason is that, since the galleys draw much more water than
the enemy's vessels, when the former try to make land they can cause
no injury. Another reason is that the galleys are generally anchored
in the river of Manila, and, when any necessity arises, before they
can leave the port they have to get provisions for the crew. Often
it is necessary to seek contributions of food from house to house,
because there is none in the royal magazines. If the wind is only
slightly contrary, which is generally the case, the ships cannot move,
and when they finally begin to look for the enemy, the latter are
at home, and laughing at us. Another reason is that the galleys are
an intolerable burden, which it is impossible to sustain. They have
so consumed the supplies, and so endangered the royal treasury, that
other very necessary things cannot be attended to. Further, they cause
the ships of the line, to be short of necessities and poorly equipped,
because in attending to the construction of the galleys, they neglect
the ships. And since there are many ship-worms there in the river,
which eat the ships, it is necessary to rebuild them every year, and
to be continually repairing the