gether, and command their men in the forts in the
above-named islands. Also in this army, from now on, a captain will
have command of another company, and will receive the pay of the chief
guard of the Parian, which will be paid from the communal fund of the
Chinese, and his pay will be saved to the treasury of your Majesty. The
captains who will serve without pay from your Majesty's royal treasury
will thus amount to eleven; and hence a great sum of money will be
saved by the end of the year, as well as the [expense for] the post
of sargento-mayor of this army, which is held by my nephew, Don Pedro
Hurtado de Corcuera--who serves without pay, together with a company
of thirty horsemen, whom I thought to be very expedient for your
Majesty's service, for the following reasons. First, just as I caused
and ordered the raising of four companies among the citizens of this
city, in the infantry, in order that they might exercise themselves
in the squadrons, and be ready for any emergencies that may arise,
I also had two companies of fifty horse apiece raised--one made up of
the nobility of the city, who can keep horses, and the other of the
overseers of the royal stockyards--all armed with spears. In order that
the above horsemen might have someone to instruct and exercise them,
this company of thirty horsemen was enlisted. The actual officers in
it are captain, alferez, and lieutenant. It would be very advisable
to raise the number to fifty, if that would be agreeable to your
Majesty; for besides being necessary for the guard of the coast, and
to keep these nations--the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians--in check,
they patrol the city nightly, and shut and open the city gates,
on horseback. For that reason the poor infantrymen are excused from
patrol duty, and from locking the gates, and thus from going about
almost every night knee-deep in water, from which many diseases
and deaths ensued; that has been avoided by this means. Experience
has demonstrated, also, how useful and profitable these cavalrymen
may be when stationed as a troop among the artillery on a campaign,
for skirmishing--for which they are greatly esteemed in the Flandes
army; and, at the very least, the sight of them strikes terror in
those present, and the noise made by them in those absent. Will your
Majesty be pleased to approve and confirm this company of cavalrymen,
and grant permission that it consist of fifty soldiers. Notwithstanding
the savings and the