ary demands upon my attention as this government requires, and
see to the completion of a galley which I have begun, in order to try
whether I can at one blow make an end of these enemies, and thus carry
out what your Majesty is pleased to command. But these [Moros] are a
people who, if they encounter any resistance, no matter how small,
betake themselves in flight through the mountains, with which they
are so well acquainted; while the Spaniards cannot follow them on
account of the great heat, and the many difficulties of the journey;
and our peaceful Indians, when they have not the Spaniards near them,
are timid and accomplish nothing. Consequently, the whole enterprise
has some share of hindrances and difficulties; but I will try, so far
as it lies in my power, to accomplish it, and so that your Majesty
may not have occasion to command this another time. [Marginal note:
"This is well."]

15. In another decree, dated Madrid, February 21, 635, your Majesty
commands that the shipyards be supplied with timbers, planks,
and all that is necessary for the repairing and equipment of the
galleons, because your Majesty has understood that there is a lack
of these materials and of the provisions necessary for the royal
storehouses. Your Majesty was correctly informed of this; but for
the past year efforts have been made to remedy these deficiencies,
by building flat-bottomed boats for transporting the said timbers,
and having as many as possible of the latter cut. With this, the
galleons which go to Castilla have been put in very good order,
and there is sufficient lumber left for the necessary and usual
repairs which continually have to be made in this port. As for the
provisions for the storehouses, not only have the necessary supplies
been lacking, but there are no storehouses in which to place them. I
shall therefore begin two buildings: one a storehouse at this port,
inside the castle of San Phelipe; and another as lodgings for the
infantry company which forms the garrison. Hitherto the soldiers
of that company have lived outside the said castle, as they had no
quarters--some of them in wretched cabins built by their own hands. In
the same manner, Sire, or very little better, the rest of the troops
were lodged in Manila. As I have written to your Majesty in other
letters, I am building them a chapel, where the dead may be buried
and the sacraments administered to them; also a barracks, where they
can live comfortably. I a