time to
twenty thousand pesos, together with the four thousand for the value
of the cloves, the total amounting to twenty-four thousand, more or
less. By this method, the so great profits for this treasury will
be made, as above stated--adding the sum received from the freight
charges for goods belonging to private persons, which can be brought
and carried by this ship, and the register and the duties on them,
which will here amount to considerable, and will prove of great relief
for the said expenses.

The danger of this voyage is that of meeting the Dutch at the passage
through the strait of Sincapura, near Malaca, which every year the
Dutch inhabitants of Jacatra belonging to the Company [3] close up,
and with a ship or two of little strength, or a couple of pataches,
await the Portuguese galliots that sail from Macan to Yndia, and from
Yndia to this city. The enemy knows very well that the Portuguese
do not carry force enough to fight, and that on seeing the Dutch
they run ashore and place their persons in safety with their gold,
which is the form in which they chiefly invest their wealth. The
ship which would sail from here would enter by a different channel
than do the Portuguese, as the strait has three entrances. Our ship
will be a swifter one, and will sail better against the wind; and a
Dutch ship will not be able to catch it in two rosaries, and their
pataches will not dare to grapple it because of the defense which
they will encounter. Thus by fighting, without losing their route,
the ship, will reach Malaca, and will make its voyage. On its return,
it will stop first at Malaca, where it will hear news of the enemy. In
case they find that the enemy are in the pass, they can wait in those
forts until the former have retired to their own fort at Jacatra.

Thus far, I have mentioned all the advantages, expenses, and
dangers. What still remains is to petition your Majesty to be pleased
to have this matter considered; and if it appear advisable, to order
that this voyage be made every year or every two years, as the governor
shall deem best, and according to the quantity of cloves on hand and
the opportunity offered by the weather. I petition that there shall
be, in this regard, no opposition from the treasury council, in which,
I have understood, your Majesty has ordered that the governor concur
in the opinion of the majority. That may prove, in this country,
to be a source of considerable trouble; for it migh