ey wish. If
they return from an expedition which has lasted a month, they are told
straightway to prepare for another, being paid nothing whatsoever;
nevertheless in every village assessments are levied upon the natives,
for the payment of those who go on such service. If at any time they
are paid, it is very little, and that very seldom. Because of the
many acts of oppression which they have suffered, many Indians have
now abandoned Tondo, Capaymisilo, and other villages near this city of
Manila. They have gone to live in other provinces, which has occasioned
much damage and loss to the chiefs. Out of the three hundred Indians
who were there, one hundred have gone away, and the said chiefs are
obliged to pay the tribute for those who flee and die, and for their
slaves and little boys. If they do not pay these, they are placed
in the stocks and flogged. Others are tied to posts and kept there
until they pay. Moreover, they dig no gold, for the officials oblige
them to pay the fifth. If they do not make a statement of their gold
it is seized as forfeited, even when it is old gold; and the gold
is not returned to them until after payment of a heavy fine. They
do not wish to let the alcaldes-mayor buy rice, because they all
hoard it. If the natives come to complain of their grievances to the
alcaldes-mayor alone, they are imprisoned and thrown into the stocks,
and are charged with prison-fees. Their afflictions and troubles are so
many that they cannot be endured; and they wish to leave this island,
or at least to go to some encomienda of a private individual. In the
said villages of the king they cannot endure the alcaldes-mayor.

_Fray Domingo_, Bishop of the Filipinas
_Andres de Cervantes_
_Francisco Morante_

Before me:
_Salvador de Argon_, secretary

LETTER FROM JUAN BAPTISTA ROMAN TO THE VICEROY

Most Illustrious and Excellent Sir:

I do not know whether the letters with new information which the
governor is writing today will arrive in time to go on this ship,
which has been despatched to this port of Acabite; so I wish to give
your Excellency notice of what is going on. Yesterday--St. John's
Day--in the afternoon, there arrived six soldiers who had gone with
Captain Juan Pablo de Carrion [19] against the Japanese, who are
settled on the river Cagayan. They say that Juan Pablo sailed with his
fleet--which comprised the ship "Sant Jusepe," the admiral's galley,
and five fragatas--from the port of