Among other offices provided in the above manner was that of secretary of the registers, which is an office of importance. I entreat that your Majesty will be pleased not to confirm its concession, nor that of others of the same date, until you can be informed of the pros and cons regarding it; for it will either be advisable to sell those offices for the relief of necessities here (although I do not think that such sale would go far toward that), or else let the matter take its course as hitherto, so that there be certain offices with which men who have served may be, with these employments, rewarded and gratified. Well can your Majesty believe that I shall lose no occasion to do what I understand to be advisable for your service, both in this and in whatever else falls to me, and is in my power.
I shall now give Captain Luis de Contreras, whom I found filling the office of treasurer of the royal revenues here, one thousand two hundred Indians in encomienda (or a few more or less), and a pension of two hundred pesos as a gratification to another deserving man. With that the former will have received a goodly part of the income that your Majesty orders me, by a royal decree that he presented to me, to give him in unassigned Indians or in those of an encomienda which may become vacant. I could well wish that there were more Indians vacant than there are, in order to fulfil all that your Majesty orders me, and which the said Luis de Contreras merits by his character and good qualities.
Having seen the exactness with which I fulfilled the above, I am told that many are going about looking for decrees and trying to procure them now from your Majesty, in order to obtain like encomiendas and other posts. I entreat your Majesty to postpone granting those favors until you shall first be informed by your governor of these islands and your Audiencia; for not all of them will be so well employed as is the aforesaid, if I may judge from the methods by which I have heard that they are seeking them, as they procure papers by means of witnesses presented on their part, which make much of what in itself is nothing. Although the fiscal intervenes in the matter, it is to be noted that no one attempts to make investigations unless in some case when he regards the fiscal as quite on his side.
I am told that some persons here are trying to obtain the office of treasurer. Besides, that the present holder of it has not left it, I do not as yet know many who could fill the place to be left vacant by him in this charge, because of the many qualifications necessary—namely, trustworthiness, accuracy, system, and other qualities. Although I do not think that there is lack of a person in whom these will be found, still I think it necessary to consider carefully the one who should be chosen for this post, to be sure of it.
One of the things that your Majesty needs most in this county is intelligent clerks for the efficient administration of the royal revenues. And because it is certain that much would be gained by it, I petition your Majesty to send half a dozen of them, who shall have been reared in a good school. Your Majesty should not neglect to order the supervisor-general, Tomas de Ybio Calderon, to despatch one; and I trust that the person whom he would furnish may not be unsuitable. For authority to serve in the more important offices of this profession which should become vacant here, the inspector Diego de Castro Lizon would be quite suitable, and the two brothers, the accountant Francisco Beltran de Manurga and the inspector Matias Beltran de Manurga. Either of them is, in my opinion, a person as capable as is necessary for the said offices, as well as for things of more importance. I entreat your Majesty to pardon my prolixity in matters in which you have not asked my advice; for my zeal and desire for your royal service, and also for some one who may aid me therein, obliges me to do it.
Moved by the same cause, I again petition your Majesty—as I have done—to send me Admiral Jusephe de Mena with the reënforcements that are possible, or that you please, whether few or many; for in his person alone I shall have one who can help me very well. Galleys are of great importance to these islands, and not less for those of Terrenate and Mindanao, according to what I have as yet been able to ascertain. Although they are almost past use, I shall endeavor to place them in the condition and number advisable. But so that they may be of greater service, I need that your Majesty command to have sent to me a dozen good men, who understand galleys thoroughly, who may serve as captains, boatswains, and masters, who may teach those who shall serve in those posts to be proficient. For no one here thoroughly understands that calling except Captain Francisco Remanico, who I am told has labored very diligently in this matter, as well as in other affairs of your Majesty’s service. I also need two or three oar-makers who are good workmen.
The shipbuilding carried on in these islands on your Majesty’s account is the total ruin and death of these natives, as all tell me. For, in addition to the damage caused by it in withdrawing them from the cultivation of their lands and fields—whereby the abundance of the foods and fruits of the country is destroyed—many of them die from severe labor and harsh treatment. Joined to this is another evil, namely, that every Indian who takes part in the shipbuilding is aided by all the neighborhood where he lives with a certain number of pesos, on account of the small pay that is given them in behalf of your Majesty. Hence many are being harassed and worn out by these methods, and a great expense is being caused to your Majesty’s royal treasury. For although the cost of employing the natives seems moderate, their decrease is a very great detriment; while the planking, sheathing, and masts are so poor that they must all be renewed every two years, and sometimes oftener, when the only still useful parts are the futtock-timbers. But all the above can be found and made so much better in Portuguese Yndia that, considering the avoidance of the above wrongs and the bettering and more satisfactory price of the work, I shall try my utmost to avoid building ships here—sending to Cochin to have them built, or to buy them ready built; or sending wherever they may be found better and cheaper in those regions. If, when this should be negotiated, there should be some cloves to send on your Majesty’s account, the purchase of vessels, as well as that of slaves for the galleys, would be made very comfortably.
In the construction of ships that private persons are trying to build in these islands, about which the Audiencia is writing to your Majesty, I do not find so great an obstacle; for they take no Indian forcibly from his house and land for this task, and no Indian works at it unless he consents of his own accord to do so. That is done without oppression, and the Indian is wholly paid for his work, without the others having to contribute for it. For the smaller-sized ships some better woods are found, which, because they are small, cannot answer for the necessary uses to which they are put in the larger ships. Since I do not find any noticeable difficulty in this, I would consider it as very advantageous that leave be granted for the building of those ships, and for navigation among the islands and coasts of this archipelago, so long as they do not extend their voyages to Nueva España and Piru. From that it will result that the inhabitants will get some profit, and it will not be necessary to hold all the trade with Nueva España. It will not be unprofitable for your Majesty’s service to keep some ships here, so that, if need should arise, they might be employed and made useful with the seamen by whom they shall have been manned. Since it is necessary that whoever should have a vessel have paid and well-treated sailors, your Majesty would come to have all that at no more expense than that of the time while you would employ them; and these your vassals, the natives of this country, would have more relief from the burden; and surely it is pitiful to see the burdens that they carry, and what they endure.
The city has requested me to petition your Majesty to concede that the encomiendas be for three lives in direct descent, that is, to the grandchildren; and if not, that there be a succession for two lives, in the manner that is requested in their name; and also that they be excused from the necessity of getting confirmations of such encomiendas from the court there [i.e., in España], as that is a matter of great effort and expense to them. What I can inform your Majesty in regard to it is that I have heard that they have responded with very great love and loyalty, as excellent vassals, on all opportunities that have offered for your royal service. At present the encomiendas are liable to become vacant more quickly than in the past, even though they are granted for more lives, because of the danger of losing their lives through the more continuous occasions for war—to which nearly all of them go, each one according to his ability. Consequently, for this reason not only do I petition your Majesty to make them this concession, but also to honor some citizens who have been soldiers, and always are soldiers ready to risk their persons and spend their possessions in your Majesty’s service. This many have done, most especially Admiral Rodrigo de Guillestegui, who has responded to that and to all the needs that have arisen in the royal service. This relation has been substantiated by public rumor and reputation, without any dissenting voice. Since it seems just that services be rewarded, and advisable that those who render them should be honored, so that others may be encouraged, with such an example, to try to merit a like reward, I petition your Majesty to be pleased to have this matter considered, and to have him conceded a [military] habit that, he has told me, he wishes for his eldest son. By that it will be evident that services rendered here are also esteemed and rewarded by your Majesty with your free and generous hand. Inasmuch as I think that I am serving him in this I petition this for him.
He who goes as commander or head of the flagship this year is Don Antonio de Leoz, while Captain Juan Baptista de Molina—who has already served in that capacity before, and who has been castellan of the fort of this port—fills the post of admiral. They are men who have rendered much service to your Majesty; and for many years past they have been enrolled as citizens in this country, so that all the inhabitants here have applauded their choice.