[8] That is, the present attempt by Linares to inquire into and settle past irregularities; for it gives those who are suspected an opportunity to compromise the affair. [↑]
[9] That is, not only because money can (speaking generally) easily open the way for a settlement in such case, but because, in this specific matter, it is a fair supposition that large speculations cannot be carried on with small capital—and indeed most of these Mexican transgressors are too poor to pay the penalties incurred by their past infractions, if these were strictly adjudged against them. [↑]
[10] Barracan is a woolen fabric impenetrable to water, about half a vara wide, of which rain-cloaks and other articles are made; picote is a coarse, rough fabric made from goat’s hair (Dominguez). [↑]
[11] At fol. 40 verso of the Extracto, elefantes are defined as “linen goods of that country [i.e., Filipinas], having no durability, and but little valued in that kingdom [i.e., Mexico].” [↑]
[12] It is apparently a lapsus calami by which the consulate of Cadiz is mentioned in nos. 61–64, and that of Sevilla in nos. 45–50, here cited in the text; but the commerce of both cities was included under the former consulate. [↑]
[13] Linens (Spanish, lienzos and lencería) have always been one of the chief products of China, especially around Canton; and the term “Canton grass linen” is often used to define the particular kind of linen most commonly produced there, which very closely resembles the linen produced from flax. The European languages have always defined these Chinese textiles as “linen.” The term “elephant” must here refer to the mark or brand of a certain kind of linen goods; the Chinese are greater devotees of the “trademark” idea than perhaps any other people. The mark of a kind of goods to which they are accustomed is known today as the “chop,” and it is exceedingly difficult to induce them to try a new “chop” if the old one has established itself. “Cambayas” are cotton cloths from Cambaya. “Chitas” (more generally spelled “chites”) mean India calicoes, and sometimes chintzes. The Filipinos knew how to weave in colors, although not to figure goods (as they do not yet); and the Spaniards would be apt to designate by the words lienzos and lienzos pintados (perhaps also by elefantes) the Philippine fabrics woven from hemp and banana fibers, which have somewhat that texture, and which have stripes of red, blue, and other colors run through them more often by far than they are left plain. Strictly speaking, these are neither linens nor cottons; but they have the feeling of linen rather than of cotton. The goods thus designated probably included not only those of Philippine manufacture, but those made in India and other Eastern countries and traded in at Manila. Sayasaya was the Spanish name for a kind of Chinese silk; and I would conjecture that pitiflores meant some kind of Chinese brocade.—James A. LeRoy.
The term “Canton grass linen” mentioned above apparently means the fabrics made from the so-called “China grass” (see VOL. XXII, p. 278). Note the statement in sec. 92, post, that the lencería sent to Acapulco “are all of cotton,” evidently being made in imitation of the real linen goods; cf. the statement in Casa-Fuerte’s letter, in VOL. XLV, sec. 164. The name “chimones” in the text suggests, especially in view of its context, the Japanese garment called “kimono,” so generally adopted in America for negligé wear.—Eds. [↑]
[14] In the text, mantas de hilazos, evidently misprinted for Hilocos. On fol. 61 a similar list has mantas de Ilocos. [↑]
[15] i.e., of the vessel and carge, in case of attack by enemies—whom the seamen would resist more valiantly if they also had property of their own to defend. [↑]
[16] In all, making 3,500 piezas, as in sec. 79, post; the same explanation is given on fol. 110 verso of the Extracto. [↑]