ise the said merchandise. They shall take it
at wholesale from the Chinese, paying them the amount for the goods;
and afterward it shall be divided among all the citizens and natives
of the islands at that price, in accordance with their wealth, so that
all may share the profit which results from this trade. You shall
order that the said persons thus appointed keep a book, in which
shall be entered the amount of money which is invested each time,
and the price at which each kind of merchandise is appraised; among
what persons it is divided; and the quantity that falls to each one's
share. And I charge you straitly to have especial care to ascertain
in what manner the persons deputed for that purpose exercise that
commission. You shall not permit those who have held it one year to
be chosen for it the following year. You shall send me a relation
of all the aforesaid, signed by them, and another to the viceroy
of Nueva Espana. And I order you, and also all other justices and
judges, to observe and obey, and cause to be observed and obeyed,
and executed to the letter, the contents of this our decree; for
thus it is fitting for my service. Given in Madrid, January eleven,
one thousand five hundred and ninety-three.

I the King

By order of the king our sovereign.

Juan de Ybarra

[_Endorsed_: "December 19, 635. Have these papers collected; bring
what is provided." "Have all these papers taken to the fiscal. In the
Council, January 16, 636." "The fiscal asks that this decree be brought
authorized by the secretary, so that he may answer and petition what he
shall believe to be expedient. Madrid, January 19, 1636." "The fiscal
says that the decree of which a reissue is requested does not touch
upon the case for which it is now requested; and that he considers
as a rigorous measure that what is therein permitted to the Chinese
should not be permitted to the Portuguese, who are his Majesty's
vassals--they having occupied that port of Macan, as he understands,
after the said decree was issued. Madrid, January 22, 1636."]

_Customs duties collected at Manila on Chinese merchandise_

In thirteen years while the Sangleys had control of the trade of
Chinese merchandise--namely, from that of 1606 to that of 1618--they
paid in duties to his Majesty, according to the certification of the
accountant for the official visit, 574,627 pesos, 6 tomins. In another
thirteen years while the Portuguese of Macan have controlled the
said