,
and can be carried out with no scruples of conscience, will not only
render unnecessary the bringing of money from outside these islands,
but even will make it possible to aid other great expenses which your
Majesty has. The means which I have found are the following. Your
Majesty pays a stipend to all the citizens and inhabitants of the
fortified town which you hold in the island of Tidore, which is one
of the Malucas Islands. In order to make these payments, aid is sent
every year from Yndia by a galleon; and a quantity of cloth is brought
from the royal customs treasury at Goa. With this the said citizens
are all given their "quarters," as they call them. [5] This cloth is
disposed of among the natives, who trade provisions for it.

It is a law of Yndia and of Maluco that no person can lade or take
away cloves from those islands in any manner, unless it be for your
Majesty, under penalty of loss of the ship and rigging; from which
the profit resulting to the royal exchequer amounts to a third of
what is laded, so great is the freight charge. Certain Portuguese
came to these islands in their own ships. They take away a quantity
of cloves and sell it to merchants, who in turn sell it to Chinese
and other persons, who secretly ship it to Nueva Espana--whence
it is taken to the provinces of Peru, the new realm of Granada,
Tierra Firme, Guatimala, and other regions. From this there result
three losses to the royal exchequer. In the first place, since the
cloves are carried from the Malucas by the hand of a third party,
your Majesty loses the third due on embarcation. In the second place,
it is laded here for Nueva Espana secretly, and without paying the
duties or freight charges. In the third place, when it has arrived
at Nueva Espana, Peru, and other regions, that which is brought from
the realms of Castilla loses its value.

All this expense which your Majesty suffers in providing for that
fortress, and these losses, could be remedied as follows. Your Majesty
has in the island of Panay, one of these Filipinas, which borders on
the Malucas Islands, a number of tributary Indians who pay the larger
part of their tribute in cleaned rice. After their harvest they have
a great deal of rice wine, which is made in these islands, and these
are the provisions necessary for the Malucas. If, conformably to
what has been said, there were built on your Majesty's account two
patages in the island of Panay--such as are commonly bui