undred
and fifty dollars, of which seventy-five dollars was advanced before
the start. The merchants expected to clear one hundred and fifty to
two hundred per cent. The passenger fare at the end of the eighteenth
century was $1,000 for the voyage to Acapulco, which was the hardest,
and $500 for the return. [104] Careri's voyage to Acapulco lasted two
hundred and four days. The ordinary time for the voyage to Manila was
seventy-five to ninety days. [105] Careri's description of his voyage
is a vivid picture of the hardships of early ocean travel, when cabin
passengers fared infinitely worse than cattle today. It was a voyage
"which is enough to destroy a man, or make him unfit for anything
as long as he lives;" yet there were those who "ventured through it,
four, six and some ten times." [106]

Acapulco in New Spain had little reason for existence, save for
the annual fair at the time of the arrival of the Manila ship, and
the silver fleet from Peru. That event transformed what might more
properly be called "a poor village of fishermen" into "a populous
city," for the space of about two weeks. [107]

The commerce between the Philippines and Mexico was conducted
in this manner from 1604 to 1718, when the silk manufacturers of
Spain secured the prohibition of the importation of Chinese silk
goods into New Spain on account of the decline of their industry. A
prolonged struggle before the Council of the Indies ensued, and in
1734 the prohibition was revoked and the east and west cargoes fixed
at $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively. [108] The last _nao_, as
the Manila-Acapulco galleon was called, sailed from Manila in 1811,
and the final return voyage was made in 1815. After that the commerce
fell into private hands, the annual exports were limited to $750,000
and the ports of San Blas (Mexico), Guayaquil (Ecuador), and Callao
(Peru) were opened to it.

Other changes were the establishment of direct communication with
Spain and trade with Europe by a national vessel in 1766. [109] These
expeditions lasted till 1783 and their place was taken in 1785 by the
Royal Philippine Company, organized with a capital of $8,000,000, and
granted the monopoly of the trade between Spain and the islands. [110]
The Manila merchants resented the invasion of their monopoly of the
export trade, and embarrassed the operations of the company as much
as they could. [111] It ceased to exist in 1830.

By this system for two centuries the South