is country,
which amounts to five hundred thousand pesos; and that all the rest
belongs to Peruvians or Mexicans. The calamity is so great that for
some of the residents of these islands their agents in Mexico bought
licenses at a high price, so that they might send them their own
money. It is very certain that the viceroy of Mexico is not to blame
for these things, as he is well known to be an excellent Christian;
but some one or other is deceiving him, to the ruin of this community.

To all these troubles of ours is added another, which causes anxiety
enough. One of the Chinese who came here, a chair-maker and carpenter,
returned to China. He must be a man of courage and ambitious designs;
for he went to the court of the king of China and, with others like
himself, proposed to trouble our peace. They found a man of note, who
by birth inherits from his ancestors, in the succession due the eldest
son, the right to be captain of the guard of the king of China. His
lineage is called Liang, and his office Pacu, while his own name is
Yameng. He must be something of a spendthrift (for he is very poor),
and restless in temperament. He gave ear to the said chair-maker,
named Tienguen, and to his companions. The opportunity seemed to
them favorable: and they decided to petition for the conquest of
this country under the cloak and pretext which the situation afforded
them, saying that there was a mountain here called Keit and that this
mountain is entirely of gold, and other things--which your Majesty
may examine, if you so wish, in the petition and memorial in this
matter which was presented to the king of China, and a copy of which,
translated into Castilian, _de verbo ad verbum,_ I am sending your
Majesty. This Keit is the port of this city, which we call Cabite, the
Chinese calling it Keit. They imagined and told a thousand lies to one
word of truth, all with the intention and desire of having the king of
China give them permission to get together troops and go out to sea,
and once there, either to come to conquer this country, or to become
pirates and rob, in China itself or wherever they could. The king of
China demanded pledges that what they were seeking was real, and not
a deception by which they were to become robbers and pirates; and as
this Liang Paou is a man of such standing, he furnished three hundred
or more men as surety. All the viceroys of the realms and provinces of
China and their councils (who reside with t