tnesses tell what they know on these subjects;
and whether the facts above stated are notorious or well-known,
and matters of public discussion and report.

In the village of Bacolor, province of Panpanga, of the Philipinas
Islands, on the thirteenth day of the month of May, in the year
one thousand five hundred and ninety-one, Captain Juan de Alcega,
alcalde-mayor of the said province for our lord the king, declared
that, inasmuch as the cabildo, magistracy, and government of the city
of Manila, among other ordinances which they enacted for the welfare
and government of that city, and for the benefit of the state, issued
one forbidding the natives of these islands to dress in silks or
stuffs from China, for the reasons and difficulties mentioned in the
said ordinance; and because the enforcement and observance thereof is
very just and expedient for these islands, Gomez Perez Dasmarinas,
knight of the habit of Santiago, governor and captain-general of
the islands for our lord the king, in his royal name approved and
confirmed the same. But as Don Frai Domingo de Salazar, bishop of
these said islands, in the name of the natives as their protector,
has protested against the said ordinance on the ground of its being
injurious to the natives, the captain-general, in behalf of the said
natives, and in order to ascertain the truth, makes the statements
contained in this mandate. And in order to ascertain whether the
observance of the said ordinance would put an end to the troubles
therein mentioned, or whether a fulfilment of the same would result
in the injuries to the said natives which the said bishop, as their
protector, mentions, I hereby command that the following investigation
be made, and that the witnesses be examined in accordance with the
interrogatory submitted by the said cabildo.

Signed:

_Juan de Alcega_

Before me:

_Felipe Roman_, notary.

_Evidence_

In the village of Cubao of the said province, on the fourteenth
day of May of the year aforesaid, the said alcalde-mayor, for the
purpose of the said investigation, caused to appear before him Don
Nicolas Ramos, a chief of the village of Cubao and governor of the
same--who, being duly sworn according to legal form, with the aid of
the interpreter Domingo Birral, and having promised on the sign of
the cross to speak the truth, was questioned in accordance with the
purpose of the interrogatory, and deposed as follows:

In reply to the first question