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ble, and the most efficacious means of all, if he could have carried it out as he conceived it. I believe that, in order to facilitate that, he wrote to your Majesty, whereupon this court was filled with hopes. But to place it in execution, he had as much foundation as will be seen here. The forces of India are so few, that, although Silva was told that the viceroy could not send him six ships--and those that could go would be poorly equipped; and that if he did send them, the coasts of India would be left unprotected, which were daily being infested; and, besides, that they knew by experience--the little love that the Portuguese bear to the Castilians and that he should not trust in them--still by sending money to build galleons and for the men, of which at least one-half million [pesos] would be necessary, the viceroy would send that fleet. Don Juan de Silva was without funds; on the contrary, the royal treasury was deeply in debt from the expedition to Maluco. Still, in order to forward his designs, he sent his master-of-camp, Christoval de Azqueta, with pledges and securities made out by the royal officials, binding your Majesty's royal treasury in order to get the money there from merchandise, and paying interest on them--a transaction which was considered ridiculous to those who knew India. He gave the master-of-camp sixteen thousand pesos which he borrowed in gold from the inhabitants of Manila, in order that he might bring back some necessary things. The master-of-camp sailed in a ship accompanied by forty Spaniards to indicate his authority. As yet, not one of them has been seen; and it is considered certain that all were drowned, since no further news has been heard of them. On the other hand, Silva wrote to the viceroy of Nueva Espana that he was building that fleet, and requested money, men, and ammunition from him. He despatched so late the ships, which had arrived on time, that although the viceroy made his utmost exertions he could not perform the friendly offices that Silva desired. He began to place the said galleons on the stocks, and, as they were so large, scarcely could he find the necessary timbers in the forest. Consequently, he had to have them sought under great difficulties, and by penetrating the thicker recesses of the woods. There having found them, it was necessary, in order to drag and carry them to the shipyard, to depopulate the surrounding villages of the Indians, and to drag the timb
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