e built many shops on
the site of their old residence, named Parian, as will appear from
the official statement which I send; and in every one of these live
three of four persons, and in some are many. I opposed the building
of these shops and caused it to cease, because if they were not under
restriction the Parian would become very large. It is now as large
as before the uprising. This evil result follows from the fact that
your Majesty granted the city the income received from these shops;
and many ducados are received for them, as is manifest in the said
official statements. To remedy this wrong, it is desirable that your
Majesty command the number of shops to be definitely limited, and
direct that in one shop one man only may live, who shall have some
known occupation and be a Christian. It would be well also to limit
the number of ships which may come and the number of persons that they
may carry, commanding that when the number is full no more shall be
received into the port, and that no vessel shall be admitted which
carries more than the appointed number. It would be well to provide
also that if the city exceed these limits, in the number and kind of
the shops, the grant allowed for the same be revoked.

When I entered upon the functions of this office, I discovered a
serious irregularity in the succession to encomiendas of Indians. Your
Majesty commanded that such encomiendas should descend from father
to son or daughter, and, in default of children, to the wife of the
encomendero, definitely stating that the succession should come to an
end there. Yet without attracting the attention of anyone, important
as the matter is, the wife has succeeded to her deceased husband,
and then after she has married a second time and has then died, the
second husband has succeeded the wife, and so on _ad infinitum_. Thus
it has come about that nearly all the encomiendas are far from their
original assignment, the majority being in the hands of undeserving
persons. The result is that it is a marvel if an encomienda is ever
vacant; for none has been regarded as vacant unless the possessor
has died without being married or without issue. Since this wrong
is universal, and is of great importance--affecting, as it does, the
common interests of all the islands--I have deemed it proper to advise
your Majesty of it, in order that you may ordain that which shall be
most to your Majesty's service. This may be carried out by commands
g