in from mentioning. Your viceroy of Nueva
Espana had me make a model of the said vessel for the exploration of
the sea of California in Mexico.

_Item_: The garrison soldiers of Manila are a cause [of the ruin of
the country], for many are killed, and they are lessened in numbers;
and they commit many vile acts, by which the Spanish nation suffers
great loss of reputation among those pagans. Inasmuch as they are
paid there in three yearly installments, the result is that, as soon
as they have received their money, most of them gamble it away in
their quarters, and then go about barefoot and naked. Many sell their
arquebuses to the natives, which is a great evil. They have to go
about begging alms and commit innumerable acts of meanness among the
pagans themselves--who, in contempt, call them "soldiers." Further,
will your Highness be pleased to order your viceroy of Nueva Espana
not to allow any mestizos or mulattoes to be admitted among the men
sent as reenforcements to the Filipinas; for such men give themselves
up to intoxication, and injure us greatly.

It is possible to remedy the needs of the soldiers in this manner. Your
Highness has imposed a situado of two reals on all the tributes of
those islands, in order to pay one and one-half reals to the soldiers
and one-half real to the prebendaries of the church. This amount is
paid into the royal treasury. As the treasury always falls short,
and the Audiencia has to be preferred in the payment of its salaries;
and as the galleys and many other things cause a shortage, eight or ten
months or one year are wont to pass without the soldiers receiving any
pay; consequently, one can imagine their sufferings. It will be very
important to have that situado placed in a separate fund. Since there
are three royal officials and in the said treasury two are sufficient
if one of them performs two duties (as has often been done), the third
official could take charge of that situado. He could purchase food at
the harvests which would be cheap, and every week he could give the
soldiers a ration of rice--the ordinary bread of that country--or
wheat, which is also produced there, besides giving them in money
one real per day. The amount still remaining could be paid to them
every four months in order that they might clothe themselves. If
their pay were increased by eight reals more, they could live well;
and one-half of those who die now would not die, which is much more
costly to you