ise which you have been pleased
to grant and permit to the citizens for their navigation and trade
to Nueva Espana. These two ships will carry this year a greater
registered cargo than formerly the ten galleons for five years
carried. The usual amount registered was from three hundred or four
hundred to five hundred chests of silks, stuffs, and cloths [_bienzos_]
(which here they call _mantheria_); but now I have laden the capitana,
and the registration exceeds a thousand chests, while the almiranta,
which has a larger hold, will probably carry one thousand two hundred
chests. The royal duties which belong to your Majesty will amount to
three per cent; the freight charges and further duties at the port of
Acapulco will come to six hundred thousand or seven hundred thousand
pesos. Accordingly, if your Majesty's viceroy will send me even the
proceeds of the said royal dues alone, I shall be able, in the four
years' [service] that I have offered your Majesty, to relieve this
your royal treasury of more than three hundred thousand pesos of
debts, and to maintain these islands with what can be obtained from
them--a thing which your Majesty has so desired, and which you have
so often charged so many governors to do. If God grants me life,
that I may employ it wholly in the service of your Majesty, and in
efforts to increase your royal estate, I will not content myself
with that, but more and more will send you all the cloves from the
Malucas Islands which can be procured in trade at your forts in
Therrenatte. Thence I will send the spice to the port of Acapulco,
to be sent to Espana to your Majesty--or to be sold there, and the
proceeds sent to Espana. I have also decided to purchase all the wax
that comes from the encomiendas of your Majesty's vassals, and place
it with [the products of] your royal encomiendas, to be sent on your
Majesty's account to Nueva Espana, so that the proceeds of the wax may
be sent to your Majesty with that from the cloves. [_Marginal note_:
"Inform him of the receipt of his letter, and say that we hope that
he will always do what he can to increase the royal estate; and that
he shall endeavor to secure, by all proper and convenient methods,
the relief of the royal treasury."]

2. I was occupied in this service on the morning of St. Peter's day,
being engaged in celebrating a fiesta to the blessed sacrament,
and giving thanks to God for the favor that He has shown to your
Majesty in bringing to thi