Diego Aleman, notary-public.

In the city of Manila, on May twenty-six, one thousand five hundred and seventy-six, the very illustrious Doctor Francisco de Sande, governor and captain-general for his Majesty in these islands of the West, and auditor of his royal Audiencia established in the City of Mexico in Nueva Espana, said that whereas, since the officials of the royal treasury have been in these islands, they have collected from the trade and royal estate in their charge, many pesos of gold; and whereas, it is reported that, on account of their salaries, they have—­despite the decree of his Majesty in their letters-patent, and notwithstanding this letter which they have also received—­held Indians without his Majesty’s permission, and contrary to his decrees and letters:  therefore the governor said that he ordered, and he did order, that whatever they have collected from the Indians held by them in encomiendas be understood as counted toward the salaries which his Majesty may have ordered to be paid to them; and from this time, each third of the year, when they shall collect their salaries, they shall go before his Excellency, so that having seen the needs and the state of the treasury, they shall be paid proportionally, in accordance with the same.  And they shall do nothing contrary to this, under penalty of five hundred pesos for the exchequer for each person and for each violation.  Because in this present year of seventy-six, we have been informed that each person has collected the said tributes for the whole year, they, shall all declare, clearly and specifically, under oath, the amount thus collected, and for what persons and by whose hand it was collected, so that when the first third comes due, it may be suitably adjusted, according to the above declaration.  From now on they shall collect no more, except on the account of the royal treasury, under whose royal jurisdiction they are this day placed.  This act shall be filed with the other, and a duplicate shall be made of the whole, to be sent to his Majesty.  It was signed by Doctor Francisco de Sande.

Before me.

Fernando Riquel.

In the city of Manila, on the twenty-sixth day of the month of May, one thousand five hundred and seventy-six, I, the notary undersigned, read and made known the act of his Excellency, herein contained word for word, to the accountant Andres Cauchela, official of his Majesty’s royal treasury, in his own person.  I took and received his oath, which he made before God and the blessed Mary, with the sign of the cross +, in due legal form; and under this charge he promised to tell the truth.  Being asked what tributes he has collected from the villages herein mentioned, the form in which they were collected, and under whose direction and by what persons, he said that in this present year of seventy-six, he sent to the villages of Bacayan (which is his encomienda) Juanes de Betaria, now defunct, to collect the tribute from the natives