In reply to the first question this witness stated that he knew that before the Spaniards came to these islands for their discovery, pacification, and settlement, and that of all the peoples who then were, or have since been, discovered here, all the natives of the islands, so far as this witness is informed—­chiefs, timaguas, and slaves, without distinction of rank—­wove cotton fabrics, with which they clothed themselves, all from cotton of their own planting.  It is true that, as far back as this witness can remember, he thinks that he has never known cotton to have been planted or gathered in this province, or along the river and coast of Manila, from the village of Cabite to this province; but in all the other tribes except these cotton was planted, large quantities being gathered and sold to the inhabitants of this Pampanga, and to those of the river and coast of Manila, who gave in exchange the rice which they cultivated, and sometimes gold; and they procured the cotton for the purpose of spinning it and weaving cloth for their own garments.  This continued to be the custom for many years after the coming of the Spaniards; for, although one or two ships came from China each year at that time, these brought no cloths or silks, but only iron, and earthenware, and camanguian.  The principal reason why the Tagalos of Manila and the inhabitants of all this Panpanga have never cultivated cotton, is because they do not know how; and because they have never been accustomed to grow anything but rice, on which they chiefly subsist.  This was his answer.

In reply to the second question this witness stated that since the Spaniards have become established in these islands, he has noticed how the Chinese have come hither, in larger numbers every year, eight ships at least coming annually from China; and in some years this witness has seen as many as twenty and thirty, all laden with cloths and bolts of silk.  And when the natives of these islands and of this province saw all these cloths brought by the Chinese, they made less exertion to weave their own; but to avoid even that little work, all the natives began to clothe themselves with the said stuffs from China, discarding entirely their own, which they formerly wore.  And so far has this gone at the present day, that all alike—­without distinction of chief from timagua, or of timagua from slave—­dress in these stuffs, making it impossible to judge of their rank from their dress.  In this way a very large quantity of cloth is used—­far more, as it seems to this witness, than the number stated in the question; and he is very certain that, if this tendency is not checked and corrected, the price of every one of these stuffs will in a few years be doubled; for now even the cheapest costs not less than a peso.  For the natives of these islands do not accumulate wealth, but spend it all in food and clothing; and as none of the natives, however high his rank may be, needs more than two or three pieces of cloth in