be paid to his Majesty and to individuals, “it will be a very bitter draught for them to swallow.”  These Indians, Ronquillo says, are not like those in Luzon, but are accustomed to power and sovereignty.  Some collect five or six thousand tributes.  If the tributes are to be collected, two hundred more soldiers and a large quantity of ammunition will be necessary, or much additional time.  The troops have not been paid what Figueroa owed them; and it is plain that no profit is to be expected in the island for a long time to come.  When it does come, the encomenderos, who have fraudulently remained at leisure in Manila, will get it.  Hence the soldiers have petitioned that the property of Figueroa in the island be sold and the proceeds applied to their payment.  Fourteen hundred pesos of worked silver was sold; and the soldiers received six pesos each.  The captains also asked and received some compensation.  The discontent was so great that Ronquillo declares that no resolution can command men so ragged and starving, penniless and unpaid; and that they are already saying that they cannot eat good words.  He concludes this section by asking for twenty thousand pesos and eight hundred Indian rowers, and for some exchanges of his men.]

That the country is not such as it has been painted, and not so excellent as has been reported. Hitherto it has not been possible to tell your Lordship anything certain of this country, except that it will be of but little advantage to his Majesty, but a source of great expense.  It has far fewer inhabitants than was reported, and all are very poor, so that their breakfast consists only in cleaning their arms, and their work in using them, and not in cultivating the land, which is low and swampy in this river.  There is no chief who can raise twenty taes of gold.  Rice is very scarce; in the tingues is found a small amount, which is used for food by the chiefs only.  They are some swine, and a few fowls that are very cunning, and less fruit.  It abounds in fish in some districts, but this river contains only eels.  They are as good as those of Espana.  They are not found all the year round, but only during the rainy season.  The climate does not differ much from that there.  It has very dense fogs.  I have been unable to make a complete map of the island.  I am sending your Lordship only that of this river, made with exactness, with all its arms and estuaries, and their settlements.  The arithmetical symbols represent the number of people in each, and the letters the names of the chiefs.  I have corrected it with all care.  We have already examined almost everything from the coast of La Canela, Dapitan, and Botran [Butuan?].  There is a full report there which may be filed with this map.