in the country, who, in case of war, would be better in leading an army than a number who could come from there.  If it is possible, he should be a man of education and conscience.  I should desire one of these men who would serve your Majesty without private interests, for whom, when the man had served your Majesty in this charge, you could appoint a church, one of the largest of Espana; as this post is most honorable and of greater importance for the spread of the gospel than is the Turkish frontier for its defense.  On this account a person should be chosen who has no claim to private interests, for the gain which he would secure from the growth of the teaching of the gospel here is large enough.  It is not fitting that your Majesty should entrust the residencia of the governor here to the Audiencia, or to any member thereof; but it should be made by the person who is to succeed him, if he be a person such as I have described.  For there are many serious matters for which a Christian and impartial judge is necessary, to clear the conscience of your Majesty.

It would be very important for your Majesty to renew the mandate forbidding the governors and auditors to trade, with heavier penalties; for it is not observed, and from its violation there result great inconveniences.  But, as it appears that the salaries appointed by your Majesty are not sufficient recompense for coming to such distant lands, your Majesty might decree that when the governors were such as they should be, and have abstained during their whole term from trade, at the time of their departure your Majesty would permit to be given them as large a cargo as they wish, and even an entire ship, so that they might be made prosperous.  The auditors might be given, every six years, to each one the liberty of a cargo, so that in this way they would have what is needed to marry their children and maintain their households.  For otherwise they are the causes of great losses; and, as they are involved in the same misdeed, they are not urgent in having the mandates and decrees of your Majesty complied with.

It is a great hindrance to the growth of the faith and morals of the natives that there is a continual communication with the infidel Chinese.  Since they are coming to trade, it would be well that when they finish selling their wares they should leave the country; for from their remaining in these islands result many great inconveniences.  In the first place, on account of their greed, they have taken to the cultivation of gardens and other real estate; whence it follows that all the native Indians live idle and vicious lives, without anyone urging them to labor.  The Chinese have risen, by buying and selling and bringing provisions to the community, to be the retailers of supplies.  From this it results that this country is so expensive to live in that where a fowl used to be worth half a real, or at the most one real, it is now worth four.  Formerly a ganta of rice could be obtained for a quartillo