2.  I find no basis on which people could rest their opinion that there should be in these islands the said archbishop and bishops; for the population of them all does not exceed six hundred Spanish citizens, and the one bishop who was in this city was sufficient.  One is sufficient for all matters which might arise of which the prelates take cognizance, or which are necessary, for they are very few and unimportant; and those who appeal to the metropolitan go to Mexico and return in one year.  The three provinces in which were lately erected the three bishoprics are so near this city that one can come from them in ten or twelve days; and in the one which has the largest settlement of Spaniards there are not more than a hundred citizens, or even so many—­namely, in Zubu.  The other two, which are Camarines and Cagayan, do not amount, each one, to seventy Spaniards.  In each one there is a curate, who administers the sacraments to the Spaniards; and convents of friars, who administer them to the Indians who live in the said villages and their neighborhood.  If the prelate who is chosen in Manila is a religious of proved integrity, and industrious, he can very well attend to these matters easily, and without overwork.  Whatever has been said or may be said to your Majesty to the contrary, either arises from ignorance of the matter or from private designs, and does not aim at expediency.

[In the margin:  “There is nothing to answer.”]

3.  By a decree of your Majesty which came in the past year, ninety-eight, the governor of these islands was commanded to discontinue a number of false musters which were being paid, and additions to the expenses of the royal treasury.  Without mentioning the decree, he pronounced an edict in which he commanded the officials of the royal exchequer of your Majesty to erase them from the royal books, and pay them no more.  Afterward, with different pretexts and by various means other salaries and additional expenses were incurred, which it had never been customary to pay—­as, for instance, paying salaries to the captains, alferez, and other officers of war for the citizens in the villages.  The governor appointed, as alferez of the captain of the town of Arevalo, Don Juan Fajardo; and designated as his salary that of the post of musketeer, for which he served in the said post of alferez.  Having appealed it before the Audiencia, after examination and review there, he was commanded to pay the said salary for the time while he had served in the post of alferez.  Captain Francisco Rrodriguez, as he was of the troops from Zubu, when he was alcalde-mayor there was ordered by the said governor to give a hundred pesos of additional cost.  He appealed from this, and his case is pending in the Audiencia.  Although these things appear of little importance, so far as events hitherto are concerned, they may be very important for the future; for, as they are said to be confirmed by the Audiencia the governors will take it as a precedent,