swans; horses, some mules and asses; even caged birds, some of which talk, while others sing, and they make them play innumerable tricks.  The Chinese furnish numberless other gewgaws and ornaments of little value and worth, which are esteemed among the Spaniards; besides a quantity of fine crockery of all kinds; canganes, [237] sines, and black and blue robes; tacley, which are beads of all kinds; strings of cornelians, and other beads and precious stones of all colors; pepper and other spices; and rarities—­which, did I refer to them all, I would never finish, nor have sufficient paper for it.

As soon as the ship reaches the mouth of the bay of Manila, the watchman stationed at the island of Miraveles goes out to it in a light vessel.  Having examined the ship, he puts a guard of two or three soldiers on it, so that it may anchor upon the bar, near the city, and to see that no one shall disembark from the vessel, or anyone enter it from outside, until the vessel has been inspected.  By the signal made with fire by the watchman from the said island, and the advice that he sends in all haste to the city—­of what ship it is, whence it has come, what merchandise and people it brings—­before the vessel has finished anchoring, the governor and the city generally know all about it. [238]

When the vessel has arrived and anchored, the royal officials go to inspect it and the register of the merchandise aboard it.  At the same time the valuation of the cargo is made according to law, of what it is worth in Manila; for the vessel immediately pays three per cent on everything to his Majesty. [239] After the register has been inspected and the valuation made, then the merchandise is immediately unloaded by another official into champans, and taken to the Parian, or to other houses and magazines, outside of the city.  There the goods are freely sold.

No Spaniard, Sangley, or other person is allowed to go to the ship to buy or trade merchandise, food, or anything else.  Neither is it allowed, when the merchandise is ashore, to take it from them or buy it with force and violence; but the trade must be free, and the Sangleys can do what they like with their property.

The ordinary price of the silks (both raw and woven) and the cloths—­which form the bulk of the cargo—­is settled leisurely, and by persons who understand it, both on the part of the Spaniards and that of the Sangleys.  The purchase price is paid in silver and reals, for the Sangleys do not want gold, or any other articles, and will not take other things to China.  All the trading must be completed by the end of the month of May, or thereabout, in order that the Sangleys may return and the Spaniards have the goods ready to lade upon the vessels that go to Nueva Espana by the end of June.  However, the larger dealers and those who have most money usually do their trading after that time, at lower rates, and keep the merchandise until the following year.