shall not reach three hundred thousand, or pass far beyond two hundred and fifty thousand.  It should also be considered that when his Majesty, the sovereign of the realm, who is now in heaven, granted this permission, it was at a time when these islands were beginning to be settled.  Then there were no inhabitants who could invest so great a sum, while now there are many.  They do not send as much as they might lade in the vessel; and if this condition of affairs continues to increase, there is no other means of support than this trade, nor does the country produce those means.  If it shall diminish, the people who come to live in these islands will likewise become fewer in number.  If it should increase somewhat beyond the new grant, so many more people will come to the colony here.  This population, however great it is, is all very necessary, in view of the way in which this country consumes the whole of it, no matter how many come.

The second section provides that four freight ships should be built, each one of two hundred toneladas; and that two of them shall make the voyage every year, very early, while the other two lie in port, ready for the following year.  In this matter your Majesty’s will shall be fulfilled, and the first ships that shall be built will be of this tonnage.

The third section provides that there shall be only one commander for the said two ships, with a lieutenant who shall be second in command.  The intention of this section is to avoid the great expense which has previously been incurred in this voyage.  The section also provides that each vessel may carry a military captain in addition to the master, with as many as fifty effective and useful soldiers on each ship, who shall receive pay.  They may also have the necessary seamen, a certificated pilot, and an adjutant.  If this section is to be fulfilled in this form, then, instead of avoiding many expenses, it will be the means of increasing again many others which are much greater.  Such will be the result if fifty soldiers sail in each vessel, since because of the requirement that the capacity of the vessels shall be so small, they cannot carry so great a number of people.  The voyage is so long that five to seven months are spent in it, and the seasons are very severe.  Many people die at sea; and it is necessary to carry so many sailors and ship-boys that a great amount of provisions must be taken for them and the other men.  For this reason the late governor of these islands kept down the number of permissions to go hence to Nueva Espana to a very small number.  He granted them so seldom that he did not allow the tenth part of those who asked for them to go.  Yet in spite of all this, the commanders of the vessels were obliged, on account of the great amount of space occupied by the necessary ship stores, to send on shore, before leaving these islands, some of the few passengers who had received official permission.  In the despatch of the ships this very year, our experience