Item:  Inasmuch as the said ships sail so unevenly laden, the seamen do not have protection from water and cold.  Consequently, they fall sick, and it has even occurred that they die and are frozen, which is great inhumanity.  It is very pitiful to see what occurs in that navigation.

Item:  The fireplaces in which the food is cooked are left above deck, open to water and air, where the first storm carries them off.  It becomes necessary after that to make a fire in earthen jars in various parts of the ship, at a very great risk of all perishing and the ship burning—­besides the fact that if it rains they cannot cook their food.  For all this it is necessary for your Highness to order that the ships of the said line that shall be built shall carry the fireplaces under the forecastle, and as is the custom in this line of the Yndias; and that the storerooms of the officers of the ship do not occupy that space.  The officers sell the storerooms to the passengers for considerable money, and stow goods in them, which is not among the least of all the troubles.

Item:  That the freight and cargo that the said ships must contain be stowed in the first hold, and that between decks shall be only the ship’s stores, the chests of the sailors, the messrooms, rigging, sails, and all necessary supplies.  They should carry even rigging for the port of Acapulco, since there is rigging at Manila which is very cheap; and then your Highness will not have to spend vast sums in taking it from San Juan de Lua to Acapulco overland, which is one hundred and fifty leguas.

Item:  That all the passengers who shall come from Filipinas to Nueva Espana in the said ships should pay a fare of two hundred pesos if they have a berth or messroom under deck, and those who do not so have berth or messroom, one hundred pesos, as an aid in the expenses of the ships.  This should be understood not on the outward trip [to the islands] but on the return trip. [99]

Item:  That the sailors be not allowed to take aboard more than one chest of goods, of the size assigned by the governor; for there is the utmost confusion in this regard, and the sailors are allowed to carry two or three very large chests, larger than common.  They overload and embarrass the ship; and, under pretext that they are carrying their clothes, they take those chests full of merchandise.

Item:  That all the passengers shall carry swords and bucklers and arquebuses; and that the royal officials shall place on ship arquebuses, muskets, and lances for the sailors.  Those weapons are cheap in Manila; and with them, and the artillery carried by the ships, the latter will be well defended.  They need no soldiers for the return trip [to Nueva Espana], for rather the ships then carry too many people.

Item:  No passengers or sailors shall carry with them slave women, a practice which gives rise to very great offenses against God.  Such shall be regarded as confiscated in the port of Acapulco.  This is very advisable, for many persons carry these women as concubines—­not only the owners of them, but others in the ships.  It is not right that there be any occasion for angering God when there is so great risk in the voyage, as I dare to affirm; and it is certain that, in the last ten years, while this has been so prevalent, many disasters have happened.