Most powerful lord:  [24]

Captain Gabriel de Rivera [25] beseeches your Highness on behalf of the Filipinas islands, kindly to see that due attention and consideration be given to the advancement and preservation of those islands, upon which his Majesty has set his eyes so fixedly, and which have cost so many thousands of ducats and Spanish lives.  May what has been asked be provided, according to the memorials which I have presented to the royal person and to your Highness; for it befits the service of God our Lord, that of your Highness, and the advancement and good government of those islands.

The appointment of Don Gonzalo Ronquillo [26] by your Highness as governor for life, and the many sentences, decrees, and favors in his behalf, greatly injure the said islands in their advancement; they harass and totally ruin them as we have seen with our own eyes.  Such an appointment is contrary to the orders and laws given for the new discoveries; for the Filipinas islands were discovered more than fifty years ago, and were settled at the time of the emperor (may he rest in peace).  Since a way of return to Nueba Espana had not been discovered, the settlers for lack of sustenance abandoned the land, until the viceroy, Don Luis de Belasco, by order of your Highness despatched a fleet to the said islands, and sent Miguel Lopez de Legazpi as governor, who made a settlement and discovered a way of return.  He went there at his own expense.  All favors granted him in the meantime were so small and inadequate that he was not even allowed to take a repartimiento.  The islands have been settled for twenty years, and have enjoyed peace and quiet. [27] The appointment may have been a very lawful one, but it should not be forgotten that it is injurious to the said islands and their advancement.  God alone can remedy the abuses perpetrated every day, for, as is well known by your Highness, they are beyond any other remedy—­inasmuch as Don Gonzalo has carried out no part of the agreement he made with his Majesty.  In regard to this, and the papers and memorials which I have presented, may your very Christian Highness take the measures befitting the service of God, and the advancement and good government of those islands.

Gabriel de Ribera

AFFAIRS IN THE PHILIPINAS ISLANDS

By Fray Domingo de Salazar

Memorial regarding occurrences in these Philipinas Islands of the West, also their condition, and matters which require correction; written by Fray Domingo de Salazar, bishop of the said islands, in order that his Majesty and the gentlemen of his royal Council of the Indies may see it.

At first, when the Spaniards came to these islands, there was a great abundance of provisions, such as are produced in the country; namely, rice, beans, fowls, swine, deer, buffaloes, fish, cocoanuts, bananas and some other fruits, wine, and honey.  Of these a large quantity could be bought from the natives with very little money.  Although among them there was gold, with which they traded and trafficked, yet it was most usual to barter eatables for rice until the Spaniards introduced the use of money, from which no little harm has come to the country.  Wine and rice are measured by the ganta, which is equivalent to a quarter of a celemin in our measure.