I assented to it.  It is not advisable that the post of commander of the galleys be abolished, for there is no security here that they may not have to fight many times with the galleys.  Consequently, it is proper for them to have a commander who may do it, and who knows how to do it.  The saving would be very little.  The office is now held by Antonio Carreno de Valdes, with whom your Majesty was saved six hundred pesos, which he received as an allowance; and not more than two hundred are spent, as the galleys have only eight hundred for wages. [In the margin:  “File it with those papers which led him to make this report.”]

Your Majesty orders by another decree of the same date that I inform you as to whether it will be advisable to abolish the post of lieutenant-general of Pintados.  In reply to that, I say that the pay was cut off as soon as I reached this government, but the title is now allowed; for it is advisable to have one who holds that authority in those provinces, as they are very far from here.  Hence it is given to the alcalde-mayor and infantry captain who resides in Zibu, and who does not enjoy more pay than that for the post captain.  This is the officer who goes out in the fleets against the Joloans, Camucones, and Mindanaos.  He orders in detail what is here decided upon in general.  He is on the watch in present emergencies, and if he did not have power and authority to command the chief men of all those provinces, a great part of the service of your Majesty would cease.  Consequently, it is not advisable that this office be abolished, and it is enough to have cut off the pay of it.  He who holds the office at present is occupied in the pacification of the province of Caraga, of whose revolt I informed you in my last despatch, and which I now communicate in my letter treating of military affairs.  He has twice entered that province with a fleet; the first time, he inflicted a very severe punishment, and from the second, which was made this month of May, I hope that no less a result will ensue. [In the margin:  “The same.”]

The construction of galleys at Cavite has been changed; for one unfavorable result changes the opinions of men which are of but little stability.  Certain workmen declared that the woods of which the ship “Santa Maria Magdalena” was made (which was the one which sank last year) were heavy; and that for that reason it had become worthless—­and not because its sides were defective.  That was a lie, for having drawn it ashore, as I wrote, laden (which was a heroic task, and which could only have been done where there was so much apparatus for it) the ship was then repaired with a lining of knees.  It has been tested in this bay, and it is very staunch, and carries all the sail that can be spread.  Hence it was a lie to cast the blame on the lumber; but, as the common people and the friars (who desire that there should be a shipyard near here) urged it earnestly on account of this rumor, it was necessary