Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 01).djvu/166

 or ownership shall be determined, then the side, in whose favor the right of each of the said questions is declared, may despatch expeditions and may barter. And in case the question of ownership and demarcation is determined, then that of possession shall be understood to be decided and absorbed. If only the question of possession is determined by the said lawyers, without their being able to determine that of ownership, as aforesaid, then what still remains to be determined of the said ownership, and likewise of the possession of the said Maluco, shall, in accordance with the terms of the said treaty, remain in the same condition as before this present compact. All of the above must and shall be investigated without any prejudice to the rights of ownership and possession of either side, in accordance with the said treaty.

But if, before the conclusion of the said period, it shall appear to the lawyers first named in the commissions, as aforesaid, that the settlement can, in all probability, be concluded and determined with some further continuation of the time set, as above said; or if another good way or manner of procedure, by which this matter could be determined better under one head or another, to wit, that of possession or that of ownership, should offer itself to them, the two lawyers, as aforesaid, may, in either of these cases, prolong, for so long a time as seems convenient to them, the brief determination of the matter. During the period of the said continuation, these lawyers, and all the other deputies, each one in his own capacity, may investigate and ascertain, and they shall investigate and ascertain, just as if this extension of time were within the principal period