Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 03).djvu/321

 which we translate may be a compilation from these other documents and from other letters written by Riquel which are alluded to therein. The document of our text was written partly on shipboard (in a vessel which left Manila July 1, 1573), and completed at Mexico, from which city it was despatched to Spain in January, 1574. The royal decrees of 1574 are taken from ''Doc. inéd. Amér. y Oceanía'', xxxiv, pp. 68-71; the originals are probably in Sevilla. The decree forbidding encomiendas to royal officials is at Sevilla, its pressmark being, "Simancas—Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; Cartas y expedientes de los oficiales reales de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; años 1564 á 1622; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 29." Sande's relation of 1576 has been published in Retana's Archivo, ii, no. i.

It may be well to explain here the method of arranging and locating documents which is employed in the Sevilla archives. The first division is that of patronatos (sections), designated by names which show the character and source of the documents therein—as "Simancas—Bulas," that is, papal bulls, which had been brought to Sevilla from Simancas. Each patronato is divided into estantes (shelves), these into cajons (cases), and these again into legajos (packets); the legajo is sometimes further divided into ramos (parts) and números (numbers). Any document may thus be easily and accurately located.