Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 04).djvu/77

1576-1582] rely on any person who refrains from possessions and honor not his own, and sets a good example.

90. For the reason above stated—that repartimientos were made by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, and afterward by Guido de Lavesares, of places never pacified or even seen—there are many encomenderos who have no food, and who, whenever any district is pacified of late, demand that it be given to them by virtue of that encomienda, to the prejudice of those who go to pacify and cultivate it. Consequently, notwithstanding that I have not yet seen the river of Vindanao, as above stated, I must send men there. They have divided it into encomiendas, and assessed the tax according to the men; just as in districts which are not so large as that one, they come to beg for men, in order to go to collect their tributes and commit various excesses. In accordance with your Majesty's order and commission, I shall grant no encomienda that is not pacified and faithful. I think that this will settle the matter, and that the people will come to understand it. I enclose with this a list of the encomiendas of the country; but all that is a matter of little importance except for the passage from the mainland of China.

91. As I have previously observed, and since all the cost of the exploration and occupancy of these islands has been at your Majesty's expense, those in charge of the government have but ill attended to apportioning Indians to the royal crown; and those allotments were made by way of compliment, and are the worst ones. They relied only on what had to be sent them annually from Nueva España, and on what has come from there; for this land is as sterile as one who lives on charity. Accompanying this is a list of