Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 06).djvu/55

 and for the sick; sometimes a jar holding an arroba of wine has been worth at least one hundred gold pesos, and even much more. These things which are brought from Nueva España are so necessary that the people, especially those of gentle birth, could not do without them. For instance, they cannot clothe themselves with stuffs that are made in this land, or with those that are brought from the mainland; for these are thin silks of such quality that garments made of them are worthless, for lack of durability and fineness. Consequently, they would not be worn if the people were not very poor. The supplies that we have at present in this country are pork and buffalo meat, fowls, rice, wax candles, and lard; and the Sangleys' flour, which is very poor and cannot be eaten. It is now held at so high a price that what was bought four years ago for a tostón cannot now be bought for three pesos. Where they used to give six fanégas of rice for one tostón, they now ask three pesos, at one tostón a fanéga. They used to sell twelve to sixteen fowls for four reals; at present, when there are no large fowls, they cost two or three reals apiece, instead of a tostón. A hog that used to cost alive four to six reals now costs six or seven pesos, and no one is found to buy. This witness thinks that the cause for the high prices in this country is that so many Spaniards have come hither, that so many of the natives of these islands have perished, and that so few people cultivate the soil or breed fowls or swine. The witness knows this