Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 07).djvu/63

 notaries and magistrates in these islands should be sold, under the condition that the persons who should be the highest bidders should obtain confirmation of their title within three years. These offices are of very little profit, and of none at all in some places, as the land has been settled so recently, and there are few inhabitants and little business therein. As it is continually becoming more populous and well established, it would be more advantageous to postpone the sale of these offices for some years, until they shall be worth more. I will make the necessary investigations, as your Majesty commands me, and will advise your Majesty of the prices offered. If I find that for any of them I can obtain its value in the future I will have it auctioned. In the meantime I will make endeavors to have them sold for a price that can be profitable to your Majesty's royal exchequer.

By another decree of the twenty-seventh of August of said year, your Majesty orders me to give my opinion of the arms that are in the fort of the city of Manila, and those that are needed. In three forts which your Majesty has here, there are twenty-four heavy pieces, two small ones, and some culverins, as will be seen below.

In the stone fort there are three swivel-guns, located in the three casemates, of about twenty quintals' weight. On the first floor over the rampart, there are seven heavy pieces, extra thick and strong at the breech. Two are of about forty quintals' weight, three varas in length and carry a ball of cast iron weighing sixteen libras. Two others are of wrought iron, of sixty quintals' weight, three and two-thirds varas in length, and carry a ball of cast iron weighing fifteen libras. One cannon is of fifty-five quintals'