Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 08).djvu/16

 On May 12 of that year are signed articles of contract for the conquest of Mindanao, a task which is undertaken by Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa (the  same officer formerly sent thither by Sande). He is to establish at least one settlement there; and encomiendas are to be allotted, the most important being reserved for the crown, and one-third of the remainder for the conqueror. Certain documents dated between April 9 and May 20, 1591, relate to a municipal ordinance (March 30) forbidding the Indians to wear silks or other stuffs from China. Dasmariñas institutes an inquiry (April 9) into the results of this on the natives, and the possibility that the decree should be suspended in some cases. Ten witnesses, converted Indian chiefs, testify that the importation of Chinese goods has ruined the native industries, and demoralized the people; and that the ordinance should be enforced.

A document unsigned, but prepared by order of the governor (dated May 31, 1591), gives "a detailed account of the encomiendas in the Philippinas Islands," royal and private, pacified and hostile, with and without instruction; the names of the encomenderos, and the number of the tributarios, religious ministers, and magistrates in each. At the beginning is given a description of the city of Manila, with the churches, public buildings, governmental and municipal offices, Parián, etc. There are some three thousand Chinese in the islands, two-thirds of whom live in the Parian, where they have two hundred shops. There are so many friars in Manila that some of them might well be sent to districts where ministers are lacking. At the end of the document is a brief summary of the above statistics. The