Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 08).djvu/184



Witness: Captain Poyatos. On May twenty-seven, one thousand five hundred and ninety-one, in the city of Manila, Melchor de Baeça, attorney of this city, presented as witness in the name of the same, Captain Hernando Muñoz de Poyatos, a citizen of this city, from whom he took oath, according to law, upon a sign of the cross, under obligation of which he bound himself and promised to tell the truth. After having been questioned according to the interrogatory presented by the said Melchor de Baeca, he made the following declaration:

1. To the first question, the witness testified that the Portuguese of the city of Macan trade and hold business communication with the Spanish inhabitants of this city and of these islands; that much gain and profit has come and comes to them, and that they have not met, and never will meet any injury for coming to trade in these islands. The witness knows this because he has been in the city of Macan, and has seen that matters are as the question declares them to be. And he believes that they will surely continue thus if the inhabitants of Malaca and other regions of India will continue to trade in these islands. This is his answer.

2. To the second question, the witness, who, as specified above, has been in the city of Macan, testified that, although ships now go from Goa, from these islands, and from many other parts in greater number and with much more money to invest in Chinese goods than hitherto, there are cloths and merchandise enough for all who go there, and much is left over. This is what the witness answers, because he has found it so in the said city of Macan.