Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/123

 office for life, and not for one year, as now; and that their appointment be entrusted to the governor, so that he may appoint them in your Majesty's name; for thus the regidors will be the oldest and most deserving men, and that community will be governed better.

Item: He begs and entreats your Majesty to be pleased to give license that the inhabitants of that city [Santisimo Nombre de Jesus] may build a vessel of about two hundred and fifty toneladas, in order that the said ship may be sent with the vessels sailing from Manila to Nueva España, with the wax, cotton cloth, and the other cloth made from banana leaves, called medriñaque—in which products tributes are collected by all those of this island and by the encomenderos of the island of Panae. The reason for this request is that in taking these things to Manila there is great risk and danger from the natives, because each Spaniard who goes to Manila is forced to take forty or fifty Indians, whence it happens that there are more than four hundred Indians in Manila for three months of each year and longer, who are outside their native place. This is to the great damage and loss of the natives, and if your Majesty grants this permission, it will be avoided. [In the margin: "Let this be referred to the governor, so that if there is no special disadvantage, and it does not conflict with his present orders, he may grant permission for the sailing of this vessel."]

In what pertains to the island of Luçon, where the city of Manila has been founded, and the other islands of that archipelago, the said Fray Francisco de Ortega declares that everything is improving since the arrival of Governor Gomez Perez Das-