[97] "37. Accordingly the commerce of this city is extensive, rich, and unusually profitable; for it is carried on by all these Chinese and their ships, with those of all the islands above mentioned and of Tonquin, Cochinchina, Camboja, and Siam--four separate kingdoms, which lie opposite these islands on the continent of Great China--and of the gulfs and the numberless kingdoms of Eastern India, Persia, Bengala, and Ceilan, when there are no wars; and of the empire and kingdom of Xapon. The diversity of the peoples, therefore, who are seen in Manila and its environs is the greatest in the world; for these include men from all kingdoms and nations--España, Francia, Inglaterra, Italia, Flandes, Alemania, Dinamarca, Suecia, Polonia, Moscobia; people from all the Indias, both eastern and western; and Turks, Greeks, Moros, Persians, Tartars, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, and Asiatics. And hardly is there in the four quarters of the world a kingdom, province, or nation which has not representatives here, on account of the voyages that are made hither from all directions--east, west, north, and south." Description of Filipinas Islands, Bartholomé de Letona, O. S. F.; La Puebla, Mexico, 1662.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 36, p. 205.) [98] "Number 96. Distinctions in products from the islands, and their qualities with respect to those of España. "All these products that are trafficked from the islands are divided into six (sic) classes. The first is of silk, in skeins, thread, and trama. The second, the silk textiles. The third, the cotton textiles. The fourth, the products of the islands. The fifth, other small wares and articles that are brought. Of these, the last class amounts to but little, and is not harmful to the commerce of España, as it is composed of rarities and foreign products. The fourth class, namely, that of the products of the islands, by that very fact ought to be exported--a claim that is founded on justice; since it is not usual to prohibit to any province its own trade, and the exportation of its products wherever they may have a sale, even though foreign commerce be denied to it. Besides, this sort has the characteristic of the third, namely, that these wares are so cheap that their like cannot be supplied from España, as has been said, on account of the great difference of their prices. (In the margin: "In number 95.") Hence, the wares of these kingdoms would not be used any more, even did those of the islands fail; nor less, even if there were an over-supply. For the Indians and negroes care only for the linens of China and Filipinas, and, if they do not have them, they get along without them; for they have no wealth to give eight reals for what costs them one and one-half reals. One thousand bales of linen which is shipped from Sevilla in each trading fleet always finds a sale, and no more can be carried (to Nueva España)--because that would create a lack in España, and it would, moreover, be too