[66] Mallat, i, pp. 349-50. For a historical summary of the variations in the names of the provinces see Retana's Zúñiga's _Estadismo,_ ii, p. 376 ff. [67] They received the tribute in kind in fixed amounts and made money out of the fluctuations of the market prices. At times of scarcity and consequent high prices this procedure doubled or trebled the burden of the tribute. See _State of the Philippine Islands,_ by Tomas de Comyn, translated by William Walton, p. 197. Mallat says: "Rien n'est plus funeste au pays que la permission qui est accordée aux alcaldes de faire le commerce pour leur compte." i, p. 351. See also Retana's note, Zúñiga, _Estadismo,_ ii, p. 530. This right to trade was abolished in 1844. [68] "It is a fact common enough to see a hair-dresser or a lackey converted into a governor; a sailor or a deserter, transformed into a district magistrate, collector, or military commander of a populous province, without other counsellor than his own crude understanding, or any other guide than his passions. Such a metamorphosis would excite laughter in a comedy or farce; but, realized in the theatre of human life, it must give rise to sensations of a very different nature. Who is there that does not feel horror-struck, and tremble for the innocent, when he sees a being of this kind transferred from the yard-arm to the seat of justice, deciding in the first instance on the honor, lives, and property of a hundred thousand persons, and haughtily exacting the homage and incense of the spiritual ministers of the towns under his jurisdiction, as well as of the parish curates, respectable for their acquirements and benevolence, and who in their own native places, would possibly have rejected as a servant the very man whom in the Philippines they are compelled to court, and obey as a sovereign." _State of the Philippine Islands_, London, 1821, p. 194. [69] Morga, p. 323.