In reply to the second question this witness stated that since the Spaniards have become established in these islands, he has noticed how the Chinese have come hither, in larger numbers every year, eight ships at least coming annually from China; and in some years this witness has seen as many as twenty and thirty, all laden with cloths and bolts of silk. And when the natives of these islands and of this province saw all these cloths brought by the Chinese, they made less exertion to weave their own; but to avoid even that little work, all the natives began to clothe themselves with the said stuffs from China, discarding entirely their own, which they formerly wore. And so far has this gone at the present day, that all alike--without distinction of chief from timagua, or of timagua from slave--dress in these stuffs, making it impossible to judge of their rank from their dress. In this way a very large quantity of cloth is used--far more, as it seems to this witness, than the number stated in the question; and he is very certain that, if this tendency is not checked and corrected, the price of every one of these stuffs will in a few years be doubled; for now even the cheapest costs not less than a peso. For the natives of these islands do not accumulate wealth, but spend it all in food and clothing; and as none of the natives, however high his rank may be, needs more than two or three pieces of cloth in a year, in order to avoid the labor of weaving them, and so that they can spend their time in idleness, they prefer to buy them from the Sangleys, whether they are cheap or dear, paying without hesitation or heed whatever price is asked. The result is that everything is growing much dearer; for a piece of cloth which at first usually cost, on the average, three or four reals, as already stated, now costs ten reals, and, unless this rise is checked, will very soon cost twenty--and this for the reasons mentioned in the question. These matters should be considered, and some corrective be found, to avoid further difficulties. Thus did he reply to this question.