The King: To my governor and captain-general of the Philippinas Islands, and the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia thereof. I have understood that the Chinese Indians who trade in that country bring thither each year eight hundred thousand pesos' worth of merchandise, and often more than a million; and that in the ten days which they spend in that country they make more than a hundred per cent, and that in the last year, ninety-eight, it was said that they secured two hundred per cent. Since in their own country they pay increased duties, and since so great profit comes to them from the merchandise which they bring to those islands, while they pay me no more than three per cent in duties, which is the amount formerly imposed by Governor Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, it would be just that they should pay the said duties proportionately to the profits; and accordingly these might be increased by at least another three per cent. As I wish to be informed more minutely concerning what is expedient in this matter, and whether an increase of the said duties would or could result in any inconvenience whatsoever, and for what reason; and, in case that there is no objection, to what extent the duty can be increased--I command you to send a report thereof, with your opinion. Done at Denia, on the sixteenth of August, of the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine. _I The King_ Countersigned by _Juan de Ybarra_. Signed by the Council. I [the King:] to the archbishop of Manila. [_Endorsed:_ "To the governor and Audiencia of the Philippinas; let them give information concerning the report that the duties can be raised on the merchandise from China."] Documents of 1600 The pacification of Mindanao. [Unsigned and undated; 1600?] Oliver van Noordt's attack on Luzón. Francisco Tello, and others; October-December. _Source_: These documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla. _Translations_: The first document is translated by Robert W. Haight; in the second, the commission to Morga is translated by James A. Robertson; the instructions to him and to Alcega, by Jose M. and Clara M. Asensio; the account of the battle, by Arthur B. Myrick, of Harvard University, and James A. Robertson. The Pacification of Mindanao _Concerning the pacification of the island of Mindanao; in the year 1600_