In the letter of the third of July of this year, which went with the ship which left here for Nueva Hespana, I wrote to your Majesty that three mandarins had come to this city from the kingdom of China, under pretense that they were coming to investigate a lie which a Sangley who had been here had told to their king--saying that in Cavite there was a great quantity of gold; and that with that and the silver which could be obtained from this kingdom every year his vassals might be relieved from tribute. The care which was exercised in this matter, and what occurred to me in regard to it, I have written to your Majesty in the said letter. I told you how I was preparing, being in uncertainty, what appeared to me necessary, so that if anything should happen I should not be caught unprepared; accordingly, as the houses of the Parian were very near to the wall, I had several of them demolished so that this space might be free. I wrote to the alcaldes-mayor and magistrates of this district, and they sent me a memorial concerning the natives in the jurisdiction of each one, what weapons they possessed, and in how far they might be trusted. I had them visit the Sangleys, and see what arms and provisions they had, particularly the stone-workers, lime-burners, sawyers, fishermen, and gardeners, as they were people who reside in the country, and for this reason it will be right to exercise more caution in living with them; and likewise in order to have them make arrows, bows, pikes, baqueruelos, and other articles for the royal warehouses, as it is from these that all of the military supplies are provided. I likewise ordered that they should collect, bring together, and transport as many provisions as possible. I was not careless in regard to the walls, but rather with much diligence repaired what was necessary; and I continued the building of the fort which I wrote your Majesty was being made on the point, as it was so necessary a defense, and the supplies and other articles had to be gathered and guarded there. To this end I had brought a great number of Sangleys for the works, and had contracted with them to construct a ditch in the part where their Parian and alcayceria stand, and along the whole front from the river to the sea; and, as the plan shows, this may be flooded with water at high tide, which enters through the river. As all the Sangleys had knowledge of this, and there were among them restless and vagabond people who had nothing to lose, and who on account of their crimes, evil life, and debts could not go back to China without being punished there for these things with much severity, they took this as a pretext to win over the merchants and quiet people, persuading them that the precautions and measures which I was taking were in order to kill them; and, since the Sangleys were so many and we so few, it would be well to be beforehand with us and kill us, taking our lands. When this came to my knowledge I