Your Majesty gives commands in a letter dated the seventeenth of April, 1606, for information to be sent regarding the nature of the Confraternity of La Misericordia of this city, when and with what official license it was organized, its constitution, the amount of its income and the manner in which the income is distributed, the good results which have followed from the establishment of the Confraternity, and what are its constitutions [_i.e._, rules of organization]. Your Majesty also asks that a copy of these constitutions be sent, and information as to whether the present income of the Confraternity is sufficient for its purposes, and whether some grant may properly be made to it; and, if so, the amount and form of grant that would be suitable--so that your Majesty may be furnished with full information on the whole matter. Since, as has been stated, the departure of these vessels is so near at hand, a copy of the constitutions of the Confraternity is not sent, but a summary of them, which is enclosed. Your Majesty will see by this abstract that the works to which this Confraternity is dedicated are those of great charity and of service to God our Lord. To all such works it attends with great fervor, using the charitable gifts which are bestowed for this purpose. Although this Audiencia asked the brethren of the Confraternity to make a statement of the manner in which your Majesty might make them a grant, and as to the amount thereof, they were unable to discover any way in which the grant could be made; nor could this Audiencia perceive any, so much exhausted and indebted is the treasury of your Majesty. Accordingly, your Majesty may make such grant as shall please your Majesty, which will be well employed by them, and much to the service of God and your Majesty. [_In the margin_: "There is no answer. Let a copy of this section be given to the secretary, Senor Contreras, that he may know the deliberations and decree."] The activity of the Confraternity of La Misericordia in this city began fourteen years ago. At that time the governor associated with himself some twelve of the chief persons here, and they gave every week from their own households what was necessary for the support of widows, the poor, persons in secret distress, and others in pressing need. This they continued to do until they received the rules governing the Confraternity in the city of Lisboa, where it was first established. By these rules they have been governed ever since, the number of brethren being now a hundred and fifty.