goes from Macao each year, all that they should carry would still easily be consumed in the lands which are more than a hundred leguas distant from those of Quanto. For from the island where Nangacaqui is, until the ship reaches Quanto, there are more than two hundred and twenty leguas of very thickly settled mainland. Granting the prohibition which your Majesty has made that no merchandise beyond a certain stated amount should go from the Philipinas to Nueva Spana, on account of the great difficulties which result otherwise, it seems well worthy of consideration that goods bought from China in those islands of your Majesty should be diverted to Japon, from which so much silver is and may be obtained for the benefit of your vassals and the increase of their wealth and of your Majesty's exchequer--at least making unnecessary in the Philipinas that which is and may be brought from the lands of Piru and Nueva Spana, with benefit to both those colonies and the islands. For the ships which go from the Philipinas to Nueva Spana it is of the greatest importance to have a safe harbor in Japon, in which to repair and supply themselves with the necessities for so long and dangerous a voyage--because, for not having had it hitherto, great losses have been suffered; and some, such as that of the galleon "San Phelipe," amounted to more than a million. It is more fitting for this purpose and for others that our ships should go to Japon than that theirs should come to the Philipinas, because when they come to those islands they buy from the Chinese, who come there to sell, the merchandise which the Castilians would have bought, enhancing the prices of it, and giving the Chinese for it the silver which they would have given to the subjects of your Majesty; nor is there any remedy therefor, although it has been sought.