In the first section your Majesty commands that only the inhabitants of these islands and no others may ship the merchandise which is to be transported to Nueva Espana, and that the amount invested therein shall not exceed two hundred and fifty thousand pesos of eight reals, as was previously determined by other orders and decrees; while the returns from this shall not exceed, in principal and profit, five hundred thousand pesos. As for this section, it deserves serious consideration that after the expenses of sending out a cargo--including the fees to be paid here and in Nueva Espana, which amount to thirty per cent in all, with the addition which the new decree imposes--it is impossible to recover from five hundred thousand pesos the principal and the [present] profits on the investment of the said two hundred and fifty thousand pesos which are granted by this permission. To reach this amount, it is considered necessary that at least three hundred and fifty thousand pesos be spent on the cargo. In addition to the charges referred to, many expenses fall upon the inhabitants of this city for the maintenance and provision of their houses, and thus are consumed and expended a part of the profits made on the investments which they make here. If your Majesty were pleased to permit that the amount of these investments might be at least three hundred thousand pesos, wherewith all expenses might be paid, then the permission to bring back five hundred thousand might well stand. Until it is known what decision will be reached on this point, your Majesty's commands shall be fulfilled. Care will be taken that the investment shall not reach three hundred thousand, or pass far beyond two hundred and fifty thousand. It should also be considered that when his Majesty, the sovereign of the realm, who is now in heaven, granted this permission, it was at a time when these islands were beginning to be settled. Then there were no inhabitants who could invest so great a sum, while now there are many. They do not send as much as they might lade in the vessel; and if this condition of affairs continues to increase, there is no other means of support than this trade, nor does the country produce those means. If it shall diminish, the people who come to live in these islands will likewise become fewer in number. If it should increase somewhat beyond the new grant, so many more people will come to the colony here. This population, however great it is, is all very necessary, in view of the way in which this country consumes the whole of it, no matter how many come. The second section provides that four freight ships should be built, each one of two hundred toneladas; and that two of them shall make the voyage every year, very early, while the other two lie in port, ready for the following year. In this matter your Majesty's will shall be fulfilled, and the first ships that shall be built will be of this tonnage.