and requested money, men, and ammunition from him. He despatched so late the ships, which had arrived on time, that although the viceroy made his utmost exertions he could not perform the friendly offices that Silva desired. He began to place the said galleons on the stocks, and, as they were so large, scarcely could he find the necessary timbers in the forest. Consequently, he had to have them sought under great difficulties, and by penetrating the thicker recesses of the woods. There having found them, it was necessary, in order to drag and carry them to the shipyard, to depopulate the surrounding villages of the Indians, and to drag the timbers with immense labor, hardship, and cost to the Indians. The masts of one galleon cost the Indians, as is affirmed by the religious of St. Francis, and as I heard declared by the alcalde-mayor of the province where they were cut--namely, La Laguna de Bay--the labor of six thousand Indians for three months to drag them over very rough mountains. They were paid by the villages at the rate of forty reals per month apiece, but were given nothing to eat, and therefore, the wretched Indian had to look for food. I shall not relate the cruel and inhuman treatment of the agents, and the many Indians who died in the forest. Had those galleons been of moderate size, and twice as many, they would not have cost one-half as much. Neither shall I tell your Majesty of the Indians who were hanged, those who deserted their wives and children and fled exhausted to the mountains, and those sold as slaves to pay the taxes imposed on them; the scandal to the gospel, and the so irreparable wrongs caused by that shipbuilding; and with how great inhumanity they passed sentence on and executed on the poor Indian not only what was necessary, but also what the lawless greed of agents took from him. In short, the hardships, injuries, and harm inflicted upon the Indians were vast, and there was no remedy for it. And hence those ships had so disastrous an end; for all were wrecked in a storm, and all those in them were drowned forty leguas from the city--divine permission, which is so offended at injuries done to the poor, exacting those lives in order to make reparation for such wrongs. Now more than one million [pesos] is due to the Indians and there is no hope of recompense. From that may be inferred how great should be the trustworthiness and Christian spirit of those persons who are to govern the Filipinas, since they have no one to restrain them for the injuries that they commit. Besides the said wrongs, those that I shall now relate were no less.