_Item_: The encomiendas which your Majesty used to grant were formerly for three lives; and a short time ago your Majesty ordered by a royal decree that they should be, and it should be so understood, for two lives. This is a great difficulty in the preservation of that community, and especially so as your Majesty has granted the favor to Nueva Espana of giving them for four lives; and as the Filipinas have been, and continue to be thus far, the colony of Nueva Espana, and almost governed by the royal Audiencia thereof, it is a great hardship that they should enjoy no more than two lives. In the first place, because many are discouraged from serving your Majesty, and even from remaining in that country, when they learn that their sons and grandsons must be reduced to the greatest poverty, the said encomienda expiring with the holder's first son or his wife, as at present happens; in the second place, because four lives are shorter in the Filipinas than two in Nueva Espana. The reason for this is the many occasions for war and naval expeditions, wherein men are easily killed or drowned, leaving their successors in the hospital--as is at present the case with many, which makes one's heart ache with pity. In answer to the tacit objection which might be brought up that it is better to have the encomiendas vacated quickly, so that others may be rewarded with them, and with this hope will go to serve there, I would say that the important matter is to make a compromise--namely that your Majesty should concede the said encomiendas not for four lives, as in Nueva Espana, nor for two as at present, but for three, as formerly, which is a very necessary measure for the relief of some, and the encouragement of others to the service of your Majesty. Letter from Master-of-camp Lucas de Vergara, written to Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, dean of Manila, which is the last that came from Maluco in the past year.