I thought it advisable to save the pay of six hundred pesos per year, which a captain receives for serving [as such] in the company that he raised in Mexico; and although my officers are careful to station and retire the guards, and serve as those of the master-of-camp, I see to it that they do it well, and that they are not derelict in their duty. I have given the same orders to the governor and sargento-mayor of the forts of Terrenate, who also have command of two companies; the governor and sargento-mayor of the island of Hermosa, of two other companies; the warden of Camboaga [_i.e._, Zamboanga], of another; and the alcaldes-mayor of Oton, Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Caraga, who have a company together, and command their men in the forts in the above-named islands. Also in this army, from now on, a captain will have command of another company, and will receive the pay of the chief guard of the Parian, which will be paid from the communal fund of the Chinese, and his pay will be saved to the treasury of your Majesty. The captains who will serve without pay from your Majesty's royal treasury will thus amount to eleven; and hence a great sum of money will be saved by the end of the year, as well as the [expense for] the post of sargento-mayor of this army, which is held by my nephew, Don Pedro Hurtado de Corcuera--who serves without pay, together with a company of thirty horsemen, whom I thought to be very expedient for your Majesty's service, for the following reasons. First, just as I caused and ordered the raising of four companies among the citizens of this city, in the infantry, in order that they might exercise themselves in the squadrons, and be ready for any emergencies that may arise, I also had two companies of fifty horse apiece raised--one made up of the nobility of the city, who can keep horses, and the other of the overseers of the royal stockyards--all armed with spears. In order that the above horsemen might have someone to instruct and exercise them, this company of thirty horsemen was enlisted. The actual officers in it are captain, alferez, and lieutenant. It would be very advisable to raise the number to fifty, if that would be agreeable to your Majesty; for besides being necessary for the guard of the coast, and to keep these nations--the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians--in check, they patrol the city nightly, and shut and open the city gates, on horseback. For that reason the poor infantrymen are excused from patrol duty, and from locking the gates, and thus from going about almost every night knee-deep in water, from which many diseases and deaths ensued; that has been avoided by this means. Experience has demonstrated, also, how useful and profitable these cavalrymen may be when stationed as a troop among the artillery on a campaign, for skirmishing--for which they are greatly esteemed in the Flandes army; and, at the very least, the sight of them strikes terror in those present, and the noise made by them in those absent.