This will be more apparent with the conditions and the changes which the commerce of Filipinas and that of España in the Indias have sustained and suffered. That of España has decreased so much from its usual status that it appears to be less than the half of its former amount. Although the fault is attributed to the Filipinas, that is because the matter is not probed below the surface, and causes are not sought at their sources. The physician who understands only the effect of a dangerous illness, namely, the death of the patient, generally attributes the sickness to uncertain causes and sometimes so remote that they have no connection with the case in question; and, since he prescribes his remedies for such causes, the true, proximate, and essential causes which are working out of sight without any check, end, if not by killing the patient, by placing him in evident risk. All see and recognize that the commerce of the Indias is in a feeble condition, that the merchants are losing, that the exporters do not obtain their capital [from what they ship], and that the ships which go are smaller, and return with poorer cargoes. Although this loss is so well known, there are some who ascribe the cause of so great an effect to the Filipinas, and not to the misapprehension of España--which is persuaded that the wealth of the Indias must be inexhaustible, and that the merchants can still gain on their investments the same amounts as fifty years ago, while the causal means of it all have been lacking, which have been noticed by few, and ignored by many. Number 68. First reason for the decline of the commerce of the Indias First, the abundance of gold and silver. So great was the abundance of these metals in the Indias, that one could say the same as of Jerusalem in the time of Solomon, that they were regarded as the stones of the street. Accordingly, articles were paid for at so exorbitant prices, as is apparent from the histories of their conquests. That region has failed, for the ores that yielded three hundred pesos per quintal by smelting, now yield eight or six by quicksilver, which costs more than smelting; and [such ores] are worked as good ones. Potosi, which is the heart of the Indias, is threatening to give out; for it alone yielded for forty years an amount that it cannot now yield, although aided by the opening of many mines which sustain its reputation. The mines of Nueva Reino [_i.e._, New Granada] and of Nueva España have lost a part of what they had. The cost of mining is greater, the mines are poorer, and, consequently, the gains less, and less the amount obtained. Therefore, since this was the first cause of the greatness of the Indias, it is not remarkable that with its deficiency their commerce has declined. Number 69. Second cause for the decline of the commerce of the Indias