The second cause is the decrease of the Indians and the increase of the Spaniards. The latter number thirty times more than formerly; where there were five hundred, there are now three or four thousand. Without exaggeration, there has been a decrease of the Indians of more than six millions. Although not all of them used Spanish commodities, they consumed many, and to so great an excess that it became advisable to prohibit this to them and order them to dress as did their ancestors. What is most to be regretted is the cessation of the service for the mines, the cultivation of the fields, the gross sum of the tributes, and the local commerce of many provinces. With fewer people and less wealth, there must be less consumption and smaller profits; and, if everything diminish, it is impossible that trade should not do the same. Number 70. Third cause for the decline of the commerce of the Indias The third cause has proceeded from the above two; for with the increase of the Spaniards, not only has the consumption not increased, but it has been and is much less. For, besides the fact that so many stuffs and figured goods are no longer worn out in the Indias as formerly, and he who clad himself in silk now contents himself with cloth, all bulky goods that are exported from Sevilla are manufactured there [in the Indias]--where with the number of people their necessity has increased, and with their necessity their skill. The consumers are fewer, and the officials more; there is little money, and those who seek it are many; and they seek it more eagerly as their courage is small, since their funds are already scant. The springs are drained dry, for there is less water, so that scarcely can they dampen what they formerly soaked. What few formerly shipped and many bought is now quite the contrary, and many send it and there are few who use it--as is evident by the wine which was and now is consumed by Nueva España. On that account it has been necessary that the former profits cease, and that the exportation and consumption of merchandise be restricted--not only on account of the goods which are manufactured there, but because of lack of consumers and lack of wealth, all of which are causal circumstances of the decline of the commerce. Number 71. Fourth cause for the decline of the commerce of the Indias