First, that governors cannot trade and traffic with the pay given them by his Majesty. Second, that it is impossible to gain with his pay what he spent in the monstrance which was recently taken to his Majesty; what was lost in the ship wrecked at the Ladrones, and what was burned at Acapulco; and the money that he possessed in Mexico, with the large sums taken from him in Burgos. Nor can it be inferred that he was a good governor, because he acted as a good Christian after he left the islands. Nor does there follow any other inconvenience from making known the truth with good zeal than the fact that those who do not wish to know it are not pleased to hear it. While Estacio de Venegas was a citizen of Manila, he was liked by all; but, when he became the favorite, he was hated. It makes a great difference whether one is in the position or not, in order that he may govern himself according to his natural disposition. Don Sebastian was the one who instituted the vandalas (this is a name given by the natives, and signifies repartimiento), which have destroyed all the Indians. In order that one may understand what they are, I will explain them here in a few words. I assume, at the start, that it is a great piece of ignorance to attribute this repartimiento to Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, or to make him its author. When that gentleman assumed the government, the Indians must have been paying the vandalas for fourteen or more years; then how could he have originated them? For, in the term of that gentleman, Pampanga rose in insurrection in order not to pay that tax. Someone, or several people, new to the country, must have invented what was afterward declared with the mouth. It is true that that insurrection caused Don Sabiniano to give the Indians a great sum of pesos on account of what was owing to them, as I was told afterward; but that was to pay [their just due], which has nothing to do with saying that he invented that imposition. In fine, after the Indian has paid his tribute, helped in the cutting of wood, and rendered personal services (which are numerous), levies on the provinces are made each year. For example, Pampanga is assessed twenty-four thousand fanegas of rice at the price of two or two and one-half reals per fanega, as it is for his Majesty; and it is placed on credit until such time as God pleases. [169] That quota [of rice] is apportioned among the Indians of that province, and is collected with great rigor, and with many deceits which the officials [170] who exact it practice. [This levy] costs him to whom three fanegas are allotted at least one-half fanega more than he gives in his measure; and him who gives six, one fanega more, and so on. This is what is called vandala, and this is what they [i.e., the Spaniards] have paid for so many years--whence it follows that the Indians leave the islands, as I shall relate in another part, and that they refuse to sow their fields, as I myself have heard. It