"The curtain on the seashore, which is exceedingly weak, and the fortress or citadel of Santiago, which is in ruins, could be repaired without so much cost as the new scheme presents; for we have already seen that ships cannot demolish the fort. If to that advantage be added the other of cutting a good ditch between the bay shore and the wall, with its covert-way and some outpost battery, in order to harass the said ships and hinder them from landing men, the town could be made equally impregnable on that side--especially if the fort be repaired and the corresponding bastions be constructed, in order to flank well the said seashore curtain, as seems necessary. In this manner the town could be well defended, with a great saving of expense, and without the incredible cost which would be incurred by carrying out the new plan of fortification which has been presented by the aforesaid Gomes--regarding which I set forth what common sense [la luz natural] dictated to me, in the expediente which was referred to me by this superior government, proposing the measures of economy which could be employed in any work whatever, with evident advantage to the royal exchequer; since with five or six thousand pesos, which will be the cost of forty thousand cavans of rice, six thousand workmen can be maintained for a whole year." [128] Forrest cites (pp. 307, 308) Valentyn to the effect that the Mindanaos refused in 1689 to allow the Dutch to build a fort on their land, although the latter offered a large sum of money for the privilege; and that the sultan told other Dutchmen in 1694 that the same request from the English had been likewise refused, although they offered even more money. Valentyn therefore thought that Dampier had been misled in his idea that the Mindanaos would make a treaty with the English and allow them to settle. [129] A phrase which recalls the well-known order by an American railroad magnate, "charge all that the traffic will bear."