to a simple depository for the articles required for arming the ships, with such officials as may be necessary for the custody of these.] Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productions The Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arable lands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture. The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices--which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit--and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced to cultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance--for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales,