him to endeavor to make his corresponding payments in some equivalent affording him a profit; at the same time the provincial magistrate, speculating on a larger scale, on the produce arising out of his jurisdiction, seeks to obtain from the government a profitable commutation in kind for that which the original contributor would have preferred paying in money.  In order the better to attain his purpose, he asserts, as a pretext, the impossibility of collecting in the tribute under another form, alleging, moreover, the relief the native derives from this mode, whereas, if only duly examined, such a pretence is founded on the avarice, rather than the humanity of the magistrate.

Leaving to one side the defects attributable to the present mode of collection, and considering the tribute as it is in itself, the attentive observer must confess, that in no part of our Indies is this more moderate; and, indeed, it is evident that the laws generally relating to the natives of these Islands seem to distinguish them with a decided predilection above those of the various sections of America.

[Items in tribute.] The tribute in its origin was only eight reals per family; but the necessity of providing for the increased expenses of the government gave rise to this rate being afterwards raised to ten.  The Sangley mestizos pay double tribute, and the Sangleys contribute at the rate of $6 per head.  Besides this, all pay a yearly sum, applicable to the funds belonging to the community, and the above two casts pay three reals more, as a church rate, and under the name of the Sanctuary, the whole being in the following form: 

Entire Native Tribute Tribute of Mestizos Sangleys

8 Reals, original tribute 16 Reals. $6 each. 1 1/2 Reals for expenses of troops 3 1/2 Reals to tithes 1 10 Reals, amount of tribute 20 Reals. $6.75 1 Real, community funds 1 3 Reals, sanctuary rate 3 14 Reals, total annual disbursement. 24 Reals. $6.75

The males commence paying tribute at twenty years of age and the females at twenty-five, if before they have not entered the matrimonial state, and in both the obligation ceases at the age of sixty.  The chiefs of clans, or cabezas de barangay and their eldest sons, or in default of children, the person adopted in their stead, that is, an entire tribute and a half, are exempt from this tax, as a remuneration for the trouble and responsibility they may have in collecting in the forty or fifty tributes, of which their respective clans are composed.  Besides these there are various other classes of exempted persons, such as the soldiers who have served a certain number of years, those who have distinguished themselves in any particular manner in the improvement of industry or agriculture, and others who have received special certificates, on just and equitable grounds.  In summing up the total number of exempted persons, on an average in the whole of the provinces, they will be found in the proportion of fifty to every thousand entire tributes.