measures that should be taken.  The fertile and healthful province of Nueva Segovia is neglected, and its population is decreasing; this should be remedied by the colonial authorities.  Rios Coronel asks for the appointment of a competent and reliable shore-master to aid him in the equipment and despatch of the ships, and for more thorough inspection of what is done by royal officials in the islands; for the latter purpose he recommends a choice from several ecclesiastics whom he names.  The Moro pirates still ravage the islands, and the king should permit them to be enslaved by any one who may capture them.  The head-hunting Zambales and Negrillos of Luzon continually harass the peaceable Pampangos; and this can only be stopped by allowing the Pampangos to enslave these foes when captured.  The Filipino natives have been almost ruined by the exactions of forced labor imposed upon them by the Spaniards, especially in the building and navigation of vessels.  Rios Coronel says:  “As I have seen personally, and as all the inhabitants of that country know, the galleys of the Filipinas are their destruction.”  Rios Coronel describes the sort of vessel which should be used in the islands (one of which he has built at his own cost), and asks that such be furnished for the use of the colony.  The garrison at Manila is insufficient and demoralized; and the writer makes various recommendations for improving its status.  Many persons in the artillery service are incompetent; the writer demands a sort of civil-service test for those appointed to such places.  He also asks for a competent artillery-founder.  Better provisions should be made for the ecclesiastical government of the islands.  He asks that silver bullion from Japan may be legalized as money in the Philippines; and concludes with the request that the religious and the officials there be compelled to treat the Indians more kindly.  A letter by Rios Coronel, included in this document, is deferred to Vol.  XIX.

The Editors
August, 1904.

DOCUMENTS OF 1617-1618

Letter to Felipe iii.  Andres de Alcaraz; August 10, 1617.  Trade between Nueva Espana and the Far East. [Unsigned and undated; ca. 1617].  Events in the Filipinas Islands, 1617-1618. [Unsigned]; June, 1618.  Description of the Philippinas Islands. [Unsigned]; 1618.  Dutch factories and posts in the Orient. [Pedro de Heredia]; [1618?].  Memorial regarding Manila hospital. [Unsigned]; 1618.  Letter to Felipe iii.  Alonso Fajardo de Tenza; August 10, 1618.  Letters to Fajardo.  Felipe iii; December 19, 1618.  Filipinas menaced by Dutch.  Joan de Ribera, S.J.; December 20, 1618.

Sources:  The first, and last four, of these documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla; the remainder, from MSS. in the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid.

Translations:  The first and seventh are translated by James A. Robertson; the second, third, and fourth, by Herbert E. Bolton, Ethel Z. Rather, and Mattie A. Austin, of the University of Texas; the remainder, by Robert W. Haight.