produce transmitted to the king’s stores being regulated by the greater or lesser abundance in the general market, and a considerable stock besides left remaining, from one year to another, and eventually spoiled, it is impossible to form any exact estimate of this branch.  If to these complicated matters we add the radical vices arising out of the infidelity of the heads of clans (cabezas de barangay), the difficulty of ascertaining the defects of the returns made out by them, the variations annually occurring in the number of those exempted either through age or other legal motives, and above all, the frequently inevitable tardiness with which the district magistrates send in their respective accounts, it will be readily acknowledged, that no department requires more zeal in its administration, and no one is more susceptible of all kinds of frauds, or attended with more difficulties.

[A conservative estimate.] In this state of uncertainty, with regard to this particular branch, I have guided myself by the last general return of tributes, made out in the accountant-general’s office, on the best and most recent data, and calculating indistinctly the whole value in money, I have deemed it proper afterwards to make a moderate deduction, on account of the differences above stated, and arising out of the collection of the tributes in kind, the expenses of conveyance, shipwrecks, averages, and other causes already enumerated.

[Fixed charges.] In conformity to this calculation, the total proceeds of this branch of revenue amount to $505,215 from which sum are deducted, in the primitive stages of the accounts, the amount of ecclesiastical stipends, the pay of the troops under the immediate orders of the chief district magistrates in their quality of war-captains, together with all other extraordinary expenses incurred in the provinces by orders of the government, the remainder being afterwards forwarded to the king’s treasury.  It ought, however, to be observed, that the above aggregated sum is more or less liable to deficiencies, according to the greater or lesser degree of punctuality on the part of the sub-collectors in making up accounts, and the solidity of their respective sureties; the failure of this kind experienced by the revenue being so frequent, that, according to the returns of the accountant-general, those which occurred between the years 1762 and 1809, were no less than $215,765 notwithstanding the great precautions at all times taken to prevent such considerable injuries, by every means compatible with the precarious tenure of property possessed by both principals and sureties in this country.  All the above circumstances being therefore taken into due consideration, and the ordinary and extraordinary discounts made from the total amount of tributes, the real sum remaining, or the net annual proceeds of the above branch, have usually not been rated at more than $190,000 and $200,000; a sum respectively extremely small, and which possibly