he insists on the necessity of a competent and qualified person as governor of the islands, enlarging upon the great power and authority possessed by that official, and the consequent dependence of all classes upon his arbitrary will or prejudices.  Los Rios cites various instances which prove his position, and expressly states his good opinion of the present governor, Fajardo.  He would prefer to see the Audiencia abolished.  A special inspector is needed, with great experience and ability, and authority to regulate affairs and redress all grievances in the islands.  The immigration of Chinese and Japanese into the colony should be restricted; and the Mindanao pirates should be reduced to submission.  The opening already made for commerce and friendly relations with the king of Macassar, and for preaching the gospel there, should be at once improved, and Jesuits should be sent there as missionaries.  More care should be exercised to despatch with promptness the ships to Nueva Espana.  More attention should be given to the garrisons, especially those in the Moluccas, to keep the men from discontent; and measures should be taken to encourage and aid new colonists to settle in the Philippines.  The late restrictions on the possession and enjoyment of encomiendas should be removed.  A letter from Lucas de Vergara, commandant in Maluco, is here inserted.  He recounts the losses of the Dutch in their late attack on Manila (1617), and their schemes for driving out the Spaniards from the Moluccas; also his own difficulties in procuring food, fortifying the posts under his care, and keeping up his troops who are being decimated by sickness and death.  He urges that the fleet at Manila proceed at once to his succor, and thus prevent the Dutch from securing this year’s rich clove-harvest.

In the third part of the Memorial, Los Rios gives a brief description of the Philippines and the Moluccas, with interesting but somewhat desultory information of their peoples and natural products, of the Dutch factories, and of the produce and value of the clove trade.  He describes the custom of head-hunting among the Zambales, and advocates their reduction to slavery as the only means of rendering the friendly natives safe from their attacks.  The numbers of encomiendas and their tributarios, and of monasteries and religious, in the islands, are stated, with the size and extent of Manila.  All the natives are now converted, except some tribes in Central Luzon.  Los Rios describes the Malucas Islands and others in their vicinity, and enumerates the Dutch and Spanish forts therein; and proceeds to state the extent and profits of the spice trade.  He closes his memoir with an itemized statement of the expenses incurred by the Spanish crown in maintaining the forts at Tidore and Ternate.  These amount yearly to nearly two hundred and twenty thousand pesos.