Also whether all these islands, or most of them, are well adapted
to the cultivation of cotton, so that, if the natives are set to
the task, enough will be produced to supply all the islands with,
provisions and clothing; and whether cloth will be made, as good as,
or better than, that which comes from China, and a surplus be left
for shipment to Nueva España in exchange for necessaries, and a
larger surplus of cotton to be used in exchange for Chinese wares;
and whether as much money will be taken out of the country as is now
taken away. Let the witnesses tell what they know on these subjects;
and whether the facts above stated are notorious or well-known,
and matters of public discussion and report.

In the village of Bacolor, province of Panpanga, of the Philipinas
Islands, on the thirteenth day of the month of May, in the year
one thousand five hundred and ninety-one, Captain Juan de Alcega,
alcalde-mayor of the said province for our lord the king, declared
that, inasmuch as the cabildo, magistracy, and government of the city
of Manila, among other ordinances which they enacted for the welfare
and government of that city, and for the benefit of the state, issued
one forbidding the natives of these islands to dress in silks or
stuffs from China, for the reasons and difficulties mentioned in the
said ordinance; and because the enforcement and observance thereof is
very just and expedient for these islands, Gomez Perez Dasmarinas,
knight of the habit of Santiago, governor and captain-general of
the islands for our lord the king, in his royal name approved and
confirmed the same. But as Don Frai Domingo de Salazar, bishop of
these said islands, in the name of the natives as their protector,
has protested against the said ordinance on the ground of its being
injurious to the natives, the captain-general, in behalf of the said