of the country, both Spaniards and natives, and especially to the
injury of his Majesty's service; this damage consisting in the
fact that while the Chinese formerly took away from these islands,
in exchange for their merchandise which they bring from their own
country, at the most from twenty thousand to thirty thousand pesos in
money, at the present day--as all the natives are extravagant enough
to buy their clothing, since they can dispense with making it--these
merchants take from the country all the money stated in the question,
and even more. This money they take out of his Majesty's dominions
to their own country, whence it never returns. And this might be
prevented if the natives were forbidden to buy the said clothing,
and would dress in the stuffs which they formerly were accustomed to
wear. This was his answer to this question.

In reply to the fourth question he stated that, before the coming of
the Spaniards, all the natives lived in their villages, applying
themselves to the sowing of their crops and the care of their
vineyards, [4] and to the pressing of wine; others planting cotton,
or raising poultry and swine, so that all were at work; moreover,
the chiefs were obeyed and respected, and the entire country well
provided for. But all this has disappeared since the coming of
the Spaniards. For since their coming all the Indians have given
themselves over to vice and vagabondage, wandering from village to
village to avoid work, and to indulge their vices--and this because,
seeing that the Spaniards have plenty of money, they are eager to serve
them. Finding that they have money, and food and clothing being given
to them, or procured by a day's labor, there is nothing to induce them
to return to their villages to cultivate the soil, and raise animals,
and work, as they formerly did. This state of affairs is already so
general in these islands that, when the attempt is made to compel a