[_The findings of the fiscal_]


1. The fiscal says that he has read this letter. In regard to the
first point, concerning the ship which is to take the cloves, he
thinks that if affairs move with the security and ease which the
governor ascribes to them, the profit is a matter of considerable
moment, and that the governor should be ordered to undertake it. But,
inasmuch as many things enter into that question which pertain to the
Council of War, he requests that the matter be examined and discussed
by them before any resolution be taken. He also thinks that it will
be necessary that a copy of what concerns the Council of Portugal be
given that body, on account of the relations which the execution of
this measure have and may have with Goa, Malaca, and other points of
Eastern Yndia which fall within the demarcation of the said Council.

2. In regard to the second point, concerning the cultivation of the
land, he thinks that it ought to be accepted; for the amount of money
risked is little, and will be spent to establish a known gain. He only
stops to consider that, in order to carry out this measure and the
preceding one, the governor requests further increase in the situado
which is generally given from Mexico to those islands; and he does
not know whether the royal treasury of that city is at present able
to furnish that increase, because of the loss which his Majesty's
incomes have sustained from the inundation [5] and other troubles
which have come upon them, and the heavy burdens of the said treasury.

3. In regard to the third point, concerning what is owed to the fund
of the goods of deceased persons--a sum which exceeds forty thousand
pesos, because the governors have used it on various urgent occasions