The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 44]

I700-I736]

CONDITION OF ISLANDS

I33

during which they serve, they suffer on this account
great injuries in the provinces near Manila. It
arouses pity in the hardest hearts to see and know by
experience that nearly all the headmen enter office
under compulsion from the alcalde-mayor, and, finding themselves perplexed to the utmost by the difficulties in rendering their accounts satisfactorilyeither by the duplicate names on the registration lists,
or the absences (which usually are many), or by the
deaths [of those registered] - on account of the great
poverty that is general in the villages these deficiencies fall back on the headmen, who are compelled to
pay them or be imprisoned. This measure of imprisonment is carried out with so great rigor that
many headmen are in prison, without any hope that
they will be able to pay; and there are even cases in
which the headmen have been imprisoned for many
years for their indebtedness to the tributes in their
charge, and, dying in prison, their burial was delayed
for several days in order that their relatives might
be able to find security for the dead man's tribute and
debt. From this your Lordship can infer the excessive severity with which the officials proceed in
the collections of the royal tributes; but in this no
kind of severity can be proper, nor can it be decreed
by the royal and liberal purpose of his Majesty.
The works and preparations for the equipment
[of ships] which are made on his Majesty's account
often make necessary various repartimientos and
bandalas for the supplies of oil and rice, and other
products, which the provinces furnish; and it is the
continual and well-founded complaint from all of
them that the amount paid for the said products is
not according to their just price and value, but much