[_Endorsed_: "Manila. To his Majesty; Don Pedro de Acuña, the
[twenty-sixth] of October. Let it be seen if this is a duplicate,
and if the original has been filed." "Filed and registered
within. Let attention be paid to the part on which a consultation
is directed." "Two sections have already been epitomized, and were
sent on to the council of war in Valladolid, on the twenty-eighth of
June, 1605."]



PRINCIPAL POINTS IN REGARD TO THE TRADE OF THE FILIPINAS


First Point

_The quantity of merchandise which may be traded with; and that which,
contrary to the prohibition, is brought from the Western Indias to
the Filipinas._

By decrees of his Majesty, of January 11, 93, and of July 9 and 5, 95,
the trade of the Western Indias with China and the Filipinas Islands
is prohibited. It is only permitted therein that the citizens of the
Filipinas may trade with Nueva España; and that two ships, each of no
more than three hundred toneladas, shall sail from Nueva España every
year, in which may be sent 250,000 pesos of Tepuzque [6] in coin,
and which may carry back the proceeds thereof in merchandise, which,
under fixed penalties, shall not exceed another 250,000 pesos--that
is, in all, 500,000 pesos.