be avoided. Fajardo recounts his difficulties with the viceroy of
Nueva España over the appointments to offices in the trading fleet,
and with the pretensions of certain Philippine residents who claim
rewards and appointments without meriting these. He complains that
the troops just arrived from Nueva España are mostly "boys, mestizos,
and mulattoes, with some Indians;" the viceroy is directed to send
better and more effective soldiers to Filipinas hereafter. Fajardo
is uncertain how far he can depend on aid from the viceroy; and he
proposes that those troops and supplies be sent to him from Spain by
way of Panama, enumerating the advantages and economy of that plan
over the present one. He thanks the king for sending aid to Filipinas
by the India route, and asks that such aid be regularly provided
for some years to come; while he states in general terms what he has
accomplished during the last two years with the limited public funds
of the islands. He has equalized the pay of the soldiers at Manila
and Ternate, and has sent large reënforcements and supplies to the
latter region. Fajardo complains of the opposition and intrigues of the
religious. He desires the royal appointment of a governor for Ternate,
and the adjustment of certain difficulties connected therewith. He
is informed that this appointment has been already conferred on Pedro
de Heredia; and is advised not to allow the religious to interfere in
purely secular matters, especially in those which concern the conduct
of government officials, and to warn the religious orders to refrain
from meddling with these matters. Dutch pirates infest the China Sea,
plundering the Chinese trading ships when they can; but Fajardo is
able to save many of these by warning them beforehand of the danger,
and he has been able to keep them in awe of his own forces. He has
begun to have ships built in Japan for the Philippines, which can be
done there more conveniently and cheaply; the Council would like to
provide thus ships for the South American colonies.