likewise, that they cannot be compared with those of the south. The principal commerce that the Portuguese have to live upon, is that from China and other southern districts, because the other traffic is contracted for by his Majesty's treasury and belongs to it. The better and more valuable trade through the southern districts belongs to the crown.
From all this it may be inferred that if we continue this commerce with China and other southern regions by way of the western Yndias, the income from the customs duties, on which Yndia is supported, will necessarily be lost. Nor will there be money or forces with which many large fleets may be organized by his Majesty for its preservation and defense, or with which to pay the soldiery stationed there, or to bear all the other state expenses incurred by the public government, or those incurred by his Majesty for the ecclesiastical estate in those places the conquest of which was granted to him by the apostolic bulls. The rest of these reasons which concern his Majesty's service, the profit and loss of his treasury, and what is expedient for common good of the inhabitants of that state, should be considered in this case with the greatest care. For the inhabitants of Yndia have no other resources to live upon except trade and commerce; and of these the principal is the trade with China and other places to which reference has been made. On this account, they feel very strongly the seizure of this commerce by the Castilians, saying that they and their fathers and forefathers conquered it for the royal crown with their blood and lives. There are and were on this subject practices and complaints of base character, principally in the city of Goa, the capital of that state.
