of casting goods overboard, which is so injurious to this community. And especially is this injurious to its poor, who suffer all the greatest hardships and losses, as they cannot send their goods as can others who are more powerful and perhaps less deserving. The latter load their goods in a part of the ship which is safe from these risks; and it usually happens that the rich profit from the good sale that they are wont to have of the goods they send, while the poor are losers, because their goods are not loaded or are cast overboard. If the captain is not a man of much conscience, and only desires his own enrichment, and not the welfare of the country, and again, does not have to live here, but can return; and if he should commit any wrongs for any cause, and for advantage to his own goods, it would be in vain to go to Nueva España to beg satisfaction. If he were an inhabitant of this country, he would fear to do wrong, in that he might not pay the penalty afterward. Moreover, as men who do not live in this community have to be given an opportunity of gain if they are to accept these offices, it is better for the inhabitants of this country to make the profit, for they will take the offices very willingly without any salary, for the honor of the office and the advantage to their goods—both in having a place to load them, and in making a profit from them in Nueva España. Thus will be saved some salaries for captain, assistants, and other officers; and to give them salaries is more of a means of profit to those who fill the posts than an advantage or necessity, since we have citizens, as has been said, who will accept them without salaries. For these positions to be given in such a way that respectable people may come to this country, it is necessary that these officials
