remain in service here, instead of coming simply for their own interest and a right to space and cargo on the return voyage, in a country of so much worth, and so advantageous, but so hurtful if there is a lack of respectable people.
And in order that the vessels may sail in a proper state of preparation, and so that it may not be necessary to lighten them (as ordinarily happens, to the great loss of the poorest and most needy, as above said), it is especially important that the assessments and charges for lightening be divided proportionally among all the goods carried in the said vessels,[1] so that, the losses thus being general, they will strive to avoid incurring them; and if some goods are more valuable the losses may be shared among all, so that they may be less oppressive and hurtful to the poor.
[On the back is written: "I entreat your Majesty, for the service of our Lord, and your own, to be pleased to read this paper and letter throughout; for it is important for the reasons I have adduced, and for many others. Will your Majesty pardon my boldness and prolixity, which are entirely born of an earnest desire, and of the necessity of bringing forward some considerations and arguments which bear upon these matters. Hence I was unable to shorten it, as I wished and ought to have done."]
- ↑ A law dated 1556 provides that jettisons are to be reckoned as risks in common, and to be distributed among ship, freight-money, and cargo. See Recop. leyes Indias (ed. 1841), lib. ix, tit. xxxix, ley x.
