An act decreeing that there shall be no hucksters.
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-fifth of June, one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight, the president and auditors assembled in this royal Audiencia and Chancillería declared that, whereas in this said city of Manila all sorts of provisions have become very dear, on account of the disorder that has existed, and does exist, through having allowed many Sangleys and native Indians to go through this city and five leagues round about it, trading and bartering the said provisions—as, for instance, rice, wine, fowls, swine, cows, buffalo, game, eggs, geese, kids, cocoanuts, bananas, pullets, capons, fish, olive-oil, vinegar, and other provisions that are gathered and raised within the five leagues, or are bought from outside from the other provinces, islands, villages, and hamlets—and act as hucksters and retailers of these provisions: therefore, as it is advisable to provide the necessary remedy in this matter, in order that the said disorder be avoided, they ordered, and they did so order, that no person—Spaniard, Sangley, native, or of any other nation, quality, and rank whatever—shall trade or barter, now and henceforth, in the said provisions, or in any of them, in this said city or within the five leagues of its jurisdiction. No huckster shall buy or retail for his own trade or profit any of the above things, under any condition, under penalty of confiscation of everything thus found in his possession which he has bought or traded for—half to be applied to his Majesty's treasury, and the other half to go to the informer or constable who exposes him, or to the judge who gives sentence. Besides this, any person who shall be discovered not to have fulfilled this obligation shall, if he be a Span-
