REPORT OF CONDITIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
BY ANTONIO DE MORGA
What is to be said of the condition of affairs in these Philipinas Islands is as follows:
Instruction and instructors of the Indians
1. The evil example set by the religious through their vices, indecent behavior, gambling, banquets, and festivities.
2. They trade and make a profit in their districts, from rice, wax, wine, gold, boats, fowls, cloth, and deerskins, to the great detriment of the Indians, as well as that of the entire country.
3. They deal openly in merchandise of the above-mentioned articles, as well as in those of China, in the trade with Nueva España.
4. They usurp the royal jurisdiction, hearing, according to the due forms of law, suits among the Indians. They have stocks, prisons, and place of detention, where they vex, whip, and otherwise afflict the Indians, compelling these to obey the laws they themselves make, rather than those of the king's magistrates.
5. They distress the Indians by demanding their services as rowers; and contributions of rice, wine,
