The humble chaplain of your Lordship,
_Father Manuel Ribeyra_
_Copy of a letter written by Lucas de Vergara Gaviria, Governor
of Terrenate_
On the eleventh of the present month I despatched the ship "San Buena
Ventura," in which I informed your Lordship of occurrences here. That
same night the ship "Santa Margarita" reached this port from Manados
with the cargo brought by the fragata "San Miguel," which returned to
those islands. This ship brought the orders that its commander says
were given him by Francisco Rosales, master of the "San Miguel," in
which your Lordship orders a quantity of cloves to be prepared to send
to Eastern Yndia, in order that it may be exchanged for the supplies
necessary for the fleet; and that two thousand three hundred pieces of
Chincheo cotton are sent for it. I answer that I have them, and assert
that your Lordship ought to have that master punished; for he did not
give those orders to the accountant, Pedro de Almansa, when he left the
ship at Manados to come here. Had he done so, there would have been,
notwithstanding the season, some cloves which could have been bought,
although not all the quantity ordered, and although it could not have
been done when they arrived. At that time the selling had already
been finished, and the Spaniards who lived there had a great quantity
of goods in their houses on account of the scant supply of cloves;
for the harvest was not so great as was expected.
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