Note 22 — III. Trade and Commerce at the Time of Discovery and Conquest

“37. Accordingly the commerce of this city is extensive, rich, and unusually profitable; for it is carried on by all these Chinese and their ships, with those of all the islands above mentioned and of Tonquin, Cochinchina, Camboja, and Siam—four separate kingdoms, which lie opposite these islands on the continent of Great China—and of the gulfs and the numberless kingdoms of Eastern India, Persia, Bengala, and Ceilan, when there are no wars; and of the empire and kingdom of Xapon. The diversity of the peoples, therefore, who are seen in Manila and its environs is the greatest in the world; for these include men from all kingdoms and nations—España, Francia, Inglaterra, Italia, Flandes, Alemania, Dinamarca, Suecia, Polonia, Moscobia; people from all the Indias, both eastern and western; and Turks, Greeks, Moros, Persians, Tartars, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, and Asiatics. And hardly is there in the four quarters of the world a kingdom, province, or nation which has not representatives here, on account of the voyages that are made hither from all directions—east, west, north, and south.” Description of Filipinas Islands, Bartholomé de Letona, O. S. F.; La Puebla, Mexico, 1662.—Bl. and Rb., Vol. 36, p. 205.)