Note 3 — XXVI
Reading edition
Chinese laborers limited.After the extermination of the Chinese, food and all Chinese other necessaries of life were difficult to obtain on account of the utter unreliability of the natives for work; but by 1605 the number of Chinese3 had again so increased that a decree was issued limiting them to six thousand, “these to be employed in the cultivation of the country;” while at the same time their rapid increase was taken advantage of by the captain-general for his own interest, as he exacted eight dollars from each Chinaman for permission to remain. In 1539 the Chinese population had risen to thirty thousand, according to other information, to forty thousand, when they revolted and were reduced to seven thousand. “The natives, who generally were so listless and indifferent, showed the utmost eagerness in assisting in the Another massacre.massacre of the Chinese, but more from hatred of this industrious people than from any feeling of friendship towards the Spaniards.”4