Note 8 — PART II
Reading edition
Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds. ↑