ACAPULCO AND THE MANILA GALLEON
1 he chose the best
Francisco. Legaspi's expedition for the occupation of the Phil-
ippines sailed from Navidad, but Acapulco soon took the place of
the more northerly port. In 1572 Viceroy Enriquez wrote to
Philip II: "Acapulco is coming to be the first port for the trade
with the Philippines, because of its nearness to the City of Mex-
ico." 2 He further declared it superior to either Navidad, Gua-
tulco, or Tehuantepec. Frequent proposals were made during the
history of the galleon trade to change the terminal from Acapulco,
for which there were claimed greater accessibility to Mexico, a
superior climate, or other advantages. The most serious schemes
of this sort were for the transfer to San Blas or to Val de Ban-
deras on the Guadalajara coast. 3 As the northwest provinces of
the viceroyalty became more thickly settled in the eighteenth cen-
tury, the movement to have the galleons put in at a northern har-
bor gained strength. Particularly was this so after the establish-
ment of the Departamento of San Bias, when the latter port had
become increasingly important, because of its position as the start-
ing-point for the new activities along the coast of California and
farther to the northward. In his instructions to his successor,
Viceroy Revillagigedo contended for the retention of the terminal
at Acapulco, 4 but Branciforte favored San Bias, while he pro-
posed that the fair be held at Tepic. 5 However, by that time the
Philippine commerce was notoriously on the decline, and Acapulco
was permitted to hold the position which she had occupied for
over two centuries by right of official inertia and her incompara-
ble haven.
The harbor is nearly surrounded by precipitous mountains,
whose abrupt descent on their southern side leaves but a small
shelf of land for habitation, and also accounts for its unusual
depth, which is so great that the galleon was sometimes made fast
to a tree on the shore, instead of anchoring out in the bay.
6 The
entrance, which opens toward the southwest, is broken by the Isla
de la Roqueta into two mouths of unequal width. The easterly
pass, known as the Boca.
Grande,
has a breadth of about a mile
and a half, while the other, or Boca
Chica,
is only about 260 yards
wide. Though the breadth of the former admits seas and winds
that would interfere with the security of vessels lying opposite
this mouth, ships find entire safety when moored in front of the
town in the sheltered inner bay, which projects to the northwest
from the main body of the harbor. Thus, the port has the ad-
vantage of being both safe and deep.
Domingo Fernández de Navarete, a much-travelled friar, called
it "the best and safest harbor in the world, as was duly asserted
by those who have seen many others."
7 Lord Anson considered it
"the securest and finest in all the northern parts of the Pacific
Ocean."
8 Malaspina, one of the most skilled of Spanish naviga-
tors of the latter eighteenth century, a scientific seaman of the
type of Cook and Laperouse, favored the further development of
Acapulco as the Spanish naval base for the Northern Pacific and
as a great commercial port.
9 For these purposes he held it much
superior to San Blas. "No one can deny," he said, "that Aca-
pulco has great advantages which are found together in very few
ports of the globe."
10
Humboldt, who saw the place in 1803, thus describes the har-
bor, which he called "the finest of all those on the coast of the
great ocean,"
11 and again, "one of the finest ports in the known
world";
12 "The port of Acapulco forms an immense basin cut in
granite rocks. ... I have seen few situations in either hem-
isphere of a more savage aspect, I would say at the same time more
dismal and more romantic. The masses of rocks bear in their form
a strong resemblance to the dentilated crest of Montserrat in Cata-
lonia. . . . This rocky coast is so steep that a vessel of the
line may almost touch it without running the smallest danger,
because there is every where from 10 to 12 fathoms water."
13
Gabriel Lafond de Lurcy said of the port and its surroundings:
"This bay forms the finest and safest port along the entire
Mexican coast. It is immense, and extends over three leagues in-
land, with a width of about one league. The anchorage is every-
where excellent, and a ship is everywhere sheltered from all the
winds, for it is surrounded in all directions by mountains, which
close it almost hermetically, and even shut out the view of the
sea. The whole aspect is sombre and wild, and inspires a pro-
found melancholy. The shore that rims the bay offers the very
image of chaos."
14 Another French navigator of the same period,
Abel du Petit-Thouars, writes of the location of Acapulco:
"Some lofty mountains serve it as ramparts to west and north. To
the south it is protected from the sea by a wooded peninsula of
moderate height, which shelters the anchorage. Towards the east
the view extends over the harbor and the peninsula which sepa-
rates it from Puerto Marqués and the open sea.
15
Acapulco itself was of no importance except as the terminal of
the Asiatic galleon line and of a southerly coastwise trade of les-
ser consequence. "As for the City of Acapulco,"
says Gemelli
Careri, "I think it might more properly be call'd a poor Village
of Fishermen, than the chief Mart of the South Sea, and Port for
the Voyage to China;
so mean and wretched are the Houses be-
ing made of nothing but Wood, Mud and Straw."
16 By 1598
there were 250 houses of various kinds in the town,
17 the majority
of which could scarcely have been more than huts or cabins.
Among the public or religious buildings were the Contaduría,
or
headquarters of the treasury officials, a "cathedral," or parish
church, a Franciscan convent, and the Hospital of San Juan de
Dios. However, none of these were imposing edifices, though the
religious establishments were bountifully supported by the piety
of those who had survived the galleon voyage or the inclemencies
and risks of the journey from Mexico. To the northeast of the
town was situated the Castle of San Diego, which protected the
town and the anchorage ground of the galleons from the incur-
sions of foreigners. During most of its history there were
mounted on its bastions some forty or more brass cannon of large
bore.
18 But, whatever its actual strength, it had almost as for-
bidding a reputation among the enemies of Spain as did the
formidable works of Cartagena and San Juan Ulua, and it at
least fulfilled its function more effectually than did either of those
great fortresses.
The ordinary population of Acapulco consisted of Indians and
Orientals, and of mestizos
and mulattoes of every possible degree
of miscegenation. This nondescript lot were generically classed
outside of Acapulco as "Chinos."
19 Few Spaniards remained in
the town beyond the term of the feria,
at which time the perma-
nent population of the place was greatly increased by the influx
of thousands from Mexico, Peru, and the Philippines.
20
The natural environment of the place was not favorable to the
growth of a flourishing population of whites. Not only was the
country to the rear of the town so sterile and waterless that pro-
visions had to be brought from a distance, but the climate was
most noxious to any but the mongrel inhabitants who had become
inured to its intemperate heat and immune to its "Distempers."
21
The extreme heat of the tierra
caliente
was little mitigated by the
circumstances which sometimes favorably modified the weather in
other places in the same climatic zone, but it was aggravated by
peculiar local conditions. Thus, the rock walls behind the town
not only reflected the heat into the basin, until the air was stifling,
but this very enclosure kept out the sea-breezes and prevented the
circulation of air within the harbor. However, in the latter part
of the eighteenth century Don Josef Barreiro, the castellan of the
port, had a gap cut through the hill which intervenes between the
town and the sea in order to admit the cooling breezes from off
the ocean. Humboldt declares that he experienced the salutary
effects of this "bold undertaking."
22 "Acapulco is one of the most
unhealthy places of the New Continent," he said. "The unfor-
tunate inhabitants . . . breathe a burning air, full of in-
sects, and vitiated by putrid emanations. For a great part of the
year they perceive the sun only through a bed of vapours of an
olive hue. . . . The heat must be still more oppressive, the
air more stagnant, and the existence of man more painful at Aca-
pulco, than at Vera Cruz."
23 Simón de Anda said that Vera
Cruz, which was never famed for salubrity, was a paradise in com-
parison with the "abbreviated inferno" of Acapulco, with its "heat
and its venemous serpents, and the constant trembling of the
earth.
24 He calls it the "sepulcher of Mexicans and Filipinos."'
"All the treasures of this world," he declared, "could not compen-
sate for the necessity of living there or of traveling the road be-
tween Acapulco and Mexico." In 1598 the royal treasury officials
wrote to the moribund old King of the hardships of existence in
a "hot and sickly land, where one lives with great risk to his
health,"
25 and eight years later Juan Rodríguez de Salamanca
petitioned to be "freed from the captivity" of serving as royal
factor in this unwholesome port.
26
Lafond de Lurcy writes of Acapulco, "this city so famed in
the annals of commerce": "It is quite probable that this place,
when it was the entrepot of the treasures of Mexico and of the
Indies, saw as much wealth pass through it as did Genoa or Venice.
However, not the least vestige of all this remains. Now one sees
only the most paltry village. ... In the time of its greatest
prosperity it counted 4000 inhabitants, and this figure reached
12000 at the season of the arrival of the galleons.
"The climate is frightful: a sky of bronze, a stifling heat, and
no motion of the air. There is nothing to compensate for this
desolate picture. The land, except for some trees about the houses,
is stricken with sterility. There are neither streams, nor grass,
nor flowers, nor shade (ni
ruisseaux,
ni
gazons,
ni
fleus,
ni
om
-
brages);
but everywhere extraordinary landscapes, a surface that
has been upheaved, and burned-up valleys that betray an earth
tormented by subterranean fires."
27
When Duflot de Mofras visited Acapulco in 1840 he said: "The
town of Acapulco is considerably fallen from her ancient splen-
dor."
28 But Acapulco was never "splendid," even during the hey-
day of her fairs. Her habitual squalidness was then only the better
set off by the contrast of the motley and picturesque concourse that
gathered to the feria
and of the rich merchandise piled high in her
warehouses. When all this heterogeneous crowd went northward
into the interior with its laden caravans of mules, or westward by
the galleon to the Philippines, Acapulco relapsed into her wonted
insignificance.
The administrative machinery of the port of Aeapulco can be
classified under three general categories: (1) the castellan, (2)
the oficiales
reales,
and (3) the various subordinate officials. The
superior authority of the port was known as the castellano,
or
castellan. In early times his position was that of alcalde
mayor,
and as such his functions were predominantly judicial and ad-
ministrative.
29 Though he continued in the exercise of these
duties,
30 with the construction of the Castle of San Diego his
office also assumed a military character, which was comprehended
within the title of castellan, or warden, of that fortress, and by
that name he is henceforth generally known. In later times he
also acted as "Deputy-Governor of the coast of the South Sea,"
31
while in the Adiciones,
or supplementary reglamento,
of 1769 he
is designated as gobernador,
or governor.
32 With such a combina-
tion of offices in the person of a single official, his jurisdiction was
necessarily very wide, whether acting in his individual capacity, or
in conjunction with the royal treasury officials. Above all, he was
commissioned with the general supervision of the receipt and the
despatch of the galleon, as well as of the conduct of the feria.
As
a consequence of the official venality prevalent at Acapulco he
gained annually by different irregular perquisites as high as 20,000
pesos,
33 though his salary was but a small fraction of that sum.
Sometimes a special commissioner or visitador
was sent down
to Acapulco by the viceroy. This officer then held precedence over
the ordinary body of officials for the duration of the visita.
In
1704 Viceroy Albuquerque appointed to this place Joseph de Yeitia
Linage,
34 the author of the Norte
de
la
Contratacion,
the classical
work on the administration of the trade between Spain and Ameri-
ca,
35 and an official of wide experience in the commercial service
of the government. The viceroy characterized him as an official
of "unusual honor, integrity, and zeal," while the King declared
himself and Albuquerque well satisfied with his work at Acapulco.
36
Sometimes Acapulco came within the scope of a more general
visita.
37 Thus, in 1636 Pedro de Quiroga y Moya threw the trade
into confusion by his rigorous exercise of this office, but the
old easy-going regime at the port was; in a measure restored by
his successor in the same office, Palafox y Mendoza. Other examples
of visitors-general who held charge at Acapulco were Pedro de
Gálvez, who followed shortly after Palafox in 1650, the Marques
de Rubí in 1764, and José de Gálvez in 1766.
cials. In the beginning of the history of the Philippine trade there
was no separate customs service at Acapulco, but that port was un-
der the immediate jurisdiction of the treasury officials at the
capital. However, with the growing importance of that traffic a
separate fiscal management was early introduced, though it con-
tinued responsible to the superior financial authority at the capital.
In 1593 a factor was commissioned by Viceroy Velaseo with "jur-
isdiction over everything pertaining to the royal treasury." 38 The
establishment of a distinct financial regime for the port dates from
1597, when a royal cédula created the offices of contador and pro -
veedor, as the two oficiales reales were individually designated. 39
Acting together these officials constituted the local contaduría,
or bureau of accounts, with charge of the double-locked caja, or
chest, in which the moneys and financial records of the port were
kept. They were above all customs officers in the modern sense
of the term, i. e., they collected the duties levied on the cargoes of
the galleons. 40 Whatever expenditures had to be made from the
funds thus deposited in the caja were made with their joint au-
thorization. Besides these more strictly financial functions, the
oficiales had, when associated together, wide supervisory authority
over all the operations between the coming and the clearing of the
galleon. In order to make sure of the completion of this work they
were required to remain in Acapulco until the middle of April,
and might then leave for Mexico only with the consent of the vice-
roy. To prepare for the arrival of the next nao, they must leave
the capital for their post on the day following the Feast of the
Conception. 41 Some of the administrative field at the port they
shared with the castellan, with whom, however, their relations were
not always entirely amicable, 42 and, like the castellan, they were
subject to the orders of the viceroy.
In his individual capacity each of the oficiales
had a separate set
of duties. Thus, the proveedor
inherited the attributes of the
factor,
and was the purchasing agent of the port. As such his
most serious task was the supplying of the galleon with arms,
provisions, and other ship's supplies, for the return voyage. The
contador,
on the other hand, was more directly responsible for the
auditing or certification of the register and other papers pertaining
to the cargo of the galleon, whether that of the incoming nao
or
the silver for the return voyage.
43
The most important of the third class of functionaries was
probably the guardamayor,
or chief officer of the port. He had
immediate charge of the guards who served on shore and on the
galleon when in port. He carried out the orders of the castellan
and of the royal officials, and was particularly the executive officer
of the court over which the former might preside in his capacity
as alcalde
mayor.
44 The escribano
de
real
hacienda
was the chief
clerk of the contaduría
or tribunal
de
cuentas
composed of the
oficiales
reales.
In accordance with his notarial authority he
countersigned all the important official records of transactions.
The comisario
de
guías
issued the licenses for the transport of the
silks and other goods to points inland.
Ecclesiastical authority at Acapulco was wielded by a parish
priest or cura.
"The Curate," says Gemelli Careri, "tho' the
King's allowance to him be but 180 pieces of Eight, makes 14,000
a Year, exacting a great rate for burying of strangers, not only
that die at Acapulco,
but at Sea aboard the Ships from China and
Peru;
as for instance he will expect 1000 pieces of Eight for a rich
Merchant."
45
The proceedings which attended the reception of the Manila
Galleon, the disposal of her cargo, and the preparations for her
return as the Acapulco Galleon, were regulated with as great
minuteness of detail as accompanied the operations at Manila.
Especially complete were the provisions of the Adiciones
drawn up
in 1769 after Gálvez' peremptory reorganization of the Acapulco
administration and after the disclosures made by the visitor-general
of conditions at the port had reached the notice of the central gov-
ernment.
46 All the regulations contained in these amendments to
the cédula
of 1734 were by no means innovations, though some
were suggested by the results of the recent investigations at Acapul-
co. But for the most part they were the incorporation in more sys-
tematic or codified form of viceregal instructions and ordinances,
as well as slightly modified restatements of the directions contained
in the earlier statutes governing the conduct of the trade.
47 There
is displayed, however, a more meticulous anxiety to secure their
scrupulous observance, a more highly complicated system of precau-
tions, dictated by a realization of the futility of former prescrip-
tions to secure an honest administration of the galleon traffic.
On the first sight of the approaching nao
by the lookout sta-
tioned on the high Mira
to the rear of the town a launch was sent
out to meet her and escort her into the harbor. This boat was to
see that no one approached the galleon before she was moored, and
turned over to the custody of the port officials. In case the gal-
leon reached the vicinity of the entrance during the night she had
to lie to in the offing, until daylight and the veering of the breeze
to landward enabled her to work her way in through the narrow
channel of the Boca
Chica.
At such a time contraband goods
were often lowered over the sides into boats under cover of the
darkness, and carried to a place of concealment on shore. Once
inside the harbor and the formal salutes exchanged with the guns
of the castle, an additional guard was placed upon her, with orders
to prevent any unauthorized communication between vessel and
shore. Any craft which approached without permission from the
guardamayor,
or his superiors, was promptly turned away.
As soon as the galleon was at her place in front of the town, the
castellan and oficiales
reales
went on board to make their first visit
of inspection. The latter received the ship's register and book of
manifests, or libro
de
sobordo,
from the hands of the contador
and
the veedor
of the nao.
The register was then sent off to the
capital by special courier, and delivered over to the superior bureau
of accounts, which assessed the duties for the cargo on the basis
of its contents, and then returned it to the coast.
48 The regula-
tions designed the first visit of inspection to be a zealous search for
contraband lading, but it usually amounted in reality to a very
peremptory scrutiny of the hold. When the letter of the law had
been complied with in this fashion and healths drunk all around,
both parties proceeded to the real business of the occasion,--the
making of arrangements for the landing of the illegal merchandise
After these preliminary formalities were concluded the work of
disembareation began. The passengers were first allowed to leave
the ship, and those who were in health walked in procession to
church, preceded by the image of the Virgin, while the sick were
taken to the hospital.
49 The first goods carried ashore were the
personal baggage of the passengers, and the unloading of the main
body of the cargo did not begin until these effects were on shore.
In fact the hatches over that part of the hold remained sealed in
the meantime. The laws required that, when once commenced,
the landing of the commercial cargo be carried out as expeditiously
as possible and that the proper official surveillance be exercised
at every step in the transfer of the goods to the beach.
50 One of
the two oficiales
reales
had to be present on the ship at all times,
to see that nothing was sent off which was not duly marked and
registered. Each lighter-full of bales or chests must proceed as
directly to the landing-place as the oarsmen could row it, and on
the way thither no speech must be held with any suspicious looking
craft that might be lurking in its path. As each lot of goods was
landed, the second royal official, or his deputy, compared its dis-
tinguishing marks with the corresponding invoices in the book of
manifests.
Throughout most of the history of the commerce the shipper's
own sworn statement--the factura
jurada
--was accepted without
question as a declaration of the contents of the respective pack-
age. The only alternative was of course the actual examination
of the interior of the bale or chest. However, the aversion to this
procedure was so great on the part of the Manila interests and
those in Mexico concerned in evading the law of the permiso,
that
few officials were daring--or disinterested--enough to defy opinion
in both communities by resorting to such a measure, logical and
just as it was. The most hated name in the history of the com-
merce was that of Pedro de Quiroga, who opened packages indis-
criminately in 1636, thereby violating tradition and the gentle-
men's understanding, that were the guiding principles of the com-
merce after the early traders had established the rule of illegal-
ity. Quiroga's revolutionary activities were not allowed to be-
came a precedent for the future guidance of the port officials, for
not only did a cédula
of two years later prohibit the opening of
packages without first notifying the consignor, or his agent, of
such intention,
51 but an order of 1640 to the visitor Palafox for-
bade him to make "any innovations in the opening of packages."
52
In view of the vague wording of the law of 1604,
53 this meant
in practice a return to the old lenient regime, whose leniency could
at least be condoned by a liberal interpretation of that statute.
Again, during the few years when the cédula
of 1720 was in op-
eration, the physical examination of goods was insisted upon.
54
However, the Reglamento
of 1734 restored the old custom to a
status of legality,
55 and the Adiciones
of 1769, while granting the
power to open packages that appeared particularly suspicious, did
not prescribe such procedure as the ordinary rule of action, but
only an expedient to be resorted to in unusual cases.
56 Finally,
it must be remembered that, in view of the size of the cargo
and the methods of packing employed at Manila, the opening of
all the bales and boxes was out of the question, on account of the
sheer physical labor that would have been involved, as well as on
account of the derangement of the goods which it would have
entailed.
After the registered cargo had been accounted for in accord-
ance with the certified invoices the goods found to be consistent
with their bills of lading were removed to the warehouses, where
they were
stored, in bond as it were, until the opening of the
fair. In case any lot of goods was confiscated such merchandise
was deposited in the royal storehouse until it could 'be sold on the
King's account. Meanwhile, on the return of the courier from
Mexico with the statement of the duties which the central con
-
taduría
had levied on the cargo, the compromisarios,
or agents, of
the Manila shippers arranged with the oficiales
reales
for the lump
payment of the tax, which was assessed pro rata on the consign-
ment of each merchant. When all the goods entered on the reg-
ister and presumably comprehended within the limits of the per
-
miso
had been landed, the second visita
was made for the purpose
of discovering if anything remained concealed on board. This
ceremony completed, the galleon was turned over to the officers
of the local maestranza,
or shipyard, for the careening and repairs
which were necessary to fit her for her return voyage.
The Acapulco feria,
which was opened after the termination
of these preliminary proceedings, Humboldt called "the most re-
nowned fair of the world."
57 Its general characteristics were
similar to those of the fairs long held at Jalapa on the other side
of Mexico and at Portobello on the isthmus. There were the same
regulated transactions between two groups of merchants--three
in the case of Acapulco--proceeding from widely separated regions
of the same empire, and the same ephemeral transformation of an
otherwise unimportant place into a city of feverish and pictur-
esque activity.
Although the approach of the galleon was known as soon as
a courier reached the capital from some point on the northwest
coast with news of its having been sighted or with its first pliego
of papers,
58 the official proclamation for the opening of the fair
was not issued in Mexico and the other cities of the viceroyalty
until the nao
had reached her destination, and the duplicate
pliegos
had arrived from Acapulco. However, before the day set
by the viceroy thousands were pouring southward over the "China
Road" to the coast of the Pacific. There were traders of every
category,--from Indian hawkers and hucksters to great merchants
of Mexico; soldiers and King's officials; begging friars and curs-
ing muleteers and porters; and the fringe of followers who went
to minister to the pleasures of the rest. In Acapulco they mingled
with those who had come from Peru, or with those whom the
galleon had brought from the Orient. For the greater pictur-
esqueness of the throng the latter added the Filipino and Lascar
seamen, some Chinamen, and perhaps a few Kaffirs that had been
carried from the Mozambique country by way of Goa. Gemelli
Careri thus writes of the metamorphosis which he saw come over
the town in two days of January, 1697: "Most of the Officers
and Merchants that came aboard the Peru
Ships, went to lie
ashore, bringing with them two Millions of pieces of Eight to
lay out in Commodities of China;
so that Friday
25 Acapulco
was
converted from a rustick Village into a populous City; and the
Huts before inhabited by dark Mulattos
were all fill'd with gay
Spaniards;
to which was added on Saturday
26th a great con-
course of Merchants from Mexico,
with abundance of pieces of
Eight and Commodities of the Country and of Europe. Sunday
27th there continued to come in abundance of Commodities
and
Provisions to serve so great a multitude of Strangers."
59
For the direction of the actual commercial transactions at the
fair, as distinguished from the supervisory authority of the reg-
ular port officials, the viceroy named two representatives of the
trading interest of the capital. These men, with an agent from
Puebla, were to treat with the compromisarios,
or deputies, of
Manila for the terms of exchange, such as the price at which each
class of goods was to be sold.
60 The settlement of the sale
value of the cargo in this fashion and the rigid observance of the
limitation of the permiso
would have precluded the possibility of
any subsequent bargaining between the merchants of the two par-
ties. However, as between the official theory and the actual prac-
tice of the traders there was the usual inconsistency. There was
always more or less haggling and dealing. Though a conspiracy
by either side to force a scale of prices on the other was not per-
mitted by the law, the compromisarios
and supercargoes from Manila
often found themselves the victims of an agreement among the
united Mexican interests. Sometimes a combination of the richer
trading houses of the capital attempted to dictate prices to the
Manileños, or they might delay making their purchases as long
as possible, in order to force the latter to sell at low figures for
the sake of returning to Manila with the proceeds by the galleon
of the year. The islander's chance for a favorable market de-
pended largely at such times on the strength of the competition
of the Peruvians. As the latter were usually better supplied with
silver, they did all possible to bargain independently with them.
61
In case the Lima Ship failed to come, or in the rather unusual
eventuality of a union of the Mexican and Peruvian buyers, the
Manileños were
liable to be driven to hard straits to dispose of
their cargo at any advantage. Their position was often made
more difficult by the interested collusion of the port officials with
their rivals, as well as by the vexations and extortions to which
those officials subjected them.
62 Thus, the officials sometimes de-
layed the publication of the bandos
of the viceroy for the opening
of the fair until a few days before the date set for the clearing of
the galleon for Manila, a maneuver which had the same effect as
the decision of the Mexican buyers to withhold their purchases
until the last moment.
63 But neither were the Manileños without
guilt. The trampas
de
la
China,
or "Chinese frauds," by which
they strove to defeat the purpose of the permiso
restriction, and
to introduce their excess lading into New Spain without paying
either duty to the Crown or composition money to the Crown's
officials, certainly gave them little ground for complaining of the
tricks and frauds of their rivals or of the officials who connived
at the sharp practices of these rivals, and in fact emulated them
by their own conduct.
64 Or again, it might be the smaller Amer-
ican buyers who suffered, when the more powerful merchants ar-
ranged with the Philippine committee to take over the larger part,
or all, of the cargo. Sometimes the latter bought the mass of
the cargo before the galleon had reached Acapulco, by sending
out an agent to the ship as she proceeded down the northwest
coast. Finally, these Mexican and Peruvian traders merely
claimed consignments made to them by their agent in the islands
under a fictitious entry in the galleon's register. Thus, the fair,
which was designed to proceed with "all formality and quietude,"
65
was only too often a hurly-burly of questionable dealings and vio-
lent contentions, mitigated only by the restraint of Spanish
hidalguía
and the occasional vigilance of loyal officials.
All sales made in the ordinary course of the fair had to be
registered in detail at the contaduria.
These certificates of sale
not only served as basis for the issuing of the licenses which had
to accompany every consignment destined for the interior, but
such records were essential in computing the aggregate returns of
silver to Manila. All the silver which entered Acapulco was,
moreover, required to be accompanied by a license issued at the
place from which it had come. In fact, so great was the anxiety
of the official regulations to keep the trade within bounds that
scarcely a peso was permitted to circulate about Acapulco without
being registered somewhere. No buyer was allowed to remove his
purchases from Acapulco until the fair was officially proclaimed
to be closed, nor could one of the Manileños anticipate the arrival
at Mexico of the authorized mule-trains by forwarding goods
ahead to be sold before that date.
When that time came the long caravans of mules laden with
merchandise trailed out of Acapulco and up the mountain road
into the interior. The more affluent merchants and passengers off
the galleon went north in cavalcades, though some, like Gemelli,
preferred the hardier and more sure-footed mules for their jour-
ney. With them went all those who, in one way or another, had
shared in the harvest that attained the feria.
The Peruvians,
who may have carried on their operations quite openly at Aca-
pulco, or more clandestinely at the nearby haven of Puerto Mar-
qués, boarded their ship and cleared her for the south. There
only remained the permanent inhabitants of the place,
66 and those
who were engaged in the preparation of the galleon for her return
voyage.
In New
Spain the "China Road" ranked in importance with
the eastward camino
by Puebla and Orizaba to Vera Cruz. About
110 leagues, by the computation of the arrieros,
it stretched north
from Acapuleo to Mexico through the modern states of Guerrero
and Morelos.
67 Its upper course followed approximately the route
of the unfinished extension of the National Railway from its ter-
minal at Balsas through Cuernavaca to the capital. As the road
led out of Acapuleo it entered the rugged defiles of the Sierra
Madre del Sur, --"vast high Mountains," Gemelli Careri called
them.
68 Through this wild region the only signs of habitation
were the inns located every three or four leagues, and an occasional
Indian village. The road led through forests of Brazil-wood, over
steep mountains, like that of the Papagayo, and across the river of
the same name, and thence by the pleasant town of Chilpancingo,
lying among corn fields. This was the most considerable place
between Cuernavaca and Acapuleo, and had several Spanish in-
habitants. Above Zumpango there followed nine leagues of travel
through a barren plain, which Gemelli likened to "that of Tirol."
This brought the road to the Rio Mexcala, or Rio de las Balsas, as
it was called from the rafts on which travelers crossed, propelled by
swimming Indians. The next stop was at Tuspa, or Pueblo Nuevo,
as Gemelli knew it in 1698, a village situated by a lake. Thence
the way led through a mountainous country for some twelve leagues
to another river at Puente de Ixtla, and beyond through a district
of wooded hills and Indian villages to the rich valley of Cuernavaca.
This favored region containel a large number of Spanish inhabi-
tants, and in it were situated the wide domains of the Marques del
Valle, or the head of the Cortéz family. After the capital, this
was one of the best markets in all the viceroyalty for the goods
which the mule caravans brought that way from Acapulco. From
the brim of the ardent tierra
caliente
the road climbed onto the
great central plateau, over the encircling fringe of mountains and
through a large pine forest, from which it descended by the Subida
del Arenal into the Valley of Mexico. Thence it was a frequented
route across a cultivated plain by the village of San Agustín de
las Cuevas and the customs stations, to the causeway that led over
the lake to the gates of the capital.
Travel over the "China Road" was by mule-back, and little was
done to make it usable for wheeled traffic until the last years of
the galleon trade. After the discontinuance of the latter great
blocks of stone lay alongside the highway that was to have been.
69
Conditions of travel were always very primitive. Accommodations
were few and discomforts were manifold.
70 The arrieros,
who
conducted the long trains of mules, camped in the fields or woods
with their charges. The ordinary traveler also spent the nights
on the way, lying "under the Canopy of Heaven,"
71 unless he were
able to make the widely scattered inns at nightfall. These inns
were very rude hostelries, except at Chilpancingo and Cuernavaca,
and were usually conducted by Indian mesoneros,
who, though oblig-
ing, like the one Gemelli encountered at Amacusac, knew little of
the fine art of tavern-keeping. The Italian globe-trotter passed
the night in a posada
at Atlaxo, which consisted of five cabins,
"Thatch'd and Palisado'd about." "Here a legion of Gnats(?)
sucked my Blood all Night," he complains, while the Tarascan inn-
keeper forced him to pay a "Piece-of-Eight for a Pullet, and about
a Penny a piece for Eggs," On the edibility of tortillas
Gemelli
remarked: "Hot they are tolerable; but when cold I could scarce
get them down." However, he was compensated for the fare at the
inns by the game which he was able to kill along the way. The
Jesuit Père Taillandier, who went down from Mexico to Acapulco
in 1711, says of the facilities for travelers: "The poor hostelries
of Mexico had accustomed us to do without a bed, and all the other
douceurs
which the traveller enjoys in France."
72 When Teodoro
de Groix journeyed over the road in 1767 to take up his duties as
castellan at Acapulco he described the roads as "impracticable,"
and had to carry all his provisions from Mexico and sleep beneath
the stars (a la belle étoile).
73
FOOTNOTES:
que el astillero que esta en el dicho Puerto [Navidad] donde se hacen los
Navios para el descubrimiento y navegacion de la mar del Poniente se
mude a otro Puerto mas comodo y sano. ... El Puerto de Acapulco
parece que tiene buenas partes, para que en el se arme el astillero para
hacer Navios, e para que en el sea la oarga y descargo dellos, por ser uno
de los buenos Puertos que hay en lo descubierto de las Indias, grande, y
seguro, y muy sano y de buenas aguas, y mucha pesqueria, de mucha
madera para la ligazon de los Navios, y tener a cinco, 6 seis leguas, y pocas
mas mucha madera para tablazon, y pinos para masteles y entenas."
Urdaneta, Derrotero muy especial . . . de la navegacion . . . desde
el puerto de Acapulco a las islas de Poniente, . . . con la descripcion
circunstanciada, asi del puerto de Acapulco como del de Navidad, y las
propiedades y ventajas de cada uno de ellos, 1561, Document os inéditos
. . . Ultramar, II, 119-20.
the King to the Viceroy and the Audiencia, April 16, 1688, A. de I.,
105-2-3.
gedo, del estado de aquel Beyno á su sucesor, el Marqués de Branciforte,
June 30, 1794, A. de I., 88-5-19.
legajo 6.
western side to two trees." Anson,, Voyage, 227.
China (1676), B. and R., XXXVII, 285.
Acapulco is very commodious for the reception of Ships, and so large,
that some hundreds may safely Ride there without damnifying each other."
Voyages, I, 262.
(Madrid, 1885), 451. The voyage covered the years 1789-94.
shallow, which is not 40 metres in depth, and which has the name of St.
Anne, because it was found out in 1781, by the unexpected loss of the ship
Santa Ana belonging to the trade of Lima." Ibid., p. 58.
1836-1839, (Paris, 1841), II, 201.
tury the castle contained over 80 guns.
boldt lumps them together as "people of colour." Op. cit., II, 187.
zens [Spaniards?] in the place, including the garrison, which generally
consisted of a company of infantry. Memorial, y noticias y reales del
imperio de las Indias Occidentales (Madrid, 1646), f. 60. Humboldt gives
the stable population at the beginning of the nineteenth century as about
4000, which was swelled to over 9000 at the time of the fair. Op. cit.
that Acapulco must be supply'd with Provisions from other Parts; and
therefore it is dear living there, because a Man cannot eat well under a
piece of Eight a Day; the place besides being dear, is dirty, and incon-
venient. For these reasons, it is inhabited by none but Blacks and Mulat-
toes." Gemelli, op. cit., p. 503.
Acapulco, as yellow fever was at Vera Cruz. The air was poisoned by
the miasmatic exhalations from a marsh near the town. The annual dis-
appearance at a certain season of the water in this swamp caused the
death of great numbers of fish, whose putrefaction diffused noxious emana-
tions through the air about the town. An anusually sudden and low drop
in the temperature in the latter part of the night was also very danger-
ous to the health of those who were not acclimated. Ibid.
de Banderas or Chacala to Acapulco. Of the former region he said: "It
is a country abounding in everything. It has good climate, good water,
and plenty of wood, while the road thence to Mexico, for 150 leagues, can
be travelled in a carriage, and through the thickest populated and most
flourishing part of New Spain."
Vermeille (Paris, 1844), I, 144.
puerto de Acapulco, demás de los officiales reales que alli estuvieren, una
persona de mucha confianza y satisfacción, con título de alcalde mayor."
Leyes, lib. 9, tit. 45, ley 74. Though this law, which was issued in 1604,
would appear to have established the office for the first time, a law of
1597 refers to an official with the same title at Acapulco. Ibid., ley 54.
He is moreover mentioned in official correspondence of an earlier date.
Viceroy Villamanrique to Diego de Molina Padilla, October 20, 1586, De -
pósito hidrográfico, Coleccion de Navarrete, t. 18, no. 36.
Gemelli, op. cit.
para recibir y despachar todos los años el Galeón de Filipinas (Cádiz,
1763). This is a bound manuscript contained in the Bancroft Library,
of the University of California. It is a compilation of the general regu-
lations then applicable to the trade and of specific orders to different
officials at Acapulco.
de Manila con la Nueva España, sect. 21.
1771), (1916), 110, et seq.
de nuestros oficiales de Méjico: Mandamos que se abstengan, y las dejen
al proveedor y contador." Ibid.
trajere de Filipinas, por la persona á quien lo cometiere el virey de
Nueva España, y oficiales de nuestra real hacienda del dicho puerto, y
juntos vean y reconozcan los fardos y cofres, y hagan escrutinio y dili-
gencia, cuanto sea necesario para entender lo que viniere fuera de registro
y permision." Leyes, lib. 9, tit. 45, ley. 60.
who is to carry the letters to Mexico. . . . Saturday 5th, in the
Morning the new Boat was Launch'd, to land the Messenger with the
Letters for Mexico, and Madrid. . . . but the News is known at Mex -
ico by another Express sent by the Alcade of Chiamela, as soon as a
Centinel from the Tops of the Mountains discovers a Sail at Sea. Upon
the uncertain Tidings sent by the Alcade of a great Ship seen at Sea,
which may as well be an Enemy, they begin their Prayers at Mexico,
which are continued till the Arrival of the Messenger with the Letters
from Aboard. When he Arrives all the Bells Ring for Joy; and this
Noise lasts, till a third Express comes from Acapulco, who brings the
Viceroy Advice of the Galeon being come to an Anchor in the Port."
Gemelli, op. cit., p. 498. In 1757 Governor Arandia ordered the discon-
tinuance of the "inveterate" custom of sending off the ship's papers from
Navidad or thereabout. He charged that the person entrusted with them,
who bore the high-sounding title of Capitán Gentil-hombre de los Pliegos,
or "Gentleman-Captain of the Papers," made his journey across country
a business trip, which profited him more than it did the Crown whose com-
mission he bore. Ordenanzas de Marina, Adición, art. 23, :p. 11.
much annoy'd with the Heat and Gnats; but much more on Wednesday
6th, by the babling of a Merchant of Peru, for he according to the Cus-
tom of that Nation, endeavouring to talk me into a Bargain, gave me a
violent Headach, and yet we concluded upon nothing. The Spaniards of
New Spain are of another Temper, for they deal Generously and Gentilely
as becomes them." Op. cit., p. 504.
1677, A. de I., 67-6-28; the King to Viceroy Moctezuma, June 5, 1697, A.
de. I., 105-2-3; the Bishop of Nueva Segovia to the King, July 22, 1713,
A. de. I., 68-5-19.
1679, A. de I., 67-6-28.
eral, carrying one of their number on a Beer, and bewailing him as if he
were dead, because their Harvest was at an end; for some of them had
got three pieces of Eight a day, and the worst of them one." Gemelli,
Op. cit.
detailed map of the road in Humboldt's Atlas géographique et physique
du royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1811), carte 5. See also
Terry, Mexico --Handbook for Travellers (Mexico and Boston, 1909), 432-61.
aspera, frequentia item flumina, densissima nemora, incolarum denique
triste et humile ingenium, maxime autem ob eorundem infrequentiam.
. . Viatores toto hoe itinere mirum in modum infestantur a culi-
cibus, mosquitos vocant Hispani." Laet, Novus Orbis (1633), 238.
melli was lying in an open field near the River Balsas; and again while
he was sleeping among the pines above Cuernavaca there was a fall of
snow, that covered his quilt, "by which," he says, "you may guess how
Hot I lay."
XI, 381-87. Pére Taillandier was ten days on the road. Gemelli Careri
took thirteen days to cover the distance between Acapulco and Mexico.
Op. cit., pp. 505-7.
du Marquis de Croix, 204.
How to cite:
William Lytle Shurz, "Acapulco and the Manila Galleon", Volume 22, Number 1, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v022/n1/contrib_DIVL448.html
[Accessed Mon Mar 22 7:53:46 CDT 2010]
