I, Hernando de los Rios, administrator of the royal hospital of this city, declare that, because of the small amount of income and alms received by the said hospital, the needs of the sick are not provided for. It is impossible to give them everything requisite for their health, inasmuch as there are many sick there, both of the ordinary troops and the mercenary soldiers, to whom his Majesty gives medicines, and for whom he supplies a physician, as he is bound to do. The same provision is made for the other poor and needy inhabitants and citizens to whom his Majesty is under obligations, as they are old soldiers and settlers who have served for many years in this country without any pay. Many of them fall sick from the great sufferings that they undergo, because of the unhealthfulness of this country, both in food and climate, and from other causes. However, these would be much more numerous, if there were no place in which to succor their necessities. As is well known, not one of the sick has (and there is not in this city) any other place where they can go except to this hospital. It is well known how much more it costs his Majesty to transport a man from Nueva España than to sustain him after having brought him here; and for the
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INVESTIGATION OF THE HOSPITAL
