Although during the 17th century the Crown passed on inquiries from bishops of Cuba about their missing Florida tithes or itself asked for an accounting of them on at least five occasions-in the 1620s, 1635, the mid-1650s, the mid-1670s, and again in 1697-each time the royal officials had a new answer for why the local tithes could not seem to leave the harbor. Their replies yield welcome data about tithe totals and thus about Spanish agricultural production in the colony. ...It is safe to assume that virtually all of the Florida tithes ended up as part of the king's local ninths and were spent by the local treasury officials, partly on priests' salaries and partly to support the city's churches and hospital, and that, moreover, the king drew heavily on his discretionary ninths from other colonies to cover the shortages in those accounts, as well as to support religious construction in St. Augustine. (Bushnell SS)