The people of St. Augustine put their ingenuity to work getting around the hated [import] tax. By law, no one was supposed to board or disembark from an incoming ship ahead of the official inspection, under pain of three months in prison. Interim Accountant Sanchez Saez, syndic and close friend of the Franciscans, may have been the one who suggested that the friars board vessels ahead of the royal officials. In the name of the Holy Office of the Inquisition they could seal boxes of books containing schismatic material, and only they could reopen these sealed boxes. Books were nontaxable items, and the friars, secure against inspection, could introduce high-value goods in the guise of books, untaxed. This was a common practice in the Indies. Governor Ybarra put a quick stop to the friars’ presumption. [Note 65: Gov. Ybarra 4/8/1608] (Bushnell KC)