omit to state that we had been induced to join the expedition by promises that we should make settlements; how Diego Velasquez had secretly instructed Cortes to trade and not to settle, and how we had compelled Cortes to stay and found a colony. We spoke also of our battles, of our interpreters, of the riches of the country, its extent, its arts, its religion, its people, four of whom we had liberated from a wooden cage where they were being fattened for sacrifice and feast, and whom we sent for his majesty to see. We spoke something of ourselves, too, how we were four hundred and fifty armed men in the midst of warlike tribes. We begged his majesty to show us favor and not confer the command of the country upon crown officers. We feared that the archbishop, whom his majesty had made president of the Council and ruler of the Indies, would give the command to some relation or friend, especially to one Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba, because he, Velasquez, was always giving the archbishop townships of Indians to get gold out of mines. As his majesty's most faithful servants we begged that he confer the command on Cortes, accompanying this prayer with praise that raised Cortes to the very skies.
After we had finished the letter Cortes begged us to see it, and when he found how true our narrative was, and the great praise we had given him, he was
