Great Britain, bordering on the frontiers of France, and very convenient for merchants from the north looking for spices. Mention of two formidable dangers, which our sailors escape in this port must not be omitted; the stretch of ocean separating it from the mouth of the Guadalquivir, which is navigable as far as Seville is so swept by tempests that the lightest winds off the promontory of Sagres and its neighbourhood drive ships on the rocks and shatter them more mercilessly than if they were thrown upon the reefs of Scylla or into the whirlpool of Charybdis. Pirates constitute another danger. They prowl along these coasts shut in between stern mountains and deserted valleys, which are uninhabited, owing to their sterility. The valleys serve the pirates as hiding-places. Informed by their watchers placed high up on the mountains, they attack passing ships. This is the reason why it was decided to equip the fleet in this port.

The course to be taken by the squadron will be that followed by the Portuguese Magellan, when he made the journey round the world, following what philosophers call the torrid zone and advancing in the antarctic hemisphere beyond the Tropic of Capricorn.

Another squadron commanded by the Italian, Sebastian Cabot, will also take that same direction. I have mentioned him and Magellan in the book on the journey round the world dedicated to Pope Adrian, and the second preceding book addressed to the Duke of Sforza. Both these fleets are being fitted out in the Guadalquivir; they will first go to Hispaniola and the other islands, San Juan, Cuba, otherwise called Fernandina,—and Jamaica, where I hold my benefice, and which has been renamed Santiago. After that they will divide and sail for the new continent and New Spain conquered by Fernando Cortes. I have promised some day to speak of the grandeur and the resources of this last possession. For the moment, however, there are as many fleets

ploughing the ocean waves, and as many vessels coming and going from the New World, as there are merchants coming from Italy to fairs at Lyons, or from France and Germany to the fairs at Antwerp in Belgium.

Gladly, Most Holy Father, would I penetrate by some opening into the interior of your apartments and witness the joy of your heart manifest itself in your face when you first learn of these discoveries, and when these most curious particulars of heretofore unknown countries are told you, and you learn that they have been spiritually given as wedding gifts to the Church, Christ's spouse, and that nature is inexhaustible in her gifts, according to her royal bounty. And if there still remain unknown countries to be discovered, they are preparing to later obey you and the Emperor. May Your Holiness be content with this new effort, as the beginning of a feast. I wish you a happy life.

From the town of Toledo in Carpentana, and the Imperial Court.

The thirteenth day of the calends of November in the year 1525.

F

BOOK X

I

ROM one hour to another our ocean brings forth new prodigies. When the illustrious nunzio of Your Holiness, Balthasar Castiglione, a man gifted with every sort of virtue and grace, saw the two Decades dedicated to the Pope and the Duke of Milan bound together, he begged permission to offer them himself to Your Holiness. I acceded to his desire; but he has fallen seriously ill, and has been unable to busy himself with his affairs as he would have wished, although they are not numerous. During his illness he has sent no trustworthy secretary to carry despatches and at the same time my writings-to Your Holiness, and this delay has enabled me to add some particulars as an appendix.

Three vessels have arrived from the New World, coming from New Spain, now under the government of Fernando Cortes, whom I have frequently mentioned. One of these ships is a caravel and the news it brings is deplorable. But to render more intelligible the course of events I must begin by speaking of the letters brought by the other two ships above mentioned. Amongst these letters we must distinguish those which are of a general character and those which are private.

Balthasar Castiglione enjoyed the friendship of Leo X. and Clement VII. He was born near Mantua in December, 1478. His best known work is Il Cortegiano. Upon hearing the news of his death at Toledo in 1529, Charles V. exclaimed: "Yo vos digo que es muerto uno de los mejores caballeros del mundo." Castiglione's life was written in 1780 by Serassi, Vita del Castiglione.

First of all, there is a long report of general interest drawn by Cortes and his officers-his intendant, treasurer, and factor. It contains a great deal about the nature of the soil, the presents sent to the Emperor, the small number of vessels encountered in those parts, this last fact being stated to excuse the small quantity of precious stones and gold sent to Spain. Cortes insists on his enormous expenses, complaining of his poverty and the debts he has contracted. He reminds us of the ships he has built, with which he hoped to reach the equinoctial line, which is not more than twelve degrees distant; because the people along that coast told him that near by there were islands producing gold, spices, and precious stones. He has dwelt at length upon these different points and has not spared his complaints about the ships that were burned with all their stores, and the jealousy of his enemies which had hindered him in carrying out the enterprise he had undertaken. Moreover, Cortes pledges himself to make good the losses if the meddlers leave him alone. He enumerates the recently discovered gold and silver mines, which are numerous and various; the difficulties demanding new remedies; the contribution of sixty-three thousand gold pesos he had been forced to make, despite the advice of the magistrates, under pretext of raising a new army; the generals he has named to conquer other neighbouring and new provinces, and many other similar things.

The private letters and secret reports have been drawn up by the accountant and secretary Albornoz, in unknown characters, vulgarly called cipher. It was confided to Albornoz when he left, for at that time suspicions existed concerning the intentions of Cortes. These letters are full of attacks on the craftiness of Cortes, his consuming avarice, and his partially revealed tyranny. Whether they are warranted or, more likely, whether they were drawn up to please certain people, as usually happens,

time alone will show us. Serious men have already been chosen to go thither and open an enquiry. When all these mysteries are disclosed, I shall inform Your Holiness. But let us return to Cortes.

The disobedience of Cristobal Olid, of which I have spoken at length in my preceding books, so infuriated Cortes, that he desired to live no longer if that rebel went unpunished. His nostrils and throat swelled with rage. On several occasions he showed signs of madness and indulged in unrestrained language. According to the general evidence, Olid was then more than five hundred leagues distant east from the salt lake of Temistitan. To overtake him it would be necessary to march over almost inaccessible roads. He had established himself on a gulf discovered a long time ago and named the Gulf of Figueras. He hoped to discover the strait that has been sought with such persistency. It was due to this fact that three captains, who had landed in the country, killed one another; I shall later speak of these deplorable combats; but for the present I do not wish to leave Cortes.

When the news spread that Cortes had raised an army, the royal officials gently remonstrated with him in the beginning, cautioning him not to adopt a course which promised so many undesirable results; for it was a question of a war between Spaniards. They begged him not to provoke so great a calamity among the Christians, and not to risk his position by exposing himself to such danger. For they felt certain at the time that everything would be lost if Cortes abandoned the capital of the empire without leaving soldiers in the province of Temistitan, which had been only recently conquered and which still lamented the massacre of its ancient rulers and the loss of its tutelary deities, friends, and neighbours. If Cortes, whose name inspired all those nations with a sort of terror, were to

Cortes rarely gave vent to his passions, but despite his self-control, his anger was betrayed by the swelling of the veins of his neck.