of the drinkable and the salt water of the lake. The fish living in the salt water are smaller and have less flavour. When the salt-water current runs into the fresh, the fish of the former return to their native habitat as soon as they taste the fresh water, and the fresh-water fish do likewise when they taste the salt water. Ribera has informed us that the ancient rites have been modified, and how the natives conformed to the sudden changes in their ceremonies. He enumerated the idols the conquerors had destroyed, and informs us that human sacrifices are prohibited. The natives display a good disposition, and seem persuaded that it is no longer necessary to murder men to obtain heavenly favours. Nevertheless Ribera does not believe that it is yet the moment to change suddenly the hereditary practice. It is a good result to have obtained that the people of Tascalteca and Guazuzingo, as well as our other allies, no longer publicly give themselves up to these butcheries of human flesh; whether they abstain in secret or not, is not so certain. It is hoped that, little by little, these ancient ceremonies, will disappear. Priests, bells, and sacred vestments are wanted, all of which will be sent, and several thousand converts will kneel before the throne of Your Holiness.

BOOK I

TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF COSENZA, TO BE OFFERED TO THE

B

SOVEREIGN PONTIFF

EFORE you returned to Rome, after concluding

the useful and honourable mission in Spain confided to you by two Popes during the Spanish monarch's absence to assume the imperial crown offered him, you were aware, I think, that amongst the noble Spaniards engaged in exploring the southern coasts of the continent of the New World, Egidius Gonzales, commonly called Gil Gonzales, and the jurisconsult, Espinoza, licenciate, have distinguished themselves. In my Third Decade, composed at the invitation of Pope Leo X., I have already, in your presence, written much concerning Espinoza. After an interval of two years, we have now received a letter from Gil Gonzales, dated the eve of the nones of March, 1524, from Hispaniola, the capital of those regions.

Gil Gonzales reports that he landed at Hispaniola with 112,000 castellanos of gold, and returned to Panama, the other year on the fifteenth of July, 1523. We have a thick volume of his reports, in which he gives a detailed account of everything that happened to him during his long voyage. He writes with prolixity concerning the exccution of the orders he had received from the Emperor, for he has suffered much and been exposed to dangers, even to painful extremities during this voyage.

Complaints and reproaches are not wanting in this report concerning Pedro Arias, the governor-general of the countries which we unite under the single denomination of Castilla del Oro. Gil Gonzales urgently requests to