Another fleet sailed from Barrameda at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, the fifth day of the nones of May, 1525. It was composed of twenty-four ships bound first for Hispaniola, where the council for all colonial affairs sits, and was afterwards to scatter to different provinces of the New World. On board one of these vessels embarked my faithful Mendegurra, who was acquainted with the former legates at this court, the Archbishop of Cosenza, and Viansi. He goes to my Elysian island of Jamaica, to take charge of my affairs. He has written me from Gomera, one of the Fortunate Islands, where those about to cross the ocean usually make a stop. He tells me the voyage of ten days was a prosperous one. The faster ships might have accomplished it more quickly, but had to slacken their course to wait for the more heavily laden vessels and prevent them from falling into the hands of French pirates, who had long been lying in wait for them. They were all to put out on the high seas four days later. Each vessel will sail independently, setting its sails as it pleases, for there will be nothing more to fear from pirates. It only remains for us to hope that this journey, begun under favourable auspices, may have a happy termination.

I do not remember whether I have mentioned two other vessels sent by Fernando Cortes from our most distant possession, New Spain, which have landed at the Cassiterides (the Azores) islands under the domination of the Portuguese.

Whether I did or not, I must now tell how these vessels succeeded in escaping the pirates cruising about the archipelago in fact waiting for them; how they escaped pursuit and what they bring. One of them, unloading its cargo, decided to tempt fortune, and the gods coming to its assistance, it escaped without encountering the brigands. Lupo Samaneca was commissioned by the ships' captains to bring back messages to the Emperor

and the India Council. Samaneca has been brought up from his childhood by me, and left three years ago, with my consent for the New World, in company with Albornoz, who was sent to the colonies as royal treasurer.

As soon as this news was received, a fleet of six ships was promptly fitted out; four were of two hundred tons burthen, and the other two were fighting caravels, prepared to engage the pirates if they met them. The King of Portugal added to the squadron four other faster ships, well provided with every kind of artillery. The fleet sailed the seventh day of the ides of June, took on the cargo which had been unloaded, and returned without being molested. It was the end of July that they returned to Seville. We are thus satisfied and give thanks to God, while awaiting the arrival of the captains from one day to another.

I

There were only two ships sent by Cortes and they were both small. If the number of vessels in these countries is few, it is due somewhat to the resources of the treasury. They only brought seventy thousand gold pesos to the Emperor. I have frequently said that the peso was worth a little more than a quarter more than a Spanish ducat, but I do not think that applies to those pesos, for they are not of pure gold. They also bring an engine of war called a culverin, made of gold, but not of pure gold; at least, according to the report of Lupo Samaneca, now with me, who tried his fortune on the first of the two ships which arrived. This culverin weighs twenty-three quintals, as they are called in Spanish, each quintal weighing four rubi or pounds at six ounces to the pound. The ships were also loaded with precious stones and

At this point of his narrative Peter Martyr digresses, introducing lengthy and wearisome considerations on the subject of ecclesiastical benefices. Devoid of interest in itself and entirely alien to the sequence of his narrative, it has seemed to the translator wiser to omit this page. Nimis sum evagatus; ad naves vectas redeamus. With this, the author's admission at the close of his irrelevant digression, his readers must agree.

numerous very rich ornaments. There was on board the first vessel that of Lupo Samaneca-an extraordinarily beautiful tiger, but it has not been brought to us. The reports concerning Cortes and his extreme ability in the art of deceiving and corrupting people are contradictory. It seems to be certain that he possesses such quantities of gold, pearls, and silver as have never before been heard of. They are brought to him secretly at night, unknown to the magistrates, and carried in by a back door of his immense residence, on the shoulders of the caciques' slaves. We shall speak later of the towns and their municipal officers, the numerous and opulent country houses, the gold and silver mines, the extent of the provinces, as well as many other similar things.

As we are working secretly to devise certain preventive measures, I am forbidden to talk too much. Nothing must be said for the moment, until we have completed the stuff we have begun to weave. Let us, therefore, put all that to one side, and speak a little about the other squadron. In my Decade brought to Your Holiness by my representative the bachelor Antonio Tamarano, and which began with the word PRIUSQUAM, I spoke at length concerning the fleet sent to the archipelago of the Moluccas where the spices grow, and which lies under or very near to the equatorial line. We said that in our controversy with the King of Portugal, at Pacencis, vulgarly called Badajoz, the Portuguese lost their case but refused to abide by the decision.

The armament of the fleet had been suspended, and after the rupture of negotiations it was first sent to Bilboa in Biscay, and afterwards to Ferrol, a port of Galicia, and the safest of all the ports where sea-going vessels may take refuge. This was about the calends of June of this year, 1525. The fleet was provided with everything necessary for a long voyage, and also for battle if forced into an engagement. It lay at anchor several days

awaiting favourable winds. It is composed of seven ships, four of two hundred and twenty tons, and there are also, to use the vulgar tongue, two caravels, the seventh being what is called in Spanish a patache. Finally, the necessary parts for building an eighth ship have been loaded on board, and will be put together as soon as the fleet arrives at the desired port of the island of Tidor, one of the Moluccas. As we have already related in the book treating of the voyage round the world, addressed to Pope Adrian, it is in this island that one of the surviving ships remained for some time with fifty of its crew. As soon as the fleet arrives, two of the lightest vessels will be used for exploring the archipelago and examining carefully the countries lying under and on that side of the equinoctial line.

While this fleet was lying in port, the King of Portugal, brother-in-law and cousin of the Emperor, incessantly begged and entreated that he might be spared this great loss; but as the Emperor was unwilling to offend Castile, which is as the heart of his empire and kingdoms, he refused the King's request. The squadron therefore set sail with a favourable wind on the feast of Santiago, the patron of Spain. As the anchor was raised, trumpets sounded, drums beat, and cannons were fired in sign of joy, so that the heavens almost seemed to fall and the earth shook. On the eve of the departure, the commander of the fleet, Garcia Loaysa, Knight of St. John, who four years before had been sent by the Emperor on an Embassy' to the Grand Turk, swore allegiance before Count Fernando de Andrada, governor of Galicia, who had formerly defeated the French general, Aubigny, in Calabria."

'As stated in the Introduction, Peter Martyr was tendered this Embassy to the Sultan, but prudently declined. The difficult mission was then entrusted to Loaysa.

The Maréchal d'Aubigny fought in the Italian campaigns under Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I. After the battle of Seminara in Calabria he retreated, and it is to this check that Peter Martyr here refers. VOL. II-26

The other captains took oath before the Admiral, the soldiers and servants before the captains. Loaysa afterwards received from Andrada and the viceroy in great pomp and amidst general applause, the royal standard, which had just been blessed. Profiting by a stern wind, he set sail.1

In obedience to the Emperor's orders, the Spaniards have promised to write from the Canaries to our Council, under whose authority they are. Garcia Loaysa is in command of the flag-ship. The commander of the second is Juan Sebastian de Cano, who brought the Victoria back to Spain, laden with perfumes, after being obliged to abandon his other ship shattered by storms. The third and fourth ships are commanded by Pedro de Vera, and Roderigo de Acuña, respectively, the latter being a man of illustrious birth, and both having several times commanded squadrons and distinguished themselves by their exploits and great reputation. The fifth ship is commanded by Don Jorge Manrique, brother of the Duke of Najara, who is younger and less experinced than the others; though of better birth, he has consented to accept a less important command, for he not unreasonably thinks that he should give way to more experienced chiefs. The commander of the sixth vessel is a nobleman from Cordova, Hozes; and it is a nobleman who commands the last ship, the little patache.

Before taking leave of this fleet, it remains to mention a fact of no small importance, which arouses much interest. What moved the Emperor and us members of the Council, to arm in a Galician port a squadron destined for the spice islands, and this to the serious injury of the great city of Seville, in which Indian business has hitherto been transacted? This port of Galicia offers safety and is, moreover, situated at the extremity of Spain, nearest

'For particulars of Garcia Loaysa's voyage to the Moluccas, consult Navarrete, tom v.