Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/199

 and two hundred foot soldiers, amongst whom were many crossbowmen and musketeers; he took four field pieces and artillery, and a great supply of ammunition and powder. I likewise had an armada of ships built, of which I sent Cristobal de Olid as captain, he having come with me to go to the North Coast, where I ordered  Cortes named Captain- General him to make a settlement on the Cape of Hibueras, which is sixty leagues from the Bay of Ascension, beyond what is called Yucatan, on the coast of the mainland towards Darien : for I have information that that country is very rich, and many pilots believe that a strait links that Bay with the other sea, and this is the one thing in the world which I most desire to discover, and which I think would render greatest service to Your Cæsarian Majesty. As these two captains were about to start, with all preparations for the march completed, I received a message from each of them, from Santistevan del Puerto which I had founded