Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/214

 rebelling against their chiefs and never lost an occasion to do this.

In the past chapters, Very Catholic Lord, I said that, when I heard of the adelantado's arrival at Panuco, I had prepared a certain armada  Expedition to Honduras of ships and people to send to the Cape of Hibueras, and gave the reason wich moved me to do this; and that the arrival of the said adelantado had caused me to suspend things, believing that he was endeavouring to take possession of this country by his authority, and in order to resist any such attempt I needed all my people. Having terminated the affairs of the adelantado, although a great outlay for the payment of seamen and provisions for the ships and people was necessary, it seemed to me that Your Majesty's service required that I should fulfil the intention I had conceived; so I bought five more large ships and a brigantine, and gathered four hundred men, with artillery, ammunitions, arms, and other provisions and stores. I sent two of my agents to the island of Cuba with eight thousand pesos of gold to buy horses and provisions, not only for this first voyage, but also to have them in readiness for the return of the ships, so that there would be no excuse for not following my orders; and I also did this to avoid demanding provisions from the natives of the country, for it was better to give to them rather than to take from them. They departed, with these instructions, from the port of San Juan de Chalchiqueca on the 11th of January, 1524, being obliged to go first to Havana, which is the point of the island of Cuba where they are to get what they require, especially the horses, and to assemble the ships there from whence — with God's blessing — they will continue their route to Hibueras. Upon their arrival at the first