Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/225

 culverins, two a little smaller, and a serpentine cannon; I have two falconets which I brought with me to these parts and a medium-sized culverin  Manufac- ture of Ammunition which I bought from the sale of the adelantado Juan Ponce de Leon. I shall have in large and small bronzes all those which have arrived on the ships at Vera Cruz, thirty-five pieces and of iron Lombardy guns, culverins of smaller calibre, and other guns and field pieces of smelt iron up to seventy pieces. Thus — our Lord be praised — we are able to defend ourselves; and as far as ammunition is concerned, God provided for that likewise, for we found a sufficient quantity of saltpetre of the best quality and vessels in which to bake it, though there was much waste at first. As for sulphur, I have spoken to Your Majesty of that mountain in the province of Mexico which smokes. A Spaniard descended by means of a rope, seventy or eighty fathoms, and obtained a sufficient quantity to last us in our need; but henceforward there will be no necessity of going to this trouble because it is dangerous and I shall always write to obtain these things from Spain since Your Majesty has been pleased that there should be no longer any Bishop to prevent it.

After establishing peace in Santistevan, which was founded on the river Panuco, and having finished the conquest of Tututepeque, and despatched the  Transfer of Medellin captain who went to Impilcingoand to Coliman, all of which I mentioned in one of the past chapters, I went, before going to the city, to visit Vera Cruz and Medellin that I might provide certain necessary things in those ports. I observed that for want of any Spanish settlement near the port of Chalchiqueca other than that of