Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/375

 sovereign. For, I pledge myself, if the said grants be made to me, to send such an armada thither, or to go myself personally, as will subdue those islands, settling Spaniards there whom I will provide with forts and the necessary artillery and war stores to defend themselves against all the princes of those parts or any other. Should Your Majesty be pleased that I undertake this business, granting me what I asked, I believe it will be for the good of Your service; and I propose that, should it not turn out as I have stated, Your Majesty shall order me to be punished as one who has reported falsely to his Sovereign.

Since my return, I have, likewise, ordered people to go overland to settle on the River Tabasco, which is also called Grijalba, and to conquer many provinces in that neighbourhood, whereby God, our Lord, and Your Majesty, will be well served, and the ships navigating in those parts will derive much benefit. The port is a good one, and, if populated by Spaniards, and if the coast tribes be pacified, the vessels coming and going will be safe, whereas heretofore the natives there have been savage, and have killed the Spaniards who landed there.

As Your Majesty has already been informed, I have also sent three companies of men to the province of the Zapotecas to invade it in three different places, so as to complete its reduction in the shortest possible period; this will be of great service, not only because of the mischief which those natives work on the other peaceable ones in the neighbourhood, but also because they occupy the richest mining districts existing in New Spain, from which, when conquered Your Majesty will derive great