Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/61

Rh of which they worked gold-mines. For this reason they were disposed to do much for Diego Velasquez.

King Charles of Spain was at this time in Flanders, and everything done by the Imperial Council of the Indies was by command of these gentlemen. What Diego Velasquez sought through his chaplain was permission to trade with, conquer and found colonies in the countries we had lately discovered. In the accounts he forwarded he told of the many thousands of dollars he had already spent in the undertaking. Chaplain Benito Martinez added so successfully to these reports that he was able to bring back from Spain a decree granting all Diego Velasquez asked, and also, for the governor, the title of adelantado, or governor-in-chief, of Cuba.

Upon the return of Juan de Grijalva from our voyage, in the year 1518, Diego Velasquez had at once ordered the fitting out of a fleet larger than our last. For this purpose he had already got together in the harbor of Santiago ten ships; four of them, careened and refitted, were those in which we had returned, and six others from other ports of Cuba. These vessels he had provisioned with cassava bread and smoked bacon, for at that time, as I have said, Cuba had been so lately settled that there was neither mutton nor beef to be had.

But all this while Diego Velasquez could not make