Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/432

412 of this unenviable duty was intrusted to six commissioners, three of whom were appointed by Cortés and three by the audiencia.

The commission, however, after having labored for many weeks in vain efforts to arrive at even an approximate count, reported to the audiencia that the difficulties were insurmountable and a correct numeration impossible, since not one fifth of the estimated population presented itself. The attempt was consequently abandoned, and a compromise entered into by which Cortés, pending instructions from the king, was left in possession of Cuernavaca with its dependent townships and the districts of Tehuantepec and Cuetlachtlan. The valleys of Oajaca and Quilapan, and various towns in the province of Mexico, were also assigned him under the encomienda system, no judicial authority being therewith conferred.

Yet the audiencia considered that the principle on which the king's grants had been made was dangerous, from the fact that the scattered positions of the different districts would give Cortés too wide an