Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/76

56 Spanish forces in the south-west. Additional men were brought by Olid in connection with his second expedition to Michoacan, including the municipal officers appointed by Cortés, and the town was now formally established on the site already chosen, a league and a half from the sea, and named Zacatula, after the river. One reason for Olid's coming was to aid in reducing to obedience the Indians who had been appropriated in repartimientos, but who had refused to pay tribute, and even killed several collectors.

The emperor had expressed great interest in the projects opened by the discovery of the South Sea beyond new Spain, and by cédula of June 1523 he enjoined Cortés to hasten the search for a strait. The latter needed no prompting, but the building of the vessels progressed slowly, owing to the difficulty and delay attending the furnishing of certain material. Finally, when this was obtained, a fire reduced nearly everything to ashes. Without being in the least discouraged, Cortés hastened to repair the loss, and toward the end of 1524 such progress had been made that he expressed the hope of despatching the vessels in the middle of the following year. "With them, God willing, I shall make your Majesty lord of more kingdoms and seignories than are as yet known to our nation." The search for the strait should receive the first attention, however, since the sovereign so desired it, for by it the route to the Spice Islands would