country; or the old ones of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcantara, and San Juan may be extended, and it will even be a great advantage if these and other new ones should be used during the conquest.
Third: A number of titled lords can be created, such as counts, dukes, and marquesses, just as, at present, encomenderos are appointed—for the encomiendas must be much larger there; and with such prospects the entry will be much more certain, and the land much more secure afterward, since there are so many lords.
Fourth: His Majesty may appoint four or six viceroys, as there are now fifteen in the fifteen provinces, who have as much power and state as kings have elsewhere.
Fifth: After all these things have been seen to, and the land is in a settled condition, his Majesty may levy from it a great income and much merchandise for his realms, as has already been said.
Sixth: Peace can be made and an understanding reached with the Tartar and other tribes that lie in the region from China to the land of the Turk; and we can better know his condition and strength, and find a way to harass him from here in the East.
Seventh: Couriers and relay postmen can be sent to Spain by land; for, although some have already come by land, they are all the time finding shorter and better routes.
Eighth: The former peace and amity with the Sofi and the Armenians,[1] and any other people that
- ↑ The Sofi are a peculiar sect of Mahometans, organized about 820 A. D. For account of early relations and intercourse between the Chinese, Persians, and Armenians, see Yule's Cathay, i, pp. lxxxii-lxxxviii.
