We must now go back to Cuba for a moment, where long since we left the irate governor cursing. Poor Velazquez! Córdoba, Grijalva, Cortés, all the deputies sent out to conquer for him new lands, had only been a drain on him, bringing back little compensation in slaves and gold. Deeply as he felt these troubles they had not yet affected his obesity, and it was with difficulty that he waddled about his island stirring up avengers. With the aid of Fonseca the chaplain, Benito Martin, whom Velazquez had sent to Spain on his behalf, had obtained for him a royal commission,[1] with the title of adelantado of the lands lately discovered under his auspices to the westward; and October, 1519, saw busy preparations on the island for an expedition as well against Cortés as Montezuma.[2]
There was no trouble in obtaining men. The rumors created by the visit of Puertocarrero and Montejo
- ↑ This was dated Saragossa, November 13, 1518, within a week of Cortés' usurpation of the fleet, as Las Casas observes, and conceded to Velazquez the position of adelantado not only over Yucatan, Cozumel, and 'other islands' discovered by his expeditions, but over any further lands that he might find. In connection with this title was granted, to him and one heir, one fifteenth of the revenue accruing to the king from these lands; and after their conquest and settlement one twentieth of the same revenue, in perpetuity for himself and heirs, from any one island that he might select-the discoveries were supposed to be all islands. All supplies of food, clothes, and arms, introduced by him during his life, were to be free of duty. In support of his expenses a royal plantation near Habana was transferred to him, and an annual salary conferred of 300,000 maravedís. A number of other provisions were made for the promotion of economic, politic, and spiritual welfare in the new region. A synopsis of the commission is given in Las Casas, Hist. Ind., v. 2-5. Prescott misunderstands the Carta de Velazquez of October 12, 1519, in supposing that the governor had not received notice of his appointment by that time, and is therefore wrong in taking Gomara to task for saying: 'Estando pues en aqueste pensamiēto [to thwart Cortés], auino que llego a Santiago. . . .cartas del Emperador, y el titulo de Adelantado, y cedula de la gouernacion. . . .de Yucatã.' Hist. Mex., 140.
- ↑ Carta de Velazquez, October 12, 1519, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 246-51. Solis assumes that the preparations of Velazquez were influenced by the news of the reception accorded in Spain to the procuradores of Cortés. Hist. Mex., ii. 42-4. But this supposition, based partly on a vague expression of Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ix. cap. xviii., is wrong, for the procuradores reached Spain only in October, and were detained for some time before they saw the emperor.
became so used to sleeping in his clothes, and enduring hardships generally, that he almost discarded the bed during his later encomendero life, and could take only short naps. 'Esto he dicho, por que sepå de que arte andamos los verdaderos Conquistadores, y como estavamos tan acostūbrados a las armas, y a velar.' Hist. Verdad., 86.
