to he had agreed, and spreading a white cloth before the Captain, he offered him certain precious jewels of gold, which he placed upon it; of these, and the others which we afterwards obtained, we make relation to Your Majesties in a memorial which our procurators take with them.
After the said cacique had taken leave of us, and returned satisfied to his house, some of those noble persons[1] who came in this armada, gentle
Decision
to
Colonise
men, and sons of gentlemen, zealous in the service of our Lord, and of Your Royal Highnesses, and desirous for the exaltation of your royal crown, and the extension of your dominions, and the increase of your revenues, assembled and spoke with the Captain Fernando Cortes, saying that this land was good and that, judging by the sample of gold which that cacique had brought, it was reasonable to believe that it must be very rich, and that he and all his Indians were well disposed towards us. For these reasons, it seemed to us that it was not advantageous for Your Majesties' service to do as Diego Velasquez had ordered the said Captain Fernando Cortes to do (which was to trade for all the gold we could, and, having obtained it, to return to the island of Fernandina, in order that the said Diego Velasquez, and the said Captain mightprofit exclusively by it,
- ↑ The armada was composed of eleven vessels, of which the largest, on which Cortes sailed, was of 100 tonels, the tonel being soinewhat more than one ton. The number of men is variously given by different authorities, but, in the memorandum of Cortes at the time of his residencia in 1534, it is stated that there were 530 men. The persons of nobility must be sought among the leaders and captains who were Pedro de Alvarado, Gonzalo de Sandoval, Francisco de Orozco, Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero, Diègo de Ordaz, Alonzo de Avila, Juan de Escalante, Francisco de Montejo, Francisco de Morla, Francisco de Saucedo, Juan Velasquez de Leon, and Cristobal de Olid. Pedro de Alvarado had two brothers, Jorge and Gomez, and a natural brother, called Juan, and there may have been some other adventurers of good origin amongst the company (Orozco y Berra; tom, iv., cap. iii.).
