entry and pacifications at
the cost of my royal exchequer, in consideration of the fact that,
if you in lands so remote were compelled to await a reply from here,
important opportunities and occasions might be lost, I have resolved
to empower you for this purpose. Accordingly I give you this power,
and I order the officials of my royal exchequer of the said islands to
honor all your orders on them for the said purpose, from the moneys
in their power. But you are to take note that you shall exercise the
said power only in the most important matters that arise. You shall
beforehand communicate regarding these, not only with the Audiencia,
as above stated, but also with ecclesiastical or secular persons,
or such of them as you shall deem suitable and of greatest merit and
experience, in order that whatever is done be concurred in by all and
the expense be no greater than what is unavoidable. You shall endeavor
to make as safe as possible the regions pacified and subdued. You
shall advise me, with the minuteness and circumspectness required
by the importance of this matter and my desire for its execution,
of what you do, of what is pacified, the means that you employ,
and the condition in which it shall be placed and left.
In order that this may be done better and at the least expense, I
authorize you, after having resolved upon the expeditions of entry
and the new pacifications that it is advisable to make, in the form
above mentioned, to covenant and agree with captains, encomenderos,
and any others, in regard to the said expeditions of entry and
pacifications. They shall make them wholly or partly at their own cost,
as you may deem more advisable. These men shall be given title as
governors of the islands or provinces that they discover or pacify,
and for a limited time as captains and masters-of-camp. However,
you shall not grant them title as adelantados or mariscals; but,
when anyone claims such a title, you shall refer the matter to
me, with a relation of the services, character, and merits of the
claimant. The said contracts and covenants that you shall make, may,
with the concurrence and advice of the Audiencia, remain in force
until I approve them, in order to gain time, but on the condition
of referring everything to me. For this, in conformity with it, you
shall bind the parties to produce the said confirmations within a
certain brief period fixed by yourself. They shall bind themselves
to observe in their pa
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