ro de
Castaneda de Naxera and Juan Jaramillo. The fact that they were
eye-witnesses establishes their high rank as authorities, but there is a
difference between the two in that Castaneda was a common soldier,
whereas Jaramillo (a former companion and, to a certain extent, a
friend of Cortes) was an officer. This fact alone establishes a
difference in the opportunities for knowing and in the standpoint of
judging what was seen, aside from the difference arising out of the
character, facilities, and tendencies of the two individuals. Castaneda
is much more detailed in his narration than Jaramillo. Discontent with
the management and the final outcome of the enterprise is apparent in
the tone of his writings, and while this may not have influenced very
materially his description of the country and its people, they render
more or less suspicious his statements in regard to the dealings with
the aborigines. Both Castaneda and Jaramillo wrote a long time after the
events had occurred, and probably from memory, hence the comparative
accuracy of their descriptions is indeed remarkable. But that accuracy,
however commendable, is relative rather than absolute, as both were
liable to err, owing to the lapse of time and consequent failure to
remember facts and events, and, especially with Castaneda, the influence
of personal prejudice growing stronger with age. Jaramillo had less
occasion to fall into error resulting from such weakness, but he is much
less detailed than Castaneda. We might compare the two narrations by
stating that that of Jaramillo embodies the reminiscences of one who
stood officially on a higher plane and viewed his subject from a more
general standpoint, whereas Castaneda saw more of the inferior details
but was more susceptible of confounding, hence to misstate, the mass of
data which his memory retained. Both reports will always remain the
chief sources on the subject of which they treat, subject of course to
close comparison and checking with correlated sources, archaeological,
ethnological, and geographical investigation, and Indian tradition.

Before proceeding further in the discussion of the documents it must be
stated that all references to distances in leagues must be taken with
many allowances. According to Las Casas there were in use among the
Spaniards in the sixteenth century, two kinds of leagues: the maritime
league (_legua maritima_) and the terrestrial league (_legua
terrestre_). The former, es