them that they summon to
their council all those who are there at my behest, to wit, Master
Alcarez, the bachelor Tarragona, our chief pilot, the other pilots
of the India House of Trade, [194] and Diego Rivero; and that they
confer with and discuss with them everything necessary for their
information and the elucidation of our right; they shall always be
careful to preserve a mutual harmony, as I now recommend to you.

In regard to your lodging, I am giving orders to the _corregidor_
[195] that he look after the same and provide the rooms. You shall be
careful that whenever the deputies of my cousin, the most serene King,
shall come there, that they be well lodged and treated as is fitting.

This post brings the moneys asked for by the treasurer for the payment
of the witnesses there at Badajoz, and if more are necessary, they
will be sent.

I will have the bulls and other documents favoring our rights that
you ask for, looked up, and will send them to you. Likewise I will
have secured the hydrographical maps of which you say you have been
advised, and which are in the possession of Francisco de Lerma, an
inhabitant of this city, and the one that the pilot Esteban Gomez gave
to Colonel Espinosa. These latter I shall send by another messenger,
for this one does not take them, in order not to be detained.

I have ordered sent you with the present letter the copy of the letter
you mention that I wrote to my ambassador in Portugal, and in which
I give the reasons for our right, and reply to the reasons brought
forward on the side of the most serene King. [196]

This mail bears a packet of letters written by the ambassadors
of the most serene and excellent King, my cousin, residing at my
court, to the licentiate Antonio de Acevedo, his chief magistrate,
or to whatever other such official resides in the city of Yelves as
his deputy. As it is a thing which concerns this negotiation in my
service, as soon as this post arrives, you are to give or send this
packet to him with all care, and you shall make him certify that it
has been delivered to him, and shall send me the certification.

[The letter closes with the king prescribing the order in which the
deputies shall be seated at their general councils.]

[Another letter of the same date as the preceding commands the
astrologers and pilots named as deputies to summon to their councils
those who, though not named on the commission are there to give their
opinion and a