of those reasons, I shall mention here only
three to your Majesty: first, that the auditors have so few causes
to judge that there are no more than those of four Indians in regard
to their houseplots and lands--in which they finally spend more in
costs than the principal over which they are litigating; the second
because the auditors are stubbornly opposed to the governors, for
which reason the latter cannot attain success in many things, and
your Majesty's service suffers. The aim of the auditors is naught
else than to get all the posts for their relatives, intimates, and
comrades; but with these many retired captains can be recompensed,
who have served and serve your Majesty here whenever necessary,
without return or pay. When their requests are not granted, these men
withdraw to their homes, which causes the country to be divided into
factions and parties. The third reason is the number of pesos that
your Majesty would save from the salaries of the auditors and other
officials of the Audiencia. With that sum, twice as much infantry
could be maintained as that which your Majesty has here. That, in
the light of present conditions, is the most important thing for the
necessary maintenance and defense of these islands. I have dared to
relate this to your Majesty because of my zeal as a loyal vassal,
and as one who looks at things dispassionately. Will your Majesty
decide as is most advisable to your royal service.

In all the letters that I have written to your Majesty in the past,
I have made a full report of the services that I have tried to
perform for your Majesty in more than forty consecutive years, not
only in these regions, but in the States of Flandes, and in Ytalia,
and in other lands, of which your Majesty already has information. At
present I only beg your Majesty to be pleased to consider that my age
is over sixty, and, although I might thereby be somewhat hindered,
still I will appreciate it more than I can express, to finish the
remainder of my life in the service of your Majesty, employed in the
post and grant that your Majesty may be pleased to confer upon me,
according to the capacity and talent found in me, as I hope from the
royal hand of your Majesty.

When I was about to seal this packet, news reached this city of the
happy arrival at these islands of the ship "San Andres," which was
expected from Nueva Espana. That news has caused a quite universal
happiness to this wretched community. The ship