and auditors, if mine should
collapse, I would rent a house which he could not seize afterward;
and since by the mercy of God, I trust in His Divine Majesty, that all
the world could not divorce me from the service of my king, I endured
and concealed the annoyance of his having deprived me of my house. I
think that the scope of his pretensions must have increased, and that,
when I censured him more, he tried to drive me from the Audiencia by
different methods that he attempted. One was to send me to inspect the
country (where one goes mostly by sea, because of the multitude of the
islands, the great distance, and the fact that the roads pass through
the territory of the insurgent Indians) while the enemy was along the
coast; yet an order was given to all the Spaniards who were living
on their encomiendas, and others who are the chiefs--against whom,
and not the poor common Indians, the inspection is aimed--to come to
reside in this city because of the presence of the enemy. Besides,
that inspection did not pertain to me, since I was neither the oldest
nor the most recent auditor. Notwithstanding that the Audiencia
resisted, saying that it was not advisable to make that visit then,
he tried to have it done by his appointment alone, and without the
concurrence of the Audiencia, having attempted to do that last year
as well as at the present time. In order to constrain and annoy me
more, he ordered me to go out in Holy Week, notwithstanding that I
replied to him that I would go (although it did not pertain to me)
if the Audiencia concurred in it, but that without that concurrence I
could not go. In consequence, it appears that the governor desisted
for the time, but did not abandon his project; on the contrary, he
was more set on it. When the Christmas season came, the time for the
distribution of offices, in accordance with your Majesty's ordinances,
that of probate judge fell to me in my turn. But this so annoyed him
that he tried to avoid giving it, withholding the commission signed
by the entire Audiencia, for more than two months, I believe, with a
certain scandal to the city; for litigants did not know to what judge
they could have recourse, as my predecessor's time had expired. After
he had delivered me the commission, when I commenced to exercise the
office--with no greater pleasure than that of serving your Majesty,
although others solicit those offices--the death of Licentiate Andres
de Alcaraz happened, without h