ing the commission given by the
royal decree; and that, in accordance therewith, it was not the will
of your Majesty that my place of abode should be taken from me, as it
had been occupied from the time when it was built by the president
and auditors. This was shown to the governor by the [Audiencia's]
record of proceedings; and it was decreed in the Audiencia that in the
royal building where I was two main apartments should be cleared out,
in which the treasury and the books of the royal exchequer should
be accommodated. The governor, in spite of this action, took all my
apartments from me and lodged therein a royal official; whereupon,
as there is a great lack of houses in this city, I was obliged to
move into a house of wood and thatch, which was unsuitable to the last
degree, and attended by much danger because of the frequent fires which
occur in this city. Accordingly, in the two fires which have occurred
this year I have been obliged to go with my effects and books from
one place to another, until at last I rented for them and my papers
an apartment outside of my house in a building of stone belonging
to a citizen, where I keep them. Besides experiencing so great
inconvenience, this country is so warm that I assure your Majesty,
with all due regard for truth, that my health is failing; and I fear
that I shall lose my life, through the poor appointments of the house
and on account of the intemperate heat from which I suffer in going
to the Audiencia. But so great is the dislike which the governor
has taken toward me, that neither the injustice and wrong, nor the
danger of fire, nor the failure of my health has moved him to give
me a lodging; nor is one to be found at any cost. I beg your Majesty
that, even if it may not be necessary for me, you may command what is
to be done in regard to the other auditors, for he has depreciated my
authority and maltreated me in such manner that I would consider it a
great neglect of duty to your Majesty if I did not advise you of it,
and this has led me to give so detailed an account. [_In the margin_:
"No answer to be given."]

In the letter of last year which will accompany this, I communicated
an expedient which has occurred to me whereby this land might be
maintained in abundance, with only the property which the royal
treasury has in these islands, without there being any need of aiding
it from the royal exchequer of Mexico; and the paid soldiers could
be increased, and ot