humbly beg his majesty to confirm this name. In a brief supplementary letter he asks the emperor to send a person of confidence to investigate and prove the truth of his statements.26
The council also wrote a letter to the emperor, speaking hopefully of the conquest, which already
“extended, over one hundred and fifty leagues of the coast, from Rio Grande de Tabasco to Rio de
Pánuco,”27 while the remainder of the interior was on the sure way to reduction, under the able leadership of Cortés, whose valor and energy they praised.
They prayed that he, the beloved of all the troops, might be confirmed in the office of captain-general, as the only man whose genius and experience could be relied on to carry out and maintain the conquest. The natives being docile and ready to receive conversion, friars should be sent to secure this harvest for the church, and also to administer to the spiritual wants of the Spaniards. Colonists were needed; also horses, and other live-stock—the latter to be paid for at a future time—in order to secure the country and develop its wealth.