See the letter of Peter Martyr to his noble friend and pupil, the Marquis de Mondejar, written two months after the arrival of the vessel from Vera Cruz. Opus Epist., ep. 650.

Zuñiga, Anales eclesiásticos y seculares de Sevilla (Madrid, 1677), fol. 414.—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 14; lib. 9, cap. 17, et alibi.

Velasquez, it appears, had sent home an account of the doings of Cortés and of the vessel which touched with the treasures at Cuba, as early as October, 1519. Carta de Velasquez al Lic. Figueroa, MS., Nov. 17, 1519.

“With loud music from clarions and flutes, and with great demonstration of joy, they weighed anchor and unfurled their sails to the wind, leaving unhappy Spain oppressed with sorrows and misfortunes.” Sandoval, Hist. de Cárlos Quinto, tom. i. p. 219.

The instrument was dated at Barcelona, Nov. 13, 1518. Cortés left St. Jago the 18th of the same month. Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 11.

Gomara (Crónica, cap. 96) and Robertson (History of America, vol. ii. p. 304, 466) consider that the new dignity of adelantado stimulated the governor to this enterprise. By a letter of his own writing in the Muñoz collection, it appears he had begun operations some months previous to his receiving notice of his appointment. Carta de Velasquez al Señor de Xêvres, Isla Fernandina, MS., Octubre 12, 1519.