How Francisco de Garay arrives with an extensive armament in the river Panuco; how far he was successful; and of many other circumstances.
I have above mentioned that Francisco de Garay was governor of Jamaica, and that he already possessed great wealth, when he heard of the rich countries we had discovered in our expeditions under Cordoba and Grijalva, and of the 20,000 pesos with which we returned to Cuba on our second voyage.
When he therefore received information of a new armament that was destined for New Spain, under command of Hernando Cortes, he himself was seized with a great desire likewise to discover some new countries, and certainly he had more wealth at his command than we had, to fit out an armament for such a purpose. He had learnt a good deal about the new countries from our old chief pilot Alaminos; of their riches, and how thickly populated the provinces were on the river Panuco; and as several other sailors who had accompanied us on those expeditions, confirmed what Alaminos had told him, he thought it worth his while to request his majesty to grant him the permission to make further discoveries on the river Panuco, and to appoint him governor of all the lands he should discover. For this purpose he despatched his major-domo, Juan de Torralva, to Spain, with letters and presents for those gentlemen who at that time governed the affairs of India, begging of them to procure him the appointment above-mentioned.
His Majesty was at that time in Flanders, and the president of the council of the Indies, Don Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, bishop of Burgos and titular archbishop of Rosano, with the two licentiates Zapata and Vargas,