er of about
two thousand. There are more than five thousand who remain this year
with the governor's license in the service of the colony, for they
tell the governor that this is exoedient. It appears to me that three
thousand is enough, and even with this number more care and precaution
could be taken than is done here, and there should be no more of the
infidels. I give this account ... [42] as a person who has them in
his charge, in other matters touching ... that which Don Luis Perez
de las Marinas gives your Majesty ... I have informed him so that,
being so Christian and zealous a knight in the service of your Majesty,
he will give a true and certain relation of all.

With this astrolabe, which, with the aid of God, I have discovered,
can be found the altitude from the pole, and the latitude of any
region whatsoever at any hour of the day, and at the same time it
will tell the hour, in the same way that it gives directions at night
by any known star more easily than the mariners usually take it at
midday. Besides this, it also serves like other astrolabes at midday,
to indicate the various points of the compass, and show and verify
with precision the deviations and deflection of the needle from
the pole. In this way it serves to give the longitude where one is
sailing, on whatever parallel to the equinoctial. Likewise it shows
the position of the stars, even when all their latitudes [_i.e.,_
altitudes?] and declinations are unknown, so easily that even the
most uninstructed can in a short time learn it. It is of use in other
curious, useful, and important ways, for the perfection of this art,
which can by its aid be verified. As it is an article so curious and
useful, the said Luis Perez de las Marinas persuaded me to give an
account of it to your Majesty, with a brief relation and discourse
concerning the information which I have of these parts.

Although your Majesty has so little profit from these islands,
we can see that it is a place of much importance for the service
of your Majesty, and the spread of the most holy Catholic faith,
since it has as neighbors, and surrounding it, many extremely rich
and fertile countries. The disposition of matters is ... that they
are propitious for your Majesty easily to make himself master of
those lands. Your Majesty will see that this is so by the relations
which the governor of these islands, and likewise Don Luis Perez de
las Marinas, formerly governor of them, have sen