e of New Spain in
general; and provided them with two vessels which were to carry over to
the emperor 88,000 pesos, in gold bars, and the wardrobe of Motecusuma,
which had hitherto been in the possession of Quauhtemoctzin. The latter
was a valuable present, and well worthy of our great emperor's
acceptance, as it contained jewels of the most precious kind, pearls of
the size of hazel nuts, and various other precious stones, which I
should not like to enumerate singly, even if my memory would allow me.
At the same time were sent the bones of the giants which we found in the
temple of Cojohuacan, similar to those bones which were previously given
to us by the Tlascallans, and which we had sent to Spain on a former
occasion.

Three tigers, and several other curiosities, which I have now forgotten
by name, were likewise shipped on board these two vessels.

The chief magistrates of Mexico, on this occasion, wrote a letter to the
emperor, and we, the conquistadores, with father Olmedo and the royal
treasurer, drew up an humble address to our monarch, in which we first
of all mentioned with praise the many important and faithful services
which Cortes and all of us had rendered to his imperial majesty; we gave
him a full account of the siege of the city of Mexico and the discovery
of the southern ocean, and added we were convinced these countries would
prove a source of great wealth to Spain. We then requested his majesty
to send to New Spain a bishop and monks of different religious orders,
but all to be pious and well-informed men, that they might assist us in
extending the holy catholic faith in these countries. We likewise humbly
petitioned his majesty to appoint Cortes viceroy of New Spain, as he had
proved himself so meritorious and faithful an officer to the Spanish
crown. In the same way we begged the favour for ourselves, that all
appointments made by the crown in this country might exclusively be
given to us the conquistadores or to our sons. Further, we requested his
majesty not to send any lawyers into the country, as those persons, with
all their learning, would merely breed lawsuits, discord, and confusion
throughout the whole country. We then mentioned how Christobal de Tapia
had been sent as viceroy to New Spain by the appointment of the bishop
of Burgos, assuring his majesty that Tapia was not fit to fill such an
important situation, and that if he had been allowed to enter upon the
viceroyalty of New Spain, t