e richer and
more extensive than those of any other Christian power, and yet, after
that I had, by the Divine will, placed them under your high and royal
sovereignty, and was on the point of bringing your majesties into the
receipt of a very great and unexpected revenue; and while I was waiting
for ships, to convey me in safety, and with a heart full of joy, to your
royal presence, victoriously to announce the news of the gold that I had
discovered, I was arrested and thrown, with my two brothers, loaded with
irons, into a ship, stripped, and very ill-treated, without being allowed
any appeal to justice.[417-1]

Who could believe, that a poor foreigner would have risen against your
Highnesses, in such a place, without any motive or argument on his side;
without even the assistance of any other prince upon which to rely; but
on the contrary, amongst your own vassals and natural subjects, and with
my sons staying at your royal court? I was twenty-eight years old when I
came into your Highnesses' service,[417-2] and now I have not a hair upon
me that is not gray; my body is infirm, and all that was left to me, as
well as to my brothers, has been taken away and sold, even to the frock
that I wore, to my great dishonor. I cannot but believe that this was
done without your royal permission. The restitution of my honor, the
reparation of my losses, and the punishment of those who have inflicted
them, will redound to the honor of your royal character; a similar
punishment also is due to those who plundered me of my pearls, and who
have brought a disparagement upon the privileges of my admiralty. Great
and unexampled will be the glory and fame of your Highnesses, if you do
this; and the memory of your Highnesses, as just and grateful sovereigns,
will survive as a bright example to Spain in future ages. The honest
devotedness I have always shown to your Majesties' service, and the so
unmerited outrage with which it has been repaid, will not allow my soul
to keep silence, however much I may wish it: I implore your Highnesses to
forgive my complaints. I am indeed in as ruined a condition as I have
related; hitherto I have wept over others;--may Heaven now have mercy
upon me, and may the earth weep for me. With regard to temporal things, I
have not even a blanca,[418-1] for an offering; and in spiritual things,
I have ceased here in the Indies from observing the prescribed forms of
religion. Solitary in my trouble, sick, and in daily