Note 78 — Chapter IV · THE HERO OF THE CONQUEST.
Reading edition
An office granted only to men of note and to leading conquistadores. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 46. It conveyed the title of ‘muy virtuoso señor,’ the governor being called ‘muy magnífico señor,’ Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 225, and permitted the holder to walk side by side with the governor. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. xii. ‘Auia sido dos vezes Alcalde en la Villa de Sãtiago de Boroco, adõde era vezino: porque en aquestas tierras se tiene por mucha honra.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 13. He does not refer to him as alcalde at Santiago de Cuba, where the fleet is fitting out, as he clearly states. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 4, mentions merely that he was here before the quarrel with Velazquez. Some writers assume that Santiago de Cuba is the same as Santiago de Baracoa, but Herrera, loc. cit., and others, observe the distinction.