Note 5 — The Dominican Mission of 1606

From San Joan de Lua to Mexico. In the port of San Joan de Lua5 in Nueva España is the fourth [100] station on the route. It is not the most comfortable one, although it ought to be so, since all arrive there much exhausted and worn out by the voyage. There one begins anew to deal with royal officials, to whom money must be given. Thus after we have passed the ocean the torments begin, which have no mercy upon those whom the ocean has many times spared. At that port it is very necessary to have something left over from one’s sea-stores, for the expenses are very great in this country. The vicar must not be niggardly in distributing them, if he has to transact any business; or he must arm himself with patience, which is very necessary. His Majesty commands that the religious be provided there with what they need from his royal treasury for the journey which they must make to México. They allow them only ten days for the journey, and provide food only for that period. The road is eighty leguas in length and is very rough, so that it takes a well-mounted horseman with a light load all of ten days to make it. How much more must it take for people going in company, and with a string of pack animals (as the religious ordinarily travel), who do not expect to go more than five or six leguas a day. Moreover, they are traveling in countries of varying climates; one of these being hot and the next cold, they often fall ill on the road, and some cannot travel farther. It is no small achievement for those in health to reach México in twenty days. That which is allowed them for ten days’ journey is not enough, [101] as is very certain, in this country; how, then, will it suffice for twenty?