Note 6 — Letter from Alonso Fajardo de Tenza to Felipe III

The original if read strictly requires the above translation. It reads ”porque son gente de mucho fruto y no se buelven tantos dellos como de otras Religiones y particularmente la de Santo Domingo que e entendido sean ydo delta mas de los que yo quissiera.” ”Della” should refer then to ”la” and thence back to ”religiones.” But the meaning cannot be that the religious left the order, but rather their brethren in the islands and returned to Nueva España or Spain. Fajardo’s language throughout this letter is loose and complicated, and it is possible that, ”della” refers to the word ”tierra” (“country”) understood, in which case the translation would be “have left the country.”