Note 1 — Chapter XL

The King.—To the Marquis of Montes Claros, my cousin, my Viceroy, Governor, and Captain-General of the provinces of Peru; or to the person or persons in whose charge the government may be. The Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, who, as you have been informed, is the person who has undertaken the discovery of the unknown land in the south, has represented to me how that, I having ordered the necessary despatch through my Council of State, for him to make the said discoveries, and that the Viceroys, your predecessors, were to supply him with all that was necessary for the voyage, he sailed with this object from the port of Callao on the 21st of December, of the year 1605, with two ships and a launch, having on board crews and the rest that was needed, and steered W.S.W. until he reached the latitude of 26° S., by which course, and by others, he discovered twenty islands—twelve inhabited by various tribes—and three-parts of a land which he conceived to be all one, and suspected to be continental, and a great bay with a good port within it; whence he sailed with the three vessels, with the object of exploring a great and high chain of mountains to the S.W.; and in returning to the said port the Almiranta and the launch anchored. But the Capitana, in which he was, could not, and was driven out; for which cause, and for many others which obliged him, he arrived at the Port of Acupulco, whence he came to Spain to give me an account of the success of the voyage, in the year 1607. He stated that the land he had discovered was pleasant, temperate, and yielding many different kinds of fruits; the people domestic and disposed to receive our Holy Faith; and that what was left to be seen and discovered is much more beyond comparison. With great perseverance he has prayed and supplicated me to consider the importance of this discovery and settlement, and the great service it will be to our Lord that this land should be settled and the Faith planted in it, bringing to the bosom of the Church and to a knowledge of the truth such an infinite number of souls as there are in that new world, where he has taken possession in a good port, and celebrated Mass; as well as the usefulness and aggrandizement that will result to my crown, and to all my kingdoms. His object and intention is no more than to perform this service to our Lord, and to follow that cause which he had served for so many years, suffering shipwrecks and hardships; it is now ordered that he be provided with all things necessary again to make that voyage and form a settlement; for which it is necessary that he should have a thousand men of this kingdom, of which twelve to be monks of the Order of St. Francis, or Capuchins, who must be learned, with the necessary powers, and provided with requisites and ornaments; also six Brothers of St. John of God, medical man, surgeon, barbers, and medicines; and that in these provinces he be given ships, artillery, muskets, arquebuses, and other weapons and stores that may be necessary; also a quantity of things for bartering with natives, a good store of iron in sheets, and tools to cultivate the land and work mines.1