Note 7 — Introduction.

The third narrative is contained in the Monarquia Indiana, a work on Mexico first published in 1614, by the Franciscan Friar, Juan de Torquemada, who was Provincial of the Order in Mexico in that year (vol. i, pp. 738 to 756 the second edition, 1723) (Lib. V, caps. lxiv to lxix). Torquemada was at Mexico when Quiros and his companions landed at Acapulco, and came up to the capital in the end of 1606. He must have known and conversed both with Quiros and with some of his crew. He thus obtained his information at first hand, and was able to write an authentic account of the voyage. Torquemada’s style is more polished and flowing than those of the sailors, or even of the young poet, who relate the events of the same voyage.7