Consequently, it is necessary
to undertake to restrain them, and to lay hands on them. I shall
accordingly try to do so as soon as possible, and for that purpose
I shall use the galliots which I have said that I intend to build.
I am writing to the viceroy of Nueva Espana, asking him to send me
the aid that he is wont to send other years, in the quantity now
necessary, and as is declared in a memorial signed with my signature
and those of the royal officials of these islands. I have asked that
the money sent be the amount that was asked last year, since that
sent then did not amount to the sum generally sent in other years;
while the occasion that obliged us to ask for it has not ceased,
but rather the necessities caused by the disasters and losses above
mentioned have arisen.
Because of the short time since I arrived here, and the many
occupations that I have had in overcoming the hindrance of despatches,
in arrears, and in attending to the preparation for many necessities
that demanded it, and to the furnishing of these ships that are being
despatched now to Nueva Espana--in which there were very many things
to do, to which no beginning had been made--I have not been able to
ascertain with certainty who is to blame for the wreck of the six
galleons, and why they did not sail out to drive from the coast the
enemy who were pillaging along it. Consequently, I shall leave that
report to your Majesty for another occasion.
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