WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 243 



Dr. Alonso Criado de Castilla, President of the Circuit Court of 

 Guatemala, and transferred to the port of Amatique, to which he 

 gave the name of Santo Tomas de Castilla; this is where the ships 

 lie discharging their cargoes and loading native products, and where 

 the garrison stays which the ships bring along, until they leave to 

 take on what additional cargo there is at the port of Trujillo. 



699. The city of San Jorge de Olancho is 40 leagues ENE. of 

 Comayagua on the King's Highway from the city and port of Trujillo. 

 It is built in a spacious and attractive valley, which is over 10 leagues 

 long, and 2 wide. The city has a little over 40 Spanish residents ; 

 the houses are all straw-thatched. The church in this city has a 

 miracle-working image under the appellation of La Purisima Con- 

 cepcion de Nuestra Senora. In this city and in the Indian villages 

 of its district they work up quantities of very fine henequen ; and 

 the whole region is very rich in gold, all the rivers being gold bearing, 

 but they get none out for lack of labor. This valley has a rather 

 large river running down it and watering its meadows, on which 

 there are some cattle ranches ; it has a hot climate. When the Span- 

 iards explored and subdued it, this valley and its surrounding country 

 were thickly peopled ; now there are few inhabitants, because the 

 Indians wasted away and died out in the wars which arose between 

 the Spaniards. It was in this valley that Gil Gonzalez de Avila took 

 120,000 gold pesos from Capt. Hernando de Soto; it was here that 

 they killed Capt. Juan de Grijalba and others, and that Capt. Gabriel 

 de Rojas prevented the entrance of Gonzalo de Sandoval, Captain 

 under the Marques del Valle. 



700. The city and port of Trujillo are 24 leagues from the valley 

 and city of San Jorge de Olancho, and 62 from Comayagua. The 

 harbor is good, although it is a wide bay, but it is sheltered. The 

 city is built at the water's edge on a high and prominent bluff; there 

 will be over 100 Spanish residents here, besides many Negroes, 

 mulattoes, and Indians of the service class. It has a parish church, 

 a Franciscan convent, and a hospital for the care of the indigent sick. 

 All the houses and churches are thatched with palm leaves ; palms 

 abound in this country. Capt. Francisco de Las Casas began the 

 work of building this city in the year 1525, at the order of Don 

 Fernando Cortes ; the work was finished and settlers brought in by 

 the Marques del Valle himself, when he came down from Mexico 

 City to these provinces. The Cathedral for these provinces was in 

 this city up to the year 1558 when it was removed to Comayagua, 

 where it is at present. 



