WWBHIP] MKNIXI/.a's I.K.TTKIi, Al'lill. 17, 1540 551 



related, although, as I have said, I have had with me Indians who 

 have Lived there fifteen and twenty years. 



"The death of Esteban the negro look place in the way the father, 

 Friar Marcos, described it to your lordship, and so I do not make a 

 report of ii here, except i hat the people at Cibola sent word to those of 



this village and in its neighbor! I that if any Christians should come, 



they ought not to consider them as anything peculiar, and ought to kill 



them, because they were mortal — saying thai they had learned this 



because they kepi the bones of 1 1 w ho had come I here; and that, 



if they did not dare to do this, they should send word so that those (at 

 Cibola) could come and do it. I can very casilv believe I lial all this has 

 taken place, and that there has been some communication between 



these places, because of the coolness with which i hey received us and 



I he s ■ laces (hey have shown us." 



Melchior l>ia/. says thai I he people whom he found along the way do 

 not have anj settlements at all, except, in one valley which is l.'iO 

 leagues from Ouluaoan, which is well sell led and has houses with 

 lofts, and that I here are many people along I he « a v , but I hat I hey are 



not good for anything except, to make them Ohristians, as If this was 



of small account. May Y ■ Majesty remember In provide for I lie 



service of God, and keep in mind the deaths and the loss of life and of 



provinces which has taken place in these, Indies. And, moreover, up 

 to this present day none of the things Your Majesty has commanded, 

 which have been very holy and good, have been attended to, nor priests 

 provided, either lor that country or tor this. For I assure Four Maj 

 esty that there is no trace of Christianity where the -y have QOt yel 

 arrived, neither little nor ch, and that the poor people are ready to 



receive the priests and c i to them even when they flee from as like 



deer in the mountains. And I state this because I am an eyewitness, 



and I have seen it clearly daring this trip. I have importuned Tour 



Majesty for friars, and yet again I can not cease doing it iiiiic.lt more, 



because unless I his be done I can nol accomplish that which I am bound 



to do. 



After I reach Mexico, I will tfive Your Majesty an account of every 



thing concerning t hese provinces, for w idle I should like to do if today, 



I can not, because I am very weak from a slow fever which I Caught in 

 < 'olima, which attacked me very severely, although if did not last more 

 than six days. It, has pleased Our Lord to make me Well already, and 

 1 have traveled here lo .lacona, where I am. 



May Our Lord protect the Holy Catholic Ca\sarian person of Your 

 Majesty and aggrandize if with increase of belter kingdoms and lord 

 ships, as we your servants desire. 



From .laiona, April 17, I.VIII. 



S. 0. 0. M. 



Your Holy Majesty's humble servant, who salutes your royal feel, 

 and hands, 



I). Antonio de Mkndo/.a. 



