52 NUNO DE GUZMAN. [1530. 



Pacific, or other countries west of Mexico, not within the limits 

 assigned to any other Spanish governor ; of which countries he and 

 his heirs forever were to enjoy the government, and one twelfth of 

 all the precious metals, pearls, and other advantages therefrom 

 accruing, on condition of their treating the natives with kindness, 

 and endeavoring to convert them to the Christian faith. The politic 

 Charles did not, however, intrust such extensive powers to one so 

 capable and ambitious as Cortes, without at the same time providing 

 certain checks, by means of which the conqueror of Mexico might 

 be effectually prevented from using his faculties for any other 

 ends than enlarging the dominions of the crown of Castile. The 

 expenses of all his expeditions were to be borne by himself; and 

 he could do little, if any thing, without the assent of the Audiencia, 

 or Royal Court and Board of Administration, established at Mexico, 

 the members of which were chosen from among his most bitter 

 enemies. 



The only governor in the New World with whose claims Cortes 

 might have been supposed to interfere, by expeditions westward 

 from Mexico, was Nuno de Guzman, the president of the Audiencia, 

 who had obtained from the emperor the government of Panuco, 

 the country on the Gulf of Mexico surrounding the spot now 

 occupied by the town of Tampico, and also that of Xalisco, of 

 which he had received accounts from Maldonado and other adven- 

 turers. This person, one of the same stamp with Pizarro and 

 Davila, had been assiduously engaged in undermining the authority 

 and influence of Cortes ; and no sooner did he learn that his rival 

 was returning to Mexico as captain-general, than he assembled all 

 the troops under his command in the capital, and marched for 

 Xalisco, where he remained many years, subduing the country, and 

 exterminating its aboriginal inhabitants. 



Cortes thus, on his arrival in Mexico in July, 1530, found himself 

 deprived of the means not only of making expeditions of discov- 

 ery, but also of maintaining his authority in the kingdom ; and he 

 was obliged to wait two years before he could send a single vessel 

 out on the Pacific. At length, by the middle of the year 1532, he 

 had two ships ready for sea, which he determined to despatch on an 

 exploratory voyage, along the western coast, whilst the others were 

 in progress of construction at Tehuantepec. 



At that period, the whole eastern coast of the American continent 

 ^ad been explored, but imperfectly by European navigators ; though 

 no part of the interior, north of Mexico and the countries in its 



