Pedro Ponce de León, 1596 
297 
so that he may go to prevent the injuries, for, if they are rooted at the 
beginning of the exploration, it will be more difficult to remedy them 
than successfully to complete the entire expedition. In order not to be 
delayed in Mexico in raising men it seems to him right and necessary to 
take the most of them from here; he therefore prays that the license that 
he has for one hundred soldiers be for three hundred, and that he shall 
have the right to collect them in Seville and his country, raising banners 
and beating drums. 
4. That the four hundred tons that have been granted to him may be 
divided between the two ships in more or less amounts, smaller or larger, 
according to what seems best, and that they shall be permitted 23 to depart 
immediately, before the fleet. 
5. That everything that may have been arranged by Don Juan de 
Oñate in the matter of apportioning Indians and other things shall be 
invalid. 
6. That he be granted the governorship of Nueva Vizcaya, when the 
one who has it completes his term, which may be four years, for it is im¬ 
portant to the success of the expedition that he shall leave a lieutenant 
there to succor him with men, provisions, and ammunition, without hav¬ 
ing to beg for it but rather to command it. 
7. That he be given permission to take from Vizcaya five hundred 
harquebuses and one hundred muskets at the price that his Majesty pays 
for them. 
8. Another license to take at the same price as his Majesty fifty quin¬ 
tals of quicksilver for the mines that may be found in the discovery. 
9. That he be granted the favor of sixty quintals of match fuse which 
he did not ask for at the time that he was granted the powder and lead 
because he understood the flint-lock harquebuses were used in the Indies, 
and now he knows that even though they are used it will not be best to 
take them on that discovery. 
Don Pedro Ponce de León begs that your highness will order to be 
placed among the articles that when you wished to grant me what is 
offered to the generals in the discoveries—that they shall be given per¬ 
petual vassals, with titles of adelantados and marquises—I refused it until 
such time as I shall have thoroughly merited it. 
Don Pedro Ponce begs that your honor will propose to the Council 
the following: 
The grant of the one hundred soldiers, article 29. 
The prompt despatch of his titles and commissions, so that he may 
overtake Don Juan de Oñate. 
That the Theatines 24 whom he agreed to take shall be changed to Fran¬ 
ciscan friars. 
That the term of a year and a half shall be assigned as the time when 
he shall be obligated to enter upon the discovery. Article 21. 
Don Pedro Ponce de León. 
1. That the hundred soldiers added shall enjoy in everything the same 
privileges as the other hundred and thirty servants and soldiers. 
