(Attestation:  And then upon the said day, month, and year above specified for the said inquiry, there was received an oath in the name of God and the blessed Mary, and upon the sign of the cross +, in the form prescribed by law, from Sancho Lopez de Agurto, secretary of the royal Audiencia of this Nueva Spana, and he took the same in the presence of me, Juan Augustin de Contreras, notary of his Majesty and receiver of this royal Audiencia, under which he promised to tell the truth in this affair.  On being interrogated by the aforesaid, and after having seen the writing contained in this other part, and the signatures thereof, where occur the names of Miguel Lopez and Fernando Riquel, he said that this witness knew the said Miguel Lopez and Fernando Riquel, whom many times he had seen write and sign their names; and that he knows that the said Miguel Lopez de Legaspi went as governor and general to the islands of the West, and took as his official notary the said Fernando Riquel, on the authority of the viceroy Don Luis de Velasco; and that the said signatures at the end of the said narration and writing, to wit, “Miguel Lopez” and “Fernando Riquel,” together with the handwriting of the said narration are, of a truth so far as this witness knows, those of the parties aforesaid; and he says this without the slightest doubt, for, as already said, he has seen them write and sign their names, and he has written papers and signatures of theirs in his possession similar to those of the said narration, without the slightest variation.  The said Hernando Riquel was held and considered as an upright man, and a lawyer of much veracity; and as such this witness held and still holds him.  And he declares on the oath taken by him that his entire deposition is true, and he has affixed his signature to the same.

Sancho Lopez de Agurto

Before me, Johan Augustin, notary of his Majesty.)

[The sworn depositions of Juan Augustin de Contreras and of Alonso de Segura, made before Sancho Lopez de Agurto, follow.  They are substantially the same as the above.  The document continues:]

(I, the said Sancho Lopez de Agurto, notary of the chamber of the said royal Audiencia of Nueva Espana, who was present at the said inquiry made therein, affixed my seal in testimony of the truth. [119]

Sancho Lopez de Agurto)

Bibliographical Data

Expedition of Garcia de Loaisa

Resume of contemporaneous documents.—­These documents, dated from 1522 to 1537, are briefly synopsized from Navarrete’s Col. de viages, v, pp. 193-439.  This editor obtained the material for his series from the archives of Sevilla, Madrid, and Simancas.

Voyage of Alvaro de Saavedra

Resume of contemporaneous documents.—­These documents are dated in 1527-28, and are published by Navarrete, ut supra, pp. 440-486.