day I heard the news, and I presented myself in the Audiencia in order to appeal, and to take exception to whatever possession should be taken.  I appealed from whatever writ of possession might be provided; and I ordered that a copy of this appeal be handed to the parties.  Cristoval de Axqueta kept himself hidden, in order that notice might not be served on him; and four or five days after my appeal the possession which I had opposed was given him by an alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan.  The other litigants did not take possession; and, the case being concluded, a writ was issued, by which all were protected in their possession.  The decision in respect to the ownership was submitted to your royal Council of the Indias, I having appealed from the writ.  The case has been concluded and considered, and the decision has not been reached; of that I shall later send a report to your Majesty.

For these reasons your governor is inciting the soldiers and telling them that I am depriving them of means of sustenance, and various other things, in order to set them against me, and make himself popular with them, while disparaging me.  Consequently, some of them bear me ill-will.  Your said governor, although he knows that he cannot take Indians from your royal crown, has assigned some of them three or four times; and I have had them taken away by process of law.  He satisfied himself by telling the soldiers that he had given them a means of support, but that I had taken it away.  As I took exception to his acts, and caused several encomiendas to be revoked which had been given by him, he says that he is not the governor, but I am.  I beseech your Majesty to be pleased to command your governor to refrain from such indignities to me, as the diligence which I exercise and the actions at law which I cause are for your royal service, the increase of the royal exchequer, and the fulfilment of my conscience and obligation.  As I am hated in this country for doing my duty, would your Majesty be pleased to favor me by granting me leave to depart, and giving me a charge elsewhere where I may serve better and more satisfactorily, and where no one will complain of me.  When your Majesty receives this, I shall have served in this office of fiscal almost seven years.  Should your Majesty not be disposed to grant me this favor I shall continue in my service here until I die.

Still later, at the death of Dona Maria de Miranda, two encomiendas were left vacant, both worth a thousand pesos of income.  They were given to Don Fernando de Villafana, by virtue of your royal decree, in which it is commanded that your governor should give him an encomienda of Indians.  He has served in these islands about ten years, and for his good service and poverty but little has been given him.  On this account, and as your Majesty had commanded that he be given an encomienda of Indians, I took no exception, as in the other cases.