orders on account of my illness, I decided to send in my place my vassal Gaspar, whom I greatly esteem, believing that he would execute the commission well, as he is a man experienced in all matters pertaining to these Islands, having been in them before; and in consequence I sent him, giving him the letter from the emperor my lord.  He came and delivered it; but, as there was no interpreter, it was not understood, and he was discredited because of the little authority he had, as he was not an ambassador.  For that reason your Excellency decided to send father Fray Juan Cobos and Captain Lope de Llano, who were to visit the kingdom of Xapon and ascertain the truth concerning the embassy which my said subject brought.  When Fray Juan Cobos arrived in Satisma he wrote two letters, one to the emperor, my lord, and another to me as the person to whom the embassy sent to these islands had been entrusted.  The said two letters were tied together, and I received them in the town of Mengoya, where the court of my lord the emperor is established. [3] For the sake of courtesy, I did not separate mine, but took both and delivered them to the emperor my lord, who read his and gave me mine—­ordering a captain and myself, one by land and the other by sea, to go to meet father Fray Juan Cobos.  We departed at once, I going by sea; and I met him at Geto, a place between Firando and Mangasatte, [4] where I received him with great pleasure, and brought him to the court where my lord the emperor then was.  Upon being notified of his arrival, the emperor ordered one of his nobles to give him hospitality in his own home, so that Father Juan Cobos could rest there until a house could be adorned with gold, to shelter him with more pomp, because he was the envoy of so great a governor and because he is a father, and known to be a learned man, and that all his royal city might see how grand a reception was accorded to him.  Twenty-five days afterward, when everything was ready to receive him, I sent six hundred of the principal men, nobles and gentry, to convey him to the emperor’s presence, sending a beautifully decorated litter, on which the father was carried on their shoulders.  Everyone was amazed to see such a reception, the like of which had never before been accorded to any other ambassador, although many had come to my lord the emperor, some to offer obedience, others to negotiate peace treaties.  It was because the emperor knew that the Spaniards are a warlike nation, valiant and honored above all other people, that he gave them such a reception; and so it was known over all the court.

My lord the emperor was inside the fortress, and when father Fray Juan Cobos reached the palace he was bidden to enter the audience-chamber where the emperor was waiting for him, and where he received him with the greatest honor and show of affection ever shown to any man, seating him next to himself.  Father Fray Juan Cobos presented him with the letter, which upon being read, showed how doubts had arisen regarding