catch Indians, either at the Lucayas Islands or elsewhere. Torquemada, i. 349, writes more mildly, yet plainly enough; ‘para ir à buscar Indios, à las Islas Convecinas, y hacer Rescates, como hasta entonces lo acostumbraban.’ Cogolludo, _Hist. Yucathan_, 1-6, follows Bernal Diaz almost literally. Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 60, is non-committal, stating first ‘para descubrir y rescatar,’ and afterward, ‘Otros dizen que para traer esclauos de las yslas Guanaxos a sus minas y granjerias.’ Oviedo and Herrera pass by the question. Landa, _Rel. de Yucatan_, 16, ‘a rescatar esclavos para las minas, que ya en Cuba se yva la gente apocando y que otros dizen que salio a descubrir tierra.’ Says the unknown author of _De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 338, ‘In has igitur insulas ad grassandum et prædandum, ut ita dicam, ire hi de quibus suprà dictum est, constituerant; non in Iucatanam.’ It is clear to my mind that slaves were the first object, and that discovery was secondary, and an after-thought. [3] Bernal Diaz holds persistently to 110. It was 110 who came from Tierra Firme, and after divers recruits and additions the number was still 110. [4] Authorities vary, from four days given by Las Casas, and six by Oviedo, to 21 by Bernal Diaz and Herrera. The date of departure is also disputed, but the differences are unimportant. Compare _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv. cap. vi.; _Dufey_, _Résumé Hist. Am._, i. 93; _Clavigero_, _Storia Mess._, iii. 3; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 348-63; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 3-8; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 60-1; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 1-2; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.; _Solis_, _Hist. Mex._, i. 22-4; _Vida de Cortés_, or _De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 331-41; _March y Labores_, _Marina Española_, i. 463-8; _Robertson’s Hist. Am._, i. 237-40; _Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc._, 5-8.