heavens, it would be his own fault if he were not a made man. This much at this time we may say of Hernan[52] Cortés, for such was the alcalde’s name; which is more than he could say for himself, not knowing himself as we know him, and more than his associates could say of him. Hereafter as his character develops we shall become further acquainted with him. It is as difficult to detect the full-grown plant in a seed as in a stone, and yet the seed will become a great tree, while the stone remains a stone. And so, with the aid of his loving friends Duero and Láres, whose deft advice worked successfully on the plastic mind of Velazquez, and because he possessed some money and many friends, as well as courage and wisdom, the alcalde of Santiago was proclaimed captain-general of the expedition.[53] And now, while the heathen wail let the Spaniards rejoice. Yes. Noble Castilian! cry aloud! for gold shall fill the coffers of your king as they were never filled before, and great shall be the glory of your kingdom; and if the sight of the blood your captains shall draw from the hapless savages, even more freely than gold is drawn, does not spoil your appetite for the game, then whet your swords for the grand pacification. FOOTNOTES [37] Herrera says it was the _San Sebastian_; Oviedo, the _Trinidad_. [38] Town and river given both by Cortés and Orontius. Colon writes _R: de almeria_; Ribero, _almera_; Vaz Dourado, _allmeira_; Hood, _Almeria_; nos. vi. and vii., _Munich Atlas_, _rio de almeria_, and Mercator, _Almeria_. Ogilby places north of _Lhanos de Almeria_ a large gulf labelled _R. de S Pº y S Paulo_, and south of it _Toluia_, and _Tore Branco_. Dampier lays down _Almeria I._ opposite _Tispe_ and _Haniago Isle_ on the mainland. Laet gives _Naothlan ó Almeria_, and _Lhanos de Almeria_. [39] ‘Vimos las sierras de Tusta, y mas adelante de a hi á otros dos dias vimos otros sierras muy altas, q̄ agora se llamã las sierras de Tuspa;’ so called, Bernal Diaz says, _Hist. Verdad._, 10, from the towns lying at their base. The Rio de Tuxpan is supposed to be the _San Pedro y San Pablo_ of early days. ‘Da das Peter-und-Pauls-Fest auf den 29 Juni.’