[47] Las Casas saw him at Santo Domingo in 1523. He was reduced to penury. Proceeding thence to Panamá, he was sent by Pedrarias to Nicaragua, where he was killed. So perished the best and morally bravest of cavaliers, while unscrupulous tricksters flourished. Prior to his departure from Cuba, however, and notwithstanding the vile treatment of the governor, at Velazquez’ request, Grijalva wrote a narrative of his expedition, which was lost by Oviedo in its transmission to the king. It is embodied, however, in substance, in _Oviedo_, i. 502-37. One of the most original and complete accounts of Grijalva’s expedition extant is that by the priest Juan Diaz, _Itinerario de Larmata del Re Catholico in India verso la Isola de Iuchathan del anno M. D. XVIII, alla qual fu Presidente & Capitan Generale Ioan de Grisalva; el qual e facto per el capellano maggior de dicta Armata a sua Altezza_, published in Italian, at Venice, in 1520, in French by Ternaux-Compans, in 1838, the former being copied and quoted in manuscript by Prescott. The issue at Venice was as the second part of the _Itinerario de Ludovico de varthema Bolognese nello Egitto, nella Soria_, etc., and was there begun, _Qui comincia lo Itinerario de Lisola de Iuchatan nouamente ritrouata per il signor Gioan de Grisalue_, etc. By far the best edition is that given with a Spanish translation by Icazbalceta, in his _Col. Doc._, i. 281-308, printed in Mexico in 1858. Next is the account by Bernal Diaz, who, like the chaplain, accompanied the expedition, thus giving us narratives by eye-witnesses at once from ecclesiastical and secular stand-points. The statements of Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 56-8, and _Hist. Mex._, 9-11, must be taken with allowance. Worse still are the memorials of the relatives of Velazquez to sovereign majesty, such as that found in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, x. 80-6, which are little better than tissues of misstatements and exaggerations. Solis, _Hist. Mex._, i. 24-40, gives a fair, full, and graphic statement of particulars. The _Instruccion que dió el adelantado Diego Velazquez á Hernan Cortés_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xii. 226-51, also important, as furnishing original collateral light. Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 16, 421-4, though full, is specially inaccurate and weak, not only in his facts, but in his deductions. Nor is Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. iii., any stronger. _Clavigero_, _Storia Mess._, iii. 4-6, _De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 341-6, and _Landa_, _Rel. de Yuc._, 21, are mediocre; and _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. and ix., is quite full and very valuable. Cogolludo, _Hist. Yucathan_, 8-16, gives a fair résumé, but a far better one is Torquemada’s, i.