en vinos y en ropas y en otras cosas de poco valor para nos lo vender acá (V. Cruz) en mucha mas cantidad de lo que á él le costó.’ _Carta de la Justicia de Veracruz, 10 de julio, 1519_, in _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 8; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiv. 37. Claiming to have no ready money of his own, Velazquez took for the expedition 1000 castellanos from the estate of Narvaez in his charge. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 12-13. ‘Salió de la Isla de Cuba ... con quince navíos suyos.’ _Cortés_, _Memorial_, 1542, in _Cortés_, _Escritos Sueltos_, 310. Peter Martyr assumes that Cuban colonists furnished the fleet with the governor’s consent, and elected Cortés commander. Dec. iv. cap. vi. Solis, _Hist. Mex._, i. 61, considers that Velazquez held only a minor share in the expedition. Montejo stated in a general way that he spent all his fortune on joining the expedition. _Cent. Am._, 1554-55, 127-30, in _Squiers MS._ In _De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii_ it is asserted that Cortés expended 6000 pesos of his own, and 6000 ducats borrowed money, beside what Velazquez lent him; his expenditures being in all 15,000 pesos. Velazquez gave not one real, but merely sold goods at exorbitant figures, or made advances at a high interest, even the vessels provided by him being transferred to the commander under an expensive charter. ‘Sunt pretereà, multi Hispani viri boni qui et nunc vivunt, et qui cum ea classis de qua agimus, apparabatur, aderant. Hi in hujus causæ defensione, cujus apud Consilium Regium Indicum Cortesius est accusatus, testes jurati asserunt Velazquium nihil omnino ex propriâ facultate in Cortesii classem impendisse.’ This would indicate that Montejo and Puertocarrero’s testimony was confirmed by many others. The agent, Juan Diaz, who attended to the sale of the goods and the collection of the advances, fell in the retreat from Mexico, and his money was lost. _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 345-9. This testimony by members of the expedition merits the foremost attention in the question, particularly since the fewer statements on the other side are based wholly on supposition. It is somewhat qualified, however, by the consideration that both Montejo and Puertocarrero were stanch friends of Cortés, and that the letter of the ayuntamiento was prepared in his presence. It must also be borne in mind that a goodly proportion of the share attributed to him consisted of vessels and effects obtained upon his credit as captain-general of the fleet, and also in a semi-piratical manner. The statements in _Cortés_, _Memorial_, and in _De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii_, indicate, beside, a hardly warranted attempt to regard Velazquez’ contribution chiefly as a loan to the commander