[239] No generous allusion appears to have been made to the discoverers who opened the way for him. Gomara alone gives a brief outline of the letter, but the original or copy has never been found, notwithstanding the close search made. Since Charles V. received it on the eve of his departure for Germany, it occurred to Robertson that the Vienna archives might throw on it some light, and the consequent search led to the discovery of an authenticated copy of the companion letter from the municipality of Villa Rica, but nothing relating to Cortés’ report. _Hist. Am._, preface, x.-xi. Panes insists that the letter must have existed in the Vienna Court Library at one time. _Doc. Domin. Esp._, MS., 59-60. Barcia suggests several ways in which it might have been lost; one being its production before the royal council at the instance of Pánfilo de Narvaez. _Bibl. Occid._, tit. iv. ii. 598. Fortunately the companion letter and other narratives cover its essential points. [240] ‘El Cabildo escriuiò juntamente con diez soldados ... ê iva yo firmado en ella.’ _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 36. [241] Written by Cortés’ most devoted friends, and undoubtedly under his supervision, we cannot expect to find it other than a labored effort to promote his views. Robertson, whose suggestion led to its discovery in the Vienna Imperial Library, offers a mere synopsis of the contents. _Hist. Am._, preface, p. xi. ii. 521-2. It is given at length in the _Cortés_, _Cartas_, by Gayangos, Paris, 1866, 1-34, with notes, and with the list of presents appended; and in _Col. Doc. Inéd._, i. 417-72, and in _Alaman_, _Disert._, i. 2d app., 41-104, preceded by an introductory sketch of the expedition by the collector of the papers, and containing the list of presents as checked by Muñoz in 1784 from the Manual del Tesorero de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla. [242] ‘Todos los Capitanes, y soldados juntamente escriuimos otra carta.’ _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 36. ‘El cabildo ... escriuio ... dos letras. Vna ... no firmaron sino alcaldes y regidores. La otra fue acordada y firmada del cabildo y de todos los mas principales.’ _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 63.