In 1573 the Inquisition renewed its persecution of Sarmiento; it considered trivial charges brought against him; and finally reaffirmed its former sentence of banishment. The execution of this sentence was not then practicable, for Sarmiento was at that time engaged in a campaign against the Chiriguanos, eastward of the Andes, and after his return the civil authorities persuaded the inquisitors that the sentence should be revoked. But two years later they considered other equally trivial charges, and this time he was found guilty, imprisoned and sentenced again to be banished. At this time the viceroy, Francisco de Toledo (1569-1591), interfered, ordered that Sarmiento should be released, held him in the service of the government, and took him under his special protection. In 1579, when Drake appeared in Peruvian waters, Sarmiento led an expedition in pursuit of him, but failed to overtake him. On his return, he received the viceroy’s orders to proceed to the Strait of Magellan, in order to intercept Drake there on his voyage back to England. At the same time he was under orders to fortify the strait so as to prevent the passage of explorers or pirates who might undertake to follow Drake. Other navigators had entered the strait before Sarmiento—Magellan in 1520, Loaysa and Cano in 1526, Alcazava in 1535, and Drake in 1578; but Sarmiento’s account of his voyage virtually superseded all reports made by previous explorers. It, moreover, persuaded the king of Spain to fit out an extensive fleet for the purpose of transporting a considerable body of colonists, men with their families, to the inhospitable shores of the strait. Sarmiento was appointed to be the governor of the colony, but the command of the fleet was entrusted to the incompetent Diego Flores de Valdés, and his incompetence rather than the storms encountered caused the ruin of the enterprise. Sarmiento’s narratives of his voyages, translated into English by Markham, have been issued as a volume of the Hakluyt Society’s publications. This collection consists of five documents. The first is called _Voyage to the Strait of Magellan_, and gives an account of Sarmiento’s passage through the strait, with such accuracy of detail as to elicit the commendation of later navigators and surveyors. The second document was written in Río de Janeiro in 1583. It refers to the passage through the strait, the voyage to Spain, the preparation of the fleet under Flores de Valdés, and gives some account of what happened to the fleet. The third document enumerates the ships and their officers, while the fourth is a narrative of the equipment of the fleet, the disasters it encountered, the disgraceful conduct of the officers, the settlements in the strait, and the captivity of Sarmiento. The last document gives some account of the tragic fate of the settlers, who waited in vain for the return of ships with provisions, and who distributed themselves along