Several months having now elapsed since the departure of Las Casas with the armament, and Cortes still without any tidings from him, he began to fear that some misfortune had befallen him. The more he thought of the many dangers to which vessels are exposed, and the various changes of good and bad fortune which are inseparable from an expedition of this nature, the more he regretted, notwithstanding all the confidence he placed in Las Casas, that he had not gone in person at the head of the armament. All this, added to the assurances he had received of there being lucrative gold mines along the coast of the Honduras, determined Cortes to march thither in person at the head of his troops. His first care was to have the fortifications of Mexico well mounted with cannon, and a good supply of ammunition to be laid by in the arsenals for the protection of the city. The government of New Spain he intrusted in his absence to the treasurer Alonso de Estrada and to the accountant Albornoz. How he could make choice of the latter is quite beyond my speculation; but he certainly would not have done so if he had been aware of the infamous manner in which Albornoz had slandered him to the emperor. The licentiate Zuazo, who has so often been mentioned in the course of this history, he appointed alcalde-mayor of Mexico, and the entire management of his own private property he gave to his relative Rodrigo de Paz. After he had thus made every provision for the government and security of Mexico, he particularly desired the crown officers, to whom he had intrusted the chief government, the Franciscan friar Toribio Motolinia, and the excellent father Olmedo, who was held in the highest estimation in Mexico, and had deservedly the greatest influence on all classes of people, to act in harmony to assist each other in the conversion of the Indians and to maintain peace and good order throughout the provinces, as well as in the city itself. In order, however, to deprive the discontented of the Indian population in the city and in the provinces of all possibility of choosing any leader of distinction, should they take it into their heads to rise up in arms during his absence, he took along with him Quauhtemoctzin, besides the king of Tlacupa, and several others of the most distinguished caziques of the country, among whom the chief of Tapiezuela held the first rank, and even despatched a message to the caziques of Mechoacan, desiring them also to join his army.