destruction of property [55] when the galleon was wrecked in the year 726. The day before he took possession of the government, I waited on him with a batôn [of office] made of gold, with a diamond which I caused to be set in its tip, which was valued at more than six hundred pesos. Don Fernando still continues in his kind regard for me, although these knaves have not relaxed in their perverse designs. Your Grace may rest assured that, on my part, not only will not the slightest cause be given to him for growing cool toward me, but I shall, on the other hand, endeavor to secure the opposite result, in whatever concerns the behavior that is due him. Your Grace will please say the same to all your honored friends, who, influenced by the [same] affectionate loyalty [fina ley] which I acknowledge toward your Grace, have always favored us, pledging themselves to advance my interests with him--especially Señors Legarra and Maturana. [56] The latter himself has told me that Don Fernando is under obligations of great friendship to them, and that they will take especial pains to talk with him in my behalf. While on my part I give them grateful thanks, suited to the extraordinary obligation to them under which I shall always remain, I am meantime fulfilling that obligation without [unnecessary] delay, for the next galleon (since the [brief] time does not give me leisure for this one), in attending to the affairs of the above-mentioned gentlemen, Señors Legarra and Maturana--and in regard to the others. In virtue of the knowledge that your Grace can do me the pleasure of facilitating those which are, I trust that you will be pleased to continue to me the much that I owe to you, and for which I shall always remain under great obligation to you, by asking them that on the first occasion, or in reply to this, they will deign to confer on us the new favor of returning thanks to this knight; for that will be a circumstance which will gratify him, and will certainly be very apropos. And in case they consent to bestow on us this new honor, I trust that your Grace will please arrange that the letters come through my hand, in order that I may deliver them to him.