News that I have heard has disquieted me to such an extent that, were it not affirmed by eye-witnesses, I could not have imagined that your Worship, coming as his Majesty's minister to establish peace and justice in this his land, is favouring the very people who have disturbed it: a thing unheard of and truly unworthy to be believed of such a person, and one so qualified, who, combining great tact with abilities that many others have lacked--according to what has been publicly stated hereabouts--was selected for the Presidency of [the Audience of] Panamá and for the redress of grievances. It seems to me that your Worship is adding point to the injuries done to my father by the Pizarros; for, whilst their followers are the men who sowed the trouble in these parts, your Worship comes not to root them out, that the evil seed may be lost, but conspires with those who have hitherto helped to maintain it against me and against those who are striving with me to defend so just a cause, together with the well-merited favour of the territory and government of New Toledo, which his Majesty granted to my father for his very signal services. On account of those services it was his pleasure that I, as a grateful and dutiful Prince, should enjoy the position after his day, as your Worship will have learnt from the licentiate Antonio de La Gama and the assessor Gonzalo Hernández who, I make no doubt, have been with you now some days. Besides the credentials I gave them, they carried certain instructions and drafts to discuss with your Worship; but as I am not certain whether those about your Worship's person will have taken steps to prevent my pleas from being heard, or my messengers from stating them to your Worship on my behalf, I am now sending, charged with the same, Lope de Idiáquez who, actuated solely by zeal for his Majesty's service, and free from all bias, as those who know him are aware, has resolved to undertake this mission, without my being able to deter him from it, in spite of its dangerous nature at the present time, owing to the native Indians waging war and not sparing the life of any Christian; which natives say and declare that what they do is by your order, communicated to them by Maldonado, on the part of your Worship, through his servant named Juan de Pinos, who is now in their villages, and that Palomino and other dwellers in Guamanga are spurring them on to act up to it. This has been the cause of ten Christians being killed, some of whom were on their way home to Spain with what they possessed; and, in addition to that, the Indians have seized their holdings. Notwithstanding all these alarms he [Idiáquez] has been ready to risk his safety in this praiseworthy effort. He sympathizes with the Indians for the vast toil and loss of life suffered by them, and recognizes the