[VII‑7] Equal in purchasing power to more than a million and a half of dollars at the present time.
[VII‑8] Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 1-4, writing to the emperor from Puerto de la Posesion, January 18, 1534, says: 'Mi derrota será conforme á la merced de V. M. y desde los 13 hasta los 20 grados de la otra parte de la linea descubriré todos los secretos de esta Mar y las Yslas, y Tierra firme, y donde mas convenga conquistaré, y poblaré.' In view of this it is singular that Zárate, in Barcia, iii., and those who copy him, are the only authorities who concede that Alvarado had any right to sail in a southerly direction. Herrera, dec. v. lib. vi. cap. i., Prescott, Conq. Peru, ii. 11, and others affirm that his capitulation required him to sail toward the west, and it is evident that they did not see the letter mentioned in Squier's MSS.
[VII‑9] The number of vessels is variously stated. Herrera mentions 11; Remesal, 10; Juarros, 8, Oviedo, 11, and Prescott, 12. The number and tonnage given above are taken from the letter in Squier's MSS., mentioned in note 18. This was written from Puerto de la Posesion on the eve of departure. One galleon was of 300 tons, another of 160, a third of 150, and a fourth, built by order of Pedrarias Dávila in the gulf of Chira, was of 100 tons.
[VII‑10] Alvarado is charged with the seizure in Nicaragua of two vessels in which a force of 200 men was about to be sent to the aid of Pizarro. This, however, was most likely in the form of an appropriation with the consent of the owners of the vessels. The adelantado in Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 13-27, denies this charge and forwards vouchers to prove, as he says, that they were bought at the request of the owners and paid for to their entire satisfaction. He adds however the saving clause, that, 'even had they been seized, such an act was justified by the importance of the undertaking.' This letter also appears to have escaped Herrera's notice.
[VII‑11] In the estimate of the total Spanish force authors mainly agree, but the number of cavalry is variously stated, and even the official letters of Alvarado are contradictory on this point. Herrera, dec. v. lib. vi. cap. i., gives 500 as the total, of whom 227 were cavalry. Oviedo, iv. 240, mentions 600, with 240 cavalry. According to a legal investigation made in Guatemala in 1536 his whole force was 500 and his cavalry 230, Informacion echa en Santiago Set. 15, 1536; and this is the estimate here adopted. Alvarado, Carta, Squier's MSS., xix. 1-4, writing to the emperor a few days before his departure from Puerto de la Posesion, states that he had 450 men including 260 horse, and, a few weeks later, writing from Puerto Viejo to the governor of Panamá, says that he set sail from Nicaragua with 500 men of whom 220 were cavalry.
[VII‑12] In Squier's MSS., xix. 7-14, is a full account of Alvarado's report to the emperor, dated May 12, 1535, after his return from Peru.
[VII‑13] [Chap. i.], this volume.
[VII‑14] Informacion contra Alvarado, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., x. 152-236. Cuzco lies slightly to the south of the thirteenth parallel, and was therefore in the territory assigned to the adelantado; but it is not probable that he was aware of this fact.
[VII‑15] Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 21.
[VII‑16] 'Y asi él se volvió á la cibdad de Mexico sin hacer cosa ninguna.' Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 17. This investigation was attended with some circumstances difficult of explanation. Maldonado's official proceedings were anomalous, and were strictly neither those of a visitador nor a juez de residencia. The king's decree mentioned in the text enjoined secrecy as to the motives of his visit; yet he caused the object of his arrival to be publicly cried. The difference between a visita and residencia is as follows: The visita could be made at any time by special commission of the crown, but without suspending, in the exercise of his official duties, the person whose conduct was to be investigated. The inquiry was strictly secret, and the visitador had no power to pass sentence. His duty was to remit the original depositions to the India Council, by which tribunal judgment was passed. The residencia, on the other hand, was taken at the expiration of a person's term of office; the examination was public, and afforded every opportunity for defence. Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. pp. xxviii.-xxx. The secrecy of witnesses and non-interference with the authority of the person whose conduct was investigated were not always maintained, however, in the visita. In that to which Viceroy Mendoza was subjected, in 1547, his authority was at first disregarded and the names of witnesses disclosed. Solórzano, Política Indiana, lib. v. cap. x. It may be remarked that the chroniclers seem to have been quite unaware of this first visit of Maldonado in 1535, and only record his arrival in Guatemala as juez de residencia in 1536. It is, however, fully substantiated by Alvarado's letter above quoted. For a full explanation of the term 'residencia,' see [Hist. Cent. Am., i. 250-1], this series.