[IX‑25] 'Quisiesse socorrer á los pobladores chripstianos, que estaban en Honduras, en paçificar la tierra, é dar órden cómo no se acabassen de perder los españoles que allí estaban.' Oviedo, iii. 214.
[IX‑26] Oviedo, iii. 214, says that this occurred in 1533. Célis himself states that Cereceda sent him to Guatemala toward the end of 1535, or early in 1536. Camino de Guat., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 540-9; whereas Herrera states that Célis went of his own accord. 'Estas cosas llegaron a termino que el Tesorero como buen ministro sossegô la gente, con prometer de yr a Guatemala á pedir socorro a don Pedro de Aluarado.' dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii.
[IX‑27] Cava, Honduras, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 280 et seq., Célis subsequently put in a claim for 800 castellanos, for the subsistence of his party, and for horses employed during the exploration of a road to Guatemala. On the 24th of October 1539 a judicial investigation was held before the alcalde mayor, at Puerto de Caballos, to ascertain whether the treasurer had, as he claimed, discovered a road thence to Guatemala. Several witnesses were examined, and all testified that Alonso Ortiz had discovered and travelled over the road before Célis; that the latter when he passed on to Guatemala was under no expense whatever, for his supplies were furnished by others. Célis, Camino, in Id., xiv. 540-50. In Guatemala he stopped at the house of the king's treasurer, and was therefore under no expense. Montejo, in Id., ii. 241.
[IX‑28] There were present, Andrés de Cereceda, the alcalde Alonso Ortiz, and the regidores Bernardo de Cabranes, Juan Lopez de Gamboa, and Miguel García de Liñan. Mendoza, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 301-4.
[IX‑29] Mendoza, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiv. 301-4. The foregoing is the account given in Cereceda's official report to the viceroy of Mexico. Herrera, however, gives quite a different version of the matter. He states that the settlers, seeing that, after an absence of four months, the treasurer Célis did not return or send any message, agreed to abandon the place. Loading their Indian servants with what little effects they had left, they proceeded on their way, after tying Cereceda and two of his friends to trees, because he forbade them to take away their slaves on the ground that it was contrary to royal orders to carry them from one province to another, although he himself had done so and had allowed his friends the same privilege. But after marching a few leagues they fell in with men coming from Guatemala, whereupon they returned to the settlement and made friends with the governor, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii. In a letter to Alvarado dated May 9, 1536, Cereceda says nothing about being tied to a tree, although he complains of gross ill-treatment at the hands of the colonists.
[IX‑30] It was intended to establish here a large settlement. The city was founded on the 26th of June 1536. The various officials were appointed, sworn, and inducted into office. Sites for dwellings were assigned to the alcaldes, regidores, and vecinos. The name of the town was not to be changed except by the emperor's orders; and it was decreed that none should reside elsewhere until the emperor's pleasure was known. Honduras, Fundacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvi. 530-8.
[IX‑31] This settlement was distant from Comayagua 38 leagues and from Guatemala 106 leagues. Juarros, Guat., i. 41; Herrera, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. viii.
[IX‑32] Alvarado, Carta, in Squier's MSS., xix. 24-5, 29. In this letter he proposes to the king to conduct a large expedition from Spain through the Straits of Magellan into the South Sea, in which he believed there were many islands and even some continents.
[X‑1] 'A quien se auia dado el oficio de contador, y depuestole del de alcalde mayor, por las diferẽcias que traía con Pedrarias.' Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xv. Oviedo, iv. 112, still speaks of him as 'alcalde mayor é contador' when he takes charge of the government.
[X‑2] 'Que era de derecho, que quando dos personas que tenian poderes del Rey, moria el vno, el que quedaua sucedia al otro.' Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xv.