The Spanish reports have especial value in creating an impartial view of Drake’s feats; the detailed personal character of the reports makes them exactly suitable for children. Zarate’s evidence that Drake carried the Queen’s commission conflicts with the usually accepted statements, but appears irrefutable evidence.
Letter to Sanchez, Treasurer.
The entire absence of resistance should be remarked, and the merely formal nature of the acquisition of rights.
It was, of course, the treasures of Cathay (see Mediæval Voyages, p. 37), inaccessible by the old Eastern routes since the Ottoman Turks seized the Levant and Constantinople, which formed the original motive of exploration of a west or north-west route.
The inhabitants are still in the Stone Age, but have elements of religion and live peacefully and in comfort until attacked. The closing paragraph gives the main motives of the voyage as treasure, luxuries, and naval supply, but also indicates the genuinely religious zeal which must be reckoned with in all Portuguese and Spanish exploration (see also voyages three, four).
Memorial of Second Voyage.
The strongly-worded approval of the rulers was not carried into practical effect (see voyage four). Fonseca was constituted the royal agent for the whole intercourse with the New World.
Third Voyage.
Columbus’s reference to “trustworthy and wise historians” seems to indicate that more was known of the New World than has been supposed, unless he is referring to records of the East. The progressive temper of the friars carries on the traditions of Rubruquis and Carpini, and may be used to balance the idea that the church was always reactionary and conservative.
Fourth Voyage.