rodrigo de bastidas—extension of new world privileges—the royal share—juan de la cosa—ships of the early discoverers—coasting darien—the terrible teredo—wrecked on espa?ola—spanish money—treatment of bastidas by ovando—accused, and sent to spain for trial—he is immediately acquitted—future career and character of bastidas—the archives of the indies—the several collections of public documents in spain—the labors of mu?oz and navarrete—bibliographical notices of the printed collections of navarrete, ternaux-compans, salvá and baranda, and pacheco and cárdenas.
the first spaniard to touch the territory which for the purposes of my work i have taken the liberty to denominate the pacific states of north america was rodrigo de bastidas, a notary of triana, the gypsy suburb of seville.
the new world opened to settlement.
although the discoveries of columbus had been made for castile, and castilians regarded their rights to the new lands superior to those of any others, even other inhabitants of spain; and although at first none might visit the new world save those authorized by columbus or fonseca; yet, owing to inadequate returns from heavy expenditures, and the inability of the admiral properly to control colonization in the several parts of the ever-widening area, at the solicitation of several persons desirous of entering the new field of commerce and adventure at their own charge, on the 10th of april, 1495, the sovereigns issued a proclamation granting native-born subjects of spain permission to settle in hayti, 184 or espa?ola,[iii-1] as i shall continue to call the island, and to make to other parts private voyages of discovery and trade, under royal license. the regulations were that the vessels so sailing should be equipped under royal inspection, that they should depart only from the port of cádiz, and that they should carry one or two crown officers. the sovereigns retained, without payment, one tenth of the tonnage, and were to receive one tenth of the gross returns. settlers on espa?ola were to receive grants of land, and one year's provision; of the gold they gathered they were to pay two thirds to the crown; on all other products one tenth. although this step was taken without consulting columbus, it was the aim of the sovereigns fully to respect his rights in the matter; therefore, and in lieu of his property in one eighth of all the tonnage, for every seven vessels thus privately adventured he was privileged to despatch one on his own account. the admiral still complaining, such parts of the proclamation as in any wise interfered with his rights were revoked, and his former privileges confirmed, the 2d of june, 1497.[iii-2] 185
among those to take advantage of this permission, 186 beside bastidas, was alonso de ojeda, who embarked with four vessels from spain in may, 1499, in company with juan de la cosa and amerigo vespucci, sailed along the seaboard of south america from paria and the pearl coast, discovered by columbus, to the gulf of venezuela, so called because like venice the native villages were built over the water. at cape de la vela, ojeda left the coast and crossed to espa?ola, whence he was driven off by roldan at the command of columbus. he reached spain in june, 1500; and though his ships were crowded with slaves, after paying expenses there were left but five hundred ducats to divide among fifty-five persons. sailing in a caravel of only fifty tons, a few days later than ojeda, were pedro alonso ni?o and cristóbal guerra, who, following the track of columbus and ojeda to the pearl coast, thence crossed to margarita, returned to the main-land and coasted cumaná, and finally returned to spain, arriving about two months before ojeda, well laden with gold and pearls. this was the first really profitable voyage, pecuniarily, to the new world. then there was vicente ya?ez pinzon, who sailed in four caravels in december, 1499, and shortly after diego de lepe, in two vessels, both going to brazil.
voyage of bastidas.
quite exceptional to the ordinary adventurer was bastidas. he was a man of standing in the community, possessed of some means himself and having wealthy friends; he was intelligent and influential, and withal humane, even las casas admitting that no one ever accused him of illtreating the indians.
the friends of the honest notary, among them juan de ledesma, were ready enough to join him, pecuniarily, in a venture to the famous pearl coast, as the south american shore of the admiral's third voyage was now called. obtaining from fonseca's office a royal license,[iii-3] and enlisting the co?peration of juan de la cosa, already veteran in western pilotage, bastidas equipped two caravels,[iii-4] embarked at cádiz in october, 1500, took on board wood, water, meat, and cheese at gomera, and steering a little north of the admiral's last track, came to a 190 green isle, which he called isla verde, and reached the mainland near venezuela. coasting westward, he passed santa marta, and arrived at the magdalena river in march, 1501, so naming it on arrival from the day, which was that of the woman's conversion. there he narrowly escaped shipwreck. continuing, and trading on the way, he found the ports of zamba and coronados—the latter so called because the natives wore large crowns—the islands of san bernardo, barú, and the arenas, off cartagena bay. next he saw fuerte and tenantless tortuga, touched at the port of cenú, passed point caribana, entered the gulf of urabá, and saw the farallones, or craggy islet peaks, rising abruptly from the water near the darien shore. thus far from cape de la vela he had discovered one hundred and fifty leagues[iii-5] of new seaboard. and because when the tide was low the water was fresh, he called the place golfo dulce. thus came the spaniards upon the isthmus that unites the two americas; and along it they sailed to point manzanilla, in which vicinity were el retrete and nombre de dios.[iii-6]
glories of the isthmus.
it is a balmy beginning, this of these men from spain, of that intercontinental commerce which is shortly to bring destruction on one side and retrogression 191 on the other; a commerce which shall end only with the next general cataclysm. threading their way among islands smothered in foliage, which seemed upon the glossy water-surface as floating fragments of the thickly matted verdure of the mainland, listening to notes unfamiliar to their ears, and seeing these strange men and women so like and yet so unlike spaniards, they find themselves wondering whether they are in the world or out of it. we who so well know our little planet and its ways can scarcely imagine what it was in the darkness to be taken up at seville, and put down amidst the magic play of light and shade at darien. probably now the world was round; yet still it might be fungiform, or crescent-shaped, or amorphous, having a smooth or ragged edge, from which a fearful slipping-off might any moment ensue. all they can know is what they see, and that they cannot half know, for they can scarcely more than half see or feel or smell. some part of the perpendicular rays of the incandescent sun falling on their toughened skins they can feel; some part of the water that from the surcharged reservoirs of low-lying clouds so frequently and freely pours upon the spot whence it is pumped by this same vertical sun. they can turn their bewildered eyes toward the south and see beyond its clean white border the mainland stretching off in billows of burnished green to the far-away hazy horizon, where like a voluptuous beauty it imprints a kiss upon the blushing sky; they may lie in the gray mist of evening and dream, and dream, their minds—how many removes from the intelligence of the impatient sea and the self-tuned life upon the shore? or they may drift about in the amber light of a soft vaporous morning without much dreaming; one thing at least to them is real, and that is gold. without the aid of divine revelation they fathom the difference between the precious solid substance and hollow brass. so do the savages, thinking the latter much the prettier; and thus 192 both sides, each believing the others fools and well cheated, are happy in their traffic. the spaniards are enchanted less by the lovely garb in which nature everywhere greets them than by the ease with which the golden harvest is gathered. thus all betokens the most flattering success when a luckless event casts a shadow over their bright fortunes.
the two ships were found to be leaking badly. an examination was made, when the bottoms were found pierced by teredos;[iii-7] and thus before they knew it their vessels were unfit for service. hoping still to reach cádiz, bastidas immediately set sail, touched at jamaica for wood and water, and continued his voyage as far as contramaestre, an islet one league distant from espa?ola, where he was obliged to anchor and repair his ships. again embarking for spain, he was met by a gale which threw him back upon the island. buffeted in a second attempt, he ran the ships for safety into the little port of jaraguá, where they filled and sank, the loss in vessels, slaves, brazil-wood, cloth, and gold, being not less than five millions of maravedís.[iii-8] for notwithstanding the estimable 193 reputation for piety, justice, and humanity which he has always borne, the good bastidas did not scruple gently to entrap on board his ships, along the shore of darien, several scores of unsuspecting natives, to be sold as slaves; nor, having thus exercised his virtues in the klopemania of the day, did he scruple to abandon with his sinking ships the greater portion of these innocent wretches in order to save the more of his gold, which was deemed of greater proximate and certain value than the bodies or even the souls of the heathen.
thus observing everywhere, as perforce we must as we proceed, the magnanimity and high morality with which our so prized and petted civilization greeted weak, defenseless, and inoffensive savagism, we are prepared when shipwrecked mariners are thrown upon a distant isle inhabited by their own countrymen, subjects of the same sovereigns—we are prepared by their reception, which we shall presently see, to exclaim with uplifted hands, behold, how these brethren love one another! 194
after burning superfluous ammunition, the spaniards gathered up their valuables, and placing them on the backs of such captives as for that purpose they had kindly permitted to live, set out in three divisions over separate routes, so as to secure a more liberal supply of provisions on the way, for santo domingo, distant seventy leagues. in his license, as we have seen, bastidas was authorized to trade only in lands discovered by himself. but on the way his followers with their trinkets had purchased food from the natives; for which offence, on his arrival at santo domingo, bastidas was seized by bobadilla and cast into prison. in vain did all the shipwrecked company protest that they had bought only such articles as were necessary for their nourishment during the march. to their affirmations the governor turned a deaf ear; and as bobadilla was about to depart for spain, the notary was ordered thither for trial, sailing in july, 1502.
before the sovereigns bastidas found no difficulty in justifying his conduct; and so rich were the returns from his traffic with the natives of darien, that notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of the adventure he was enabled to pay a large sum into the royal treasury. for their important successes, to rodrigo de bastidas was awarded an annual pension of fifty thousand maravedís, and to juan de la cosa a similar sum with the title of alguacil mayor of urabá, all to be paid them out of returns from the new lands which they had found. "such," remarks irving, "was the economical generosity of king ferdinand, who rewarded the past toils of his adventurous discoverers out of the expected produce of their future labors."[iii-9] 195
archives of the indies.
the most fertile source of information relative to the early affairs of america is the archives of the indies, a general term comprising various collections in various places. from this source many writers have drawn, and are still drawing; many documents have been printed, and many yet remain to be printed. altogether the collections are very numerous, as the government required full records, and in some cases copies, to be kept of official documents concerning discovery, conquest, and settlement. the several council-chambers and public offices where the business was transacted were the first depositories of these papers, the chief places then being seville, cádiz, and madrid. in 1566 philip ii. ordered all collections, ecclesiastic and secular, to be united, and deposited in the fortress of simancas. again in 1717, when all the councils were consolidated in one, felipe v., who founded the academia de la historia, among other things for the gathering and preserving of materials 196 for history, directed all papers to be conveyed annually to the archivo de simancas. these provisions could not have been fully carried out, or else a very extensive system of copying must have been practised; for later, when the archives were thrown open to the search of historians, the accumulation at simancas, though large, did not appear to be much greater than at some other places. further than this, there were family archives in the houses of those who had played prominent parts in public affairs, and ecclesiastical relaciones in the convents of the several orders, of little less importance than public records. and while the government insisted on the making of complete records, and observed great care in preventing their contents from being known, especially to foreigners, little pains was taken to preserve them from damage or destruction, or to arrange them for convenient reference. therefore when they came to light it was in the form of bulky masses of unassorted, worm-eaten, and partially illegible papers. many documents, mentioned by contemporary writers, are known to have been lost, and their contents blotted from existence. fernando vi., 1746-1759, commissioned burriel and santiago palomares to examine the archives of the kingdom and to copy and form into a collection such of the manuscripts as they should deem best. this collection was placed in the biblioteca nacional at madrid. other collections were made during the two following reigns by abella, traggia, velazquez, mu?oz, navarrete, sans, vargas ponce, and villanueva, which found lodgment in various localities.
the early chroniclers of the indies picked up their knowledge as best they might, by observation, by conversation, and by the examination of written evidence. las casas and oviedo spent much time in the new world; peter martyr had access to whatever existed, beside talking with everybody who had been to america; gomara copied much from oviedo. everything was at the disposal of herrera as crown historiographer, as a matter of course, though he did not always make the best use of his opportunities. gashard affirms that both cabrera and herrera were ignorant of the existence of many of the most valuable documents of their day. ramusio, hakluyt, purchas, and others, succeeded in getting now and then an original paper on the indies to print in their several collections. among the first english historians who attempted for purposes of history to utilize the archives of the indies was william robertson, who published the history of the reign of the emperor charles, london, 1769; and in 1777, his history of america, 2 vols. 4to, several editions appearing subsequently also in 8vo. robertson was a scotch clergyman of great learning and ability. his style was elegant and vigorous, and he was by far the most philosophic writer on america up to his time. although his statements are full of errors, intensified by dogmatism, but for which he cannot always be blamed, all who have come after him have profited by his writings; and some of these, indeed, have reaped richer rewards than he to whom they owed their success, and with far less labor.
robertson and mu?oz.
early in his work mr robertson applied to the proper authorities at madrid, vienna, and st petersburg for access to material. germany and russia responded in a spirit of liberality, but spain would none of it. in 1775 robertson ascertained that the largest room occupied by the archivos de simancas was filled with american papers, in 873 bundles; that they were 197 concealed from strangers with solicitous care, spanish subjects even being denied access without an order from the crown; and that no copies could be obtained except upon the payment of exorbitant fees. however, through the assistance of lord grantham, english ambassador at madrid, and by preparing a set of questions to be submitted to persons who had lived in america, much new and important information was elicited, and copies of certain manuscripts were obtained. the letters of cortés, and the writings of motolinia, mendieta, and others, which robertson used in manuscript, have since been printed.
it is greatly to be regretted that the learned juan bautista mu?oz did not live to complete his historia del nuevo mundo, only the first volume of which appeared. this was published in madrid, in 1793, bringing his work down to 1500. mu?oz was born near valencia in 1745, graduated at the university, and in 1779 was commissioned by the king to write a history of america, all public and private material being placed at his disposal by royal order. many papers were wanting in the archives of the department of the indies in madrid; whereupon he went to simancas, seville, cádiz, and other towns, armed with a royal cédula, which opened to him family and monastic accumulations as well as all public depositories. so great was the confusion in which he found the royal archives, that it seemed to him as if they had been disarranged purposely to hide what they contained. even in the indices of the archivo secreto del consejo de indias there was scarcely any indication of papers belonging to the earlier american periods. nevertheless, by persistent search, mass after mass of rich material was unearthed in the secret archives as well as in the real casa audiencia de la contratacion, the archives at simancas, the royal libraries of madrid and the escorial, the contaduría principal of the audiencia de indias in cádiz, the archivo general de portugal, the monastery of monserrate, the colleges of san bartolomé and cuenca at salamanca, and san gregorio at valladolid, the cathedral of palencia, the sacromonte of granada, and in the convents of san francisco of tolosa in guipúzcoa, santo domingo of málaga, and san acacio, san josé, and san isidro del campo of seville, until it may be said of him that his efforts were buried beneath the magnitude of their invocation. then it was that he found he had undertaken greater things than he could accomplish. even with the aid of government he could not master the confused masses; for money and men unlimited cannot accomplish everything without time. the indefatigable mu?oz worked faithfully; the king complained of the meagre results; the author died doing his best, and his work to this day remains undone. during his labors he made an extensive collection of papers, memorials, and other manuscripts relating to america, known as the coleccion de mu?oz, which he once intended to publish, but this with a portion of his history was left in manuscript. irving states that the papers of mu?oz were left with se?or uguina, and ternaux-compans claims to have obtained all of uguina's manuscripts; but prescott asserts that the collection of mu?oz was deposited in the archives of the royal academy of history at madrid, and was there augmented by the manuscripts of vargas ponce, obtained chiefly from the archives of the indies at seville. prior to 1793 the archivo general de indias was established at seville, and a large quantity of old papers conveyed 198 thither from madrid and simancas. about 1810 the archives at simancas were sacked by napoleon; in 1814 the remnant was re-arranged and classified.
before the death of mu?oz, navarrete was commissioned by the king to search the archives for documents relating to the doings of the spanish navy. by him personally, or under his direction when occupied in other duties, the search was continued from 1789 to 1825. the results of these labors were as follows: before 1793, twenty-four folio volumes of copies from the royal library at madrid, the collections of the marquises of santa cruz and of villafranca, of the dukes de medina sidonia and del infantado, and from the biblioteca de los estudios reales de san isidro, and the biblioteca alta del escorial; after 1793, seventeen volumes of copies from the archivo general de indias, including the papers in the casa de contratacion in seville, the colegio de san telmo, the biblioteca de san acacio, and from the collection of the conde del aguila. with this material, increased by subsequent researches in the libraries of the royal academy of history in madrid, and other public institutions, and in many private collections, particularly that of the duke of veraguas, and with access to the mu?oz collection, navarrete began in 1825 the publication of his coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos, que hicieron por mar los espa?oles desde fines del siglo xv., in 5 vols., madrid, 1825-37, in which he printed over 500 documents, many of them of the highest importance. as this collection constitutes one of the chief authorities upon the early affairs of darien, a brief notice of the author may not be out of place.
martin fernandez de navarrete.
martin fernandez de navarrete was born in 1765 in ábalos in old castile. he entered the seminary of vergara in 1777, where he studied latin and mathematics and displayed some literary taste. in 1780 he joined the navy, was stationed first as a midshipman at ferrol, joined córdoba's squadron in 1781, and cruised in the summer of that year on the english coast. he did good service before gibraltar in september, 1782, and in the battle off cape espartel the 20th of october following. in 1783, having been promoted to a naval ensigncy, he was appointed to the cartagena department, and cruised in consequence against the moors during the years 1784-5. on the close of the algerine wars he studied the higher mathematics, navigation, and man?uvring with gabriel de císcar, distinguishing himself in these branches. in 1789, his health forcing him to quit active service, he was commissioned by carlos iv. to examine the archives of the kingdom and collect manuscripts relating to marine history; a work for which his zeal and knowledge particularly fitted him. this was the beginning of his famous collection of voyages, although its first volumes did not appear till thirty-six years after. when the war broke out between france and spain in 1793, he joined the squadron commanded by juan de lángara, who appointed him his chief aid, primer ayudante, and secretary. he was still at sea, in 1796, when war was declared against england; but in 1797, lángara being named minister of marine, and unwilling to lose his young secretary, he brought him to madrid, giving him a place in the department. here, in 1802, navarrete published, as a preface to the relacion del viage hecho por las goletas sutil y mexicana, a résumé of spanish discoveries on the californian and northwest coasts, 199 that has been much cited in the english-american disputes about the oregon boundary. meanwhile his merits were recognized in madrid. in 1807 he was named ministro fiscal of the supreme council of the admiralty court, he holding already the rank of captain. but in this year came the french invasion, overturning all things. madrid fell in 1808. in 1812 navarrete was found in cádiz; in 1814 in murcia. fernando regained his throne, however, may 14, 1814; four months after which event navarrete returned to madrid. in 1815 he proposed from his place in the spanish academy that new system of orthography which has been adopted for its dictionary. he interested himself also in the fine arts, and as secretary of the academy of san fernando contributed many valuable papers to its transactions. soon after his return to madrid, being little pleased with the stormy and veering statesmanship of the day, he retired as much as possible from politics, and began to collect materials for his life of cervantes—an excellent and very complete work published by the academy, with its edition of don quijote, in 1820. honors continued to cluster around the historian. toward the close of 1823 he was appointed director of the hydrographic department, and he became for many years in fact, if not in name, the great and chief naval authority of spain; and this without prejudice to his literary activity. in 1825 appeared the first two volumes of his collection of voyages; the third appeared in 1829; the fourth and fifth in 1837; while the sixth and seventh were still unfinished at the author's death. on the publication of the estatuto real, in 1834, he received a place in the new peerage, and sat afterward as senator for his own province, in almost every legislature. but his studious life and pacific character were hardly destined to shine in a political career, nor was it for the interest of science that they should. in the winter of 1844, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, navarrete died. the academy issued a posthumous work of his in 1846, a dissertation on the history of the nautical and mathematical sciences in spain. a collection of his smaller works, coleccion de opúsculos, was begun in 1848 by his son. the two volumes which have already appeared consist mainly of short biographies of spanish navigators and literary men, previously scattered in periodicals and in the transactions of the various academies and societies. navarrete was a man of learning and research, as clearly appears; inclined somewhat to verbosity; tiresome to most readers, though pronounced elegante y castizo by his contemporaries. of the historical value of his works, however, there is but one opinion. humboldt speaks of his collection of voyages as 'one of the most important monuments of modern times,' and calls him 'the most accurate historian of the geographical discoveries on the new continent.' the baron de zach, m. de berthelot, prescott, helps, irving, and stirling, have all given him much consideration. indeed, the friends of navarrete cannot complain that he has not been honored. decorated with grand orders, member in high place of many academies and societies, his lot was more fortunate than is usual among literary men. the parts of navarrete's collection which bear most directly upon this history are: relacion de diego de porras, i. 282-96; carta que escribió d. cristóbal colon, i. 296-313; relacion hecha por diego mendez, i. 314-29; cartas de colon, i. 330-52; viages menores, iii. 1-74; real cédula por la cual, con referencia á lo capitulado con diego de nicuesa y alonso de hojeda, iii. 116-17; noticias biográficas del capitan alonso hojeda, iii. 163-76; 200 and the establecimientos ó primeras poblaciones de los espa?oles en el darien, including instructions to pedrarias, letters of vasco nu?ez, memorial of rodrigo de colmenares, and the relation of pascual de andagoya, iii. 337-459.
scarcely was navarrete's coleccion de viages put to press, when washington irving heard of it, and went to madrid with the intention of translating it into english. but he soon saw that with less labor he could accomplish a work which would yield him greater returns. navarrete, who had already collected the material and prepared the way, was still disposed to lend the genial american every assistance; it was necessary for him to make few original investigations; so that under the circumstances the life of columbus was by no means a difficult task for so ready a writer. humboldt visited madrid before coming to america, but seems to have consulted no important historical documents not in the possession of others. prescott obtained from the collections of mu?oz and navarrete 8000 foolscap pages of copies, most of which having any importance have since been printed by icazbalceta, alaman, and others.
between the years 1837 and 1841 henri ternaux-compans published at paris twenty volumes of voyages, relations, et mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'amérique, containing, beside translations of several rare and then unobtainable works, some seventy-five original documents, several of them from the mu?oz collection, and others obtained from the spanish archives in some unexplained way, possibly not wholly disconnected with the french campaign on the peninsula. among his translations are documents relating to the conquest and settlement of central america and mexico, the relations of cabeza de vaca and ixtlilxochitl, oviedo's history of nicaragua, zurita's report on new spain, and ixtlilxochitl's history of the chichimecs. ternaux-compans also published recueil de documents et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions espagnoles dans l'amérique, paris, 1840; and bibliothèque américaine, a catalogue of books on america appearing prior to 1700.
the project of printing original papers selected from national and family archives was agitated in spain by campomanes, jovellanos, villamil, and others, who collected and wrote much upon the subject. the scheme was delayed by the political disruptions incident to the early part of the century, by which the archives became badly scattered. in 1842, under the auspices of the academia de la historia, was begun the publication, at madrid, of a coleccion de documentos inéditos para la historia de espa?a, with the names of martin fernandez navarrete, miguel salvá, and pedro sainz de baranda on the title-page. navarrete lived to see only the fifth volume; salvá and baranda continued the publication to vol. xxiii., after which, salvá edited alone to vol. xxxii., when he was joined by the marquises of pidal and of miraflores. after vol. xlvii., pidal's name was dropped, and with vol. lvii. salvá and the marqués de fuente del valle appeared as editors. in connection with documents relating to the general history of spain is here printed a vast amount of matter about america, and the doings of spaniards in that quarter.
ternaux-compans, alaman, and others.
during the next score of years floods of light are let in upon the dark 201 recesses of hidden treasures, the spirit of unearthing which extends to mexico. i may mention incidentally ramirez, who, in his proceso de residencia contra alvarado and nu?o de guzman, gives some original mexican documents not elsewhere published. alaman, at the close of his disertaciones, prints about forty original documents on the time of the conquest, some of them from the collection of navarrete, and others from original sources, such as the hospital de jesus in mexico. the documentos para la historia de méxico, mexico, 1853-7, in 21 volumes, was made chiefly from mexican sources, and is specially valuable for north-west mexico. icazbalceta's collection includes fifty-three documents, with few exceptions inéditos, the existence of several of which, such as a letter of cortés, and the relation of tapia on the conquest, was then unknown. most of them were obtained through gonzalez de vera, of madrid; only two or three were found in mexico. thus far icazbalceta's collection refers exclusively to the sixteenth century. brasseur de bourbourg, for his histoire des nations civilisées du mexique, paris, 1857-9, one volume of which is devoted to a history of the conquest from an indian stand-point, seems to have relied on his nahua manuscripts, the standard histories, and a few spanish manuscripts. although much thus far had been done, it seemed little to the savans of spain in comparison with what yet might be accomplished. and it was with this feeling that the government authorized the printing of any documents in the real archivo de indias affecting the history of america down to the end of the seventeenth century. the publication of this new series of papers was begun at madrid in 1864 under title of coleccion de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las posesiones espa?olas en américa y oceanía, sacados, en su mayor parte, del real archivo de indias. joaquin f. pacheco, francisco de cárdenas, and luis torres de mendoza were editors at the first. after vol. iii. the first two names were dropped, and after vol. xii. the third, the work being thenceforth continued, competentemente autorizada. by this publication alone were placed within easy reach of all the world hundreds of the richest treasures of the archives of the indies, twenty for every one that the writer of thirty years ago could reach.
