1008 / 1070
974
Royal Cornmentaries.
B
ooK
vn.
from the time that it
firfl:
begun to the end thereof, anci till the <lay of bis
Death, continued far the fpace of thirteen Months, and fome few days.
It
is faid, that he was the Son of a Knight of the Habit of St.
'J-olm;
his Wifc:
afterwards entered her felf a Nun in a Convem in the City of
Los Reyes,
where !he lived with Religious Devotion, Bue abouc ten -years afterwards,
a Gen t<leman called
Gomez.
de
Chaues,
_a Native of the City of
Rodrigo,.
be–
ing much affeél:ed with the Vertue, Goodnefs, and De,i:otion of
Dom¡.a_
_M epcia de
.Almaraz.,
the
W
idow of
H erpandez.,
defired to perform fome
Aél:ion, whereby íhe might pleafe , and oblige h·er; and fuppofing that
none could be more acceptable than to take her Husbang'!; Heaa frorn the
Spike on which it .was fixed; he, with another Friend, brought a Ladder
by
night to the place, where the Head was, and not diftiriguifhing the fiead
of
Her~andez.
·
from chofe of
Pipzrro
and
Carvajal ,
to be fure of the right,
they took them ali three away together, and buried them privately in a
Convent. And though the Juíl:ice made diligent enquiry after thofe who
had corrimitted this piece of Robbery, yet no difcovery was made theré–
of: Far in rcgard the fight of the Head
of
Pifan-o
was an Eye.fo
ar tothe
People, to whom his Memory was füll gratefol:
lnquifition
v.asnot
made with
fuch
frriCtnefs , as the Commands
of
the Officers
required.
This Relation was given me by a Gentlemen, who
.f
pent feveral years of
his Life in. Service 0f bis Majefty in the Empires of
Mexico,
and
Peru,
his Name is
Don Lerois de Cannaveral,
and now ]ives in the City of
Cor–
doua.
Howfoever at the beginning of the year,
1612,
a Frier of the
Seraphical Order of St.
Francis,
.who was a great Divine, and born in
Peru,
c~lled
Lewis Geron~no de Ore,
difco1,1rfing of thefe Heads, · gave
me
another Relation ; and to]d me , That in the Ccnvent of St.
Frf/ncis,
in
che City
óf
Los Reyes,
five Heads were there depoficed, he named
Piparro,
Carvajal,
and
Hernflnde'l:.. Giron,
but far the other two, he could not
fay
whofe they were: OnJy that that Religious Houfe kept
them there in
Depofite, without Burial ; and ,thau he was very defirous to know the
Head of
Carva;al,
having been a Man of great Fame, and Reputation in
that Kingdom.
I
told him, that he might have known
that
by
the
Infcription engraven on the lron Grate, on which the Head was fixed ;
but he anfwered, that the Heads were taken from the lron Spike, and
laid promifcuouíly together : A\I the diffcrence between thefe two ·Relati–
ons is; that the Fricrs of the Convent would not bury
the Heads,
for
fear of being concerned·in the Robbery, bue only kept
them in Depo–
fite, or Cuftody,
to be forth-coming in cafe they fhould be deman–
ded
by
the qiurfe of Juftice.
This Religious Frier
travelled
from
1Wadrid
to
Cadiz.,
by
Order of his Supe1 iours,
and Command ot the
Royal Council of the
Indies,
to
difpatch away twenty four Friers, and
to accornpany them hirnfelf
to
the Kingdoms of
Florida,
to preach che
Gofpel
to
thofe Gentiles:
l
cannot
fay
certain]y whether he wen¡;
with them, or whether he· returned
af
tei-
he
had difpatched
thofe ·
Apoíl:les. He defired me
to give him one of the Books
I
had wrote
of thc Hiftory of
·Ftorida
:
And
l
prefented him with three Copies
thereof', and four of thefe our Commencaries, with which the Good Fa–
ther was much pleafed, which he tefüfied
by
the many thanks he gave me.
May
his Divine Majefty
profper
them
in
this undertaking,
to
the
intent that they may draw thofe poor Wretches out
qf
the dark abyfs
of
Idolatry to the knowledge and Service of the true God.
And here it will not be from our purpofe to relate the frrange manner
·of
the death of Captain
Baltafar Vtlaz.qmz.,
fo
that
Hernandcz. Giron
may
not
go to bis Grave alone, and without fome Company.
It happened
fome
months after the former paífages
that
.Baltafar Velaz.quez.
refiding
in
the ·
City of
Los Reyes,
and behaving himfelf like a brave young Captain, he had
two Impo!thumes which broke out near hís Groin, which he om of bra–
very negleéting to Cure, apply'd things to repel and drive ,1iem if), not
fuffering them to operate and break ontwardly, which had been the only
fafe
remedy ; but the Corrupr.ion feftering within, caufed a Cancer in his Bowels
with
fo
much heat, that he was almoft roafteQ al;ve.
The Phylitians
not knowing what to apply, gave
him
Vinegar
to
refrelh him, which ferved
·
only