therefore, in virtue of the said section of the instructions and in
fulfilment of what is decreed by another and separate royal decree,
I have commanded that the encomiendas should be vacated, and that
one of them, the encomienda of Bonbon, should be granted to General
Don Juan Rronquillo del Castillo, a man whose merits, services, and
abilities are known to all. This encomienda is at the present time in
his possession. The income from the other encomiendas I have commanded
to be placed in the royal treasury, which is being done. As for the
report of the said mariscal, made to me in Mexico, that he was there
with the permission of the Audiencia and governor on business for the
city, I wrote your Majesty, in a letter on the second of November of
the year 1601, that it seemed to me proper for permission to reside in
Nueva España to be given him, in view of his services and age, since
he was serving with eight musketeers in defense of this country. After
I arrived here and saw how this matter had been arranged, in view
of the aforesaid facts, and of the great inconvenience which results
from the non-residence of encomenderos in this country, I vacated the
said encomiendas, as it seemed to me that your Majesty would not be
served by giving a dispensation to the said mariscal in this matter;
and I would not have made the report which I made in Mexico if I had
previously seen the documents. [_Marginal note_: "Let this be filed
with the papers which deal with this matter."]

Although, as I have said, I assigned the said encomienda to the
said Don Juan Ronquillo, appeal was taken on the part of the said
mariscal and his son (who was successor to the encomienda) to this
royal Audiencia. In this case, after command had been given that a
copy of the documents should be furnished to the parties and to the
fiscal of your Majesty, and after testimony had been taken as regards
the claims of all parties, it was declared that I had authority to