be surely expected, and never could a worse misfortune befall me:
for by the name of our Lord the first voyage would yield them just
as much as would the traffic of Arabia Felix as far as Mecca, as I
wrote to their Highnesses by Antonio de Tomes in my reply respecting
the repartition of the sea and land with the Portuguese; and
afterwards it would equal that of Calicut, as I told them and put in
writing at the monastery of the Mejorada.

"The news of the gold that I said I would give is, that on the day
of the Nativity, while I was much tormented, being harassed by
wicked Christians and by Indians, and when I was on the point of
giving up everything, and if possible escaping from life, our Lord
miraculously comforted me and said, 'Fear not violence, I will
provide for all things: the seven years of the term of the gold have
not elapsed, and in that and in everything else I will afford thee a
remedy.'

"On that day I learned that there were eighty leagues of land with
mines at every point thereof. The opinion now is that it is all
one. Some have collected a hundred and twenty castellanos in one
day, and others ninety, and even the number of two hundred and fifty
has been reached. From fifty to seventy, and in many more cases
from fifteen to fifty, is considered a good day's work, and many
carry it on. The usual quantity is from six to twelve, and any one
obtaining less than this is not satisfied. It seems to me that these
mines are like others, and do not yield equally every day. The
mines are new, and so are the workers: it is the opinion of
everybody that even if all Castile were to go there, every
individual, however inexpert he might be, would not obtain less than
one or two castellanos daily, and now it is only commencing. It is