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and to take refuge in the woods. They have agreed to have no children that they might not see them reduced to slavery before their eyes ... Three ships loaded with Indians were sunk in the sea and many other natives have jumped overboard and have drowned, as all of them would do, if the Spaniards did not guard them and watch them to keep them from killing themselves .. . Those who arrive in the islands, weakened by the great hunger and thirst they experience, not being fed while en rottte ... fall ill and die in great numbers." 85 Gw:man attempts settlement on Rfo Grande. While busily engaged in the heartless exploitation of the natives, Guzman sent numerous expe- ditions in search of mines throughout his province. But finding no mineral deposits, he decided to enlarge his jurisdiction both in the direction of New Spain and the Rio de las Palmas. Contrary to the strict instructions of the king, he defied the authority of Alonso de Estrada, royal treasurer of New Spain, who was its virtual ruler after the sudden death of Luis Ponce de Leon, shortly after his arrival. Unsuccessful in the attempt to expand in this direction, he turned his attention to the Rio de las Palmas, where Garay and his men had reported the existence of many pueblos and gold. He sent a cousin of his, named Sancho de Caniedo, a man with no !xperience either as an explorer or leader, to take possession of the Rio de las Palmas. Placing under his command as many men as he could spare, he instructed him to explore and conquer the country to and beyond the present Rio Grande, where he expected to find great wealth and numerous Indians. "He was not ignorant of the fact," declares Herrera, "that this territory had now been granted to Narvaez." 86 That he knew this to be a fact is further borne out by the protest and petition which he sent to the king at this time. He remonstrated that the appointment of Pamfilo de Narvaez as Governor of the Rio de las Palmas was an encroachment upon his jurisdiction, which included this river and the territory beyond; and he requested that in view of the facts presented, the king define the limits of the grant recently made to Narvaez. The matter was referred to the Attdiencia of Mexico, which was to investigate 85 Herrera, Hisloria General, Dec. iv, Lib. iii, Cap. vii, Lib. ii, Cap. i, Lib. vi, Cap. ix, Lib. vii, Cap. i; Carta a Su Magestad del Electo Obispo de Mejico, D. Juan de Zumarraga . . . August 27, 1529, in Pacheco y Cardenas, Documentos lneditos, Vol. 13, 144-147; Carta de Nuno de Guzman al Presidente y Oidores de la Audiencia de Nueva Espana ... February 21 (1534?) , in Pacheco y Cardenas, op. cit., Vol. 13, pp. 418-419. 16 Herrera, op. cit., Dec. iv, lib. iii, Cap. vii, p . 48.
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