Most serene and most exalted and powerful Princes, the King and Queen, our Sovereigns. The Blessed Trinity moved your Highnesses to the encouragement of this enterprise to the Indies; and of its infinite goodness has made me your messenger therein; as ambassador for which undertaking I approached your royal presence, moved by the consideration that I was appealing to the most exalted monarchs in Christendom, who exercised so great an influence over the Christian faith, and its advancement in the world: those who heard of it looked upon it as impossible, for they fixed all their hopes on the favours of fortune, and pinned their faith solely upon chance. I gave to the subject six or seven years of. great anxiety, explaining, to the best of my ability, how great service might be done to our Lord, by this undertaking, in promulgating His sacred name and our holy faith among so many nations;—an enterprise so exalted in itself, and so calculated to enhance the glory and immortalize the renown of the greatest sovereigns. It was also requisite to refer to the temporal prosperity which was foretold in the writings of so many trustworthy and wise historians, who related that great riches were to be found in these parts.