Had Gasca appeared off this place in a menacing attitude, with a
military array, or, indeed, with any display of official pomp
that might have awakened distrust in the commander, he would
doubtless have found it no easy matter to effect a landing. But
Mexia saw nothing to apprehend in the approach of a poor
ecclesiastic, without an armed force, with hardly even a retinue
to support him, coming solely, as it seemed, on an errand of
mercy. No sooner, therefore, was he acquainted with the
character of the envoy and his mission, than he prepared to
receive him with the honors due to his rank, and marched out at
the head of his soldiers, together with a considerable body of
ecclesiastics resident in the place. There was nothing in the
person of Gasca, still less in his humble clerical attire and
modest retinue, to impress the vulgar spectator with feelings of
awe or reverence. Indeed, the poverty-stricken aspect, as it
seemed, of himself and his followers, so different from the usual
state affected by the Indian viceroys, excited some merriment
among the rude soldiery, who did not scruple to break their
coarse jests on his appearance, in hearing of the president
himself. *17 "If this is the sort of governor his Majesty sends
over to us," they exclaimed, "Pizarro need not trouble his head
much about it."
[Footnote 17: "Especialmente muchos de los soldados, que estauan
desacatados, y decian palabras feas, y desuergocadas. A lo qual
el Presidente (viendo que era necessario) hazia las orejas
sordas.
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