Declaration Which, By order of the Viceroy of Peru, Don Francisco de Borja, Prince of Esquilache, Tomé Hernandez made before a Notary respecting what happened in the settlements founded in the Strait of Magellan, by PEDRO SARMIENTO DE GAMBÓA.

In the city of the Kings, on the 21st of March 1620, the most excellent Lord Prince of Esquilache, ¹ Viceroy of these kingdoms, said : that his Excellency had understood from a report made by the General, Don Ordoño de Aguirre, that Tomé Hernandez, resident in this city, came from Spain in 1581, in company with Diego Flores de Valdes and Pedro Sarmiento, to the discovery and settlement of the Strait of Magellan, where he lived two years and a half, until he embarked in the fleet of Thomas Candi, ² an Englishman who passed into this sea ; and that it was desirable for his Majesty’s service to know and understand the width of the Strait as well at its opening as in the middle and at the other side, what bays, harbours, and anchorages it contains, and whether its navigation would be easy or difficult, as well as in what season of the year it can be passed, and what winds are favourable or the reverse, and what islands and main lands border on the Strait, also what kind of people inhabit them, whether the countries are desert or inhabitable, and everything else bearing on the subject, in order that it may be more distinctly understood with scientific accuracy and sound knowledge. His Excellency, therefore, orders that the said Tomé Hernandez shall make a declaration in presence of his Excellency, and before Garcia de Tamayo, Chief Notary of Mines and Registers, and of the Royal Treasury.