Having learned of the above-mentioned Spaniard of the death of Juan de Ayolas and his companions, and of the deaths of other Christians, of the extremity of the survivors in the town of Ascension, and of the abandonment of Buenos Ayres, whither he had left orders that the ship Capitana should proceed with the one hundred and forty men from the island of St. Catalina; considering, too, the danger in which those might be who arrived by sea, when they found that port deserted by the Christians and in the hands of a large number of Indians, he made all the haste he could to reach Ascension in the quickest time possible, in order that he might infuse new courage into those who remained there, and restore confidence among the friendly Indians. All the natives of the parts he was now travelling through make their houses of straw and wood, and many of those from the district round Ascension spoke to the governor in our own Castilian tongue, bidding him and his Spaniards welcome. Their reception of him was as cordial as any met with heretofore. They cleared and swept the road, formed processions with their wives and children, waited his arrival with presents of provisions: maize, wine, bread, potatoes, fowls, fish, honey, and game, all prepared; and they distributed these gifts among his men.