# Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2/Fifth Letter, September 3, 1526

Contents
FIFTH LETTER
Sacred Catholic Cæsarian Majesty:
On the 23 October of the past year, 1525, I despatched a ship to the Island Española, from the town of Trujillo, which is a port on the Cape of Honduras, on board which was a servant of mine whom I ordered to cross over to Spain. I wrote to Your Majesty something of what had happened, at the gulf called Hibueras, between the two captains I had sent there, and another captain called Gil Gonzalez who went there afterwards. As I was unable, when the vessel and messenger departed, to give Your Majesty any account of my journey and adventures, from the time I left this great city of Temixtitan, until I met with the people in those distant parts, it seemed to me important that Your Highness should be informed of my doings, if only for the sake of not departing from my custom, which is to withhold nothing, wherein I am concerned, from the knowledge of Your Majesty. I shall, therefore, relate events as best I can; for to describe them as they occurred is more than I could undertake to do, and, moreover, my narrative might perhaps be incomprehensible to those for whom it is ​destined. I will relate the principal and most important occurrences of the said journey, omitting a great many as accessory, though each would furnish material for ample writing.
Having given my orders respecting that affair of Cristobal de Olid, as I related to Your Majesty, Cortes Leaves Mexico it seemed to me I had been a long time inactive, and without undertaking anything in Your Majesty's service; and, although my arm was not yet healed of its wound, I nevertheless determined to undertake something. I left this great city of Temixtitan on the 12 October of 1524 last, accompanied by some horsemen and foot soldiers, chosen among my old retainers and servants, and by some friends and relatives of mine, amongst whom were Gonzalo de Salazar, and Peralmindez Chirino, the former a factor, and the latter an inspector, for Your Majesty; and I also took with me some noble persons of the natives, and I left the administration of justice and government to the ​treasurer and accountant of Your Highness, and to the licenciate Alonzo de Zuarzo. I provided this city with sufficient artillery, ammunition, and a garrison, and also placed artillery at the dockyard, ordering the brigantines to be made ready, and a military governor to have charge of any operations necessary for the defence of the city. All this being settled I left this city of Temixtitan with the said design, and, while engaged at Espiritu Santo, which is a town in the province of Coazacoalco, one hundred and ten leagues from this city, in settling the internal affairs of the community, I sent messengers to Tabasco and Xicalango to inform the chiefs of these provinces of my intended journey, ordering them to meet me or to send persons to whom I might give my instructions, adding that their deputies should be honourable men of good understanding, who would repeat faithfully to them the sense of my instructions. They did exactly as I directed, and received my messengers with due honour, sending me seven or eight responsible men with full authority, as is their habit on such occasions. After enquiring of them respecting things I wished to know about the country, they told me that on the seacoast, beyond the country called Yucatan, towards the Bay of Asumption, there were some Spaniards who molested them; for, besides burning their villages and slaying their people, in consequence of which many had fled to the forests, they had totally destroyed the trade which formerly flourished on that coast. Some who had been in those parts described to me most of the villages on the coast as far as the residence of Pedrarias de Avila, Your ​Majesty's Governor in those parts, and they made me a drawing on cloth of the whole of it by which I calculated that I could go over the greater part of it, especially as far as the place they indicated to me as the abode of those Spaniards. Thus informed about the road I was to take for carrying out my plans, and converting the natives to the knowledge of our Holy Catholic Faith, and bringing them to Your Majesty's service (certain as I was that on such a long journey I would have to cross many provinces and encounter people of divers races), being also curious to know whether the Spaniards they described were those whom I had sent under the Captains Cristobal de Olid, Pedro de Alvarado, or Francisco de las Casas, I esteemed it advantageous to Your Majesty's service to go thither myself; inasmuch as my journey being through regions and provinces heretofore unexplored, I would have ample occasion for serving Your Majesty, and pacifying the said countries, as afterwards happened. Conceiving to myself the result my expedition would produce, and setting aside the fatigues and expenses it entailed, of which some of my people did not fail to remind me, I determined to follow the route already decided upon before leaving this city.
Before I reached the said town of Espiritu Santo, I had received letters from this city at two or three places on the road, from my lieutenants, and other persons; and Your Majesty's officials who were with me likewise received similar ones. These informed us that the Treasurer and Accounting Master had quarrelled, and ​that there no longer existed between them the harmony necessary for the proper discharge of their respective functions with which I, in Your Majesty's name, had charged them. I took what seemed to me the required measures, which was to write them urgent reproofs for their conduct, even warning them that if they could not agree with one another and adopt different methods, I would provide a remedy which would please neither of them, and report the whole matter to Your Majesty. During my stay in the said town of Espiritu Santo, and while engaged in preparations for my journey, fresh letters came from the lieutenants and from other persons, reporting that their enmities still continued and were even increased; so much so that during one council meeting they had actually drawn their swords, thus causing a great scandal and commotion, not only amongst the Spaniards who armed themselves and took one side or the other, but even among the natives of the city who took up arms saying that the commotion justified them. Seeing therefore that my reproofs and warnings were not sufficient, and that I could not go myself to remedy the matter without abandoning my expedition, it seemed to me sufficient to send the factor and inspector who were with me, with equal powers to inquire into the cause of the dispute and pacify things; and I even gave them another secret power of attorney, enabling them to suspend both men from the charge which I had left them, if reasonable means did not suffice, and to assume the government themselves, together with the licenciate Alonzo de Zuazo, and to punish the offenders. I was quite convinced that the errand of the said factor and inspector would produce good results, and that they would succeed in pacifying the rival passions, so I went on my way with my mind at ease.
This being done I made a review of my forces which were to accompany me, and found that there were ​ninety-three horsemen, besides crossbowmen and arquebusiers, and thirty odd foot soldiers; altogether a Number of his Force total of two hundred and thirty men. I took a large caravel which had been sent to me from the town of Medellin, loaded with provisions, and was then at anchor in the port of Espiritu Santo. I again loaded this vessel with the stores I had brought; and, putting four pieces of artillery on board, as well as crossbows, muskets, and other ammunition, I ordered the crew to sail to the island of Tabasco, and wait there for my commands.
I likewise wrote to a servant of mine who lives at Medellin to provision two other caravels and a large boat then in the port, and to send them to me: I gave instructions to Rodrigo de Paz whom I left in care of my house and property in Temixtitan to send five or six thousand ounces of gold to Medellin to pay for the said provisions, and I likewise wrote to the treasurer asking him to advance me that money as I had no more in the hands of the aforesaid agent. All this being done according to my wishes, the caravel came as far as the River Tabasco, laden with provisions which proved, however, to be of little use, as, my road being far inland, the heavily laden caravel could neither go up the river, nor could I send for them on account of the extensive swamps that lay between. Having arranged for what was to go by sea, I set out and marched along the coast until I reached a province, called Çupilco, some thirty-five leagues distant from Espiritu Santo; besides several large swamps and streams, over all of which temporary bridges were built, I had to cross, on this journey, three very large rivers, one near a village, called Tumalo, some nine leagues from the town of Espiritu Santo, the other at Agualulco, nine leagues further on; these were ​crossed in canoes, the horses swimming, being led by halters; and the last river was so wide that nothing could make the horses swim it, so I had to provide a wooden bridge about half a league up from the sea where the horses and people could pass. It was nine hundred and thirty paces long and was indeed a marvellous thing to behold. This Province of Çupilco abounds in the fruit called cacao and has also many fisheries; there are ten or twelve good towns, I mean chief towns besides hamlets, and the country is flat with many marshes so that in winter it is impossible to go about except in canoes. Although I traversed it in the dry season from one end to the other, which is about twenty leagues, more than fifty bridges had to be built for the passage of men and horses. The natives are quiet and peaceable, though rather timid and shy owing to the little intercourse they had had with Spaniards, but, through my arrival, they became more confident and served very willingly, not only myself and my companions, but also the Spaniards to whom they were allotted on any departure.
From this province of Çupilco, according to the drawing the natives of Tabasco and Xicalango had given me, I was to proceed to another, called Cagoatan; but, as the natives travelled only by water, they were ignorant of any overland route, though they pointed out to me where the said province was supposed to be. I was obliged, therefore, to send some Spaniards and Indians in that direction to look for the road, and, upon discovering it, to make it possible for the rest of us to advance; for it was through very great forests. It pleased our Lord that, after some difficulty, it should be found, for, besides the forests, there were many troublesome marshes over all, or most, of which bridges had to be built, and we had to cross the great river, called Quecalapa, a tributary of the Tabasco. From there, I sent two Spaniards to the chiefs of Tabasco and Conapa, asking them to send ​me some fifteen or twenty canoes to bring provisions up that river from the caravels lying there, and to help me to cross the river and to transport the provisions to the chief town of Zaguatan, which, it afterwards appeared, was some twelve leagues up the river from where I crossed; and they did all this, complying exactly with my request.
After discovering the road to the River Zalapa, which, as I said, we had to cross, I left the last village of the province of Çupilco, called Anaxuxuan, and slept that first night on the open ground between some lagoons; and early the next day we reached the river but found no canoes in which to cross because those I had sent to ask from the chief of Tabasco had not arrived. I learnt, moreover, that the scouts who went ahead were opening the road up the river from the other side, because, having been told that it flowed through the principal town of the said province, they naturally followed its course so as not to go astray. One of them had gone in a canoe by water to reach the town the sooner, and on his arrival had found all the people in a commotion, so he spoke to them through an interpreter he had with him; and, after succeeding in calming them somewhat, he sent some Indians in his canoe down the river to tell me what had happened with the natives of that town, and that he was coming down himself, opening the road by which I was to march until he should meet the scouts who were working up on this other side. This news gave me great pleasure, not merely because it made known the peaceful disposition of the natives, but also because it assured to me a road which I had thought was doubtful, or at least very difficult. On the canoe brought by these Indians, and some rafts which I had built out of logs, I managed to send all the heavy baggage to the other side of the river, which at that point is very wide. While ​occupied in crossing, those Spaniards whom I had sent to Tabasco arrived with twenty canoes loaded with supplies from the large caravel which I had sent there from Coazacoalco; and I learned from them that the two other large caravels and the ship had not yet arrived in the river, having remained behind at Coazacoalco, but that they were expected soon. No less than two hundred Indians from Tabasco and Cunapa came in the said canoes, and I crossed the river without other accident than the drowning of a negro slave and the loss of two loads of iron tools of which we afterwards stood in some need.
That night, I, with all my people, slept on the other side of the river, and the next day set out to follow the track of the scouts who were opening the road, having no other guide but the river bank itself. We marched thus about six leagues, and arrived under a pouring rain in a forest, where we slept. During the night, the Spaniard who had gone up the river to the town of Çagoatan came back with some seventy Indians, natives of that place, and told me that he had opened the road on the other side, but that if I wished to take it I would have to retrace my steps for a distance of two leagues. I did this, but gave orders at the same time that the scouts, who were in advance cutting their way along the bank of the river, and who had already gone three leagues from the place where I myself had passed the night, should continue their work: they had scarcely advanced a league and a half when they reached the outskirts of the town, and, in this way, two roads were open where before there had been none.
I took the road opened by the natives, and, although it proved a hard one, on account of the torrents of rain which had fallen that day and of the many swamps we had to cross, I still managed to arrive on the same day at one of the suburbs of the said town, which, though ​the smallest of all, contained more than two hundred sufficiently good houses; we could not reach the other because it was separated from us by rivers which flowed between and which we could have crossed only by swimming.
The towns were all very deserted, and we found, upon our arrival, that all the Indians who had accompanied the Spaniards had also fled, notwithstanding that I had spoken to them kindly and treated them well, distributing among them some of the trifles I had with me, and thanking them for the pains they had taken in opening the said road. I had told them that my coming to these parts was by Your Majesty's commands and for no other purpose than to teach them to believe in and worship only one God, Creator and Maker of all things, and to acknowledge Your Majesty as supreme lord of the country, and many other like things, which I usually said to them. I waited three or four days, thinking they had left from fear and would come back to speak to me, but none of them ever appeared.
In order to bring them by peaceable means to Your Majesty's service, and to obtain information from them about my road, for there seemed not to be even a track of a single person ever having gone on land, all travelling on the great rivers and lakes, I determined to send two companies of Spaniards and some natives of Temixtitan, whom I had with me, to search for the people of the province and bring some of them to me. By means of the canoes which had come up the river from Tabasco, and of others we procured at the said town, my men managed to navigate most of the rivers and swamps, as marching overland seemed impracticable; but they discovered only two Indians and some women from whom I took every pains to ascertain where their chief and his people were. They told me no more, however, than that they were wandering dispersed through the forest, ​swamps, and rivers. I likewise asked them about the road to the province of Chilapan, which, according to the drawing I had, was the next on my road; but they would never tell me, saying that their only mode of travel was by rivers and swamps in their canoes, and that they only knew how to go thither by water and never by land. They did, however, point out to me a chain of mountains, some ten leagues distant perhaps, saying that in its neighbourhood stood the principal town of Chilapanon on the banks of a large river which t joining with the Çagoatan lower down, flowed afterwards into the Tabasco; and that further up the river there was another town, called Acumba; but neither did they know any road thither by land.
I remained in this town twenty days, during which I never ceased to seek a road leading to somewhere, but I never found one, either great or small; on the Character of the Country contrary, the country about us had so many swamps and lagoons that it seemed impossible to cross them, but, as we were already in such straits from want of provisions, we commended our souls to God, our Creator, and built over the marsh a bridge three hundred paces in length, which was constructed of many large beams, between thirty-five and forty feet in length, on which cross beams were laid, and on these we passed over, marching through the country in quest of the place where we had been told was the town of Chilapan. Meanwhile, I sent a company of horsemen, with crossbowmen, by another way to search for the town of Acumba, and they found it that same day. By swimming and by means of two canoes which they found there, they surprised the villages whose inhabitants fled so they were unable to capture any except ​two men and some women with whom they came to meet me on the road; they also found plenty of provisions. That night, I slept on the open ground.
Next day, it pleased God that we should come to a dryer country with fewer marshes, and those Indians who had been taken at Acumba guided us as far as Chilapan, where we arrived late the next day, finding all the town burned and the natives absent. This town of Chilapan is beautifully situated and very large. It is surrounded by plantations of fruit trees of the country and fields of maize, which, though not yet ripe, were of great comfort to us in our necessity. I remained there two days, laying in supplies for the journey, and sending out some expeditions into the neighbourhood to capture, if possible, some natives from whom I might learn about the road; but with the exception of two at first, who were found concealed in the village, all our searching was in vain. I got information from these, however, about the road to Tepetitan, otherwise called Tamacastepeque; although they hardly knew their way thither, we were fortunate enough, sometimes by their guidance, and sometimes by half feeling our way, to reach that town within two days.
On the road, we had to cross a large river, called Chilapan, from which the town took its name, and this was accomplished with great difficulty owing to the deep and rapid stream; we used rafts as there were no canoes there and we lost a negro who was drowned, and much of the baggage of the Spaniards. After this river, which we crossed at a place a league and a half distant from the said village of Chilapan, we had to cross several large swamps before reaching Tepetitan, in all of which but one the horses sank to their knees and many times to their ears. Between Chilapan and Tepetitan, a distance of six or seven leagues, the country was full of similar ​swamps; one especially we found so perilous that, though a bridge was built over it two or three Spaniards were very nearly drowned. After two days of such fatigues, we reached the said village of Tepetitan, which we also found burned and deserted, thus causing us double hardship. We found some fruits of the country inside and some fields of maize in the neighbourhood, unripe, though it was taller than that at Chilapan; we also discovered under the burnt houses, some granaries which contained small quantities of maize; this was of great help in the extreme necessity to which we were reduced. At this village of Tepetitan, which stands at the foot of a mountain chain, I remained six full days, causing excursions to be made in search of natives who might be induced to return peaceably to their dwellings and point out to us the road ahead; but we never could catch but a single man and some women from whom I learned that the chief and natives of the town had been induced by the people of Çagoatan to burn their village and fly to the woods. The man said that he did not know the road to Iztapan, the next place on my map, there being, as he said, no road overland, but that he would guide us more or less towards the vicinity in which he knew it was.
With this guide, I sent thirty Spaniards on horseback and thirty men on foot with instructions to discover the village of Iztapan, and, once there, to write me a description of the road I was to follow; for I decided not to leave the place where I had camped until I heard from them. They left, but, at the end of two days, having received no letters, nor other news, from them, and seeing, moreover, the extreme want to which we were reduced, I decided to follow them without a guide and with no other indication of the road they had taken than their footsteps in the fearful, miry swamps, with which the country is covered; for I assure Your Majesty that, even ​on the hill tops, our horses, being led, and without their riders, sank to their girths in the mire. In this manner, I travelled two days on the said trail, without receiving any news of the people who had gone ahead; and I was perplexed enough as to what I should do, because to go back I held as impossible, and to proceed with no certainty of the road seemed equally so. God, Who in our greatest afflictions often comes to our help, was pleased to permit that, while we were encamping in great sadness and distress, believing we were all destined to perish of hunger, two Indians should arrive, bringing letters from the Spaniards whom I had sent ahead. They informed me that upon reaching the village of Iztapan, they found that the natives had sent all their women and property across a large river, which ran close to that place, and that the village itself was full of natives, who thought the Spaniards would not be able to pass the great swamp near by; but, when they saw my men swimming across it on their horses, they had been much frightened and had begun to burn their village, which my men prevented by putting out the fire. Seeing this, all the inhabitants fled to the banks of the river, which they crossed, either in numerous canoes or by swimming, and in their haste and confusion, which were very great, many were drowned; my Spaniards, nevertheless, had succeeded in capturing seven or eight, among whom there was one who seemed to be a chief; the letter also added that they were anxiously awaiting my arrival. I cannot describe to Your Majesty the great joy the receipt of this letter caused all my people, for, as I said above, we had almost despaired of relief.
Early the next morning, I continued my march, guided by the Indians who had brought the letter, and, in this March to Iztapan manner, I arrived at Iztapan late in the evening, where I found all the people who had gone ahead very contented; for they had discovered many ​plantations of maize, though the grain was not yet ripe, and also yucas and agoes in great abundance, these latter two furnishing sustenance and constituting the food of the natives of the Islands. I immediately had brought before me those natives of the town who had been captured there, asking them through the interpreter why they had burned their own houses and towns and why they fled since I intended them no harm or mischief, but rather shared what I had with those whom I met. They answered that the chief of Çagoatan had come in a canoe and frightened them, inducing them to fire their town and abandon it. I had the chief and all the men and women who had been captured in Çagoatan and Chilapan and Tepetitan brought before me, and explained to them how that wicked man had deceived them, telling them they might inform themselves from those Indians now before me, by asking them whether I or any of my people had done them any harm or mischief, or if they had not been well treated in my company. Being informed by them, they all began to weep, declaring they had been deceived and showing great grief for what had happened. In order to reassure them, I gave permission to all the Indians, both men and women, who had come with me from the other villages to return to their homes, making them some small presents and giving them sundry letters which I ordered them to keep in their towns, and to show to any Spaniards who might pass there, because by them they would be protected. I also told them to explain to their chiefs the mistake they had committed in burning their houses and towns and in abandoning them, and that henceforth they must not act thus, but rather stop confidently in their homes as no harm or evil would be done them. After this, they left, well ​satisfied and contented, as were likewise the others who remained.
After this, I spoke to the Indian who seemed to be their chief, and told him to observe how I harmed no one about me; neither was my coming there for the purpose of offending them, but rather to make known many things to them which were advantageous, not only for the security of their lives and property, but also for the salvation of their souls. For the same reason I besought him earnestly to send two or three of his people, with whom I would send as many more of the natives of Temixtitan, to call the chief and tell him not to be afraid, for by his coming he would profit greatly. He answered that he would be pleased to do this, and he immediately sent his people with whom went the Indians of Mexico, and, the next morning, the messengers returned with the chief and some forty men. The chief told me he had abandoned his town and ordered it to be burned because the lord of Çagoatan had advised him to do this, and not to meet me, as I would kill them all, and that he had learned from those who had come to call him that he had been deceived, and that he was sorry for what had happened, praying me to pardon him, for henceforth he would obey me; and he besought me that certain women who had been captured by the Spaniards when they arrived should be restored to him, so twenty were immediately collected which pleased him greatly.
It happened, however, that a Spaniard saw an Indian of Temixtitan eating a piece of flesh taken from the body Punish- ment of Cannibalism of an Indian who had been killed when they entered Iztapan, and he told me this; so in the presence of that chief I had the culprit burned, explaining that the cause was his having killed that Indian and eaten him which was prohibited by Your Majesty, and by me in Your Royal name. I further made the chief understand that all the ​people of those parts must abstain from this custom, and that I had punished that man with death because he had slain and eaten a fellow creature, for I wished that none should be killed, but that, on the contrary, I came by order of Your Majesty to protect their lives as well as their property and to teach them that they were to adore but one God, who is in the heavens, Creator and Maker of all things, through whom all creatures live and are governed; and that they must turn from their idols, and the rites they had practised until then, for these were lies and deceptions which the devil, the enemy of the human race, had invented for deceiving them and to bring them to eternal damnation, where great and frightful torments awaited them; being thus deprived of the knowledge of God they could not be saved nor come into the enjoyment of glorious and eternal beatitude, which God had promised and has prepared for them who believe in Him; all of which the devil through his malice and evil doings had lost. I, likewise, had come to teach them that Your Majesty, by the will of Divine Providence, rules the universe, and that they also must submit themselves to the imperial yoke, and do all that we who are Your Majesty's ministers here might order them in Your Royal name; for, acting thus, they would be favoured and maintained in justice, and their lives and properties protected, but that, acting otherwise, they would be proceeded against and punished according to justice. I told them many things concerning these matters which, as they were lengthy, I do not repeat to Your Majesty.
The chief showed much satisfaction, and sent some of his people to bring provisions, and I gave him some presents from Spain, which he admired very much; and all the time he remained with me he was very contented. He ordered a road to be opened to another town, called Tatahuitalpan, five leagues up the ​river from this, and, as we had to cross a very deep river, he had an excellent bridge made over it on which we crossed, and he filled in some very big swamps, and gave me three canoes in which I sent three Spaniards down the river to Tabasco (because this is the principal river which empties into it) where the ships were, as I have said, awaiting my orders. I sent orders with these Spaniards that they were to follow the coast until they doubled the cape, called Yucatan, after which they should proceed to the Bay of Ascension, where they would either find me or my orders as to what they were to do next. I also ordered the three Spaniards who went in the canoes and all those they could collect in the provinces of Tabasco and Xiculango to bring me as many provisions as they could by way of the great salt lagoon which connects with the province of Aculan, some forty leagues distant from Iztapan, where I would wait for them.
These Spaniards having departed, and the road being completed, I begged the chief of Iztapan to give me three or four other canoes in which to send up the river a half dozen Spaniards and some of his people, under a chief, to tranquillise the natives, and prevent them from burning and deserting their towns; he did this with every show of good will, and my people, being accompanied by Indians from Iztapan, succeeded in quieting the inhabitants of four or five villages up the river, as I shall hereafter relate to Your Majesty.
This town of Iztapan is very large and built on the bank of a very beautiful river. Its position is advantageous for a Spanish settlement, and the pasture is excellent along the banks of the river, while there is good farming land; and the country is well populated.
After stopping eight days in Iztapan, and having provided everything as specified in the former chapter, I left, ​and arrived that day at the small town of Tatahuitalpan, and found it burned and deserted. I reached there before the canoes, which were coming up the river Departure from Iztapan and were delayed by the strong currents and many windings. After their arrival, I sent some people to cross in them to the other bank in search of the natives of the town, in order to reassure them. About half a league on the other side of the river, they found some twenty men in one of the temples of their idols, which they had decorated profusely; these they brought to me, telling me that all the people had abandoned the place through fear, but they had preferred to remain on the spot and die with their gods. While engaged in this talk with them, some of our Indians passed, carrying some things taken from those idols, seeing which, the natives cried out that their gods had been killed; I replied to this, telling them to observe what a vain and foolish belief was theirs, for they believed that gods who could not even protect themselves could give them benefits, and to behold how easily they were destroyed: they answered me that their fathers had held that creed, and until they knew of a better one that they would hold it. I was unable, on account of the brevity of the time, to explain this subject more fully than I had already done to the people at Iztapan, but two Franciscan friars, who were with me, also told them many things about these matters. I besought them to send and call the chief and people of the town and to reassure them, and the chief whom I had brought from Iztapan also told them of the kindness they had received from me in his town, upon which they pointed out one of themselves, saying that he was their chief; so he sent two of them to call the people to return, but they never appeared.
Seeing that they did not come, I besought the one who I was told was the chief to show me the road to ​Çagoatespan, through which, according to my map, I would have to pass higher up this river; and he said that he did not know the way by land, but only by the river, as they all travelled that way, but that he would try to guide us through those forests, though he was uncertain whether he might reach there or not. I asked him to show me from there whereabouts it stood; and I marked it the best I could, and ordered the Spaniards of the canoes and the Chief of Iztapan to go up the river to the said town of Çagoatespan and reassure its people and those of another town, which they would come to first, called Ozumazintlan; if I arrived first I would wait for them, otherwise they should wait for me. Having despatched these men, I departed with the native guides and, leaving the town, I came to a great marsh, more than half a league in length, which we managed to pass, after the Indians our friends, had lain down branches and underbrush. We next came to a deep lagoon over which we were obliged to build a bridge for the passage of the heavy baggage and the saddles, whilst the horses crossed swimming. After that, we came to another deep lagoon, more than a league long, where the water was never below the knees of the horses, and many times up to the girths, but, as the bottom was rather solid, we crossed without accident, and reached the forest through which we cut our way as best we could during two consecutive days, until our guides said they were bewildered and knew not whither they were going. The forest was such that we could see nothing but the ground where we stood, or, looking upwards, the sky above our heads, such were the height and density of the trees; and although some climbed up them, they could not see a stone's throw ahead.
When those who were ahead with the guides opening ​the roads sent me word that they were lost, I ordered them to stop where they were and went ahead on foot till I came up with them and saw the bewilderment in which they were; I made the people turn back to a small marsh we had crossed the day before, and where there was some pasturage for the horses, since they had had nothing to eat for forty-eight hours. We remained there that night, suffering much from hunger, and hopeless of finding any populated place, so that my people were more dead than alive. I consulted my compass by which I had often guided myself, though never had we been in such a plight as this, and, remembering the direction in which the Indians said the town stood, I calculated that, by going towards the north-east from where we were we would come out at, or very near to, the town; so I ordered those who were ahead opening the road to take the compass with them and follow that direction without deviating from it. Our Lord was pleased that they should come out so exactly that, at the hour of vespers, they came upon some temples of the idols in the centre of the town, which caused such rejoicing among the people that they all ran to the town as though almost out of their senses, and, not observing a large marsh at its entrance, many of the horses sank in it so that some could not be got out until the following day, God being pleased, however, that none should perish; and we who came in the rear avoided the swamp, though with considerable difficulty.
We found Çagoatespan entirely burned; even to the mosques and houses of their idols, nor did we find any people there, nor news of the canoes which Arrival at Singuate- peçpan were ascending the river. There was plenty of maize, riper than that of other places, also yuca and agoes, and good pasture for the horses on the banks of the river, which are very fertile and covered with fine grass. Thus refreshed, our past troubles ​were forgotten, although I was uneasy at hearing nothing from the canoes. Walking about this village and inspecting it, I found a cross-bow arrow stuck in the ground, by which I knew that the canoes had been there, for all of the men in them were archers; this grieved me, leading me to believe they had fought there and been killed, since none of them appeared. To ascertain the truth, if possbile, I sent some of my people, in certain small canoes which were found there, to explore the river on the other side. They soon met a great number of Indians, and saw many cultivated fields, and, proceeding on their way, they reached a large lake where all the people of the town, partly in canoes and partly on small islands, had collected; who, when they saw the Christians, came to meet them very confidently, though without understanding what they said. Thirty or forty were brought to me, and, after I had spoken to them, they said that they had burned their town at the instigation of the chief of Çagoatespan, and had gone to the lakes out of fear; and that, afterwards, some Christians of my party, had come there in canoes, accompanied by natives of Iztapan, from whom they heard of the good treatment shown to everybody, which had reassured them; and that the Christians had stopped there two days waiting for me, but, as I had not come, they had gone up the river to another town, called Petenecte, accompanied by the brother of their chief and four canoes full of people to help them in case that other town should be hostile; and that they had been given all the provisions they needed. I greatly rejoiced at this news, and believed them, seeing they came so confidently to me, and were so well disposed. I, therefore, prayed them to immediately ​send a canoe with people in search of these Spaniards, and to take a letter of mine, ordering them to return to that place forthwith. This they executed with diligence enough, and I gave them my letter for the Spaniards; so, the next day, at the hour of vespers, the latter arrived accompanied by the townspeople who had gone with them, and the four other canoes full of people and provisions from the town whence they had come; and they told me that they had crossed the river higher up after leaving me, arriving at Ozumazintlan, which they found burned and deserted; and that the natives of Iztapan who accompanied them, had searched for the people and called them, so that many had come very confidently, bringing them provisions and everything they had asked for. And thus, they had left them in their town, and afterwards had gone to Çagoatespan, which they also found deserted, the inhabitants having gone to the other side of the river; but the people of Iztapan had spoken to them, so they had come back rejoicing, and had given the Spaniards a good reception and all the provisions they required. They had waited there for me two days, and, as I did not come, they thought I had gone higher up, so they went on accompanied by the people of that village to the next town, Petenecte, which is six leagues from there, rinding it also deserted but not burned, and the people on the other side of the river; but the people of Iztapan and those of Çagoatespan had reassured the natives, and induced them to come in four canoes to see me, and bring me maize and honey and cacao and a little gold. They had sent two messengers to three more villages up the river, named Coazacoalco, Caltencingo, and Tautitan, so they believed that people from those places would come to speak to me there on the following day. And so it happened that some seven or eight canoes came down the river the next day bringing people from all these towns, who gave me ​provisions and a little gold. I spoke very fully to them, trying to make them understand that they were to believe in one God and serve Your Majesty; and they all offered themselves as subjects and vassals of Your Highness, and promised to obey whatever was commanded of them. The natives of Çagoatespan brought me some of their idols, and in my presence broke and burned them, and the principal chief, who until then had not appeared, arrived, bringing me a little gold, and I gave them all presents of such as I had, which pleased and reassured them very much.
There was some difference of opinion amongst them about the road I was to take to Acalan, for those of Çagoatespan said my road lay through the villages up the river and that they had caused six leagues of road to be opened expressly in that direction, and ordered a bridge to be built over a certain river which we had to cross. Others maintained that this road, besides being a very bad one, was much longer, and that the best and shortest road to Acalan was to cross the river at the town where we were, for a trail existed there which traders sometimes took, by which they would guide me as far as Acalan. Finally it was settled amongst them that this was the best road, so I sent a Spaniard ahead, with some natives of Çagoatespan, to inform the people of Acalan of my coming, and to reassure them and calm their fears. The messenger was also to ascertain whether my people, who had been charged with bringing supplies from the brigantines, had arrived or not. Afterwards, I sent four other Spaniards by land with guides who claimed to know the road, to inspect it, and see if there were any obstacles, while I waited for their answer; after they left, I was obliged to depart before hearing from them, so that the provisions provided for the journey should not be exhausted, for I was told that we would march for five or six days through a desert country. I began, therefore, ​to prepare canoes, and to cross the river which was sufficiently dangerous, as it was broad, and its current so very strong that one horse was drowned and some of the Spaniards' baggage was lost. After crossing, I sent a couple of foot soldiers ahead with guides to open the road, whilst I, with the others, followed in the rear; and having travelled three days through a mountainous district, covered with forests, we came by a narrow trail to a large marsh, more than five hundred paces broad, to cross which we sought in vain to find a place; but one could not be found, neither up nor down, and the guides declared that it was useless to search for it unless we marched for twenty days towards the mountain chain.
This marsh occasioned more trouble than I can say, for to cross it seemed impossible, on account of its great size and of our having no canoes, though even Cortes Builds the Great Bridge had we had them the men and horses and heavy baggage could not have crossed, for both sides were surrounded by morasses, full of stumps and roots of trees, while to cross the horses in any other way was entirely hopeless; to think of turning back plainly meant the destruction of everybody, not only on account of the bad roads, and the heavy rain which had fallen and had so swollen the river that the bridge we had left was already destroyed, but also because the people were perfectly exhausted, and, having consumed our provisions, we would find nothing to eat; for we were numerous, there being, besides the Spaniards and the horses, more than three thousand natives with me. I have already told Your Majesty the difficulties in the way of advancing, and that no man's brain was equal to devising relief if God, Who is the true help and succour of all the afflicted, had not provided it. For I found a very small canoe, in which the Spaniards whom I had sent ahead to explore the road had crossed, and with it I sounded the marsh and found it to be four ​fathoms deep; so I had some lances tied together to examine the bottom and found that, besides the depth of the water, there were two fathoms of mud, so that in all there were six fathoms. Finally I determined to make a bridge over it and set about distributing the work to be done, and the wood to be cut, among the different people: the beams were to be from nine to ten fathoms in length according to the part which would remain above water. I charged the chiefs who had come with me to cut and bring a certain number of trees, each in proportion to the number of his people, and the Spaniards and I, on rafts and with that little bit of a canoe and two others which we afterwards found, began to lay the timbers. Everybody thought it was impossible to complete it, and, behind my back, some of them even said it would have been better to go the roundabout way before the people became too exhausted to be prevented afterwards from returning, for in the end this work would never be finished and we should be forced to go back. This murmuring spread to such an extent that they almost dared to utter it to me; and as I saw them so despondent, and in truth they had reason because of the character of the work we had undertaken, and because they were reduced to eating roots and herbs, I ordered them to take no part in building the bridge, for I would do it with the Indians. So I immediately sent for all the chiefs and told them to consider the great strait to which we were reduced, and that we were forced either to cross or to perish; hence I besought them earnestly to exhort their people to finish that bridge, for, once across, we would have immediately before us a large province, called Acalan, where there was abundance of provisions, and there we would rest; and that besides the provisions of the country they knew I had sent to have supplies brought from the ships, and that people would bring them in canoes, so that there we would have great abundance of everything. ​Besides all this, I promised them that, on our return to Medellin, they would be well rewarded by me in Your Majesty's name. They promised me that they would work to that end, and they divided the task among them, and worked so hard and with such skill that, in less than four days, they constructed a fine bridge over which all the people and horses crossed; and, unless it is intentionally destroyed, which would have to be done by burning it, it will last for more than ten years, as more than one thousand beams were used, the smallest of them as big round as a man's body, and from nine to ten fathoms in length, without counting the smaller number. I certify to Your Majesty that I do not believe anyone capable of describing the system they displayed in building this bridge; I can only say that it is the most wonderful thing that has ever been seen.
All the people and horses having crossed to the other side of the lagoon, we came upon a great morass, two bow shots long, the most frightful thing men ever saw, where the unsaddled horses sank to their girths, and by their efforts to get out only sank deeper, so that we despaired of saving any of them or crossing ourselves; still we set to work, and, by putting bundles of herbs and branches under them, they could support themselves so as not to sink altogether, by which measure they were somewhat relieved. Thus we were engaged going backwards and forwards to the assistance of the horses, when a narrow channel of water and mud was discovered where the animals began to swim and advance a little, so that with our Lord's help they all came out safe though so exhausted from the exertion that they could scarcely stand on their legs. We gave many thanks to our Lord for His great mercy extended to us.
Just then the Spaniards whom I had sent to Acalan arrived with about eighty Indians from that province loaded with supplies of maize and birds, which God knows ​the rejoicing it caused, especially when they told us that all the people were peaceable and well disposed. With the Indians of Acalan there came two of their notables sent by a chief of the province, called Apaspolon, to tell me that he greatly rejoiced at my coming as many days had passed since he first heard of me from the traders of Tabasco and Xiculango, and he would be glad to know me, and he sent me some gold which they gave me. I received them with pleasure thanking their lord for the good disposition he showed towards Your Majesty's service; and, giving them some small presents I sent them back, very contented, accompanied by the Spaniards who had come with them. They left full of admiration at beholding the bridge, which contributed largely towards the confidence which afterwards prevailed, for, as their country lies among lakes and swamps they might have taken refuge among them, but, seeing that work, they were convinced that nothing was impossible to us.
About this time, there also arrived a messenger from the town of Santisteban del Puerto, on the River Panuco, bringing me letters from the judges of those parts, and with him came some four or five Indian messengers who brought me letters from Temixtitan, Medellin, and the town of Espiritu Santo, from which I was much pleased to learn that they were well, although I had no news from the factor and the inspector, for they had not yet arrived at Temixtitan.
The day after the Indians and Spaniards who were going ahead to Acalan had left, I started, with the rest of the people, to follow in the same direction. I slept one night in the woods, and the next day, a little after noon, we arrived at the plantations and farms of the Province of Acalan, from which we were still separated by a large morass, the crossing of which gave us much trouble, though we accomplished it by making a detour ​of about a league, leading our horses by their bridles. About the hour of vespers, we reached the first village, called Ticatepelt, whose inhabitants we found living comfortably in their houses and showing no signs of fear; they had plenty of food, both for the men and horses, so that we were completely refreshed and forgot our past troubles. We rested six days, during which time a youth, of attractive appearance and well attended, visited me and told me that he was the son of the lord of that country; and he brought me some gold and birds, offering himself and his country for Your Majesty's service, saying that his father had lately died. I sympathised over the death of his father, although I perceived that he was not telling me the truth, and I gave him a collar of Flemish beads which I was wearing on my neck and which he greatly esteemed, after which I told him to leave with God's blessing; but he remained two days longer of his own free will.
One of the natives of Ticatepelt who claimed to be the chief told me that there was in the neighbourhood another village, also belonging to him, where I would Human Sacrifices find better lodging and more abundant supplies, for it was larger and more populous, and suggested, also, that, if I went thither, I would be more comfortable; so I at once accepted his proposal, and ordered him to have the road cleared by his men, and lodgings prepared, all of which was done as I wished; and we went to that town, which is six leagues from here, and found the people tranquil, and a certain quarter vacated for our lodging. It is a beautiful town, called Teutiercas by the natives, and has very handsome mosques or houses for idols wherein we established ourselves, throwing out their gods, at which the natives showed little concern; for I had already spoken to them and explained their errors and that there was only one God, the Creator of all things. Afterwards ​I spoke more fully to the principal chief and to all of them together, and I learned from them that the principal one of these two mosques was dedicated to a goddess in whom they had faith and hope, and that they sacrificed only the most beautiful virgins to her, for otherwise she would be angry with them, and therefore they took special care to search for such as would satisfy her; and they reared the most beautiful ones from childhood for this purpose. I spoke of this horrible cruelty in which the devil with his arts had taken them, and I also told them what seemed to be necessary; and they appeared to be satisfied.
The chief of the town showed himself my great friend and held much conversation with me, giving me a full The Chief Apaspolon account and description of the Spaniards, for whom I was going to search, and the road I should take; and he told me in great secrecy, praying that no one should know that he had informed me, that Apaspolon, lord of all that province, was alive, though he had sent to say that he was dead; the young man who came to see me was his son and had been sent to misdirect me so that I might not see his country and towns. He gave me this information out of friendship, and because of the good treatment he had received from me, 'but prayed me that this should be kept strictly secret, for, if it became known that he had informed me, the lord would kill him and burn his town. I thanked him very much, and rewarded his good will with some small presents, and promised to keep the secret as he asked me to do; I also promised him that as time went on he would be well rewarded by me in Your Majesty's name.
I immediately sent for the son of Apaspolon and told him that I marvelled very much that his father should have refused to come knowing as he did my good disposition towards all of them and my wish to honour them and make them presents, for I had received good ​treatment in their country and greatly desired to repay them; but I knew for certain that he was alive and I prayed him to go and call him and to persuade him to come and see me, for he might be sure that he would be benefited by so doing. The son told me that it was true he was alive, and that if he had denied this to me, it was because he had been commanded to do so by his father; but that he would go and endeavour to bring him; and he believed that he would come, for he desired to know me, feeling sure I had not come thither to harm him, but on the contrary to give presents to him and his people. He would have come before except that, as he had given himself out as dead, he was now ashamed to appear before me. I besought the youth to go and use every means to bring him; and thus it was done, and the next day both came. I received them with much pleasure, the chief excusing himself because he had not known my disposition; and he said that now, having learnt it, he desired greatly to see me, and that it was true he had ordered me to be misdirected away from his towns, but that now he prayed me to come to the principal one where he resided, as there he had better arrangements for providing me and my people with everything we required. He immediately ordered a broad road to be opened thither, and, the next day, we left together; and I ordered one of my horses to be given him, on which he rode very happily till we reached the town, called Izancanac, which is quite large, and has many mosques, and is situated on the borders of a great lagoon which traverses the country as far as the ports of Terminos, Xicalango, and Tabasco; some of the people of this town were absent and others stopped in their houses. We found a great store of provisions, and Apaspolon remained with me in my lodging, though he had his own household close by. As long as I remained at Izancanac, he rendered me service, and gave me a lengthy account of the Spaniards I sought, ​pointing out to me on a drawing of cloth the road I ought to take. He also gave me some gold and women without my asking for them, and I declare that up till now I have never asked the chiefs of these parts for anything unless they first offered it. We had to cross that lagoon before which extended the large morass; the chief ordered a bridge to be made over it, and provided as many canoes as were necessary for crossing the morass, and gave me guides for the road. He also gave me canoes and guides to accompany the Spaniards who had brought the letters and messages from Santisteven del Puerto, as well as several others for the Indians who were returning to Mexico and to the provinces of Tabasco and Xicalango. I sent letters again by these Spaniards to the authorities of the different towns and the lieutenants whom I had left in this city, as well as to the ships at Tabasco, and for the Spaniards who were to bring the provisions instructing each and every one of them what they were to do. Having despatched all these, I gave the chief certain small presents which he esteemed, and leaving him entirely satisfied, and all the people reassured, I left that province on the first Sunday of Lent in the year 1525.
That day, we accomplished only the crossing of the lagoon, which was no small thing. I gave this lord a letter because he begged me to do so, as, in case any Spaniards should come there later, they would thus learn that I had passed there and considered him my friend.
An event happened in this province which it is well Your Majesty should know. An honourable citizen of Death of Quauhtem- otzin Temixtitan, by name Mexicalcingo, but now called Cristobal, came to me one night privately, bringing certain drawings on a piece of the paper used in that country, and explained to me what it meant. He told me that Guatemucin, ​whom, on account of his turbulent nature, I hold a prisoner since the capture of this city (always carrying him, as well as the other chiefs and lords whom I considered the cause of revolt in the country with me) was conspiring against me. Besides Guatemucin there was Guanacaxin, the King of Texcuco, and Tetepanguçal, the King of Tacuba, and a certain Tacatelz who had lived formerly in Mexico in the quarter of Tatelulco, who all had many times conversed among themselves and told this Mexicalcingo how they had been dispossessed of their land and authority and were ruled over by the Spaniards, and that it would be well to seek some remedy so that they might recover their authority and possessions; and, in speaking thus, during this expedition, they had thought the best way would be to kill me and my people, and afterwards to call on the natives of these provinces to rise and kill Cristobal de Olid and all his people. After that they would send their messengers to Temixtitan to incite the people to kill all the Spaniards, which thing they thought could easily be done as many were newly arrived and untrained to warfare. After that, they would raise the whole country, and kill all the Spaniards wherever they might be found, putting strong garrisons of natives in all the seaports so that none might escape, nor any vessel coming from Castile take back the news. By these means, they would rule again as before, and they had already distributed the different provinces amongst themselves, giving one to this same Mexicalcingo. I gave many thanks to our Lord for having revealed this treachery to me, and, at daybreak, I imprisoned all those lords, each one by himself, and then inquired of them one by one about the plot; and to each I said that the others had told it to me (for they could not speak with one another). Thus they were all constrained to confess that it was true that Guatemucin and Tetepangueçal had invented the plot, and that, ​though the others had heard it, they had never consented to take part. These two, therefore, were hanged, and I set the others free because it appeared they were to blame for nothing more than having listened to it, although ​this alone was sufficient for them to deserve death; their case, however, remains open so that at any time they relapse they may be punished accordingly, though it is not probable that they will again conspire, for they think that I discovered this by some magic, and that nothing can be hidden from me; for they have noticed that to direct the making of the road I often consult the map and the compass, especially when the road approaches the sea, and they have often said to the Spaniards that they believed I learnt it by that compass; also they have sometimes said, wishing to assure me of their good disposition, that I might know their honest intentions by looking into the glass and on the map, and that there I would see their sincerity since I knew everything by this means. I also allowed them to think that this was true.
This province of Acalan is very large, and well populated; many of its towns were visited by my Spaniards. It abounds in honey and other products and there are many merchants who trade in different places and who are rich in slaves and merchandise. It is completely surrounded by lagoons, all of which extend to the bay and port called Los Terminos, by means of which they carry on a considerable trade by water with Xiculango and Tabasco. It is believed, also, though the exact truth is not known, that the lagoons extend to the other sea, thus making the country known as Yucatan an island: I shall endeavour to ascertain the secret of this so as to inform Your Majesty truthfully about it. According to what I learn, they ​have no other lord save this Apaspolon, whom I have mentioned above to Your Majesty, and he is the richest trader and has the greatest shipping traffic of anybody. His commerce is very extensive, and at Nito, a town of which I will hereafter speak, and where I met the Spaniards of Gil Gonzales de Avila's party, there is an entire quarter peopled with his agents under command of one of his brothers. The chief articles of merchandise in those provinces are cacao, cotton cloth, colours for dyeing, and a kind of stain with which they smear their bodies to protect them against heat and cold; tar for lighting purposes, resine from pines for the incensing of their idols, slaves, and certain red beads of shells which they greatly esteem for ornamenting their persons in their feasts and festivities; they trade in some gold, which is mixed with copper and other alloys.
To this Apaspolon, as well as to other notable persons of the province who came to see me, I spoke as I had to all the others on the road respecting their idols and what they ought to do to save their souls, and to what they were bound in Your Majesty's service. They appeared to accept what I said with satisfaction, and they burned many of their idols in my presence, saying that henceforth they would no longer honour them, and promising that they would obey everything commanded of them in Your Majesty's name; upon which I took my leave of them and departed as I have said above.
Three days before leaving this province of Acalan, I sent ahead four Spaniards, with two guides whom the chief had given me, to explore the road to the province of Mazatlan, which in their language is called Quiacho. They had told me that for four days I would have to cross the deserted country, sleeping in the forest, so I ordered the men to inspect the country well, and see if there were any rivers or swamps to cross; and at the same time I directed that my people should take supplies ​for six days so as not to be again in such another strait as before. There being an abundance of everything, this was done, and, five leagues beyond a certain lagoon which we crossed, I met the four Spaniards who had explored the road with the guides; and they told me they had found a very good road, which, although it led through the heart of the forest, was level and without rivers or swamps to obstruct us, and that, without being seen themselves, they had reconnoitred some villages where they had seen people, and had then returned. I rejoiced greatly at this news, and sent six active foot soldiers ahead with some Indians, our friends, to keep always a league in advance of those who were opening the road, with orders that if they should meet any traveller, to seize him so that we might arrive in the provinces unexpected, for I wished to prevent the people from burning and deserting their towns as those before them had done.
That day, they found two Indians, natives of Acalan, near a lake, who said they were coming from Mazatlan where they had traded salt for cotton clothing, which indeed appeared, in a measure, to be true, for they were loaded with clothing. When brought before me, and asked if the people of that province knew about my coming, they answered no, saying that they were all perfectly quiet; so I told them they must return with me, and not to be disturbed as they would lose nothing of what they carried, but that, on the contrary, I would give them more, and that upon our arrival at that province they might return, for I was a great friend of all the natives of Acalan, and had received great kindness from its lord and people. They were quite willing to do this, and returned, guiding us by another road than the one first opened by my Spaniards, which led only to some plantations, whereas theirs led directly to the towns.
We passed that night in the forest, and, the next day, the Spaniards who went ahead as scouts met four natives ​of Mazatlan, with their bows and arrows, who were apparently sentries on the road, and who, on the approach of our people, wounded one of our men with their arrows, after which they fled, and, the forest being so dense, only one was captured; this one was given in charge to three of my Indians, and the Spaniards ran on believing that there were more of them; but, no sooner had the Spaniards gone, than the fugitives, who, as it appeared, had concealed themselves close by, returned, and fell upon our Indian friends who held their companion a prisoner, and, fighting with them, they liberated him. Mortified by this, our Indians pursued their enemies through the forest, and, having overtaken them, they fought with them, and wounded one by a great gash in the arm, taking him prisoner, while the others escaped, for they perceived that some of our people were coming up. I asked this Indian if his countrymen knew of my coming, and he answered that they did not; I then asked why he and his companions had been there as sentries, and he answered that this was their custom, for they were at war with some of their neighbours, and, to protect their farms, the lord had ordered sentinels always to be kept on the road to forestall any surprise. Having learnt from him that the first village of that province was near at hand, I made all possible haste to arrive there before any of his companions who had fled should give the alarm, and I ordered those of my people who went ahead to stop as soon as they came in sight of the plantations and to hide themselves in the forest until I arrived.
When I came to the place, it was already late, so I made haste, thinking we might reach the town that night, but, perceiving that our baggage train was somewhat scattered, I ordered a captain, with twenty horsemen, to remain at the plantations and collect the bearers as they came up, and, after sleeping there with them, to ​follow my trail. I took a narrow path through the forest which was level and straight enough, but through such a dense growth that I walked leading my horse; and all my people followed me, one behind the other, in like manner. We marched in this wise until nightfall, when we were stopped by a morass which could not be traversed without first making some preparations; seeing which, I gave orders which were passed from one man to the other to return to a small cabin we had passed in the evening, and there we spent the night, though neither we nor the horses had any water.
The next morning, after preparing the morass with branches of trees so as to pass it, we crossed, though with much difficulty, leading our horses, and, three leagues beyond the place where we had passed the night, we beheld a town built upon a hill. Thinking that we had not been seen, I approached it with caution, and found it was so completely closed round that we could discover no entrance. At last we discovered one, but found the town abandoned, though full of provisions of all kinds, such as maize, fowls, honey, beans, and other products of the country, for, as the inhabitants were taken by surprise, they had no time to carry off their provisions which, as it was a fortified town, were very plentiful. The town is situated upon a lofty rock, having a great lake on one side and on the other a deep stream which empties into the lake; there is but one accessible entrance, and all is surrounded by a deep moat behind which there is a palisade, breast high; and beyond this palisade there is an enclosure of very thick planks, two fathoms high, with loop-holes at all points from which to shoot arrows; its watch towers rise seven or eight feet higher than the said wall, which was also provided with towers, on the top of which were many stones with which to fight from above. All the houses of the town had loop-holes and were fortified, while the streets were ​provided in the best possible manner; I speak with reference to the kind of arms with which they fight. I sent some of the natives to search for the inhabitants of the town, and they brought me two or three whom I Arrival at Tiac then sent, accompanied by one of those traders from Acalan whom I had captured on the road, to rind the chief, and to tell him in my name not to be frightened; for I had not come to do him or his people any harm, but rather to help him in the wars he was carrying on, so as to leave him and his country in a state of peace and security. Two days later, the messengers returned, bringing with them an uncle of the lord of the country who was governing during his nephew's minority; the lord himself did not come, for he said he was afraid, but I spoke to the uncle and reassured him, after which he escorted me to another village of the same province, seven leagues further on, called Tiac, which was much larger than the former and equally well fortified, though not so strong since it was situated in a plain. Like the other town, it had strong palisades, a deep moat, and watch towers, and each of the three quarters into which it was divided had its own fortifications, while the whole was encircled by an outer wall stronger than the others. I had sent to this village two companies of cavalry and one of foot soldiers each under a captain, but upon their arrival they found it entirely deserted, though full of provisions; my men, however, managed to capture seven or eight natives near by, some of whom they had set at liberty so that they might go and speak to their chief, and tranquillise the people. They succeeded so well in this that, before my arrival at the place, its chief had already sent messengers with a present of provisions and cotton clothing.
After I arrived, the natives returned at two different times to bring us food and to speak with us, not only on the part of the lord of this town, but also on behalf ​of five or six others in this province, each of whom was independent, and everyone of whom offered himself as vassal of Your Majesty and our friend, though I never could induce those lords to come and see me. As I had no time to waste, I sent them word that I received them in Your Highness 's name and asked them to furnish me guides for my journey; this they did very willingly, giving me one who not only knew the country as far as the town where the Spaniards were whom I came to search for, but had also seen them. Thereupon I left the town of Tiac, sleeping that night at another, called Yasuncabil, which is the last in the province; this was surrounded by palisades, as the other two, but deserted. We found there a most beautiful house of the chief built entirely of straw. We provided ourselves there with everything required for the march, for the guide told us we had five days' journey in the desert before reaching the Province of Taiza which we had to traverse; and it turned out that this was true.
In this Province of Mazatlan, or Quiatcho as it is called, I dismissed the two traders whom I had stopped on the road, as well as the guides from Acalan, giving them some presents, both for themselves, and for their chief, so they went off very contented. I also dismissed to his home the chief of the first town who had come with me, giving him some of his women who had been captured in the forest; I also gave him some other small presents at which he was much pleased.
Having left the Province of Mazatlan, I continued my march towards that of Taiza sleeping four nights on the road in that deserted country. My way led Cortes Ar- rives at Peten Itza over high and rocky mountains, and I had to cross a dangerous pass of which all the rocks were of very fine alabaster, hence I named it Puerto del Alabastro. On the fifth day, the scouts who went ahead with the guides discovered a great lake which seemed to ​be an arm of the sea and so large and deep is it that, although its waters are fresh, I even believe that it is so. On a small island in this lake there stood a town which the guides said was the chief one of the Province of Taiza and that if we wished to reach it we could do so only in canoes; hearing this the Spaniards remained there keeping watch while one returned to report to me what had happened. I halted the people, and went ahead on foot to see that lake and its situation, and, upon arriving at that place, I found my scouts had succeeded in capturing an Indian, belonging to the town on the island, who, carrying arms, had come in a very small canoe to reconnoitre the road; and though taken by surprise he would have escaped had not one of our dogs overtaken him before he could spring into the water. I learned from this Indian that his countrymen knew nothing about my arrival. I asked him whether there was any way to reach the town on the island, and he answered that there was none, but that not far distant there was a narrow arm of the lake on the other side of which were some plantations and houses, and that, if we succeeded in reaching there without being seen, we were sure to find canoes. I immediately sent to order the people to follow me, and, accompanied by ten or twelve crossbowmen, I went on foot with the Indian and crossed a great stretch of swamp up to our waists in water, and sometimes even higher. In this manner, we reached the plantations, but, as the road was bad, and we could not always conceal ourselves, we had already been seen and when we got there the inhabitants were hastily taking to their canoes on the lake shore.
I marched along the shores for about two thirds of a ​league, passing plantations and houses; but everywhere we had been detected and the inhabitants were escaping in their canoes. It was already late, and I considered it useless to follow them, so I ordered my people to halt and camp at those plantations, taking the best precautions possible; for the guide of Mazatlan told me the people were numerous and warlike and much feared by all their neighbours. The guide then offered to go in that little canoe in which the Indian had come, and cross to that town on the island, a good two leagues distant where he would speak to the lord, whom he knew very well, and who is called Canec, telling him my intentions and the reason of my coming to his country, with which he himself was perfectly acquainted as he had accompanied me. He believed that the chief would be perfectly reassured and would believe what he told him, for he was well known to him and had often been in his house. I immediately gave him the canoe belonging to the Indian who had come in it, and, thanking him for his offer, I promised that if he carried it out successfully I would reward him to his entire satisfaction; and thus he went, and returned at midnight bringing with him two distinguished persons of the town who said they were sent by their lord to see me, and to inform themselves about what my messenger had said, and to learn what I wished. I received them very well, and made them some small presents, telling them that I had come to those countries by order of Your Majesty for the purpose of seeing them, and to acquaint the lords and chiefs of the land with matters touching Your Royal service and their own welfare; that I desired them to tell their lord to come and see me without fear, and proposed that, if he hesitated, one of my Spaniards should go to the island as a hostage during the time their chief was with me. They took back this message, accompanied by the guide, and one of thaniare Spds; and, the next day, the ​chief, himself, escorted by about thirty men in five or six canoes came bringing with him the Spaniard I had given as a hostage. He seemed much pleased at meeting me, and I received him very well.
As it was the hour of mass when he arrived, I ordered it sung with great solemnity, accompanied by clarions and sackbuts to which he listened with great attention, observing all the ceremonies; and, when mass was finished, one of the Franciscan friars whom I had with me, preached a sermon which was translated by the interpreter so that he could easily understand, touching the matters of our Faith, and giving him to understand with many arguments how there was but one God, and the error of his sect. The chief displayed much satisfaction, and declared that he wished to destroy his idols immediately, and to believe in that God of whom we had spoken, and that he desired to know how he was to serve and honour Him, and that if I wished to come to his town I should see that he would burn the idols in my presence; and he desired that I should leave a cross in his town, as he had been told I had left one in all the towns through which I passed.
After this sermon, I again spoke to him, explaining Your Majesty's greatness and how he and all living creatures were the natural subjects and vassals of Your Imperial Highness, and bound to your service; that to those who did so Your Majesty granted all manner of favours which I, in Your Royal name, had dispensed to all those who had offered themselves to Your Royal service and placed themselves under Your Royal rule; I promised the same or greater to him. He answered that, until then, he had never recognised anyone as superior, nor had he known that there was any such one; that it was true that some five or six years ago some people from Tabasco passing through his country had told him how a captain with certain people of our nation ​had been there and vanquished them in three battles, after which they had been told that they must become vassals of a great lord and many other things like what I was now telling him. He wanted to know therefore whether it was all one and the same thing. I answered him that I was the captain of whom the people of Tabasco had spoken as having fought with them in their country, of which he might assure himself from the interpreter with whom he was speaking, who is Marina whom I have always had with me since she was presented to me with twenty other women. She explained everything to him and how I had conquered Mexico, and told him of all the countries I had subjected and placed under the Empire of Your Majesty. He rejoiced greatly on learning this and said he desired to become a subject and vassal of Your Majesty, considering it a joy to be under so great a lord as I told him Your Highness was. He ordered birds, honey, and some gold, and beads made of red shells, which they highly prize, to be brought, and these he offered to me as a present, while I in return gave him some things I had brought with me, which he received with great pleasure.
After having dined with me, I explained how I came in search of those Spaniards who were on the sea coast, and who belonged to my company, and had been sent thither by me; and that many days had passed without news from them, and hence I came to seek them; and I besought him to tell me if he had any news of them. He answered that he knew a great deal about them, because, not far from the place where they were, he had certain vassals who worked the plantations of cacao, for that country was favourable to its growth; from them, and from many other traders who daily went to and fro, he constantly received news about them, and would give me a guide to take me to where they were. He told me, however, that the road was very rough, the mountains ​very high and rocky, and that it would be less fatiguing to go by sea. I replied that he could see for himself that, on account of the numerous people and baggage and horses I had, there would not be sufficient boats, and therefore I was compelled to go by land; I asked him, however, to give me the means of crossing that lake, to which he replied that, about three leagues from the place where we were, the lake became shallow, and, by skirting it, I could reach the road opposite his village; but he begged me that, as my people were coming round the lake, I would accompany him in his canoe to visit his town and house where he wished to burn the idols and have a cross made for him. To please him, although it was against the will of my people, I embarked, with about twenty of my men, most of them archers, in his canoe and went to his town with him, where I spent the rest of the day in festivity. At nightfall, I took leave of him, and he gave me a guide with whom I entered the canoe and returned to sleep on land, where I met many of my people who had come round the lake to a place where we passed the night. In this town, or rather at the plantations, I left a horse which got a splinter in his foot and was unable to go on; the chief promised to cure it but I do not know what he will do with him.
The next day, collecting my people, I set out, ​accompanied by the guides, and, about a half a league from our camping place, I came upon a small plain where there were some huts, beyond which Departure from Peten-itza was a small forest extending for about a league and a half; after which we again reached some beautiful plains, covered with grass, from which point I sent ahead some horsemen and foot soldiers with orders to stop and seize any natives they might find on their way, for the guides had told us we would arrive near a village that same night. We found these I plains abounding in deer, so we hunted all that day on horseback, and speared eighteen of them, though, owing to the heat and the fact that our horses were in bad condition from the previous journey through mountainous and swampy districts, two of them died, and many others were in great danger. Our hunting finished, we continued our route, and, after a little while, I met some of the scouts ahead who had captured four Indian hunters, these latter having just killed a lion and some iguanas, a species of large lizard which are common in the island [lucerta eguana]. I learned from the hunters that their townsmen knew nothing about me, and they then pointed out to me the plantations from which they came, which were visible about one league and a half from where we were. I hastened thither, thinking I might arrive without difficulty, but, just as I thought I was about to enter the village, and could see the people moving about in it, we came upon a large lagoon which seemed to me very deep, and so I was delayed. I called to the Indians, and two of them came in a canoe, bringing about a dozen chickens, and approaching very near to where I was on horseback, standing in water up to the girths; but, although I remained talking with them quite a while, and trying to persuade them to approach the shore, they were afraid to do this, but rather retreated, and began to withdraw in their canoes to their town. The Spaniard ​who was on horseback by my side spurred his horse through the waters and swam after them, which so frightened them that they abandoned their canoes, upon which some foot soldiers swam quickly after them and captured them. All the people we had seen in the town had completely deserted it. I asked those Indians where we could cross, and they showed me a road where, by a roundabout march of about a league, we would find a passage; so that we went that night to sleep in that town. It is eight leagues from our starting place, and is called Checan, and the name of its chief is Amohan.
I remained four days collecting supplies enough for six days more, for which time the guide told me we would march through a desert, and also waiting to see if the chief of the town, whom I had sent to call, would come, for I had assured him through those Indians I had captured; but neither he nor they appeared. Having collected all the provisions obtainable there, I left, and marched, the first day, through a very level and beautiful country, with no forests, save now and then. And, having travelled six leagues, we reached the foot of a great mountain range where we found a large house and two or three smaller ones situated near a river, all surrounded by maize plantations; the guides told me that the house belonged to Amohan, the chief of Checan, who kept it as an inn for the many traders passing that way. I stopped there one day besides that of my arrival, as it was a festival, and also because I wished to give the scouts who went ahead time to clear the road. We had very excellent fishing in the river near Checan, where we found a large number of shad which we took without difficulty, not one of those which entered the nets escaping.
The following day, we marched seven leagues through a rough and mountainous country, and spent the night on the banks of a large river. On the next day, ​after about three leagues of very bad road, we reached a beautiful plain without woods, except a few pines; we killed seven deer in these plains, which extended for about two leagues, and we dined on the banks of a very fresh stream that flows through them. After dinner, we began to ascend a mountain pass, which, though small, was rough enough so that we had to lead our horses with some difficulty; and, after the descent, we again found half a league of plain, beyond which there was another mountain pass which was about two and a half leagues long, and so rough that there was not a horse left but that had lost his shoes. I slept at the foot of the pass near a stream, where I remained the next day until about the hour of vespers, waiting for the horses to be shod; and, although I had two smiths, and more than ten who helped drive the nails, they could not all be shod that day. So I went to sleep, three leagues farther on, while many Spaniards remained there, some to shoe their horses, and others to wait for the baggage, which, on account of the bad road and the heavy rains, had not come up.
I left there the next day because the guide told me that there was a hamlet, called Asuncapin, close by belonging to the lord of Taiza, where I would arrive in plenty of time to sleep; after marching four or five leagues we reached the said hamlet, and found it deserted; and there I lodged two days, waiting for the baggage and gathering provisions. This being accomplished, I went to a hamlet, called Taxuytel, where I slept, and which is five leagues from Tiaza, and belongs to Amohan the Lord of Checan; there were many cacao plantations and some of maize, although in smaller quantities and still green. Here the guides and the chief of these hamlets, whom we captured with his wife and his son, told me that we would have to cross a chain of high and rocky mountains all uninhabited, and that, after this, we would arrive at some other ​hamlets, belonging to Canec, lord of Taiza, which were called Tenciz.
We did not stop here long, but departed the next day, and, having traversed about six leagues of level country, The Danger- ous Pass we began to ascend the mountain pass, which is one of the most marvellous things in the world to behold; for were I to try to describe its roughness and difficulties I would entirely fail to make anybody understand me. But, that Your Majesty may have some idea, I will say that, in crossing the eight leagues of this mountain pass, we spent twelve days, I mean until we reached the uttermost end of it; during which time, sixty-eight horses were lost by falling over precipices and being hamstrung, while all the others were so fatigued and injured that we hardly thought we could ever use them again, and more than three months passed before they were fit for service. During all the ascent of this dreadful pass, it poured rain day and night, but such was the character of the mountains that the water never collected anywhere so that we could drink it, and hence we suffered greatly from thirst and our horses perished on account of it; indeed, had it not been that we collected water in copper kettles and other vessels while camping in the ranches and huts we made to shelter us, not a man or horse would have escaped alive. During this crossing, a nephew of mine fell and broke his leg in three or four places, and, aside from the suffering he endured, this increased our difficulties, because we had to carry him.
Our troubles were not yet at an end; for, about a league before reaching the hamlets of Tenciz, which, as I said before, are on the other side of the mountains, we were stopped by a very large river, so swollen by the recent rains that it was impossible to cross it. The Spaniards who had gone ahead had followed up the river and found the most marvellous ford which has ever been seen or ​thought of, for the river spread out for upwards of two thirds of a league, owing to certain large rocks, between the crevices of which the water flows with most frightful force. There are many places where the rocks lie so close together that we managed to cross by cutting down large trees and laying them from one rock to another and holding fast by creepers which were tied from one side to the other, for had anyone lost his footing and fallen he would have been certainly lost. There were more than twenty of these channels to cross, so that it took us two days, and the horses crossed lower down where the current w T as less swift; but though the distance to Tenciz was only one league, as I said before, many of them were three days in arriving there; such was their broken-down condition after their march across the mountains that my men were almost obliged to carry them, for they could scarcely walk.
I reached Tenciz on the day before Easter though many of my people did not arrive until three days afterwards; I mean those who had horses and had Easter Day been delayed in looking after them. The 1525 Spaniards whom I had sent ahead had arrived two days before me, and, taking possession of two or three of the above mentioned hamlets, had captured some twenty odd Indians, who, being unaware of my presence in those parts, had been surprised. I asked them if they had any provisions, and they said no; nor could any be found in all the country, which considerably augmented our misfortunes, as, during the past ten days, we had eaten nothing except cores of palm trees and palmettos, and even of these we had not enough, so that we were so weak we had scarcely the strength to cut them down. One of the chiefs, however, told me that, by ascending the river a day's journey (which river had again to be crossed at the same dangerous ​spot) there was the large town of a province, called Tahuyecal, where we would find abundant provisions of maize, cacao, and fowls, and that he would give us a guide to lead us there. I immediately sent one of my captains with thirty foot soldiers and more than one thousand of the Indians who came with us thither, and our Lord was pleased that they should find a great abundance of maize, and plenty of people, so that we supplied ourselves, although it was with difficulty on account of the distance.
From this hamlet, I sent certain crossbowmen with a native guide to explore the road we were to take to the province, called Acuculin; and they reached a village of the said province some ten leagues from where I had stopped and six from the chief town of the province, whose lord is called Acahuilguin. They arrived there unnoticed, and in one house they surprised seven men and a woman, whom they brought to me, saying that though the road they had taken was bad and somewhat rough, it appeared to them very good in comparison with that over which we had come. I questioned the Indian prisoners to obtain information about the Christians whom I sought, and one of them, who was a native of Acalan, told me that he was a trader, having his principal trade in the town of Nito where those Spaniards lived, that there was a large traffic carried on there by merchants from all parts of the country, and that his own people of Acalan lived in a quarter of their own, having as their chief a brother of Apaspolon, the lord of Acalan. He said that the Christians had come there one night, captured the town, and robbed the inhabitants of all they had, besides much valuable merchandise belonging to traders from all parts who were in the town. In consequence of this, which had happened about the year before, the people had abandoned the place and gone to other provinces, while he ​and certain other traders of Acalan had obtained permission from Acahuilguin, the lord of Acuculin, to settle in his country. Here he [Acahuilguin] had given them a small town in which they lived and whence they carried on their trade, although it was entirely ruined after the Spaniards had come there, for there was but that one road and nobody ventured to use it. He said he would guide me, but that we would be obliged to cross a large inlet of the sea and many difficult mountain chains, altogether a ten days' journey.
I rejoiced greatly at having found so good a guide, and treated him well, instructing the guides I had brought from Mazatlan and Taiza to tell him how well I had treated them, and that I was a great friend of Apaspolon, their lord. This increased his confidence in me, and I ventured to set him and all his companions free, trusting him to such an extent that I discharged the guides whom I had brought thus far, giving them some small presents for themselves and for their chiefs, and thanking them for their services; after which they left me well satisfied. I ordered four men from Acuculin and two chosen among the inhabitants of Tenciz to go ahead with a message from me to the lord of Acuculin, and encourage him to await me; and after them there followed other Indians to open the road. The scarcity of provisions and the want of rest, both for the men and horses, delayed me two days longer at that place, after which I departed, leading most of our horses until we reached a place where we passed the night. At daybreak we found that the man who was to have been our guide and all his companions had gone, and God knows how I regretted having dismissed the others. I marched ahead however, and slept in a forest, five leagues distant from there; and on the road we encountered such rough places that the only one of my horses which had held out was disabled by a fall and has not yet recovered. ​The next day, I marched six leagues and crossed two rivers, one of which we crossed on a tree which had fallen spanning it; the horses swam across and two mares were drowned; we crossed the other river in canoes, the horses swimming. I slept in a small town of about fifteen newly built houses which I learned belonged to the merchants of Acalan who had left the town where the Christians were and had settled here. I waited there a day to collect the men and baggage, then I sent two companies of horsemen and one of foot soldiers in the direction of Acuculin; from there they wrote me that they had found the place deserted, but that in a large house, belonging to the lord of the country, they had captured two men who were waiting there, by command of their chief, to advise him of my arrival as soon as they saw me. The prisoners declared that their lord had heard of my coming from those messengers whom I had sent from Tenciz, and that he would rejoice to see me and come as soon as he learnt that I had arrived. My men sent one to summon the lord and to bring some provisions, while the other they held as hostage. They said they had found cacao but no maize, and that the pasture for the horses was fairly good.
When I reached Acuculin, I immediately asked whether the lord had arrived or the messenger returned, and they answered that they had not, so I spoke to the hostage and asked him why it was. He answered that he did not know unless the lord was awaiting to hear that I had arrived there, and that now he was aware of it he would come. I waited one day, and, as he did not come, I again spoke to the hostage; and he said that he did not know the reason, but that if I would give him some Spaniards he knew where his lord was and would go with them to call him. So ten Spaniards immediately left with him, and he led them a good five leagues through forests to some hamlets which they found empty, but ​which, according to what the Spaniards said, had evidently been recently occupied; and that night the guide deserted them and they returned. Being left without any guide, which was cause enough to double our troubles, I sent squads of people, not only Spaniards, but also Indians, in all directions through the province, and they explored for eight consecutive days without meeting any living creature, save some women, who were of little use to our purpose, because neither did they know any road, nor could they give any account of the lord of the province. One of the women, however, said that she knew of a town, two days' journey from there, called Chianteco, where we would find people who could give us news of those Spaniards whom we sought; for many merchants lived in that town who traded everywhere. So I immediately sent people thither with this woman for a guide, and, although the town was two long days' journey from where we were, and accessible only by a rough and deserted road, the natives of it had already heard of my coming and no guide could be secured. Our Lord was pleased that, we being almost hopeless at finding ourselves without a guide, and unable to use the compass on account of being in the midst of forests so intricate, and with no other road discoverable which led anywhere save the one we had come on, should find in the forest a lad of about fifteen years of age, who, being questioned, said he would guide us as far as some hamlets of Taniha, which is another province I remembered I had to cross, and which he said was two days' journey from there. So I departed with this guide, and reached News of the Spaniards at Nito those hamlets within two days, finding that the scouts who had gone ahead had taken an old Indian there who guided them as far as the towns of Taniha, which are another two days' journey further on. Four Indians were captured in these towns, and, as soon as I inquired of them, they gave ​me news of the Spaniards whom I sought, saying they had seen them, and that they were two days' journey from there in the same town, which I remembered and which is called Nito. This being a centre of much trade amongst the merchants was very well known everywhere, and I had heard about it already in the Province of Acalan, of which I have already spoken to Your Majesty. They also brought two women, natives of the said town Nito, who gave me further details; for they told me they were in the town when the Christians captured it, and that they themselves were among the prisoners taken when it was assaulted by night, and had served the Christians whom they called by their names.
I cannot express to Your Majesty the great joy which I and my people felt at the news these natives of Taniha gave us, for we saw ourselves at the end of our perilous journey. We had passed through innumerable troubles during the four days march from Acuculin, owing to the precipitous roads and rough mountainous passes we had to cross. During this time, the few horses we had left suffered falls, and my cousin, Juan de Avalon, rolled down a mountain with his horse and broke his arm; and, had it not been for the steel plates of his armour which protected him from the stones, he would have been dashed to pieces; and we had trouble enough to get him up again. And there were many other misfortunes, too many to be recounted, which befell us, especially through famine; for, although we had brought from Mexico some swine, which were not as yet all consumed, neither I nor my men, when we arrived at Taniha, had tasted any bread for eight consecutive days; our only food was palmettos boiled with the meat and without ​salt, and the cores of palm trees. Neither did we find any food in these towns of Taniha, for, being in the near neighbourhood of the Spaniards, they were deserted, although, had the natives known the miserable plight in which I afterwards found the Spaniards, they might have felt safe from being attacked by them. The news that we were so near to them made us forget all our past troubles and gave us courage to support our present ones, which were not less great; especially that of hunger, which was the worst of all, because even all those palmettos without salt were in insufficient quantity, since they had to be cut with such great difficulty from thick and tall palm trees that it took two men a day's hard work to cut what they could eat in an hour.
Those Indians who brought me news of the Spaniards told me that, before reaching Nito, I would have two days' march over a bad road, and that, near by, there was a large river which could be crossed only in canoes, for it was so wide, and the current so strong, that it would be impossible to swim. Upon hearing this, I sent fifteen Spaniards on foot in that direction, guided by one of those Indians, and ordered them to explore the roads and the river, and see if they could encounter any of those Spaniards, and discover to what group or party the settlers at Nito belonged, whether to those I had sent with Cristobal de Olid, or to those of Francisco de las Casas, or to those of Gil Gonzales de Avila. So they left, and the Indian guided them to the said river, where they took canoes from some traders and hid themselves there for two days, at the end of which time four Spaniards came in a canoe to fish. They seized them, not letting any escape, nor had the people of the town noticed the occurrence. When they were brought before me, I learned that the people there belonged to Gil Gonzales de Avila, and that they were all ill and almost starved to death, so I immediately despatched, in that same ​canoe, two of my servants, to take a letter of mine to the Spaniards, announcing my arrival and my intention to cross that river by the ford, begging them to send me all the canoes and boats they could to help my crossing. I set out with all my people for the said ford of the river, reaching it in three days; and one Diego Nieto came there and told me that he had been condemned to exile. He brought me a boat and a canoe in which I embarked with ten or twelve of my people, and crossed that night to the town, though in great peril, for a strong wind struck us in the crossing and as the river is very broad just there at its mouth, we were in danger of being lost. It pleased our Lord to bring us safely across.
The next day, I prepared another boat, which I found in the harbour, by means of which and some other canoes Cortes Ar- rives at Nito which I had tied securely two by two, I managed to bring over the whole of the people and horses within five or six days. The Spaniards whom I found there, some seventy men and twenty women, brought thither by Gil Gonzales de Avila, were in such a plight that it excited the greatest compassion merely to behold them, aside from seeing their rejoicing at my coming; for, of a truth, had I not arrived, everyone would have perished. For, besides being few, unarmed, and without horses, they were very ill, suffering from want and starvation, as their provisions from the island, and what they had captured from the natives when they took the town, were exhausted; they were in no condition to procure any more, for they were settled on a sort of tongue of land from which there was no issue, except by watre? as we afterwards discovered, and they had never penetrated half a league into the country from where they were. Seeing their great want, I determined to obtain some relief, until means could be provided for sending them back to the Islands, where they could recuperate, for amongst them all there were not eight fit to remain ​in the country in case they were left there . I immediately sent some of my people, in five or six canoes and two barques which they had there, in various directions by sea to seek provisions.
The first expedition was to go to the mouth of a river, called Yasa, about two leagues from that settlement, and in the direction of the territory through which I had come; for I had learned that there were well provisioned towns thereabouts. Upon reaching the said river, they ascended it some leagues and arrived at some very considerable plantations; but the natives, seeing them approach, hastily concealed all their provisions in certain houses, and, carrying their women and children and goods and chattels, they all fled to the forest. When the Spaniards arrived at these houses, a pouring rain set in, so they all collected in a large house, and as they were wet through they all took off their armour, and many of them even their clothes to dry them and warm themselves; and, while in this condition, off their guard, the natives fell upon them, wounding most of them in such manner that they were forced to re-embark and to return to me without any provisions. God knows what I suffered, not only at seeing their wounds, some of which were dangerous, and because they had brought no relief for alleviating our wants, but also because those Indians would acquire more confidence at the sight of our misfortunes.
Immediately, in the same boats and canoes, I sent another and more numerous party of men, composed of Spaniards as well as Mexicans under command of one of my captains. I ordered them to cross to the other side of that great river and to follow along the coast while the barques and canoes were to go from one point to another of the land, accompanying them so as to enable them to cross the bays and rivers which were many. So they set out, and came to the mouth of the said river ​where the other Spaniards had been wounded; but they returned having done nothing, and bringing no supplies of provisions except that they captured four Indians in a canoe at sea. Being asked how it was they came back thus, they said that the great rains had swollen the river to a raging torrent, and they could not ascend it more than a league; but, believing it would subside, they had waited eight days without fire or any provisions except such fruits as the forest yielded; some of them were in such a condition that they hardly survived. I found myself so concerned and perplexed that, had it not been for the swine left over from the journey, which we ate with great relish without either bread or salt, we would have all perished from hunger. Through the interpreter, I asked those Indians who had been taken in the canoe, whether they knew of any place in the neighbourhood where we might procure food, promising them that, if they would guide me, I would release them and give them many presents besides. One of them said that he was a trader and the others were his slaves, and that he had gone frequently with his merchant ships and knew all the bay, which extended from there to a large river, in which all the traders like himself took refuge in time of storm, and that, on that river, there were many large towns which were rich and well stocked with provisions where we could find everything we required, and that he would guide us thither. He offered, in proof of his truth, that I might put him in chains and if he had lied I might punish him as he deserved. So I ordered the boats and canoes to be prepared, and, having manned them with all who were still healthy and capable of bearing fatigue, I sent them under the guidance of that man; but ten days later they returned as they had gone, saying that the guide had led them into marshes where neither the barques nor canoes could float, and that, in spite of their efforts, they had never been able to cross. ​I asked the guide why he had hoaxed me thus, and he answered that he had not done so, but that the Spaniards whom I had sent with him refused to go on though they had been close to the spot where the river joined the sea; and indeed many of the Spaniards even admitted that they had heard the sound of the sea very distinctly, so they could not have been very far from it.
I cannot express what I felt at seeing myself so beyond help, and almost beyond hope, faced with the fear that none of us would escape death by starvation, Conditions at Nito God, our Lord, Who always relieves necessities, even those of one so unworthy as I, and Who has so often delivered me in such because I am in the royal service of Your Majesty guided thither a ship which was coming from the Islands, with no idea of finding me, and which carried some thirty men, besides the crew and thirteen horses, seventy odd swine, twelve casks of salt meat and thirty loads of bread, of the kind used in the Islands. We all gave thanks to our Lord, Who had rescued us in our great necessity; and I bought all those provisions of the ship for the price of four thousand pesos. I had already worked at repairing a caravel which the Spaniards there had allowed to go almost to pieces, and had begun building a brigantine from pieces of other vessels which had been wrecked thereabouts, so that, when this ship arrived, the caravel was already repaired; though I believe we would never have finished the brigantine had that ship not come, because it brought us a man who, though not really a ship's carpenter, was yet sufficiently versed in that trade.
In scouring the country, a path was discovered leading through some rough mountains to a certain town, called Leguela, eighteen leagues from there, where plenty of provisions were found, though, owing to the bad road, it was impossible to avail ourselves of them.
Some Indians captured there told us that the place ​where Francisco de las Casas, Cristobal de Olid, and Gil Gonzalez de Avila had left, and where Christobal de Olid had died, as I have already informed Your Majesty, and will again hereafter speak of, was a town called Naco. This agreed with the information given by the Spaniards I had found at Nito, so I immediately ordered a road to be opened, and sent ahead all my men, foot soldiers and horsemen, under one of my captains, keeping with me only the servants of my household, the sick, and those who wished to remain and go by sea. I instructed that captain to go to the said town of Naco, and try to pacify the people of that province who were still somewhat disturbed in consequence of the presence of those Spaniards; and that as soon as he arrived he should send ten or twelve horsemen, with as many crossbowmen, to the bay of San Andres, about twenty leagues distant from there. Meanwhile I would bring the sick and wounded and the rest of the people by sea, and wait for them if I arrived first; if, on the contrary, they arrived first, they should wait for me. After their departure and the completion of the brigantine, I thought to embark with the rest of my people, but I discovered that, although we had salt meat enough, we had not sufficient bread; and it seemed a very risky thing to put to sea without this, having so many sick people on board, for, if we encountered bad weather which would delay us, we should be exposed to death by starvation instead of finding relief for our woes. While considering how to remedy this, one who had been left as captain of those people told me that, when they had first come there with Gil Gonzalez, they had brought a very good brigantine and four ships; and that with the ships' boats they had ascended that river and found two large gulfs of fresh water, on whose shores there were several villages well stocked with food. After they had ​navigated to the extreme end of them, a distance altogether of fourteen leagues up the river, the stream became so narrow and so impetuous that, in six days, they had not made more than four leagues, although the waters were still very deep. They had not been able to discover much about it, but he believed that we would there find sufficient provisions of maize. He thought I had too few people to go thither, for eighty of his party had landed, and, although they had succeeded in surprising the town, the Indians gathered afterwards and fought with them, wounding several people and forcing them to re-embark.
Seeing, however, the extremity in which we were, and that it was more dangerous to go to sea without provisions than to hunt for them on land, I determined to ascend that river; for, besides having no alternative, it might be that God, our Lord, would grant that I should there discover some secret profitable to Your Majesty. So I immediately counted the people capable of accompanying me, and found some forty Spaniards who, though not all fit for service, were still able to guard the ships while I landed. With these forty Spaniards and about fifty Indians who still remained of those whom I brought from Mexico, and everything being ready for sea, I set out, in two other boats and four canoes, in the direction of that river we were to ascend, leaving all my sick people in that town with a steward of mine to take charge of them. At first, we had great difficulty in navigating against the strong current of the river, but after two nights and a day we reached the first of the two rivers above mentioned, some three leagues distant from our starting place; the gulf may measure about twelve leagues around, its shores being completely deserted, very low, and swampy. I sailed an entire day about this gulf, until I came to another narrowing which the river makes; and, entering it, I reached the ​other gulf the next morning. It was certainly the most beautiful thing in the world to behold, for, in the midst of the rockiest and most rugged mountain chain, there existed a sea of over thirty leagues in extent. I followed along the shore until towards nightfall we perceived a village, and, landing, we found an entrance to it about two thirds of a league distant; but it appeared I had been perceived, for the place was entirely deserted and empty. In the neighbouring fields we found a great abundance of green maize which we ate that night and the next morning; but, as we did not find what we came for, we took a supply of that green maize and returned to our boats, without having seen any natives of the country.
In crossing to the other side of the gulf, which was accomplished with great difficulty on account of a contrary wind we encountered, one canoe was lost, but its crew were saved by a barque, so that only one Indian was drowned. It was late in the evening when we reached the shore, so we could not land until the next morning, when we ascended a small stream with the barques and canoes, leaving the brigantine outside. Thus I reached the place where there seemed to be a trail, and, having ordered the boats and canoes to return to the brigantine on the gulf, I landed with thirty of my men and all the Indians; and, following the trail, I reached a village about a quarter of a league distant which seemed to have been abandoned by its inhabitants many days before, for the houses were choked with weeds, although there were many fine orchards of cacao and other fruit trees in the neighbourhood; I explored the town to see if there was a road leading anywhere, and finally found one, so overgrown that apparently it had not been used for some time. As I found no other I followed it, and marched that day some five leagues over mountains so rugged that we had to scramble over them with both hands and ​feet. We came to some maize plantations, with a house in the midst of them, where we captured three women and a man, who were doubtless the owners of these plantations. They guided us to other plantations, where we took two more women, who, in turn, led us by a road to a very large plantation, in the midst of which stood forty very small huts which seemed to have been recently built. It would appear, however, that our arrival was known, for the village was deserted and all the people had fled to the mountains; but, as we came upon them so suddenly, they could not carry off their provisions, so they had to leave us something, especially fowls, partridges, pigeons, and pheasants, which they kept in cages; there was, however, no dried maize, and no salt. I passed the night there, and the fowls and some green maize which we found somewhat assuaged our hunger.
We had been there more than two hours when two of its inhabitants came, very much surprised to find such guests in their houses; they were captured by my scouts, and, on being asked if they knew of any town near there, they answered yes, and that they would guide me to it the next day but that we could arrive only very late, almost at night. The next morning, therefore, we began our march, guided by these two Indians, over roads still worse than those of the day before; for, besides being quite as overgrown with brushwood, we had at almost every arrow's shot to cross one of the many rivers which empty into that gulf. It is owing to the great accumulation of waters coming down from the mountains that these gulfs and lagoons are formed and that the river flows with such rapidity at its mouth, as I have told Your Majesty. Following our road in this wise, we travelled seven leagues without seeing any inhabited places, during which distance we crossed forty-five large rivers, not counting many creeks. On the road we captured three women, who were coming with loads of maize from that ​town to which the guide was taking us, who assured us that the guide spoke the truth.
At about sunset, we distinguished a noise as of people, and, asking those women what it meant, they answered that a certain festival was being celebrated that day. I concealed all my people in the forest in the most perfect manner possible, and placed some scouts quite close to the town, and others on the road, to capture any Indians who might be passing; and thus we passed the night in a great downpour of rain and amid the greatest pest of mosquitoes imaginable. Such was the condition of the forest and the road, and so dark and tempestuous was the night that, two or three times when I attempted to reach the town, I failed to discover the way, although we were so near that we could almost hear the people talking to one another; thus we were forced to wait for daylight, when we fell upon them so opportunely that we found them all asleep. I had given orders that nobody should enter a house or utter a cry, but that we should surround the principal houses, especially that of the chief, and a large barracks in which the guide said all the warriors slept. Our good fortune willed it that the first house to which we came was that in which the warriors were gathered. It was already daylight, so that everything could be seen, and one of my men, seeing so many people in arms, and considering how few in number we were to attack such numerous opponents, even though they were asleep, began to cry for help, and to shout, "Santiago! Santiago!" which awakened the Indians. Some of them seized their weapons, and others did not, but, the houses having no walls, their roofs being supported merely by wooden posts, most of the Indians fled in every direction as soon as we entered the place, for it was too large to be entirely surrounded. I assure Your Majesty that had that man not shouted everyone of them would have been captured and it would have turned ​out the most beautiful undertaking ever seen in these parts, and might have brought about their complete pacification; for, by setting them free again, and explaining the reason of my coming, and reassuring them, they would have seen how well they were treated and thus good results would have been produced; whereas exactly the contrary happened. We captured about fifteen men and twenty women, and some ten or twelve other men perished in resisting capture, among whom was their chief, who had not been recognised until afterwards when the prisoners showed me his dead body. Neither in this town did we find anything to supply our wants, for, although there was plenty of green maize in the fields, it was not the kind of food for which we came to search. I remained in this town two days to rest my people.
Having asked the Indians who were captured there whether they knew of any other town in the vicinity where dried maize could be found, they said they knew a town, called Chacujal, which was a large and ancient one, where all kinds of provisions would be found in abundance, so I departed, guided by these Indians towards the town they mentioned; and, having marched six long leagues of bad road that day, crossing many a river, I reached some large plantations which the guides told me belonged to the towns whither we were going. For about two leagues through the forest near them, we advanced so as not to be seen, and my scouts, whom I always sent ahead of me, captured eight wood-cutters and other labourers who were coming unsuspectingly through the forest towards me. About sunset, the guides told me to halt, as we were already very near the town; so I stopped in the forest till the third hour of the night. Then I again began to march, coming to a river, which we crossed in water, breast high, and so swift that the crossing was sufficiently dangerous, and only by holding one another hand in hand did we cross without losing ​anyone. The guides then explained that the village was near by, so I ordered my men to halt and went myself with two companies close enough to see the houses and even to hear the people talking; they all seemed quite tranquil, and we had evidently not been detected. I returned to my people, and made them take some rest, putting six men on watch in sight of the town on each side of the road; but when I had lain down on some straw to rest, one of my scouts whom I had left came and told me that many armed people were coming along the road, talking together and evidently unaware of our presence. I, therefore, ordered my people to form as quickly as they could; but, as the distance between the village and our camp was so short, the Indians discovered the scouts, and, as soon as they perceived them, they let fly a volley of arrows and then retreated towards the town, fighting until we entered, when it was so dark they disappeared immediately amongst the streets. Fearing an ambush, I did not allow my people to disband, but, keeping them well together, I marched to a great square where there were mosques and oratories, built in the same manner and surrounded by buildings of the same kind, and in the same fashion as those of Culua; our fears were here increased because, since leaving Acalan, we had seen nothing of the kind. There were even some who expressed the opinion that we ought to return and cross the river that same night before the people of the town, perceiving we were so few, should cut off our retreat. And, truly, this advice was not bad in view of what we had already seen of the place, and what we had reason to fear; thus we remained gathered in that great square for a long time, without hearing any sound of the people. It seemed to me we ought not to leave that town in such manner, for this reason, that, perhaps, the Indians seeing we remained would be more frightened than if they saw us leave in that way; for, if we retreated, ​the enemy would the sooner perceive our weakness, which would augment our danger.
It pleased our Lord that it should happen thus, for, after remaining a long time in that square, I entered with my people into one of those large halls, and sent others out into the town to report if they saw anyone. They never encountered anyone, but, on the contrary, they entered many houses and found the fires still burning, and a large stock of provisions, which pleased them greatly; so we remained there that night with every possible precaution. At daybreak, we explored the whole town, which was well laid out, the houses being very well built, and close together. We found a great deal of cotton in them, some woven, and some ready for weaving, also clothing, and a large quantity of dried maize, cacao, beans, pepper, and salt, besides many fowls and pheasants in cages, partridges, and dogs of the species they raise to eat (and which are exceedingly good); and every other variety of provisions to such an extent that, had we had the ships where we could load them, I would have regarded myself as well provided for many a day. But to avail ourselves of them we would have had to carry them on men's backs twenty leagues, while we were in such a condition that we had enough to do to carry ourselves back to the ships without taking other loads, for, had we not rested there for some days, we should have been unable to return to our boats.
The next day, I sent for a native of the place who had been captured near the plantations, and who seemed a person of importance, for he had his bow and arrows for hunting, and was well dressed, according to their fashion. I spoke to him through an interpreter I had, telling him to go to the chief and his people and say to them that I had not come to do them any harm, but rather to tell them some things which were expedient for them to know, and to say that the chief or some other ​honourable person should come and learn the cause of my arrival, for they might be sure that much good would result to them; on the contrary if they refused they might suffer for it. Thus I despatched him with a letter of mine to the chief, for the people of those parts were always more assured by seeing my letters. I did this against the advice of some of my men, who said it was unwise to send him, for he would explain to them how few we were; that the village was large and populous, judging from the number of houses closely built together, and that the inhabitants, seeing how few we were, might easily call on their neighbours for help and attack us. I saw they were right, yet wished to find the means of sufficiently provisioning my company, and believing that, if those people came to me peaceably, they might perhaps furnish means for carrying away some of the provisions, I set aside their arguments; because in truth no less danger waited us from starvation if we lived without provisions, than there did in an attack from the Indians. I, therefore, despatched the Indian, who promised to return the next day, as he knew where the chief and all the people were. On the day appointed for the Indian's return, two of my Spaniards who were exploring about the town and country found my letter placed on a pole by the roadside, from which we judged we would have no answer; and thus it happened, for neither the Indian nor anybody else came, so we remained eighteen days there, resting, ana seeking to devise some means for carrying away those provisions.
While pondering this it seemed to me that, by following down the river, I might perhaps come to the other large river that empties into the gulf of fresh water where I had left my brigantine as well as my boats and canoes; so I asked those Indians whom I held prisoners if this was true, and they answered yes, though we could not understand them very well, nor they us, for they spoke ​a different language from any we had yet heard. By signs, however, and with some words which I understood of that language, I prayed that two of them would guide ten Spaniards to the junction of that river with the other; and they answered that it was very near, so that they could go and return the same day. And God was pleased that, having travelled about two leagues through some very beautiful orchards of cacao and other fruit trees, they came upon a large river which they said emptied into the gulf where I had left the brigantines and barques and canoes, saying that the river's name was Apolochic.
Having been asked how long the journey would take in canoes to the gulf they replied five days, so I immediately sent two Spaniards with one of Building the Rafts those guides who offered to take them, by short cuts known to him, to where the brigantines lay. I ordered that the brigantines and barques and canoes be brought to the mouth of that large river, and that, leaving the vessel behind, the two Spaniards should try, with one canoe and a boat, to ascend the river to its junction with the other. Having despatched these men, I ordered four rafts to be constructed of logs and large bamboos, capable of carrying forty bushels of dried maize and ten men, not counting many other things such as beans, and red peppers, and cacao, which each Spaniard took besides. It took eight full days to construct the rafts. When they were loaded, the Spaniard I had sent to the brigantines returned, and told me that, after ascending the river for six consecutive days, they had found it impossible to fetch the barque up, and ​had therefore left it with a guard of ten Spaniards and finished their journey in the canoe; they arrived at a place about one league lower down the river, where exhausted from rowing they had left it hidden. On their way up the river they had been attacked by some few Indians and had fought sometimes with them; these, they thought, however, would gather forces to await their return. I immediately sent people to bring up the canoe to where the rafts were, and, having loaded all the provisions we had gathered onto the rafts, I selected the necessary people to man. them, who were supplied with long poles to protect them from floating logs, which made the river rather dangerous. 1 sent the remainder of my people under a captain to return by the same road on which we had come, with orders to await me where we had first disembarked if they arrived there before me, for I would go thither to meet them; and if I arrived first I would wait for them. I embarked in a canoe with the only two crossbowmen left.
Though the journey I was undertaking was extremely dangerous, owing to the rapid current and to the approximate certainty that the Indians would waylay us on our passage, I, nevertheless, determined to go that way, the better to preserve order; and, recommending myself to God, I began the descent of the river, which was accomplished with such rapidity that, in three hours, we came to where the barque had been left.
Here we thought to lighten the rafts by transferring some of the cargo onto it, but so rapid was the current that they could not stop. I went on board the barque, and ordered that the canoe, well-manned, should go ahead of the rafts, to see whether any Indians were in ambush, and to discover any dangerous places there might be. I myself remained behind in the barque ready to help the rafts if need should be, for I could more easily be of assistance from the rear than from the front. ​About sunset, one of the rafts was somewhat shattered by striking a submerged log, though it was floated again by the fury of the water after half its cargo had been lost. Three hours after nightfall, I heard the shouts of Indians ahead of us, but, not wishing to leave the rafts behind, I did not go ahead to see what it meant, and, after a little, it ceased, and we heard nothing more for a while. A little later I heard it again, and it seemed to me nearer, but it ceased, and I could not ascertain what it was, as the canoe and the three rafts went ahead and I followed behind with the damaged raft, which could not travel so fast. For quite a while then no more shouts were heard, so we proceeded somewhat off our guard while I took off my helmet, for I had a high fever, and rested my head on my hands. Continuing thus, the violence of the current at the bend of the river struck us with such force that the barque and rafts were driven on the bank. It then transpired that the shouts we had heard had come from this point, for the Indians who inhabited its banks knew the river well, and foresaw that the force of the current would throw us on land at that point; so, many of them awaited us there, and, as soon as the canoe and rafts which had gone ahead reached that spot where we arrived later, they were assaulted by a volley of arrows which wounded almost everyone of their crews though knowing that most of us still remained behind, the attack of the Indians was not so furious as that which they afterwards made upon us. The people in the canoe were prevented by the strong current from coming back to warn us, so, when we were thrown on land, the Indians raised a great yell and let fly such a volley of arrows and stones that we were all of us wounded, I in the head which was the only part not protected by my mail. Our Lord permitted this to happen by a high bluff where the waters were very deep, and to this circumstance we owed our escape; for, the night being very ​dark, some of the Indians fell into the water, and I believe many were drowned. The current soon whirled us quickly away, and very shortly after we could hardly hear their shouts. The rest of the night passed without any further encounter, though now and then we heard faint cries from the distance, or from the bluffs of the river. The banks of the river are lined with beautiful plantations.
At daybreak, we found ourselves about five leagues from the mouth of the river, where it flows into the gulf; the brigantine was waiting for us there at the gulf, and we arrived about noon, so that in one day and one night we covered twenty long leagues in descending that river. Wishing to transfer the provisions from the rafts to the brigantine, I found that everything had been wet, and seeing that, were it not dried, all would be spoiled and our labour lost, I had the dry separated from the wet and placed in the brigantine, while the rest I placed in the barque and the canoes and sent it as quickly as possible to the town where it might be dried; for, on account of the swamps about that gulf, there was no place there where this could be done. Thus they left, and I ordered the canoes and barques to return immediately to help me transport the people, as the brigantine and one canoe which remained were insufficient to carry them all.
After the barques and canoes had left, I set sail, and went to the place where my people who had gone overland were to meet me; and there I waited for them three days, at the end of which time they arrived in very good condition, except for one Spaniard, who, they said, had eaten certain herbs on the road and died instantly. They brought with them an Indian whom they had captured in that town where I had left them; he was going about unguardedly, and, as he was different from the natives of the country not only in language but also in dress, I ​began to question him by signs, when another was found among the prisoners who said he could understand him; and he told me that he was a native of Teculutlan. As soon as I heard this name, it seemed to me I had heard it mentioned before, so, when I reached the town, I searched amongst my memoranda and found that name as belonging to a place somewhere across the country, a distance altogether of seventy-eight leagues from the Spanish settlement on the South Sea governed by Pedro de Alvarado, one of my captains; it also appeared from the memoranda that some of Pedro de Alvarado's men had been in that town of Teculutlan, which indeed this Indian confirmed; and this news pleased me very much.
All the people being collected, and the boats not having yet returned, we consumed the small quantity of provisions which had been kept dry, and embarked on board the brigantine, though the vessel was so small that there was hardly room for us all. The intention was to cross the gulf to the town where we had first landed, and where we had seen the ripening maize fields. More than twenty-five days having passed, we reasonably expected to find it ripe enough for our use, and so it was; for, one morning, we saw boats and canoes coming towards us in the middle of the gulf, and, continuing altogether in that direction, we reached land. Immediately after landing, all my people, Spaniards as well as Indians, besides forty native prisoners, went straight to the town, where they found excellent maize fields, the greater part fully ripe. Meeting no opposition, both Christians and Indians made three journeys to and fro that day, for the distance was short, carrying loads of grain, so that the brigantine being filled, as well as the boats, I went to the town myself, leaving them engaged in transporting the maize. I at once sent the two barques, another which had arrived there with a ship which had been lost on the coast coming to New Spain, and four canoes, to gather this great ​vest, which was a most providential supply, repaying the labour it cost; for, had it not been found, we would have all inevitably perished by starvation.
I had all those provisions loaded on the ships, and embarked with all the people in that town who belonged to Gil Gonzalez, besides those who remained of my people; and this being done I set sail on the [passage missing in MS.] day of [passage missing in MS.], and steered to the port on the bay of San Andres. Having first landed all those who were able to walk and two horses I had with me on the ship, I ordered them to go to the said harbour and bay where they would find, or wait for, the people who were to come from Naco, for that road had been already travelled. The ships were dangerously overcrowded, so I sent a barque along the coast to enable them to cross certain rivers on their road; and, when I reached the said port, I found that the people from Naco had arrived there two days before me. I learned from them that all the others were well, and had a great store of maize and red peppers and many fruits of the country, though they had neither meat nor salt, as for two months they had not known what those things were.
I remained twenty days in this port, striving to establish some order amongst those people in Naco, and Foundation of Natividad looking for a convenient place to found a settle ment; for that port is certainly the best which exists along the discovered coast of all this mainland, that is to say from the Gulf of Pearls to Florida. God willed that I should find a very good one, suitable for my purpose, for, after I had sent to explore some streams one or two leagues from the site of this town, good samples of gold were found; and, both on this account, and also because the port was so beautiful and had such an excellent, well-populated neighbourhood, it seemed to me that it would be for Your Majesty's good service to found a settlement here; I therefore sent a messenger to Naco ​where the people were, to learn if any of them would like to settle there. The land being good, about fifty of them, mostly of those who had come thither with me, consented, and thus, in Your Majesty's name, I founded there a town, which on account of the day of its foundation, being the Nativity of Our Lady, I named Natividad de Nuestra Senora. I appointed alcaldes and municipal officers, leaving them a priest, church ornaments, and everything necessary for the celebration of mass; I also left them workmen and mechanics, such as a smith, with a verygood forge, and his necessary tools, a carpenter, a shipwright, a barber, and a tailor. Among the settlers there were twenty horsemen and some crossbowmen. Finally I provided certain artillery and powder.
When I arrived at that town, and heard from the Spaniards from Naco that the natives of that and the neighbouring towns were all in a commotion, and had fled from their dwellings to the forests, refusing to return, although frequently invited to do so, for they remembered their injuries at the hands of Gil Gonzales, Cristobal de Olid, and their men, I wrote to the captain there to endeavour by all means to secure some of those Indians and send them to me that I might speak to them and calm them. He did this, and sent me certain persons whom he had captured in a foray he had made for the purpose. I spoke to them, and reassured them, and made some of the principal persons from Mexico who were with me speak also with them. These latter told them who I was, and of what I had done in their country, and of the good treatment all had received from me after they became my friends, and of how they had been protected and maintained in justice, they and their property, their wives and children; they told of the punishment which those who rebelled against the service of Your Majesty received, and of many other things which tended to pacify the captured Indians. Nevertheless, they still ​said they were afraid that what they had been told was not the truth, because those captains who had been there before had said the same thing and afterwards they had discovered it was all a lie; for the women whom they had given them to make their bread had been kept, as well as the men who carried their baggage, and they feared I would do the same. Still they were reassured by what the Mexicans and my interpreter told them, and by observing that they were all well treated and happy in our company, so they grew a little more confident. I sent them to speak to the chiefs and people of the towns, and, a few days later, the captain wrote me that some of the neighbouring towns had come peaceably, especially the chief ones, which are Naco, where they are stationed, Quimiotlan, Suli, and Tholomi, the smallest of which numbered more than two thousand households, besides other villages depending on them; they had said that they would later all peaceably return to their homes, for messengers had been sent to reassure them, and let them know of my arrival and of all I had told them, and what they had learned from the natives of Mexico. They also greatly desired I should visit them, for the people would be more reassured by my presence. This I would willingly have done had I not been obliged to go on and reestablish order elsewhere, concerning which I will relate to Your Majesty in the following chapter.
Upon my arrival, Invincible Cæsar, at that town of Nito, where I found the lost people of Gil Gonzalez, I News from the Colony of Honduras learnt from them that Francisco de las Casas, one of my lieutenants, whom I had sent to inquire about Cristobal de Olid and his men, as I have already related to Your Majesty, had left certain Spaniards down the coast at a port which the pilots called Las Honduras; these Spaniards no doubt were still there. As soon as I reached that town and bay of San Andres, where, in Your Majesty's ​name, I established a town called Natividad de Nuestra Señora, I delayed there to organise the settlement of it, and likewise to give orders to the captain and people in Naco concerning the measures they should take for the pacification and security of those other towns. I sent the ship I had bought to the said port of Honduras to inquire after those other people, and bring me information. By the time the above mentioned orders were executed, the ship returned, bringing the procurator of the town and an officer of the Municipal Council, who besought me earnestly to go there and relieve them, because they were in extreme need. The captain appointed by Francisco de las Casas and a judge whom he had likewise nominated, had rebelled and taken possession of a ship, then in the harbour, and had persuaded fifty out of the hundred and ten colonists to follow them, leaving the others without weapons or iron tools of any sort; taking away also almost everything they owned; so that they were in great fear either that the Indians would kill them, or that they would starve to death, for they were unable to procure provisions. A vessel from the island of Española, owned by a man called the Bachelor Francisco Moreno, had since arrived there; but, though they had besought him to provide them with necessaries he had refused, as I would more fully learn when I came to that town. To correct all this, I embarked in my ships, with all my suffering people (some of whom had meanwhile died), it being my intention to send them from that place to the Islands and to New Spain, as I afterwards did. I took with me some of my own household servants, and gave orders that twenty horsemen and ten crossbowmen should go overland, as I heard that the road to the village was good, although they would have to cross some rivers.
It took me nine days to arrive, owing to unfavourable weather, and, having cast anchor in the port of Honduras, ​I entered a boat with two Franciscan friars, whom I always took with me, and about ten servants of mine; and thus we went on land where the people of the town were in the square awaiting me. As I neared shore, they all rushed into the sea and lifting me out of the boat they carried me to the town and church with every demonstration of welcome. After having given thanks to our Lord, they prayed me to stop and hear their account of all that had transpired, for they feared that in consequence of misrepresentations which might have been made to me, I might be vexed with them, and they wished me to know the truth before I judged them. I assented to this and their priest rose and spoke to me as follows: —
Sir, you know how all, or almost all, of us who are here, were sent from New Spain under your captain Cristobal de History of Olid's rebellion Olid to se "ttle and populate this country in the name of His Majesty, and that you ordered us to obey the commands of the said Cristobal de Olid as though they were your own. Thus, we left for the island of Cuba, where we were to take in some provisions and horses that were still requisite; and, having arrived at Havana, which is a port of the said island, he exchanged letters with Diego Velasquez and His Majesty's officers residing there, who sent him some more people. After we were provisioned with what we required, all of which was provided through your agent, Alonzo de Contreros, we left the island and continued our voyage.
Omitting some incidents of our voyage, too tedious to be related, we landed on this coast, fourteen leagues below the port of Caballos, where the said captain Cristobal de Olid took possession for your worship, and in the name of His Majesty, establishing a town with its alcaldes and municipal officers, who had already been nominated at the outset. He executed certain official acts regarding the possession and laying out of the town, acting in the name of your worship and as your captain and lieutenant. Some days later, ​ever, he made common cause with those servants of Diego Velasquez, who had come with him, and went through certain formalities which made it clear that he had renounced obedience to your worship; although most of us disapproved of this, we did not dare to oppose him because he threatened us with the gallows, but, on the contrary, we consented to all he did, the more so as certain servants and relatives of your worship did the same, for neither did they dare to act otherwise. This being accomplished, and, having heard from six messengers whom he caused to be imprisoned, that certain people of Gil Gonzalez de Avila were coming down upon him, he stationed himself near the ford of a river where they had to cross, so as to capture them.
After waiting some days in vain, he left there a lieutenant with some force, and returned to this town, where he began to fit out two caravels, and to provide them' with artillery and ammunition, intending to attack the settlement of Spaniards, which the said Gil Gonzalez had founded higher up the coast. While thus engaged, Francisco de las Casas arrived with two ships, and, as soon as Cristobal de Olid knew that it was he, he ordered the artillery on his ships to fire on him, in spite of the fact that Francisco de las Casas hoisted flags of peace, and shouted the information that his ships belonged to your worship. The artillery, however, continued to play under his orders, and, after the ships had anchored, he still fired ten or twelve shots, one of which went through one of the vessels and came out on the other side. When Francisco de las Casas perceived his intentions to be hostile, the suspicions he already entertained against Olid were confirmed, and he saw he could not temporise with such an enemy; so he manned his boats and began to use his artillery, taking possession of those two vessels that were in the port as their crews had deserted them and gone ashore. After these ships were taken, Cristobal de Olid began to sue for terms, not, however, with the intention of observing them, but to temporise until the men he had sent against Gil Gonzalez de Avila should return, for he did not feel himself strong enough to cope with Las Casas; he, therefore, sought to deceive him, and Las Casas allowed himself ​to be hood-winked. During these inconclusive negotiations a great tempest suddenly arose at sea, and, as there was no proper anchorage, but only an unsheltered coast, the ship on board of which Francisco de las Casas was, was dashed on shore, thirty odd men being drowned, and almost everything they had being lost. Las Casas and the others escaped naked and so bruised by the waves that they could not keep their feet, so Cristobal de Olid took them all prisoners; and, before they entered the town, he made them swear on the Holy Gospels that they would obey him and regard him as their captain ever afterwards, doing nothing against his will.
Just then the news came that his lieutenant had captured fifty-seven men and an alcalde mayor of Gil Gonzalez de Avila, and had afterwards set them free again, allowing them to go one way while he with his men took another. Rendered furious by hearing that his orders had not been obeyed, Cristobal de Olid left for Naco, where he had formerly been, taking with him Francisco de las Casas and some of his men, and leaving the other prisoners under guard of a lieutenant and an alcalde. Las Casas, in the presence of all, entreated him to allow him to return to your worship, and give an account of what had happened; for otherwise he must keep him under strict guard and not trust him, as he would do his best to escape. Some days later, Cristobal de Olid learned that Gil Gonzalez and a few of his men had settled at the port called Tholoma, so he sent certain people thither, who attacked Gonzalez by night and captured him as well as those who were with him, bringing them prisoners. Thus both these captains were kept there many days, Cristobal de Olid refusing to set them free, although he was begged many times to do so. He also made all the people of Gil Gonzalez swear to obey him as their captain, just as he had already done with those of Francisco de las Casas.
Many times, after the imprisonment of Gil Gonzalez, did Francisco de las Casas beg him in everybody's presence, to Execution of Cristobal de Olid set him and companions at liberty, saying that otherwise he had better be on his guard for they would kill him; but he would never consent to do so, until his tyranny had gone so far that one night, when they ​were all together in a hall, and many other people were with them discussing certain matters, Francisco de las Casas seized him by the beard and having no other arms, he stabbed him with a penknife with which he had been cutting his nails while walking up and down, crying at the same time, "The time is already passed for suffering this tyranny!" Gil Gonzalez and others of your worship's servants joined with him and disarmed the body-guard, and, in the scuffle which ensued, Cristobal de Olid, the captain and ensign of his body guard, his field-officer, and others, were wounded, taken prisoners, and disarmed, though none were killed. In the midst of the confusion, Cristobal de Olid escaped and hid himself, while the captains, within two hours, pacified the people and secured the persons of his principal adherents; and they proclaimed by the public crier that, whoever knew where Cristobal de Olid was hidden, should declare it immediately under penalty of death. They quickly learnt where he was, and captured him, placing him under good guard; and on the next morning, after giving him his trial, the captains agreed in sentencing him to death. This was executed on his person by cutting off his head, to the great satisfaction of the people who were thus liberated.
It was then proclaimed by the public crier that all who wished to settle in this country should say so, and that those who wished to leave should do likewise; one hundred and ten men said they desired to settle, and the others said they would go with Francisco de las Casas and Gil Gonzalez who were about to return to your worship. Among these former, there were twenty horsemen to which number I and all those here present belonged. Francisco de las Casas provided us with everything we needed, appointed a captain over us, and directed us to come to this coast and colonise for your worship, in the name of His Majesty; and he nominated sheriffs, municipal officers, a notary public, a procurator of the town council, and an alguacil, ordering us to call the town Trujillo; he promised us and pledged his faith as a gentleman, that he would procure from your worship more people and arms and horses for the pacification of the country. He, moreover, left us two interpreters, an Indian woman and a Christian, who understood very well the languages hereabouts. Thus, ​we took leave of him and came here as he had ordered us to do; and to inform your worship the more quickly, he despatched the brigantine so that assistance might reach us the sooner.
Having arrived at the port of San Andres, also called Caballos, we found there a caravel which had recently come from the Islands; and, as that port did not seem to us the proper place for a settlement, and as we had heard about this one, we loaded all our heavy baggage on to that caravel and embarked, taking with us the captain and forty men, while the horsemen and others remained on land, keeping nothing but the clothes on our backs, so as to be freer and unencumbered in case of accident on our march. The captain gave his full powers to one of the alcaldes, who is now here present, whom he ordered us to obey during his absence; the other municipal officers went with him in the caravel. Thus we parted from each other to meet again in this port, and, during our march, we had some encounters with the natives who killed two Spaniards and some of the Indians whom we had brought for our service.
Upon arriving in a dreadful plight at this port, the horses unshod, but all of us happy in the expectation of rinding the captain with our baggage and arms, we were more than afflicted to find nothing at all, while we were ourselves almost stark naked, destitute of arms and iron tools, all of which the captain had taken in the caravel. We were perplexed and knew not what to do with ourselves, until, after consulting together, we decided to wait for the relief which was to come from your worship, about which we entertained no doubts. So we immediately set about founding our town and took possession of the country for your worship, in the name of His Majesty, as your worship may see from the official acts drawn up before the notary public of the municipal council.
Five or six days later, a caravel appeared at sea, about two leagues from this place, and the alguacil immediately went in a canoe to discover what caravel it was; and he brought us news that it belonged to the bachelor in law, Pedro Moreno, a resident of Española, who came by the order of the judges residing in that island, for the purpose ​of inquiring into certain matters between Cristobal de Olid and Gil Gonzalez. He brought a full stock of provisions and arms which belonged to His Majesty; and we all rejoiced greatly at this news, giving thanks to our Lord, and believing that our necessities would be relieved. The municipal officers and some of the householders immediately went and besought him to provide for us, explaining our miserable plight; but, upon their arrival, he armed the men on his caravel and would allow no one to go on board, so the most we could obtain from him was that four or five without arms should go aboard. They first explained to him how we had come there to settle for your worship, in the name of His Majesty, and that, on account' of the captain having left in a caravel with all we owned, we were in the utmost extremity, as well for want of provisions, arms, and iron tools, as for clothing and other things, and that in as much as God had conducted him hither for our relief and his caravel belonged to His Majesty, we prayed and besought him to provide for us, as by so doing he would serve His Majesty, besides which we bound ourselves to pay for everything he gave us. He answered that he had not come there for the purpose of relieving us, and would give us nothing unless we paid cash down in gold or gave him slaves in payment.
Two merchants who had come on the ship, and a certain Gaspard Roche, a resident of the island of San Juan, advised him to give us what we asked for, offering to stand surety for the payment, up to five or six thousand castellanos, within such period as he should fix as they knew we were able to pay, and they were willing to do this in Your Majesty's service; they likewise felt sure that your worship would repay them, besides being grateful for it. Not even then, however, would he give us the least thing, but he sent us away saying he intended to leave; and thus actually put us out of his caravel.
Afterwards, he sent one Juan Ruano, who had come with him, and had been the principal promoter of Cristobal de Olid's treason; he secretly spoke to Intrusion of Juan Ruano the municipal officers and some of us, telling us that, if we would obey him, he would obtain all we needed from the ​bachelor, and that, on his return to Española he would even obtain orders from the judges residing there that we should not have to pay for anything, and that, besides, reinforcements of men and horses and supplies of arms and provisions and other necessaries should be sent to us; that the bachelor would quickly return, bringing us all this and full powers from the judges to be our captain. Having asked him what we were required to do in return, he answered that first of all we were to depose from their respective charges the royal officers, the alcaldes, the municipal officials, the treasurer, the accountants, and the inspector, all of whom exercised their functions in the name of your worship; that after this, we must ask the said bachelor to appoint as our captain the said Juan Ruano, and declare that we wished to come under the government of the audiencia instead of under that of your worship; that we must all sign this petition and give our oaths to obey him, Ruano, as our captain, binding ourselves not only to refuse obedience to any representations or orders of your worship but also to resist with force of arms. We answered that we could not do this, for we had already taken another oath, and were settled there for your worship, in His Majesty's name, as his captain and governor, and that we could not act otherwise.
The said Juan Ruano sought to persuade us that it was better to consent than to be left to die; for the bachelor would not give us a jar of water, nor a morsel of bread, and we might rest assured that upon, learning of our refusal, he would sail away and leave us to destruction, hence we should look well to our decision. Thus we took council, and, coerced by want we agreed to all he asked of us, rather than starve or be killed by the Indians, being, as we were, entirely unarmed; so we answered Ruano that we had decided to do what he required of us. He returned therefore to the caravel, and the said bachelor landed, with many armed people; and Juan Ruano had a petition drawn up before the notary of the place, signed by almost every one of us, under oath, to the effect that the municipal officials, the treasurer, the accountant, and the inspector, resigned their respective offices, and that the name of the town was changed to that of Ascension; he drew up ​certain official acts by which we acknowledged our allegiance to the audiencia instead of to your worship. He immediately furnished us with all we had asked for, and ordered an expedition to be made, in which we captured certain natives, whom he branded as slaves and took with him, without even allowing that the fifth of them should be paid to His Majesty, ordering that henceforth there should be no treasurer nor accountant, nor inspector for the royal dues, but that the said Juan Ruano, whom he left as our captain, should take all responsibility on himself, without keeping any further books or accounts.
Thus, he left us under command of the said Juan Ruano, furnished with certain requirements to be used in case any people should come here from your worship; and he promised to return quickly with such full powers that no one could resist them. After he had gone, we perceived that what we had done was not for the advantage of His Majesty's service, so we apprehended the said Juan Ruano, and sent him to the Islands, after which the alcalde and municipal officers resumed their functions as formerly, and, since then, we have been, and are, under your worship's orders, in His Majesty's name. We pray you, Sir, to pardon us the past matters, respecting Cristobal de Olid, because, throughout, we were compelled by force to act in this manner.
I replied to this address, saying that I would pardon them, in Your Majesty's name, for all that had transpired under Cristobal de Olid, and that their recent conduct was not blamable as they had been constrained by want; but that, henceforth, they were to abstain from similar novelties and scandals, for they were injurious to Your Majesty's service, and would bring punishment upon them. In order to more fully convince them that I had forgotten the past, and would never more remember it, but would rather aid and favour them, in Your Majesty's name, as long as they acted as loyal vassals to Your Majesty, I confirmed, in Your Royal name, the alcaldes and municipal officers whom Francisco de las Casas, ​acting as my lieutenant, had appointed; all of which fully satisfied them, and banished their fear of ever again being questioned for their past faults.
As they assured me that the said bachelor, Moreno, would soon return with many people, fully empowered by the audiencia, residing in Española, I did not leave the port. I was informed by the residents that they had had certain conflicts with the natives, some six or seven leagues distant in the interior, when they had gone to search for food. They said that some of the natives, however, were more peaceably inclined than others; for, although they had no interpreter through whom to talk with them, they had shown their good will and friendship by means of signs; also that no doubt these people, being spoken to by one who knew their language, might be easily won over, although they had been several times ill-treated, as the Spaniards had taken from them certain women and boys whom the bachelor, Moreno, had branded with a hot iron as slaves, and carried off in his ship.
God knows how grieved I was by this news, knowing the great mischief that would ensue from it. I wrote, Cortes Writes to the Audiencia therefore, to the audiencia of Española by the vessels I sent to that island, complaining a bout the bachelor, Moreno, and enclosing a written statement of all his misdeeds in that town and its neighbourhood, besides certain legal requirements on the part of Your Majesty, in which I demanded that the bachelor be sent here a prisoner in chains (and with him all the natives of this country who had been carried off as slaves) because he had outraged all the laws, as they could see by the proofs I remitted to them. I do not know what they will do about it, but I will communicate their decision to Your Majesty.
Two days after I arrived at this port of Trujillo, I sent ​a Spaniard, who understood the language, and three Indians of Culua with him, to those towns which the settlers had mentioned to me, instructing the Spaniards and Indians very exactly what they were to say to the chiefs and natives of the said towns, and especially that I myself had come to those parts; for owing to the great traffic many people there had heard of me and of the events in Mexico. The first towns they visited were Chapagua and Papayeca, which are seven leagues from Trujillo, and two leagues distant from one another. They are the principal towns, as I afterwards learned, for Papayeca has eighteen villages subject to it, and Chapagua has ten; and Our Lord, Who our daily experience shows us has especial care of Your Majesty's affairs, was pleased that they should receive the embassy with great deference, and they sent with my messengers, others of their own who might verify if all they had been told was true. I received them very well upon their arrival, and again spoke to them through the interpreter whom I had with me; for their language and that of Culua is almost one and the same, except that they differ somewhat in pronunciation and in some few words. I again assured them of all that my messengers had told them in my name, adding other things which it seemed suitable they should know, and which tended to inspire their confidence; and I earnestly besought them to tell their chiefs to come to see me. They took leave of me entirely satisfied, and five days later a chief, called Montanal, came on behalf of those of Chapagua, he, himself, being as it appeared the chief of one of the subject towns, called Telika; and another lord of a subject town, called Cecoath, came on behalf of those of Papayeca, accompanied by some natives, who brought me provisions of maize and fowls and fruits, saying they had come on behalf of their chiefs to learn what I wished, and the reason of my coming to their country. The chiefs had not come in person to see ​me, fearing that they might be taken on board the ships as had happened to certain of their people who had been captured by the first Christians who came there. I told them what grief that event had caused me, and that they might be sure such an outrage would not again happen, for I would send for those who had been carried off and have them returned.
May God grant that the lawyers at Española will not make me forfeit my word to those Indians, though I greatly fear they will not send them back to me, but will rather seek some way to exculpate the bachelor, Moreno, who captured them; for I do not believe that he acted otherwise than according to what they instructed and ordered him.
In answer to the question of those messengers respecting my purpose in coming to that country, I said that they should know how, about eight years before, I had arrived in the province of Culua where Montezuma then ruled the great city of Temixtitan, and all of that country; being informed by me of the greatness and power of Your Majesty, to whom the universal world was subject, and of my having been sent to visit his country in the royal name of Your Excellency, he immediately received me very kindly and recognised what he owed to Your greatness; and that all the other lords in the country had done the same. I recounted to them other things regarding this matter which had happened to me here, and that I was ordered by Your Majesty to see and visit all these countries without exception, and to establish towns of Christians in them, who would teach the people the best way to live, not only for the provision of their persons and property, but also for the salvation of their souls, and that this was the cause of my coming; that they might be sure that no mischief would follow from it, but a great deal of good, for those who obeyed the royal mandates of Your Majesty would be well ​treated and maintained in justice, while those who rebelled would be punished. I told them many other things to this purpose, which I do not repeat here on account of their small importance, and to avoid annoying Your Majesty by too much writing.
I gave these messengers some small presents which they esteem, although with us they are of little value, and they took their leave very content. Soon after, in response to my request, they returned with provisions and people to clear the site of the town, which was situated on a great mountain. None of their chiefs, however, came to visit me; but I took no notice of this, treating the matter of their coming as quite indifferent to me, though I requested them to send messengers to all the neighbouring towns to publish what I had told them, asking the people to come to help in settling that town, all of which they did. So, within a few days, fifteen or sixteen towns, or rather independent lordships, in that vicinity came, with many demonstrations of good will, offering themselves as vassals and subjects of Your Highness, and bringing people to help clear the ground for the town, as well as with provisions to sustain us until the assistance arrived with the ships I had sent to the Islands.
At this time, I sent the three ships I had with me, besides another one which afterwards came, and which I bought, to carry all the invalids to the ports Fate of the Four Ships of New Spain; and with the first I wrote fully to Your Majesty's officers whom I had left in command there, as well as to the municipalities, giving them an account of what I had done, and saying that I was obliged to absent myself somewhat longer in these parts; praying and charging them to fulfil the duties of their offices, and giving them my advice upon certain matters. I ordered this ship to return by way of Cozumel, which was on the route, ​and to pick up certain Spaniards there, whom a certain Valenzuela, who had rebelled and robbed the first town which Cristobal de Olid had founded and abandoned, had left there; according to my information, they were about sixty persons. I sent the other ship, which I had lately bought in the small bay near the town, to Trinidad, on the island of Cuba, to load with maize and horses and people, and to return as quickly as possible; the other I sent to the island of Jamaica for the same purpose. The large caravel, or brigantine, which I, myself, had built, I despatched to Española, and on board was a servant of mine, bearing letters for Your Majesty and for the audiencia residing in that island. But, as afterwards appeared, none of these ships reached their destination; for the one bound to Cuba and Trinidad had to put in at the port of Guaniguanico, and her crew had to come by land to Havana, a distance of about fifty leagues, in search of cargo. This one was the first to return, and it brought me news of how the other ship, after taking on board the people at Cozumel, had been wrecked on the coast of Cuba, near a cape called San Anton, or Corrientes, everything being lost, and most of her crew drowned, including a cousin of mine, Juan de Avalos, her commander and the two Franciscan friars who accompanied my expedition, besides thirty-four more people whose names I preserved. Those who had been saved were wandering, lost in the forest, not knowing where they were, and almost all had died of starvation; so that, out of eighty odd persons, only fifteen survived, who, by good luck, reached that port of Guaniguanico where my ship was lying. Close at hand, there was a sort of farm, belonging to a resident of Havana, where my ship was being loaded, as he had a stock of provisions; and it was there the survivors found relief. God knows what sorrow I felt at this loss; for, besides losing a number of servants and relatives, and a large ​stock of breast plates, muskets, cross-bows, and other arms, I sincerely regretted that my despatches never reached Your Majesty, which was of the greatest consequence to me as I shall hereafter show.
The other ship, bound for Jamaica, and the one going to Espanola arrived at Trinidad in Cuba, where they found the licenciate Alonzo de Zuazo whom I Cortes Receives News from Mexico had left as chief justice, and partly in the government of this New Spain during my absence; and they also found in that port a vessel which those licenciates living in Española were on the point of despatching to New Spain to ascertain if the report spread of my death which was spread there, was correct. When the people of the ship learned news of me, they changed their course, because they were bringing thirty-two horses and some saddles for riding in the Moorish style, besides a certain quantity of provisions which they believed they could sell best wherever I was. By this ship, the said licenciate, Alonzo de Zuazo, wrote to me about the great scandals and commotions which had arisen among Your Majesty's officers in New Spain, who had spread the report of my death, and two of whom had proclaimed themselves by public crier as Governors, obliging the people to swear and recognise them as such. They had imprisoned the said licenciate, Alonzo de Zuazo, and two other officers, as ​well as Rodrigo de Paz whom I had left in custody of my house and property; they had plundered everything and removed the alcaldes and judges whom I had appointed, putting in their places others from amongst their adherents. The letter contained many other things which are too long to repeat, as I send to Your Majesty the same original letter which contains them all.
Your Majesty may easily conceive what I felt on the reception of this news, especially when I learned that my services had been rewarded by their pillaging my house, — an unjustifiable thing, — even granting that the news of my death had been true. Even though they allege, in order to justify their conduct, that I owed seventy odd thousand pesos of gold to Your Majesty, they know full well that, on the other hand, more than one hundred and fifty thousand such were due to me, which I have spent, and not ill either, in Your Majesty's service. My first impulse in reflecting on the means to correct all this, was to embark at once, and punish so great an outrage; for, now-a-days, everyone who holds an office abroad imagines that, unless he swaggers and shows himself independent, he is no gentleman. I hear that a similar thing has just happened to Pedro Arias with a captain of his whom he sent to Nicaragua and who has recently rebelled against his authority as I will inform Your Majesty more fully hereafter. On the other hand, my soul was afflicted at the thought of leaving that country in the state and condition I would have to, because it was equivalent to allowing it to go to ruin, and I am sure that Your Majesty has received good service and that it will turn out another Culua; for I hear of large and rich provinces and great lords who live in them in much state and magnificence; especially of one, called Hueitapalan, and, in another dialect, Xucutaco, of which I have heard for six years past, and during the ​whole of my journey have made inquiries about it and ascertained that it lies some eight or ten days' march from Trujillo, which would be between fifty and sixty leagues. There are such wonderful reports about it that they excite my admiration, for, even if two-thirds of them should be untrue, it would nevertheless exceed Mexico in wealth and equal it in the grandeur of its towns, the multitude of its population, and its political organisation. Being thus perplexed, I reflected that nothing is well done save what is guided by the hand of the Creator and Promoter of all things, so I had certain masses celebrated and made processions, offering other sacrifices and beseeching God to lead me in the direction most pleasing to Him.
For several days, I continued this, and still it seemed to me I should set aside every other consideration and go at once to remedy those evils. So I left some thirty-five horsemen and fifty foot-soldiers Cortes Em- barks for Mexico in Trujillo under a cousin of mine, called Hernando de Saavedra, brother of that Juan de Avalos who was drowned coming to that place, who was to act as my lieutenant; and I gave him my instructions as to how he was to govern. Having likewise taken leave of the native lords who had come to see me, I embarked, with all my household servants, on board the said vessel, and, having sent orders to the people in Naco to go overland by the same road Francisco de las Casas had taken (that is to say along the south coast, and come out at the place where Pedro de Alvarado is settled) as now the road was well known and safe, and they were in sufficient numbers to go where they chose, I, likewise, sent instructions to the town of Natividad as to what they were to do. Being already embarked, and about to set sail with the last of anchors weighed, the wind suddenly subsided and my ​vessel could not leave port. On the next morning, news came that among the people whom I had left in that town there were grumblings about my having absented myself, which would cause certain scandal, and thus, the weather not being propitious for sailing I again landed, made an investigation, and punished the promoters of the trouble so that quiet was restored. I again embarked and set sail, but, after making about two leagues, and doubling a large point in which the port terminates, the main mast of my ship was broken, so again I was forced to return to port and repair it. Three more days were spent for that purpose, when I again left with favourable weather, and, after sailing two nights and one day, a powerful head wind assailed us, breaking our main mast, so that I was again obliged to return to the port with great difficulty. We gave thanks to God for our safe arrival, for indeed we had considered ourselves as lost; and I and all the people were so exhausted that we were obliged to take some rest; so while the ship was being repaired I again landed with all the people to await the change in the weather.
Having seen that I had thrice gone to sea with good weather and been obliged to return, it seemed that it was not God's will that I should leave that country in its present state. I was the more confirmed in this as some of the Indians whom I had left peaceably disposed were in some commotion, so again I recommended myself to God and ordered new processions and had more masses celebrated, and, having reflected, I decided to send that vessel in which I had intended to sail for New Spain, with my cousin Francisco de las Casas on board, provided with my power of attorney, and my letters to the municipalities and Your Majesty's officers, reproving their conduct; also to send some of the principal Indians who were with me, that they might convince their countrymen that I was not dead as had been reported and ​thus tranquillise them. I arranged everything thus, although, had I known of the loss of the ship I had first sent and my despatches respecting the ships in the South Sea, which I had sent in her, I would have provided more exact instructions than I did.
After having despatched this ship to New Spain, and while still ill, owing to my sufferings at sea, from which I had not yet recovered, I was unable to go inland; partly, also, because I was waiting for the return of the ships from the Islands, and was occupied in settling various matters. I had sent my lieutenants here with thirty horsemen and as many foot soldiers to explore the interior; and they marched about thirty-five leagues through a very beautiful valley, where there were many and populous villages with an abundance of all kinds of native fruits, and well adapted for raising any kind of cattle, as well as for the cultivation of our Spanish agricultural products. They had no hostile encounters with the natives, but, rather, by speaking to them through our interpreter and the Indians in the neighbourhood, who were already our friends and accompanied the expedition, they succeeded in establishing peaceable relations, so that more than twenty chiefs of the principal towns visited me and offered themselves willingly as subjects and vassals of Your Majesty, promising to obey Your Royal commands, which indeed they have since done and are still doing. For up to the very day of my departure, I had some of them always with me, any one of whom on going away was immediately replaced by another who came and brought provisions for the town, and rendered every service asked of him. May it please God to confirm them in their good will, and guide them to the ends Your Majesty desires; and I have the fullest faith that it will be so; for, from so good a beginning, no bad end is to be expected, unless it be through the fault of those who are placed in command over them.
​The provinces of Papayeca and of Champagua, who, I have already said, were the first to offer themselves to Your Majesty's service and to become our friends, were those amongst whom there was some commotion when I had first embarked, and on my return they were still rather apprehensive, so I sent messengers to calm them. Some of the natives of Champagua then came to see me, but not the chiefs, and, as they refrained from coming and sent their wives and sons and their property away from their villages, it was apparent they did not trust us. There were several among those who came daily to work in the town whom I earnestly begged to return to their homes, but they never would, sometimes saying, "to-day," and sometimes, "to-morrow," so I managed to lay hands on the chiefs, Chiwhuytl, Poto, and Mondoreto, whom I imprisoned. I gave them a certain period within which I ordered them to bring their people back from the mountains to their towns, threatening to punish them as rebels if they did not; thus I set them free and the natives have all returned to their homes quite pacified and tranquil, and willing to serve us.
The natives of Papayeca, however, would never consent to appear, especially their chiefs who kept all their Execution of Mazatl people with them in the mountains, their towns remaining deserted; although many times summoned they persisted in their disobedience, so I sent a company of horsemen and foot-soldiers with many natives of the country thither. This force surprised one of the two chiefs of the country, named Pizacura, one night, and captured him; and, having been asked why he was so wicked and disobedient, he said that he would have returned to his village long before had his colleague, Mazatl, who was the most powerful of the community not refused; but that, if they would let him go, he would discover Mazatl's movements so that he could be captured, for if he were hanged the people would immediately be ​pacified and return to their towns, for he, himself could collect them all without any opposition. So they set him free, which was the cause of still greater misfortunes as afterwards appeared; for certain friendly Indians, natives of that country, tracked the said Mazatl to his hiding place and guided thither some Spaniards. Having notified him what his companion Pitzacura said about him, he was ordered to bring his people down from the mountains into their villages within a given time, but we could never obtain his consent to this. He was consequently tried, sentenced to death, and executed. This has been a great example for the others, for, immediately afterwards, other towns which had rebelled resumed their obedience, so that there is not a single town left that is not perfectly peaceful, with its inhabitants and their families living in security, except Papayeca, which has never been willing to come to terms.
After the release of Pitzacura, proceedings were begun against those towns, and war was carried on against their inhabitants, in the course of which more than one hundred prisoners were taken and made slaves, amongst whom was Pitzacura himself. I would not sentence him to death, although he deserved it, as was shown in the legal proceedings against him, but have preferred to bring him with me to this city, together with two others, chiefs of rebellious towns, so that they might see for themselves how the natives were treated in this New Spain, and how they served, all of which they could make known on their return. Pitzacura died of illness, but the other two are well, and I shall send them back when an opportunity offers. The imprisonment of Pitzacura, however, and of another youth who seemed to be the rightful heir, together with the punishment inflicted on those hundred and odd captives who were made slaves, sufficed to completely pacify the province, and, when I left that country, all the towns were inhabited and at ​peace, having been allotted amongst the Spaniards and serving them apparently with entire good will.
At this time, there arrived at Trujillo a captain with about twenty men of those I had left at Naco, under The Colony of Pedro Arias Gonzalo de Sandoval, and others belonging to the company of Francisco Hernandez, whom Pedro Arias de Avila, Your Majesty's governor in those parts had sent to the province of Nicaragua; I learned from them how the captain of the said Francisco Hernandez had arrived at Naco with about forty men, between horses and foot, expecting to reach the port on the bay of San Andres where he counted on finding the bachelor, Moreno, whom as I have already told Your Majesty had been sent to those parts by the audiencia residing in the island of Española. It appeared that the said bachelor had written to Francisco Hernandez inciting him to rebel against his lawful governor, just as he had acted with the people under Gil Gonzalez and Francisco de las Casas. That captain therefore had come for the purpose of concerting with him how best to throw off obedience to their governor, and offer allegiance instead to the audiencia of Española; all of which appeared from certain letters which he carried.
I immediately sent those people back with a letter to Francisco Hernandez, and particularly to some of his captains, whom I personally knew, reproving them all for their wicked doings, and explaining to them that the bachelor was deceiving them, and that Your Majesty would be displeased, besides other things which it seemed to me might serve to win them back from the false course on which they had embarked. One reason they gave to justify their conduct was that they were so distant from Pedro Arias de Avila that it was only with much difficulty and great cost that they could be provided with the common necessaries and even then sometimes not provided at all; and that they were always short of ​commodities and provisions from Spain, which could easily be obtained at the settlements I had made on that coast. The said bachelor had written to them, saying that all the settlers in the country acknowledged the authority of the audiencia, and that he would soon return with people and provisions. I answered them that I would give orders for the settlements to furnish them with everything they needed and to trade amicably with them, as both were equally vassals of Your Majesty and employed in Your Royal service; and that it was to be well understood that this was to continue as long as they obeyed their governor, as was their duty, but not otherwise. Since they told me that what they most required was horseshoes and iron tools for working in the mines, I sent two mules loaded with such things to take back with them, and, when they arrived at the settlement of Hernando de Sandoval, he also gave them two more mules loaded with horseshoes which I had there.
After they left, some natives from the Province of Huilacho, sixty-five leagues from Trujillo, who had previously sent messengers and offered themselves as vassals to Your Majesty, came to see me, and told me that twenty-five horsemen and forty foot soldiers, with many Indians of other provinces, had invaded their country, and were engaged in outraging and injuring them, taking away their wives and children, and robbing them of their goods and chattels. They entreated me to assist them in as much as, when they had become my friends, I had promised to defend them against their enemies. Afterwards, my cousin, Hernando de Sandoval, whom I had left as my lieutenant in those parts, and who was at that time pacifying the provinces of Papayeca, sent me two of those very men of whom the Indians had come to complain. They said they came by order of their captain to search for the town of Trujillo, ​having been told by the Indians that it was near and that they might come without fear as the entire country was at peace. I learned from these men that their companions belonged to Francisco Hernandez and had come, under command of Gabriel de Rojas as their captain, in search of that port. I immediately sent those two Spaniards, together with the natives who had come to complain, and also one of my alguacils, to Gabriel de Rojas, intimating to him to leave that province at once, after restoring to the natives all the property and women and everything else he had taken from them; besides this I wrote him a letter saying that if he needed anything to let me know as I would willingly supply him to the best of my ability. He complied with my mandate and instructions at once, which entirely satisfied the natives of the said province; though afterwards they returned again to complain that when the alguacils whom I had sent returned, they had again been robbed. I wrote therefore to the said Francisco Hernandez, offering to supply him and his men with everything I could which they required, enjoining him to remain loyal to his governor. I do not know what has occurred since then, though I learned from the alguacil I sent to Gabriel de Rojas, and those who went with him, that, when they were all assembled there, a letter from their captain, Francisco Hernandez, had arrived addressed to Gabriel de Rojas, bidding him join him with all possible haste as great dissensions prevailed among his people, two of his captains, named Soto and Andres Garabito, having rebelled on the plea that he was himself about to renounce his allegiance to Pedro Arias. Thus matters remained in such a state that only harmful results could follow, not only to the Spaniards, but also to the natives. Whence Your Majesty may consider the mischievous consequences of these commotions, and how necessary it is that the authors and promoters of them should be punished. I ​desired to go at once to Nicaragua, believing that I could devise some remedy for the advantage of Your Majesty's service; and, while making preparations, and having a road opened through some mountains over which I had to pass, the vessel sent by me to New Spain returned to the port of Trujillo, on board which came a cousin of mine called Fray Diego de Altamirano, a Franciscan friar.
From what he told me, and from the letters he brought, I learned of the many disturbances, scandals, and dissensions, which had broken out among Your Report of Fray Diego de Alta- mirano Majesty's officials, whom I had left at Mexico in my place; and which still continued, making it necessary that I should immediately repair thither to correct those evils. Hence my journey to Nicaragua and the coast of the South Sea was necessarily abandoned, in spite of my firm belief that much service would have been rendered to God and to Your Majesty, owing to the many extensive and rich provinces which lay on the way; in some of which, although they are at peace, the service of Your Majesty would have been greatly benefited by my passage through them; especially those of Utlatan and Guatemala, where Pedro de Alvarado has always resided. In consequence of certain ill-treatment, they had rebelled and had never afterwards been entirely pacified, but, on the contrary, have done, and continue to do, much harm to the Spaniards who live there, and to their Indian friends. The country is so rough and full of warlike people, so well skilled in the art of warfare, both offensive and defensive, that they have invented pits and other engines to kill the horses, which have been successful; and, although Pedro de Alvarado has unceasingly waged war against ​them, with more than two hundred horsemen and five hundred Spanish foot soldiers, besides from five to ten thousand Indians, he has so far been unable to reduce them to Your Majesty's service, but on the contrary they become daily stronger through reinforcements of other people. I believe that, had I been able to go that way, I might with God's help, through kindness and other means, have won them over. For some of the provinces which were driven to rebellion by the ill-treatment they received during my absence and against which had marched no less than one hundred and twenty horsemen three hundred footmen, and considerable artillery, besides thousands of Indian auxiliaries, all under command of the inspector who governed at that time, not only continued in their rebellion, but rather succeeded, and killed ten or twelve Spaniards and many Indians; but when I arrived it sufficed to simply send them a message of my speedy coming, for all the principal persons of that province to come and explain to me the cause of their rising. It really seemed to me sufficiently just, for the Spaniards to whom they had been given in charge had burned eight of their principal chiefs alive, five of them dying on the spot, and the remaining three, a few days after; and, although they had demanded reparation and justice, they had not obtained it; so I consoled them in such manner that they went away satisfied, and have so far continued to live peaceably, and to serve as they had done before I went away. Therefore I am persuaded that the other towns in the province of Coatzacoalco, which are in the same plight, on hearing of my arrival, and without even sending messengers to them, will become tranquil.
In another part of my narrative, most Catholic Majesty, The Slave Trade I have already spoken of certain small islands off the port of Honduras, which are called Los Guanajos, some of which have been ​depopulated by the expeditions sent there from the Islands to capture its natives and make slaves of them. But some of the inhabitants had survived, and I recently learned in the islands of Cuba and Jamaica that an expedition had just been fitted out to complete the devastation, by carrying away the remainder; so I sent a caravel to stop the armada amongst the said islands, and to enjoin, on the part of Your Majesty, that no sort of injury should be done to the natives, for I intended to pacify them, and bring them to Your Majesty's service, as I had heard from some who were settled on the mainland of their peaceable dispositions. This caravel encountered at one of the islands, called Huititla, another caravel, of which Rodrigo de Merlo was captain. My captain found means to bring him to me with all the natives he had captured in that island. I immediately sent the natives back to their homes, and did not proceed against the captain, for he showed me the written permission he had from the governor of Cuba, with a proper authorisation from the judges residing in the island of Española. I, therefore, dismissed him and his people with no other punishment than that of liberating the captives he had brought from the said Islands; but the captain and most of his company liked the country so much, they remained with us as settlers in those towns.
The chiefs of those Islands recognised the kindness they had received from me, and, having learned from their countrymen who had settled on the mainland, what good treatment I gave them, came to thank me for the benefits I had extended to them, offering themselves as subjects and vassals of Your Highness, and asking me to show them how they could serve; so I ordered them, in Your Majesty's name, that, for the present, they should cultivate the fields in their country, because in truth they are good for nothing else. So they went away carrying for ​each of these islands my written order, notifying any Spaniard who might arrive there that they were to be in no manner molested; and they begged me also to place a Spaniard in each of the Islands, which although I could not then agree to, on account of the nearness of my departure, I left instructions with my lieutenant, Hernando de Sandoval, to attend to. Immediately afterwards, I embarked on the ship which had brought me the news of the events in this country, taking in her and in two other vessels which I then had in port, some of the people who had accompanied me on that expedition. We were about twenty in number, with our horses, for most of the people preferred to remain in those towns as settlers, and the others were already waiting for me on the road, thinking I was to return by land. I sent them a message informing them of my departure by sea, and the cause of it, and ordered them to proceed on their march; they have not yet arrived but I have positive information of their coming.
Everything being thus ordered in those towns which I had settled in Your Majesty's name (though to my Cortes at Havana great regret I was not able to leave them as well provided as I desired) I put to sea on the twenty-fifth of April, with three ships, and sailed with such fine weather that, in four days, I arrived within one hundred and fifty leagues of the port of Chalchicuela. There, I encountered such a heavy storm that I could not proceed, and, believing it would abate, I put out to sea for one day and a night; but such was the tempest that the ships were almost wrecked, and I was driven to take refuge in the Island of Cuba, where, within six days, I entered the port of Havana, being received with rejoicing by the residents, as among them there were many friends of the time when I lived in that island. As the vessels had suffered much damage from the bad weather, it was ​necessary to have them repaired, which cost me a delay of ten days, and even obliged me to buy another vessel, which was in port being careened, so that I could leave mine which was leaking badly there.
The day after my arrival at Havana, a vessel from New Spain entered that harbour, and, on the second day there came another, and, on the third day, still another. I learned from them that all the country was at peace, and quite tranquil since the death of the factor and the inspector, though they told me there had been some rioting and that the instigators had been punished. I greatly rejoiced at this news, as I feared my sudden return from my expedition had caused some new uneasiness. Having written, though briefly, to Your Majesty from there, I sailed from Havana on the sixteenth day of May, bringing with me some thirty persons who had come secretly from this place; and within eight days I reached the port of Chalchicuela. I was unable to enter the port, owing to a change of weather, but remained outside some two leagues off. At nightfall, having manned my ship's boat, as well as a brigantine which we had found abandoned at sea, I landed and proceeded on foot to the town of Medellin, about four leagues distant from my landing place; and without having been seen or heard by anyone in the town I went to the church to give thanks to Our Lord. My arrival having become known almost immediately, the inhabitants rejoiced with me, and I with them; and that very night I despatched messengers to this city, as well as to the towns of the country, announcing my arrival to them, and making certain provisions which seemed to me important and to the advantage of Your Sacred Majesty's service, and the good of the country. I remained there eleven days, to obtain some rest, and recover from the fatigues of my long journey, ​during which time I was visited by many chiefs and other notable natives of these parts who showed great joy at my arrival. From there, I set out for this city, and was fifteen days on the road, constantly receiving the visits of many natives, some of whom had come eighty leagues to see me; for they had placed their post messengers on the roads so as to be informed of my coming which they were expecting. Thus, in a short time, numbers came from many and distant parts to see me, shedding tears with me, and speaking such affectionate and kind words while they recounted all the troubles they had endured during my absence, in consequence of the bad treatment shown them, that it broke the hearts of all who listened to them. And, although it would be difficult to give a full account to Your Majesty of all the things they related to me, some are worthy enough to be told; nevertheless I reserve them to be told by word of mouth.
Upon reaching this city, both Spaniards and natives congregated here and received me with as much joy and Cortes Ar- rives in Mexico gladness as though I were their own father. The treasurer and accountant of Your Majesty came out to receive me at the head of a large ​body of people, on foot and on horseback, all in good order and showing the same signs of good will as all the others; so I went directly to the church and monastery of St. Francis, to return thanks to Our Lord, Who had delivered me from such and so great perils and troubles, bringing me again to repose in peace, and to find a country which had been torn by such commotions in a state of tranquillity and peace.
I remained for six days with the monks to give an account of my sins to God. Two days before I left the convent, a messenger arrived from the town of Medellin, announcing the arrival at that port of certain vessels, in one of which it was reported there came by order of Your Majesty a judge of inquiry. Only the bare fact was known, but I believed that Your Majesty, having heard of the tumults and commotions into which Your Highness's officials had plunged this country which I had left in their charge, and not being sure of my return to it, had ordered the situation to be provided for. God knows how much I rejoiced, as it would have given me much pain to act as judge in this cause, for I had myself been so much injured and ill-treated, and my property so destroyed by these tyrants, that any judgment of mine might have been suspected of proceeding from passion, though indeed no sentence of mine would have exceeded the severity their faults merited. I therefore despatched a messenger in all haste to the port of Medellin, to ascertain with certainty, sending an order also to the Lieutenant of Justice of the said town that Your Majesty's judge should be well received and honoured and lodged in a house which I owned there, and that he, and all who accompanied him, should receive every attention; although as it afterwards appeared he would accept nothing.
​The day after I despatched that message, which was the feast of St. John, another messenger arrived while I was witnessing certain bull rights and other games proper for the festivity, bringing me a letter from the said judge, and another from Your Sacred Majesty, from which I learned the purpose of his coming, and that Your Catholic Majesty had been pleased to order an investigation into my administration of the government of this country. In truth, I greatly rejoiced, not only for the immense favours Your Sacred Majesty has done me in desiring to be informed of my services and faults, but also for the graciousness with which Your Highness has been pleased to let me know through your letter Your Royal intentions to reward me. For the one and the other I kiss the Royal Feet of Your Catholic Majesty a hundred thousand times, and may God, our Lord, grant that, after receiving such favours, I may still be able to serve somewhere, and that Your Catholic Majesty may recognise the sincerity of my desire, which recognition alone will be no small reward for me.
In the letter which the Judge Luis Ponce wrote me, I was informed that he was about leaving for this city, Arrival of Luis Ponce de Leon and, as there are two principal roads by which he might come and he did not state which of them he proposed to follow, I sent ​servants of my household upon each of them to wait upon him and show him the way. The said Luis Ponce travelled in such haste, however, that, although we had used all despatch, my people met him only twenty leagues from this city; and although he received my messengers cordially he refused to accept their services. Although I was sorry at this, because, owing to his hurried travelling he required assistance, I was on the other hand glad, because his refusal proved him to be a just man, who desired to execute his functions with all straightforwardness, and inasmuch as he had come to investigate my conduct, he was unwilling to give rise to suspicion by accepting my hospitality. He arrived one evening two leagues from this city, where he passed the night; and I prepared everything to receive him properly on the following day, but he sent me word not to come out to meet him in the morning, as he intended to dine where he was, asking me merely to send him a chaplain to say mass for him, which I did. Suspecting that this was only an excuse, as it afterwards turned out to be, to avoid the reception, I was on my guard, but he left so early that although I made all haste, he was already within the city when I met him; so we rode together to the monastery of St. Francis, where we assisted at mass. After this, I said that, if he desired to present his provisions then, it could be done, for the entire municipal council of the city was assembled there, as well as the treasurer and accountant of Your Majesty. He declined to do this, saying that he would present them the next day. And, so it was done; for, the next day, we assembled in the principal church of the city (the dean and chapter, as well as the said officials and myself being present), when the said Luis Ponce presented the royal letters, which I, and all those who assisted at the ceremony, received and kissed, and placed upon our heads as provisions of our King and rightful Sovereign, ​to be obeyed and complied with in all respects, and by everyone, according as Your Sacred Majesty was pleased to order. The municipal officers delivered their wands into his hands, and all the other ceremonies were complied with, as Your Majesty will see by the official acts drawn by the notary public of the municipal council, in whose presence everything was executed. The public crier announced in the square of the city the investigations which Luis Ponce had come to institute, but during seventeen days no one presented any complaint against me. About this time, the said judge Luis Ponce fell ill, as did also those who had come with him in his armada, and, the disease increasing, it was God's pleasure that he should die of it, as did also thirty others, amongst whom were two monks of the order of St. Dominic; moreover, even at this time there are still many persons ill and in danger of death; for the disease they brought with them in that armada seemed almost to be a plague, as even some who reside here took the contagion and two of them died, while others are still in a convalescent state.
Immediately after the death of Luis Ponce, his funeral was celebrated with all the honour due to a person of his authority sent by Your Majesty. I was then earnestly requested by the Municipal Corporation of this city as well as by the Procurators of all the towns who had assembled here, to take charge of the government, in the name of Your Catholic Majesty, and to carry on the administration of justice conceded me by Your Majesty's order and by Your Royal Provisions, giving their reasons therefor, and explaining the evils which would follow in case I would not accept it, as Your Majesty may see by the report of these proceedings which will accompany this letter. I sought to excuse myself from this, as will appear by the said copy, but other requirements have since been made of me in the same sense, pointing out ​greater evils as likely to follow should I not accept, and, though I have defended myself until now and have not yielded, I can see that there do in reality exist some evils. But I desired Your Majesty should be convinced of my purity and fidelity in Your Royal service, which is my chief aim, because thinking otherwise of me, all other good things in this world are nothing to me, and I would rather die. I have therefore put aside everything for this purpose and insist with all my influence upon a certain licenciate, called Marcos de Aguilar, whom the said Luis Ponce brought as h'eoj'e is'joAvui apj as his successor, requesting and entreati Suhim to continue the investigation to its finish. He has refused to do this, alleging insufficient powers, for which I am exceedingly sorry, as there is nothing in the world I desire so much as to have Your Majesty properly informed of my virtues and sins (and this not without reason) for I believe, as an article of faith, that Your Catholic Majesty will grant me ample rewards, not taking into consideration the smallness of my past services, but because Your Majesty is bound to display munificence towards one who has served you with such fidelity as I have.
Nothing of this should be allowed to remain obscure, but all the good and bad of my services should be manifestly and clearly published, for it is a point Accusations against Cortes of honour with me, to obtain which I have gone through so many trials, and exposed myself to so many dangers. So that I hope that neither God, nor Your Majesty out of respect to Him, will allow invidious and corrupt tongues to deprive me of what I prize most. I neither desire nor ask of Your Majesty any other reward in payment of my services than this. God grant that I shall not live without it. I feel, Most Catholic Prince, that, from the beginning of my expeditions, I have had many and powerful rivals and enemies; yet their wickedness and ​malice have not sufficed to eclipse the fame of my fidelity and services; hence in despair they have sought to obscure Your Majesty's vision, and lead you astray from the Holy and Catholic intentions which I have always recognised in Your Excellency, to acknowledge and reward my services. One of their means is to accuse me before Your Majesty of treason, saying that I refused obedience to Your Royal commands; that I held this country not in Your Powerful name, but under my own tyrannical and despotic rule, for which they give some depraved and diabolical reasons which are entirely false and spring from their depraved invention.
Did they but look sincerely into my acts, and were they just judges, they would be forced to recognise the reverse of what they declare, for, up to now, it has not been, nor will it ever be, seen whilst I live that any letter or command of Your Majesty has been refused scrupulous obedience. Now the iniquity and malice of those who have made these accusations will be more clearly and entirely proved and made manifest, because, had what they say been true, I would certainly not have gone six hundred leagues from this city, through an uninhabited country, and by dangerous roads, leaving the government to Your Majesty's officials whom I had every reason to believe were most zealous in the Royal service though indeed their actions did not correspond to the confidence I placed in them. Their other argument is that I held the greater part of the natives here as my slaves, treating them as such and profiting by their services and work, by which means I have amassed a large sum of gold and silver treasure, and that I have used the revenues of Your Catholic Majesty, without necessity, to the sum of sixty odd thousand pesos of gold; also that I have not sent the full amount of the Royal revenues to Your Excellency, retaining them under various ​pretexts for purposes which I have not succeeded in accomplishing. I can easily believe that, perhaps, they partly believed this, as such rumours are current, but they are contrary to the facts, and I am fully confident that the first use of the touchstone will suffice to discover the counterfeit. As to what they say about my possessing the large portion of the land, I admit this to be true, and I have likewise had for my share a good sum and quantity of gold; but I declare it has not been sufficient to raise me above poverty, and free me from debt, for I owe more than five hundred thousand pesos in gold, to pay which I do not possess a single peso; because, if my share has been large, the expenditures have been greater, for I have consumed very large sums, not in buying lands, nor in founding entails, nor acquiring any sort of property for myself and heirs, but in extending the dominion and patrimony of Your Highness in these parts, and in gaining and conquering many kingdoms and lordships for Your Excellency, and exposing myself to risks and dangers.
These malicious men will never be able to conceal, or defame with their viperous tongues, these services, because, by examining my books, it will be found Cortes Renders Account that I have spent in these conquests more than three hundred thousand pesos in gold belonging to my own fortune and household; having finished with that, I have spent sixty thousand pesos in gold, belonging to Your Majesty, which were not used for me, for I never touched them, but they were paid out on my vouchers for the cost and expenses of this conquest. Whether they have been profitably spent or not may be seen by the patent results which are manifest to all. Respecting what they say of my not sending the revenues to Your Majesty, this is also manifestly contrary to the truth, because, in the short time which has elapsed since I came here, more treasure has been sent to Your Majesty than from all the ​Islands and mainland put together, which we discovered and peopled thirty odd years ago at great expense and outlay, made by the Catholic Kings, your grandparents, which was not the case in this country. Not only have I sent to Your Majesty all belonging to Your Royal dues, but I have also sent what belonged to me, and those who attended me, taking no account of what we have here spent in Your Royal service. When I sent the first remission to Your Majesty, with Alonzo Hernandez Puertocarrero, and Francisco de Montejo, we not only sent the fifth of all that had been acquired which belonged to Your Majesty, but the entire amount of what had been obtained; for it seemed right of me to do so, being, as these things were, the first fruits.
Afterwards, the fifth of all the gold obtained in this city during the lifetime of its sovereign, Montezuma, was sent to Your Majesty; I mean of that part which was smelted, and which amounted to thirty odd thousand castellanos; and, although the jewellery ought also to have been distributed, giving the people their shares, both they and I were glad to send all of it to Your Majesty, which amounted to more than five hundred thousand pesos in gold. The loss of all this when it was taken from us on our expulsion from this city during the rebellion, caused by the coming of Narvaez to this country, although deserved for my sins, was not caused by my negligence.
When the city was reconquered and reduced to the royal service of Your Highness the same course was followed; of the gold that was smelted, one-fifth was assigned to Your Majesty; and I also obtained that all of jewels and other valuable objects belonging to my men should be sent to Your Highness, and these were certainly not less valuable and precious than the first we had secured. I despatched them together with thirty thousand pesos of gold, in bars, in charge of Julian ​Alderete, Your Majesty's treasurer in these parts, but they were captured by the French. Neither was this my fault, but rather the fault of those who did not provide a sufficient armada in time to go to the Azores for the protection of such an important treasure. As I was starting on my later expedition to the Gulf of Hibueras, I, likewise, sent to Your Excellency sixty thousand pesos of gold, by Diego de Ocampo and Francisco de Montejo; and, if a greater amount was not sent, it was owing to the orders issued by Your Majesty's Council of the Indies, respecting the gold to be sent from these parts to Spain; for, indeed, we somewhat exceeded ourselves and contravened the orders in sending such an amount at one time. We ventured to do this, however, on account of the stress in which Your Majesty was for want of money, and I, likewise, sent at the same time to Your Highness, with my servant Diego de Soto, everything I possessed, there not being one peso of gold left me, including a field piece which in its material and manufacture had cost me more than thirty-five thousand pesos in gold; likewise certain jewels of gold and stones which belonged to me, and which I sent, not so much on account of their value, although this was not insignificant for me, but because the French had captured the first consignment I had sent, and it grieved my soul that Your Sacred Majesty should not have seen those things. Thus, in order that a sample might be seen, even though trifling in comparison with the things I first sent, I sent all I possessed of the kind. Hence, I cannot understand what reason there could be for keeping back anything belonging to ​Your Highness, when I have desired with pure zeal only to serve Your Catholic Majesty with all I possess. I am, likewise, told by the officials, that, during my absence, certain quantities of gold have been remitted, so that, in truth, the remittances have never ceased being sent every time an opportunity offered.
It has, likewise, been stated, most Powerful Lord, that Your Majesty has been informed that I received, from Cortes Pro- poses to Return to Spain the province allotted to me, profits amounting to an income of two hundred millions. As my desire neither is, nor has been, other than that Your Catholic Majesty should know beyond all doubt my zeal for Your service, and should be entirely satisfied that I have always told, and will tell the truth, I cannot manifest it better than to place this much revenue at Your Majesty's disposition, and there could be no better opportunity than the present to dispel any suspicions, which, according to public rumour, Your Majesty has concerning me; hence I beseech Your Majesty to accept for your service all that I possess here and to do me the favour of granting me instead a donation of twenty millions in Spain. In this way, Your Majesty will keep the remaining one hundred and eighty millions, and I shall live contentedly at Your Majesty's Court, where no one, I protest, will exceed me in fidelity, nor dare to doubt my services to the Crown. I shall, also, be better able to serve Your Majesty there, for, being an eye witness, I can inform Your Highness as to what will most advance Your Royal service, preventing any false accounts from deceiving Your Highness. I assure Your Sacred Majesty that my service there will not be of less importance, for my advice may help to preserve this land, and advance the conversion of the natives to our Catholic Faith, and increase Your Majesty's revenues in these parts, rather than see them diminished as has happened in the Islands ​and on the mainland for want of good government, when the Catholic Kings, grandparents of Your Majesty, not being properly counselled, but advised by interested people who misrepresented the true conditions, as indeed all those have done who have sent reports from those countries. For two reasons I do desire of Your Sacred Majesty so great a favour as to allow me to come and serve in Your Royal presence, the first and principal one being to satisfy Your Majesty and the rest of the world of my loyalty and fidelity in Your Royal service, because I esteem this more than anything else in the world; for, if I have exposed myself to so many fatigues and dangers, and have suffered such hardships, it was to gain the renown of being a servant of Your Majesty, and of Your Royal and Imperial Crown, and not from covetousness of treasures. Of treasures, indeed, I have had a sufficient quantity if they could satisfy me, — I mean for such a modest esquire as myself, — nor would I have spent them lavishly to advance that which I hold to be my first and most important object. If I have not obtained that favour, which I so much covet, doubtless my sins have been the cause, and I believe that nothing is capable of satisfying me if this immense favour which I implore, is not granted me by Your Majesty.
Lest Your Majesty should imagine that I ask too much, though the sum is hardly sufficient for my decent maintenance at Court, I will be contented with ten millions of yearly revenue. This would enable me to appear worthily after having held the charge of Governor in the Royal name of Your Majesty in these parts, and having extended the Royal patrimony and dominion of Your Majesty by bringing under Your Princely yoke so many provinces, peopled by so many and such great cities; and by destroying idolatries and offences against our ​Creator, and converting many natives to His knowledge by planting the true Catholic Faith in this land. If they are not prevented by those who look upon these things with evil eyes, and whose zeal is directed to other ends, a new Church will very certainly be raised shortly in these parts, where God, our Lord, will be better served and honoured than anywhere else in the world. I repeat, that, if Your Majesty will grant me ten millions of revenue in your realms, and allow me to serve you in Spain, I shall consider it a great favour, even leaving behind all I possess here; for thus my desire to serve Your Majesty in Your Royal presence will be satisfied, and Your High ness will likewise be convinced of my loyalty and zeal.
The other reason for wishing to appear before Your Majesty is that I may give information respecting the state of this country, and even of the Islands, which will advance the service of God, our Lord, and of Your Majesty; for, on the spot, my words, would be believed, which is not the case respecting what I write from here, as what I say has been attributed to my interested motives and not to my zeal as a vassal of Your Sacred Majesty.
My desire to kiss the Royal feet of Your Sacred Majesty, and to be promoted to serve in Your Royal Presence is beyond all expression. If Your Highness be not pleased to allow this, or deems it inopportune to grant me the favour I beg, by allowing me a set yearly income to support me at Court, I pray Your Highness to allow me to retain in this country what I now possess here, or what my agents will beseech Your Majesty, in my name, granting it as a perpetual pension for myself and my heirs, so that I may not be obliged to return to Spain, asking people for God's sake to give me food. I shall consider it a great boon if Your Majesty will grant what I so fervently desire, for I trust in my service and in the Catholic conscience of Your Sacred Majesty and that, ​beholding the purity of my intentions, Your Highness will not allow me to live poor.
The arrival of this judge of inquiry seemed to me to furnish a good occasion and sufficient cause for the accomplishment of my said wish; and I even began to put it into execution, but was hindered by two things; one of which was that I was without money, for my house in this city had been pillaged and robbed of all its contents, as Your Majesty is already apprised; and the other was the fear that, during my absence in this country, the natives might rebel, and dissensions might break out amongst the Spaniards; for the experience of the past may well serve to forecast the future.
While I, Most Catholic Lord, was engaged in preparing this despatch for Your Sacred Majesty, a messenger arrived from the South Sea, bringing me a Expedition letter that a ship had arrived on that coast, of Loaysa near a place called Tecoantepeque, which, as it appeared from another letter addressed to me by the captain of the said ship, and which I send to Your Majesty, belongs to the armada sent under command of the Captain Loaysa to the Malucco Islands. Your Majesty will learn from this captain's letter the incidents of his voyage, so I will not repeat them to Your Highness but limit myself to explaining what I did. I immediately sent a competent person to the place ​where the ship had arrived, to arrange for the said captain to return to Spain immediately if he so desired, providing him with everything necessary for his voyage; and to learn from him the particulars of his voyage so that I might make a full report of everything to Your Highness as soon as possible. Lest the ship might need repairs I also sent thither a pilot to bring her to the port of Zacatula, where I have three ships ready to start on a voyage of discovery in those parts and coasts, and I gave orders that she should be repaired and refitted for Your Majesty's service, and for the needs of her voyage. As soon as I receive information from the ship, I shall immediately forward it, so that Your Majesty, being fully informed, may give the orders most expedient for Your Royal service.
My ships in the South Sea, as I have told Your Majesty, are prepared to start on their voyage; for, as soon as I arrived in this capital, I began to hasten their departure; and they would already have sailed but that they were waiting for certain arms, artillery, and ammunition, which had come from Spain, for their service and that of Your Majesty. I hope, in Our Lord, that Your Majesty's good fortune will enable me to render good services by this voyage; for, even if a strait should not be discovered, I hope to find some route to the Spice Islands, so that Your Majesty may have yearly news of events there. Should Your Majesty be pleased to grant me the favours I have asked in a certain capitulation respecting that discovery, I offer myself to conquer all the Spiceries, and any other islands there may be between Malucco, Malacca, and China, and to arrange matters so that, instead of obtaining spices and drugs by trading with the king of Portugal, who now owns them, Your Majesty may obtain them as your own property, once the natives of those islands have acknowledged Your Majesty as their king and rightful ​sovereign. For, I pledge myself, if the said grants be made to me, to send such an armada thither, or to go myself personally, as will subdue those islands, settling Spaniards there whom I will provide with forts and the necessary artillery and war stores to defend themselves against all the princes of those parts or any other. Should Your Majesty be pleased that I undertake this business, granting me what I asked, I believe it will be for the good of Your service; and I propose that, should it not turn out as I have stated, Your Majesty shall order me to be punished as one who has reported falsely to his Sovereign.
Since my return, I have, likewise, ordered people to go overland to settle on the River Tabasco, which is also called Grijalba, and to conquer many provinces in that neighbourhood, whereby God, our Lord, and Your Majesty, will be well served, and the ships navigating in those parts will derive much benefit. The port is a good one, and, if populated by Spaniards, and if the coast tribes be pacified, the vessels coming and going will be safe, whereas heretofore the natives there have been savage, and have killed the Spaniards who landed there.
As Your Majesty has already been informed, I have also sent three companies of men to the province of the Zapotecas to invade it in three different places, so as to complete its reduction in the shortest possible period; this will be of great service, not only because of the mischief which those natives work on the other peaceable ones in the neighbourhood, but also because they occupy the richest mining districts existing in New Spain, from which, when conquered Your Majesty will derive great ​profit. I have, likewise, prepared an expedition to settle on the banks of the River Las Palmas, which is on the north coast, below Panuco, in the direction of Florida, for I have been informed that the land is good and that there is a seaport; all of which persuades me that God, Our Lord, and Your Majesty will not be less served there than in other parts. ​Between the northern coast and the Province of Mechoacan, there is a certain tribe called Chichimecas. They are a very barbarous people, and not so Expedition against the Chichi- mecas intelligent as those of these provinces. I have, likewise, sent sixty horsemen, two hundred foot soldiers, and many native allies, against them, to discover the secrets of that province and its people. I have instructed them that, should they find the people there susceptible of civilisation and conversion to Our Faith, as these others have been, and showing a disposition for Your Majesty's service, to make some settlement in the country, and to bring them peaceably under the yoke of Your Majesty. But that if they did not find them as I have just said, but rebellious and disobedient, to make war on them and reduce them to slavery; for, there is nothing so superfluous in this country as those who refuse to acknowledge and serve Your Majesty. By making slaves of these barbarians, who are almost savages, Your Majesty will be served, and the Spaniards greatly benefited, as they will dig for gold, and perhaps through contact with us, some of them may save their souls.
I have learned that, in the midst of these Chichimecas, there are some thickly populated parts where there are large towns whose people live in the same manner as the Mexicans. Some of these towns have even been seen by Spaniards, and I am confident that the country will be settled, for I am assured that it abounds in silver mines.
About two months before leaving this capital for the ​Gulf of Hibueras, most Powerful Lord, I despatched a captain to the town of Coliman, which is on the South Sea, one hundred and four leagues from here, ordering him to follow that coast, for a hundred and fifty or two hundred leagues, for the sole purpose of learning all about it, and of discovering if there were any ports. He executed my orders, penetrating one hundred and thirty leagues inland, and bringing me an account of many ports he had found on the coast. This was of no small advantage, on account of the general dearth of them up to the present time; he had visited many and very considerable towns, and several numerous and warlike tribes, with whom he had encounters, and many of whom he pacified; his small force and the want of pasturage for his horses prevented his going further. His account also described a very large river, which the natives told him was ten days' march from its source, and about which, and the people inhabiting its banks, they told me many strange things. I am about to send him again with a larger force and better equipment, so that he may explore the secrets of that river, which, judging from the size and importance the natives attribute to it, I would not be surprised if it turned out to be a strait; as soon as he returns I shall relate to Your Majesty what I have learned.
All these captains are on the point of starting on their expeditions: may God be pleased to guide them according to His Will. For my own part, even should Your Majesty visit Your displeasure on me, I shall not cease to devote myself to Your service, holding it impossible that Your Majesty should fail, for any length of time, to recognise my services; but, even if this should happen, I shall remain satisfied with having done my duty, and knowing that all the world is aware of the loyalty with which I have performed it, nor do I wish for any other inheritance for my children. ​Most Invincible Cæsar may God, Our Lord, preserve the life, and augment for long years the power of Your Sacred Majesty according to Your desires. From this city of Temixtitan, on the third day of September, 1526.
Hernando Cortes.
* ↑ First discovered by Columbus in 1502, and named by him Cape Caximos, after some fruit trees, called thus by the natives; the name of the gulf is spelled in different ways; Hibueras, which is perhaps the most usual, means "pumpkins" in the provincial dialect, and these are plentiful there about. The name Honduras meaning difficulties is Spanish.
* ↑ Cristobal de Olid and Francisco de Las Casas; as explained in the Fourth Letter.
* ↑ Gonzalo de Salazar, Pero Armildez Chirino, Alonso de Estrada, and Rodrigo de Albornoz, were sent as revenue officers to Mexico in 1524, and to establish a court of accounts. Estrada was treasurer, Albornoz was accountant, Salazar factor, and Chirino inspector. Their expectations of finding immense treasures ready at hand were disappointed, and the only explanation which seemed to them adequate was that Cortes had concealed or made way with them. In their joint despatch to the Emperor, they accused him of possessing great riches, and of having hidden the treasure of Montezuma instead of accounting for it to the crown. They described Cortes as tyrannical, disloyal, and engaged in plotting to establish his authority independently in the country. This despatch was closely followed by two other letters, one signed by all of them, and the other by Salazar alone. Salazar stated that Cortes had collected three hundred and four million castellanos, without counting Montezuma's treasure, which was buried in various secret places; that he had retained for himself some thirtyseven to forty provinces, some of them as large as all Andalusia; that he was commonly believed to have poisoned Francisco de Garay; and that the ships he pretended were preparing for the expedition to the Spice Islands were really for carrying his treasure and himself in safety to France.
* ↑ A misspelling for Ascencion, though Gonzalo de Avila's people were not there but some sixty leagues down the coast.
* ↑ Pedrarius de Avila was from Segovia, and had distinguished himself in the Moorish wars, both in Spain and Africa; he was sent, in 1513, to supersede Balboa as Governor of the colony on the Isthmus of Darien, and sailed in command of one of the best expeditions sent by King Ferdinand to the New World, consisting of fifteen ships carrying twelve hundred soldiers, besides fifteen hundred gentlemen, or persons of some quality. Balboa, without a murmur, surrendered to the new Governor his authority at Santa Maria Antigua, as the town on Darien was called, and shortly afterward married his daughter; but, in spite of this, Pedrarius trumped up a charge of disloyalty and plotting a rebellion against Balboa, who, to the sorrow and amazement of the protesting colonists was executed. The Bishop of Burgos protected Pedrarius from the punishment his conduct merited.
* ↑ Most probably Tupilcos is meant: no map shows these various names as Cortes spells them.
* ↑ Also sometimes given as Quezolape, and Guezalapa.
* ↑ Also written Athumba, but, according to Gayangos, Ocumba appears very distinctly in the Vienna MS.: he adds that some writers identify the place as Cicimbra.
* ↑ Tepetizan.
* ↑ The root of the Yuca (vulgarly called Adam's needle) is farinaceous and edible: the Agoes or Aji are the red peppers so commonly used in Mexican dishes.
* ↑ Singuatepecpan, various spellings, Bernal Diaz calls it Ciguatepecad.
* ↑ Petenacte: also Penacte. As these names belong for the most part to obscure Indian villages which appear on no map, and are written with every variety of spelling, correction is undertaken only when it seems important to identify a spot by its correct geographical
* ↑ The Indian version of Quauhtemotzin's execution, given by Torquemada, who copied it from a Mexican MS., is quite different from the one Cortes gives the Emperor. Cohuanocox, King of Texcoco, spoke privately at Izancanac with his fellow prisoners, saying that were their people not what they were, their Kings would not be so easily reduced to slavery and marched about behind the Spanish commander, and that it would in reality be easy enough to repay Cortes for burning Quauhtemotzin's feet. At this point the others stopped him, but a Mexican, who is called Mexicalcin by early writers and was baptised as Christopher had overheard and reported the words to Cortes, who, without more ado hanged the three Princes that night on a Ceiba tree. Torquemada expresses the opinion that Cortes was weary of guarding the royal captives, and yet dared not free them, and was glad to use the first pretext to kill them. Bernal Diaz states that both Quauhtemotzin and Tetepanquezatl protested their entire innocence, and that all the Spaniards disapproved of the execution. Cortes dared much, and there was little articulate public opinion in Mexico whose voice he could not control, but it is doubtful if he would have dared to hang the last three Kings on such vague charges reported by a camp servant, with all Mexico looking on. This, the blackest deed of his life, was done in an obscure part of a remote wilderness. It were not strange that the royal captives should have talked of their misfortunes and sufferings, when they thought they were alone, or have discussed how it all might have been prevented, or even repaired, but it is a far cry from such communings over their camp-fire to the organisation of a plot to kill their captor and raise a general insurrection against the Spaniards. There seems no discoverable justification for this barbarous and treacherous act. It needed no gift of prophecy for Quauhtemotzin to foresee his fate when he fell into Cortes's hands, and the choice he then expressed for immediate death proved that he cherished no illusions as to what the future held for him. Prescott, in describing the inglorious end of the last Aztec Emperor, says: "might we not rather call him the last of the Aztecs, since from this time, broken in spirit and without a head, the remnant of the nation resigned itself almost without a struggle to the stern yoke of its oppressors?" It is said that Cortes was disquieted in his conscience after this "execution," and for a long time could not sleep. The murdered captives were: Quauhtemotzin, Emperor of Mexico; Cohuanacox; King of Texcoco; Tetlepanquetzal, King of Tlacopan; Oquizi, King of Atzcapotzalco; Vehichilzi, brother of Quauhtemotzin and King of Michuacan; and the two Indian Generals, Xihmocoatl and Tlacatle. Humboldt (Essai Polit. lib. iii., cap. viii.) describes an Indian picture-writing, representing the hanging of these prisoners by their feet to prolong their sufferings, which he saw in Mexico. Quauhtemotzin's widow, Princess Tecuichpo, who was a daughter of Montezuma, had already had one husband, Cuitlahuatzin, and, afterwards married successively three different Spaniards.
* ↑ This lake, some twelve leagues in length, was called by the natives Hohuken meaning "the mighty drinker," and is now known as Peten-Itza. Peten meaning lake, and Itza being the name of a Maya tribe. Needless to add that Cortes was wrong in thinking it was joined to the ocean.
* ↑ The fate of this animal was indeed a strange one. Villagutierra (in his Hist, de la Conquista del Itza) relates that some Franciscan monks who visited Peten-Itza in 1697, with Don Martin Ursua, landed with the intention of building a church on the island, and found there a large temple in which stood the image of a horse very well carved in stone. They discovered that Cortes's lame horse became an object of great veneration to the natives who fed him on flowers, birds, and similar delicacies with the natural result that the poor animal starved to death, after which he was ranked amongst the native deities and worshipped under the title of Tziminchak, god of thunder and lightning. It would appear from this that the Christian doctrines had not been so clearly understood by the chief and his people as Cortes imagined.
* ↑ Easter fell in the year 1525, on May 15th.
* ↑ Nito and Naco are sometimes confused, but they are distinct places: Nito is now called San Gil de Buena Vista, and the name of Naco remains to a valley near Puerto Caballos.
* ↑ A few pages back he describes his cousin's injuries as a broken leg — "in three or four places."
* ↑ San Andres is now called Puerto Caballos.
* ↑ The multitude and variety of American languages prove the high antiquity of the different peoples, for long centuries must have been required to evolve such diversity, especially where there was no written language. Humboldt enumerates fifteen different idioms, as absolutely distinct from one another as Persian from German, or French from Polish. Brasseur de Bourbourg estimates the total number, including dialects, at about two hundred.
* ↑ The report of Cortes's death was so persistently spread, and with such details of the time and place of his decease, that his own friends and servants began to believe it. Diego de Ordaz started with four brigantines on the Xicalango River, which empties into the gulf, to ascertain, if possible, the truth of the rumours; he met several Indian traders, who assured him that Cortes had been dead for seven or eight moons, having been captured after a battle in which he was wounded in the throat by the Cacique of Cuzamilco, a town on a lake seven days distant from Xicalango; and that the Cacique had sacrificed him to the principal deity of the place, called Uchilobos. (Letter of Albornoz to Charles V., December 26, 1526, apud Muñoz, tom, lxxvii., fol. clxix).
* ↑ Axucutaco.
* ↑ Santiago de Guatemala was the Governor's residence.
* ↑ Should be Gonzalo de Sandoval.
* ↑ This friar also counselled Cortes to assume more state and dignity, alleging that one reason some of his enemies affected to treat him as a mere soldier of fortune was because he had never insisted sufficiently on what was due to his rank as Captain-General and Governor; from thenceforward he heeded this advice.
* ↑ Indian name for Vera Cruz. Also spelled Chalchuihcuecan.
* ↑ Cortes was so broken by the fatigues of these expeditions, and so reduced by fever and his wounds, that he was scarcely recognisable,
* ↑ As Cortes states, the commissioner showed himself rather reserved towards him, refusing his presents and deprecating his
* ↑ See appendix to this Letter.
* ↑ See Note to Fourth Letter, p. 159.
* ↑ Already in the Fourth Letter, Cortes explained to the Emperor the exact cost of this unique piece of artillery; that he here repeats himself may be due to reasonable fear that his former letter never reached its destination; for many of those he wrote were lost. He has no delicacy about insisting upon the value of his gift to the Emperor.
* ↑ Meaning presumably the yearly revenue from a capital of ten millions, though it is expressed as here translated.
* ↑ This fleet of some six vessels under command of Garcia Jofre de Loaysa sailed in August, 1525, for the Molucca Islands, a convention having been previously established with Portugal to avoid a conflict of claims. It encountered many misfortunes, and its commander, the navigator Sebastian del Cano, and other officers, died during the voyage. The vessel, of which Cortes writes, reached the Mexican coast under command of Fortunio de Alango, her captain, Santiago de Guevara, having succumbed to the privations of the voyage when in sight of port. Only one of Loaysa's ships reached its proposed destination, and founded a small struggling settlement on the Isla de los Reyes, which was later abandoned when the Spanish crown lost interest in the Spice Islands' ventures (Bancroft, Hist. Mex., vol. ii., cap. xiii).
* ↑ During this expedition against the Zapoteca and Mixi tribes, the Spaniards accumulated about one hundred thousand pesos of gold, partly by rifling the graves of chiefs. The leaders were inexperienced, and fell to quarrelling amongst themselves. One of their ships with some fifteen men, and all the treasure, foundered in a gale off Vera Cruz.
* ↑ The territory of Rio de las Palmas just north of Panuco had been granted to Panfilo de Narvaez, and was reputed to be extraordinarily rich in gold and precious stones. Cortes's proposed expedition was withdrawn to avoid encroaching on the rights of Narvaez, and a free hand was thus left to Nuño de Guzman, a man of noble birth from Guadalajara, who had been for some years at Puerta de Plata in San Domingo, until, through Diego Velasquez's influence, he was appointed Governor of Panuco. For cruelty, rapacity, and violence, he was among all the Spaniards in Mexico, either before or after him facile princeps. In his Governorship of Panuco, he had already violated all the conventions with the natives, and, in defiance of the royal ordinances, had so hunted down the Indians, branding them and shipping as slaves to the Islands, that his province was almost depopulated. He was just as violent in his treatment of the Spaniards, directing his severities, especially towards all who were known as friends of Cortes. He invaded neighbouring provinces, and, when the settlers resisted, his superior force enabled him either to drive them out, seize their lands, or to capture them, and, without even a trial, condemn them to torture and death. He nailed one Spaniard to a tree by a nail through his tongue for using impertinent language to him. Promoted to the Governorship of Mexico, the field for carrying on his sinister exploits was enlarged, and no oppression, extortion, or outrage, which his fiendish ingenuity could devise, or his avarice suggest, was omitted to subjugate all alike to his will; later his expedition into the north-west left the same trail of robbery and murder behind. He was finally arrested and sent to Spain for trial, where, in 1540, Cortes had the magnanimity to interest himself in behalf of his old enemy, who was penniless, friendless, and in prison at Torrejon de Velasco, some eight leagues distant from the capital, even sending him money for his wants. Guzman died, however, before his trial was finished. Bustamente moralises on the strange contradiction in the character of Cortes, which prompted such generosity to the most inveterate enemy he had ever had, one who since years had worked him every injury in his power, while he showed himself so heartless in his treatment of the brave King Quauhtemotzin, whom he hanged in the dead of night, in the wilds of Yucatan, for no fault whatever after having robbed and tortured him in Mexico.
* ↑ The Chichimecas were the most ancient of Mexican nations, and were savages dwelling in caves, living by the chase, and having nothing of the Aztec civilisation, and yet, according to Motolinia (Toribio de Benevente) they were monogamists, sun-worshippers, and made no human sacrifices, their offerings being snakes and butterflies.