The herald., 1895-03-03

them like brothers and give them of the
things we had brought with us, and that
| he begged of them not to commence the
war as they would be the losers by it.
Aguilar used many other arguments,
but the more he argued the holder the
Indians became, and they said they would
kill us all if we entered their town, and
that they had fortified it with wall OF
large trees piled close together.
! Aguilar again begged of them to come
to peace, and allow us to get water, and
to come and trade with us, and he also
said many other things to the Caciques
that were for their good and for the
| service of God and our Lord the King but
| still they swore that if we passed the
| Palms they would kill us.
When Cortes saw this, he ordered
| that all the ships of light burden and all
the boats be made ready, and that in each
one there be placed three cannon, and
| he distributed among the different boats
all the crossbowmen and musketeers,
! for we remembered from the time OF
Grijalva that the roads leading from the
Palms to the town were very narrow and
led through a swamp.
Cortes then sent out three spies to ex-
anime the Indian town and see if the In
dams went to their houses, and they came
back and said they had, and the remain
der of that day we spent in preparing tor
the attack. The next day, after hearing
mass, our preparations having all been
made, Cortes ordered Captain Alonzo de
Avila to take body of one hundred men,
among whom were ten crossbowmen, and
proceed toward the town by the narrow
road have already mentioned, while the
remainder of our forces would proceed up
the river in our boats, and that when
Avila should hear shots, he should imme-
diately proceed to attack the Indians.
When the Indians saw us about to go
up the river they came against us with SO
many canoes, and the whole shore being
covered with warriors, that we did not
attempt to land at once, for Cortes ordered
that we should halt and that no shot
should be fired until he had made pro-
clamation in the presence of the King 8
secretary, Diego de Godoy, and then
through our interpreter, Aguilar, de-
manded that they should let us land to
get water, and that if they attacked us
whatever deaths OF injury they should
oQocdlH WOulQ UC IuClI OWu ldulJ anu uOb
ours. And still they would not let US
land, but said they would kill us. They
attacked us fiercely, and with their drums
made signals for all their squadrons to
rush upon us, and like brave men they
came to the attack, and from their canoes
and from the shore poured upon us such
a shower OF arrows that great many of
us were wounded, and we were forced to
disembark where the water reached our
waists and in some places higher. And
as the place where we attempted to land
was very swampy and full of mud we
could not move very rapidly, and the In
dams charged SO fercely upon us with
their lances, all the while pouring upon
us shower of arrows, that we did not
land as quickly as we wished. Cortes was
also fighting in the mud, where he left
one of his shoes, SO that we were at a
great disadvantage until we got ashore.
But then, calling on Santiago and clos
i ing in upon them, we forced them back,
| but not very far, because of the barri-
cades OF trees behind which they took ref
! uge.. And the fight was a hot one and
doubtful, until we had made breaches
through which we entered the town, they
retreating up street and taking refuge
behind other barricades, where they turned