Yucatec Maya language
The fleet made its first landfall at Cozumel; Maya temples were cast down and a Christian cross was put up on one of them. At Cozumel Cortés heard rumours of bearded men on the Yucatán mainland, who he presumed were Europeans. Cortés sent out messengers to them and was able to rescue the shipwrecked Gerónimo de Aguilar, who had been enslaved by a Maya lord. Aguilar had learnt the Yucatec Maya language and became Cortés' interpreter.