Letters of Hernando Cortés
First Letter sent to the Queen, Doña Juana and the Emperor, Charles V, her son, by the Justiciary and Council of the Rica Villa of Vera Cruz on the 10th of July, 1519.
Most High, Mighty and Excellent Princes, Great and Catholic Sovereign Lords:
We have good reason to believe that your Majesties have been informed by the letters of Diego Velázquez, Admiral’s Deputy in the Island of Cuba, of the new land that was discovered some two or more years ago in these parts, which was first called Cozumel and afterwards Yucatán1, without being either the one or the other as your Majesties shall see from our account. For the reports so far given to your Majesties of this land, its size, riches, the manner in which it was discovered and many other details, were not and could not be exact, since no-one had then ascertained the particulars which we are now sending you in this letter. We shall therefore deal with this land from its first discovery up to its present state, that your Majesties may know what land it is, the people which possess it, their manner of living, rites and ceremonies, religious beliefs, and what fruit your Majesties may hope to receive from it and have already received, so that in everything your Majesties may order matters as shall be most profitable to them. And the true and certain account is after this fashion.
(In 1517, three gentlemen of means left Cuba for the south. The leader was one Francisco Hernando de Córdoba, and they were assisted financially by a certain Diego Velázquez, Admiral’s Deputy in the Island. They touched land at Campoche, found the natives fairly friendly but averse to their landing, and dropped down coast to another little native port, named Machocobón. There some fighting took place: twenty-seven Spaniards were killed, and all the rest wounded. Upon this, Hernando de Córdoba, himself seriously wounded, set sail for Cuba, and returned to acquaint Velázquez with the strange land they had found and the all-important fact that it was rich in gold.
Velázquez immediately sent off to the Jeronymite Fathers in Hayti, who had been empowered by the late regent, Cardinal Ximénez, to grant licenses for exploration in the Indies. He sent at the same time to the royal court in Spain, claiming to have discovered the new land at his own cost. The necessary licenses were obtained, and a relative of his, Juan de Grijalba, was despatched with three ships and some seventy men to explore the coast and treat with the natives. The little island of Cozumel was discovered lying to the east of Yucatán, and the captain landed for fresh water, but did not penetrate inland. Further south, Ascension Bay was discovered on the eastern coast, and named. The ships then retraced their path northward along the coast, turned the point of Yucatán and sailed west. Grijalba made one or two cautious landings but obtained little gold, and had more than one brush with the natives. He finally arrived at the mouth of a large river which he named after himself, Rio de Grijalba, and sailed up a certain distance; but he soon returned to the sea and pursued his way further west to the Bay of San Juan, from which place he sent back one of the ships to Velázquez with all the gold that he had so far been able to obtain. It was no considerable quantity. The letter then proceeds:)
Diego Velázquez being thus put out at the small amount of gold which had been brought back and eagerly desirous of more, determined without so much as a word to the fathers of San Jerónimo to equip a little fleet of fast sailing vessels to go in search of his relative Grijalba; and in order to do it less at his own cost he suggested to Hernando Cortés, alcalde2 of the neighbouring town of Santiago, that they between them should fit out eight or ten ships, for at that time Hernando Cortés owned better ships than any other man in the island and it was thought that more people would be eager to go with him than with any other. Cortés being thus approached and desirous of serving your Majesties forthwith proposed to spend his whole fortune in equipping the fleet, nearly two-thirds of it entirely at his own cost, supplying both the ships themselves and the necessary provisions and in addition bestowing money on persons who wished to sail with the fleet but were unable to provide themselves with the necessities for the voyage.
The fleet thus equipped, Diego Velázquez appointed Hernando Cortés to be Captain for the purpose of visiting the new land, bartering with the natives, and effecting what Grijalba had failed to do. The entire disposition of the fleet was in the hands of Diego Velázquez although he supplied but a third part of it at his own expense, as your Majesties may see from the instructions and powers which H. Cortés received from Velázquez in the name of your Majesties, and which we now send by the hand of our messengers. And your Majesties should know that the greater part of the said third which Velázquez contributed was spent on wine, clothes and other things of little value, to be sold to us later at a much higher price than he gave for them, so that we can truly declare that among the Spanish subjects of your Majesties in the West Indies Diego Velázquez has made good deals and put his money out at very profitable rates of interest.
H. Cortés accordingly left Cuba and began his voyage with ten ships and four hundred fighting men, among whom were many knights and gentlemen, seventeen being mounted. The first land they touched was the Island of Cozumel, now called Santa Cruz, as we mentioned, and on landing at the part of San Juan de Portalatina the town was found entirely deserted, as if it had never been inhabited. Cortés wishing to know the cause of such a flight ordered the men to disembark and took up his abode in the town. It was not long before he learnt from three Indians captured in a canoe as they were making for the mainland of Yucatán that the chiefs of the Island at the sight of the Spanish ships approaching had left the town and retired with all the Indians to the woods and hills, being very afraid of the Spaniards as not knowing what their intentions might be. Cortés, replying by means of the native interpreter whom he had with him, informed them he was going to do them no harm but admonish them and bring them to the knowledge of our Holy Catholic Faith, that they might become vassals of your Majesty and serve and obey him, as had all the Indians and peoples of those parts which are already peopled with Spanish subjects of your Majesties. On the Captain reassuring them in this manner they lost much of their former fear, and replied that they would willingly inform their chieftains who had taken refuge in the hills. The Captain thereupon gave them a letter by which the chiefs might approach in safety and they departed with it promising to return within the space of five days. After waiting for the reply some three or four days longer than the allotted time and seeing that they had not reappeared Cortés decided to search out the coast on either side of him, in order that the Island should not remain entirely deserted, and accordingly sent out two captains each with a hundred men, ordering them to proceed to either extremity of the Island and to hold conversations with any Indians they might meet, telling them that he was awaiting them in the port of San Juan de Portalatina in order to speak with them on behalf of your Majesty; such Indians they were to beg and urge as best they could to come to the said port but were to be careful not to do any harm to them, in their persons, their houses or their goods, lest the natives should be rendered more timid and deceitful than they were already. The two captains departed as they were commanded and returning within four days reported that all the towns which they had come across were desolate. They brought with them, however, ten or a dozen people whom they had managed to persuade, among whom was an Indian chieftain to whom Cortés spoke by means of his interpreter bidding him go and inform the chiefs that he would in no wise depart from the Island without seeing and speaking to them. The chieftain agreeing left with the second letter for the chiefs and two days later returned with the head chief to inform Cortés that he was the ruler of the Island and was come to see what he wanted. The Captain informed him that he wished them no harm, but that they should come to the knowledge of the true faith, and should know that we acknowledged as lords the greatest princes of the earth and that these in their turn obeyed a greater prince than he, wherefore what he desired of them was not otherwise than that the chiefs and Indians of that Island should likewise obey your Majesties, and that doing so they would be favoured, no-one being able to do them harm. The chief replied that he was content so to do and sent for all the other chieftains of the Island, who coming rejoiced greatly at all that the Captain Hernando Cortés had spoken to their chief, and were reassured in such manner that within a very few days the towns were as full of people as before, and the Indians went about among us with as little fear as if they had already had dealings with us for many years.
Sketch Map of Cortés’s Route from Cuba to Vera Cruz 1518–19.
It was at this time that the Captain learned that certain Spaniards had been held captive for the last seven years by some native chiefs in Yucatán: their vessel bound from the mainland had foundered somewhere south of Jamaica and they had escaped in the rowing boat to this land where ever since they had been held prisoner by the Indians. Cortés had had certain instructions to look out for these Spaniards before leaving Cuba and now on hearing news of them and the land where they were it seemed to him he would be doing no small service to God and to your Majesty in rescuing them from the prison and captivity in which they lay; and forthwith he would have set out in person with the whole fleet to rescue them, had not the pilots dissuaded him saying that he could in no wise do this since the fleet and all his men would surely be lost by reason of the excessive roughness of the coast and the absence of any harbour or place where he could land from his ships. Cortés accordingly abandoned this project and immediately dispatched certain Indians, who informed him they knew the chieftain in whose power the Spaniards were; he gave them a letter in which he explained to his countrymen that the only reason for his not coming in person with his fleet to rescue them was that the landing on the rough and rocky coast was impossible, but he urged them to make every effort to escape by canoe and he would meanwhile await them in the Island of Santa Cruz.
Three days after the departure of the Indians, Cortés, deeming the arrangement not wholly satisfactory and thinking that the Indians would be unable to effect all he desired, decided to send two brigs and a smaller vessel with forty of his own men to the mainland in order to take the Spaniards on board if they arrived there, and sent in addition three more Indians bearing another letter with instructions to land and make search for the Spaniards. On arriving at the coast the three Indians landed and disappeared on their search as Cortés had commanded; six days the ships awaited off the coast with no little difficulty, for more than once they nearly slipped anchor and ran aground, the sea being exceedingly rough as the pilots had reported. Finally, seeing no signs either of the Spanish prisoners or of the Indians who had gone to seek them, they decided to return to where Cortés was waiting for them off the Island of Santa Cruz; Cortés was deeply grieved to hear of their failure on their return and the next day gave orders to embark, fully intending to land on Yucatán even though the whole fleet should be lost and also to verify whether the report which Juan de Grijalba sent to Cuba were true, in which he declared that it was mere idle talk that anyone had ever landed on that coast or that certain Spaniards had been taken captive and imprisoned there.
With this firm intent Cortés had embarked all his men save only some twenty who still remained with him on the shore; the weather was very fine and particularly favourable for leaving port, when suddenly a contrary wind got up and showers of rain fell on them from the quarter whither they were going to sail, in such fashion that the pilots urged him strongly not to embark seeing that the weather was now so unsuited for leaving harbour. Accordingly Cortés gave a general order to disembark and next day at noon a canoe was seen in sail proceeding towards the island. On its arrival at the place where we were we discovered in it one Spaniard who had been taken prisoner, whose name was Gerónimo de Aguilar, who told us the manner of his capture and of the length of his captivity, which was as we above related to your Majesty; and that change in the weather which suddenly came about was held by us and truly as a great mystery and miracle of God, by which it is thought that nothing can be undertaken in your Majesty’s service which will not turn out well. This Gerónimo de Aguilar informed us that the other Spaniards who were lost with him were scattered far in the interior of the country which he assured us was very large, and that it would be impossible to rescue them without landing and spending much time in that land.
Accordingly, as the Captain Hernando Cortés saw that stores were already beginning to run short and that the men would suffer much from hunger should he delay there any longer, and the true object of his voyage rest unattained, he decided, his men agreeing, to depart; and so hoisting sail they left that Island of Cozumel, now Santa Cruz, very peaceably inclined, so much so that if it were proposed to found a colony there the natives would be ready without coercion to serve their Spanish masters. The chiefs in particular were left very contented and at ease with what the Captain had told them on behalf of your Majesties and with the numerous articles of finery which he had given them for their own persons. I think there can be no doubt that all Spaniards who may happen to come to this Island in the future will be as well received as if they were arriving in a land which had been long time colonized. The Island of Cozumel is small, without so much as a single river or stream; all the water that the Indians drink is from wells. The soil is composed solely of rocks and stones, a certain portion of it being woody. The Indians’ only produce is that obtained from bee-keeping, and our procurators are sending to your Majesties samples both of the land and of the honey for your Majesties’ inspection.
Your Majesties must know that when the Captain told the chiefs in his first interview with them that they must live no longer in the pagan faith which they held they begged him to acquaint them with the law under which they were henceforth to live. The Captain accordingly informed them to the best of his ability in the Catholic Faith, leaving them a cross of wood which was fixed on a high building and an image of Our Lady the Virgin Mary, and gave them to understand very fully what they must do to be good Christians, all of which they manifestly received with very good will, and so we left them very happy and contented.
On leaving the Island we set our course for Yucatán and ran along the North coast until we arrived at the great river, said to be the River Grijalba, which is, as we have already related to your Majesties, the point to which the Captain Grijalba, a relative of Diego Velázquez, had beforehand penetrated. The entrance to that river is so shallow that not one of the large ships could sail up it. However the Captain, Hernando Cortés, in his devotion to the service of your Majesties and being desirous of sending a true report of all there is to know in the new land, decided to proceed no further along the coast until he had discovered the secret of the river and of the towns which are on its banks, for they are rumoured to be fabulously rich in gold. Accordingly he transferred all the men that he had with him in the fleet into the brigs and smaller boats, and we advanced up the river with the intent of spying out the land and examining the towns.
On arriving at the first town we found the Indians in boats drawn up on the shore near the water. The Captain proceeded to speak to them both by means of the native interpreter whom we carried with us and of Gerónimo de Aguilar who spoke and understood perfectly the language of the country, telling them that he came to do no harm but only to speak to them on behalf of your Majesties, and accordingly requested them that they would see fit to allow us to land, since we had no place to sleep that night save on the brigs and smaller boats in the middle of the river and in these there was not even room enough for us to stand; as for returning to our ships it was too late, since they had been left outside in the open sea. The Indians on hearing this, replied that from where he was he might parley with them as he would, but that neither he nor his men were to land on their shore and that they would repel any attempt to do so. Immediately after this their bowmen began to draw up in line so as to be prepared to shoot at us, at the same time threatening us and bidding us depart. The day being much advanced (for the sun was on the point of setting) the Captain decided to retire to the sandy beach which lay in front of the town on the other side of the river, and there we landed and slept that night. Early next morning a few Indians approached us in a canoe bringing several chickens and enough maize to make a meal for a few men and bidding us accept these and depart from their land. The Captain however spoke to them through the interpreters giving them to understand that in no wise would he depart from that land before he had found out the secret of it in order to be able to send your Majesties a true account, and again begged them not to be offended at his project nor to deny him entrance for they also were subjects of your Majesties. However they still forbade us to make a landing and urged us to depart. On their return to the town the Captain decided to move, and ordered one of his captains to go with two hundred men by a path which had been discovered during the preceding night to lead to the village. He himself embarked with some eighty men on the brigs and boats and took up his position in front of the town ready to land if they would permit him to do so: even as he approached he found the Indians in war paint and armed with bows and arrows, lances and small round shields, yelling that if we would not leave their land and wanted war it should begin at once, for they were men to defend their own homes. Cortés attempted to speak with them four times (your Majesties’ notary who accompanied him witnessed to the same to the effect that he did not desire war) but seeing that it was the determined will of the Indians to resist his landing and that they were beginning to shoot their arrows against us, ordered the guns which we carried to be fired and an attack to be made. Immediately after the discharge of our guns and in the landing which followed a few of our men were wounded, but finally the fury of our onslaught and the sudden attack of our comrades who had come up in the rear of the enemy forced them to fly and abandon the village, which we accordingly took and settled ourselves in what appeared to be the strongest part of it. In the evening of the following day two Indians arrived from their chiefs bringing a few very inferior gold ornaments of small value and told the Captain that they offered him these in order that in exchange he might leave the land as it was before and do them no hurt. Cortés replied saying that as to doing them no hurt it pleased him well, but as to leaving the land they should know that from henceforward they must acknowledge as lords the greatest princes of the earth and must be their subjects and serve them; by doing which they would obtain many favours from your Majesties who would help them and defend them from their enemies. On this they replied that they were content to do this, but nevertheless still begged him to leave their land, and so we arrived at friendly terms.
Having patched up this friendship the Captain pointed out that the Spanish troops who were with him in the village had nothing to eat and had brought nothing from their ships. He therefore asked them to bring us sufficient food so long as we remained on land, which they promised to do on the following day, and so departed. But the next day and another passed without any food arriving so that we were faced with extreme shortness of provisions, and on the third day a few Spanish soldiers asked leave of the Captain to visit some of the near-lying farms and see if they could obtain some food. The Captain, seeing that the Indians were not coming as had been agreed, sent out four officers with more than two hundred men to search the neighbourhood for any provisions, and on their way they fell in with large numbers of Indians who shot at them with arrows so furiously that more than twenty Spaniards were wounded; and had not Cortés been quickly apprised of their danger and rescued them, as he succeeded in doing, there is little doubt that more than half the Spaniards would have been killed. In such wise we regained our camp, those that were wounded were attended to, and those weary with fighting were refreshed. Cortés perceiving the wrong the Indians had done him in pursuing the war instead of bringing provisions as they had promised, ordered ten horses and mules to be landed from among those which had been brought in the ships and everyone to keep a sharp look out, since he suspected that the Indians heartened by the success of the day before would advance to attack our camp with intent to do us harm. Everyone was thus on the alert and on the following day he sent other officers with three hundred men to where the battle had taken place to see if the Indians were still there or what had become of them: and very shortly afterwards he sent forward two more officers with the rearguard of a hundred men, he himself taking his way privily on horseback with ten mounted men to one side of the main path. Proceeding in this order the vanguard came upon a large body of Indians who were advancing to attack our camp, so that had we not gone out to meet them that day it is very possible we should have been hard put to it. And again the captain of artillery made certain representations (as your notary can bear witness) to the Indians whom he met in full war paint, crying to them by means of the native heralds and interpreters that we wanted not war but peace with them: their only answer was given not in words but in arrows which began to fall very thickly. The leading party was thus already engaged with the Indians when the two officers in command of the rearguard came up, and it was not until two hours later that Cortés arrived in a part of the wood where the Indians were beginning to encircle the Spaniards in the rear, and there he continued fighting against the Indians for about an hour; moreover such was their number that neither those among the Spaniards who were fighting on foot perceived those on horseback nor knew in what part of the field they were, nor could those on horseback so much as perceive one another as they surged hither and thither among the Indians. However, as soon as the Spaniards perceived the horsemen they attacked still more briskly and almost immediately the Indians were put to flight, the pursuit lasting half a league; whereupon Cortés seeing that the Indians were routed and that there was no more to be done (his men moreover being very wearied) gave orders that all should gather together in some farmhouses nearby, and on assembling there it was found that twenty men were wounded not one of whom, however, died nor of those wounded on the previous day. And so having attended to the wounded and laid them upon stretchers, we regained our camp taking with us two Indians who were captured there. These Cortés ordered to be loosed, and sent them with letters to the chieftains telling them that if they were willing to come to where he was he would pardon them the evil they had done and would be their friend. Accordingly the very same evening two Indians who purported to be chieftains arrived, declaring that they were very grieved at what had occurred and that the chieftains as a body begged him to pardon them and not punish them further for what was passed nor kill any more of their people, for over two hundred and twenty Indians had fallen; the past was past and henceforward they were willing to be subjects of that prince of whom he had spoken, and such they already held themselves to be, and bound themselves to do him service whenever anything in your Majesties’ name should be desired of them.
In this wise they sat down and peace was made. The Captain then enquired of them by the interpreter what people it was who had fought in that battle, and they replied that tribes from eight provinces had joined together in that place and that according to the reckoning and lists which they possessed they would be about forty thousand men, for they could well reckon up to such a number. Thus your Majesties may truly believe that this battle was won rather by the will of God than by our own strength, for of what avail are four hundred (and we were no more) against forty thousand warriors?
Having thus entered upon very friendly terms, they gave us during the four or five days that we were there about one hundred and fifty pesos3 of gold all told, but comprised of ornaments so poor in themselves, yet held by them in such esteem, that it was plain that their country is almost entirely lacking in gold, for there is small doubt that the little that they had had come to them from other parts by means of barter.
The soil is excellent and very fertile, both in maize and fruits, and the rivers abound in fish and the other produce which they use for food. The village is situated on the bank of the river we have already described from which we entered upon a plain containing many farms and cultivated lands which belong to them and which they till. We admonished them of the wrong they did in adoring the gods and idols which they possess and gave them to understand that they must come into the knowledge of our own blessed faith, leaving behind us on parting a great wooden cross which was placed high up, and with which they were much pleased, declaring that they would hold it in the greatest veneration. So we left the Indians in this manner as our friends and the loyal subjects of your Majesties.
Cortés accordingly set sail to pursue his voyage and came to the harbour and bay of San Juan which is the place where Captain Juan de Grijalba had certain dealings with the natives as we have described at length to your Majesties above. As soon as we arrived there the natives of the land came to discover what ships they might be which approached, but since the day was already very advanced (night having almost fallen) the Captain gave orders that we were to remain in the ships and that no one was to attempt to land. The next morning Cortés and a large number of his men put on shore and found there two headmen among the Indians to whom he gave certain personal ornaments and spoke to them by the means of interpreters giving them to understand that he had come to these parts by order of your Majesties to acquaint them with those things that they must do in his service, and to this end he requested that they should go straightway into the town and bring their chief or chiefs out to speak with him; and that they might more surely come he gave them as a present to the chiefs a pair of shirts and doublets, one of satin the other of velvet, and for each a bonnet of fine red cloth and a couple of belts such as are used for hawking; so they departed bearing these gifts to the chieftains. Accordingly a little before noon on the following day a chief returned with them from the town with whom Cortés had speech, informing him by his interpreter that he had come to do them no harm but rather to declare to them that from henceforth they were to be subjects of your Majesties and must serve and give him whatever their country produced as do all those who are his subjects: to which the chief replied that he was very content to become your Majesties’ subject and that it pleased him well to serve and have as his lord such mighty princes as the Captain had declared your Majesties to be. Upon this the Captain told them that since he showed such good will towards his king and lord, he should soon see for himself the rewards which your Majesties would henceforward bestow upon him: and saying this he caused him to be arrayed in a shirt of holland cloth, a flowing velvet jacket and a girdle of gold with which the chief was highly delighted and satisfied, and declared that we should wait there while he returned to his own land when on the morrow he would bring us that by which we should know more truly the desire he had to serve your Majesties, and so bidding farewell departed. On the following day he returned as he had promised bearing a white cloth which he ordered to be spread out before the Captain, and thereupon made him a gift of certain precious trinkets of gold which he placed upon the cloth, and of which among others which we received later we give a detailed account to your Majesties in a list which our procurators bear with them. Having bidden farewell to us the chief finally departed to his own dwelling in great content.
Now as many of us who ventured in this fleet were persons of rank, knights and gentlemen, eager to serve our Lord and your Majesties, and desirous alike of extending the power of their royal crown and increasing their dominions and revenue, we joined ourselves together at this time and conferred with the Captain Hernando Cortés, pointing out that this land was fruitful, rich in gold, so far as could be judged from the samples which the chief had brought us, and that the chief and all the natives seemed to bear us very good will; on which account it seemed to us profitable to the service of your Majesties that the instructions given by Diego Velázquez to the Captain Hernando Cortés should not be carried out in that land, to wit that as much gold as possible should be obtained by barter from the natives, and once obtained an immediate return made to Cuba, by which the said Diego Velázquez and our Captain would alone reap the fruits of the expedition: but to all of us it seemed better that a town should be founded there in the name of your Majesties with a justiciary and council, so that in this land your Majesties might possess over-lordship as in their other kingdoms and domains; for, the land once settled with Spaniards, in addition to the royal dominions and revenues being increased, your Majesties might be graciously pleased to grant favours both to us and to settlers who should come from further lands.
And thus agreed we joined ourselves together, no man being dissentient, but with one mind and purpose we made a demand of the said Captain in which we declared: That since he must perceive how agreeable it was both to the service of God and your Majesties that this land should be settled, giving him the reasons which have been set forth above to your Majesties, we therefore required him to cease forthwith from such barter with the natives as he had come to do, since by such means the land would be truly destroyed and your Majesties done no small disservice: likewise we asked and required him to appoint alcaldes and regidores4 for the town which was to be founded by us, all this with certain protestations if so be he should not carry out what we demanded. On our presenting this request the Captain replied that he would give his answer on the following day, and considering how agreeable our request was to the service of your Majesties, he accordingly replied, saying that he was desirous above all things of doing some service to your Majesties, and hence unmindful of the profit which would accrue to him should he continue bartering as had been his intention (by which he might reimburse himself for the great expenses incurred with the aforesaid Diego Velázquez in the fitting out of the fleet) but rather putting all this aside, he was well pleased and content to do what we demanded, since it was agreeable to the service of your Majesties. And upon this he began immediately with great diligence to settle and found a town to which he gave the name of the Rica Villa of Vera Cruz, and appointed those whose names appear at the foot of this letter as alcaldes and regidores of the town, duly receiving from us the solemn oath as is wont and customary on such occasions.
This done, on the following day we entered into our office and charges, and being thus met together we sent to the Captain Hernando Cortés asking him in the name of your Majesties to show us the powers and instructions which the aforementioned Diego Velázquez had given to him on coming to these parts. He lost no time in sending for them, and having seen, read and carefully examined them we found that to the best of our understanding the Captain no longer held any authority according to the documents before mentioned, and such authority having expired he could no longer execute justice or act as Captain. But it appeared to us well, most excellent Princes, that for the sake of peace, quietness and good government amongst us, there should be one person elected in your Majesties’ name to act in this town and district in the service of your Majesties as Chief Justice and Captain General of the forces, to whom we should all pay respect until such time as your Majesties having received our report should provide other means by which your Majesties might best be served. Now there was no person better fitted for such a charge than Hernando Cortés, for in addition to being just such a man as is fitting for an office of this kind, he is very greatly desirous of serving your Majesties, and not only has he wide experience of the islands and mainland of these parts, by reason of which he has always given a good account of himself, but he spent freely what he had in order to accompany this fleet in the service of your Majesties, and moreover held of small account (as we have already related) all that he might gain should he continue bartering with the natives as was his first intent, and accordingly we appointed him in your Majesties’ name Chief Justice and alcalde mayor, and received from him the oath which is necessary in such case. This done, as was agreeable to the royal service of your Majesties, we received him in his official capacity in our public assembly as Chief Justice and Captain of your Majesties’ royal armies, and thus he will remain until such time as your Majesties may provide what is more agreeable to their royal service. We desire to give an account of all this to your Majesties so that they may know what has been done here and the state and manner in which we now remain.
This matter concluded, being united in public assembly we agreed to write to your Majesties sending them all the gold, silver and jewels which we have obtained in this country over and above the fifth part which belonged to them by right, and it was agreed that by giving the whole of the first fruits, not keeping so much as a single thing for ourselves, we should be doing some service to your Majesties and show plainly the very great zeal that we have in their service, as we have already displayed in adventuring our lives and fortunes. This being agreed upon, we elected as our messengers Alonso Fernández Portocarrero and Francisco de Montejo, whom we send to your Majesties with all the aforementioned treasure, that they may on our behalf kiss their royal hands and in our name and the name of this town and council beg your Majesties to favour us with certain things necessary to the service of God and your Majesties and the common weal of this town, as is more minutely set out in the special instructions which we have given them. Which requests with all due respect we humbly beg your Majesties to grant, and to concede all those privileges which in the name of this council and of ourselves they may beg, for in addition to your Majesties doing great service to our Lord in this matter, they will be conferring a very signal favour on this town and council such as we daily hope may be the pleasure of your Majesties.
In a former paragraph of this letter we said that we are sending an account of this land that your Majesties may be better informed of its peculiarities, its riches, the people who possess it and the beliefs, rites and ceremonies which they hold. The land which in the name of your Majesties we now occupy stretches for some fifty leagues on either side of this town; the coast is entirely flat and on the sea shore there are sandy beaches stretching sometimes for two miles and more. Inland, behind the sand dunes, the land is also flat, comprising very fine meadow lands and river banks, such as cannot be bettered in all Spain, as pleasing to the eye moreover as they are fertile in producing all manner of crops, and very well looked after and of easy access, all kinds of herds being found there both grazing and for use as beasts of burden.
All kinds of hunting is to be met with in this land and both birds and beasts similar to those we have in Spain, such as deer, both red and fallow, wolves, foxes, partridges, pigeons, turtle doves of several kinds, quails, hares and rabbits: so that in the matter of birds and beasts there is no great difference between this land and Spain, but there are in addition lions and tigers about five miles inland, of which more are to be found in some districts than in others. There is a great range of very fine mountains, some very high and one in particular overtopping all the rest, from which one can discern a great expanse of the sea and land; indeed it is so high that if the day be not very clear its summit cannot be seen at all since the top half of it is entirely covered with clouds, and on other occasions when the weather is very fine one can see its summit rising above the clouds so white that we judge it to be snow: this the natives also confirm, but since we have not seen it very clearly although approaching quite near to it, and considering that this region is exceptionally hot we cannot affirm it to be so for certain. We shall endeavour to find out by personal observation about this and other matters of which we have heard reports in order to send your Majesties a true account of it, as well as of the riches of the country in gold, silver and precious stones, of all of which your Majesties may form some idea from the samples which we are sending them. To our mind it is probable that this land contains as many riches as that from which Solomon is said to have obtained the gold for the temple: but so little time has passed since our landing that we have been unable to explore the country further than some five leagues inland and some ten or a dozen leagues along the coast on either side of the place where we first landed; from the sea much more may be seen and more we certainly saw while skirting the coast in our ships.
The natives who inhabit the island of Cozumel and the land of Yucatán from its northern point to where we are now settled, are of middle height, and well-proportioned, except that in our district they disfigure their faces in various ways, some piercing the ears and introducing large and extremely ugly ornaments, others the lower part of the nose and upper lip in which they insert large circular stones having the appearance of mirrors, others still piercing the thick underlip right through to the teeth and hanging therefrom round stones or pieces of gold so heavy that they drag the lip down, giving an extraordinarily repulsive appearance. They wear as clothes a kind of highly coloured shawl, the men wear breech clouts, and on the top half of the body cloaks finely worked and painted after the fashion of Moorish draperies. The common women wear highly coloured robes reaching from the waist to the feet and others which cover only the breast, all the rest of the body being uncovered; but the women of high rank wear bodices of fine cotton, very loose fitting, cut and embroidered after the fashion of the vestment worn by our bishops and abbots. Their food is composed of maize and such cereals as are to be found on the other Islands, potuoyuca5 almost exactly similar to that eaten in Cuba, except that they roast it instead of making it into bread; in addition they have whatever they can obtain by fishing or hunting; and they also breed large numbers of hens similar to those of the mainland which are as big as peacocks. There are a few large towns very passably laid out. The houses in those parts which can obtain stone are of rough masonry and mortar, the rooms being low and small, very much after the Moorish fashion. Where no stone can be got they build their houses of baked bricks, covering them over with plaster and the roofs with a rough kind of thatch. Certain houses belonging to chiefs are quite airy and have a considerable number of rooms; we have seen as many as five inner corridors or patios in a single house and its rooms very well laid out around them, each person of importance having his own private servants to wait upon him. The wells and tanks of water are also contained inside, together with rooms for the servants and underservants of which there are many. Each one of the chief men has in front of the entrance of his house a large patio, and some as many as two, three or four, sometimes raised a considerable way off the ground with steps leading up to them, and very well built. In addition they have their mosques, temples and walks, all of very fair size, and in them are the idols which they worship whether of stone, clay or wood, the which they honour and obey in such a manner and with such ceremonies that many sheets of paper would not suffice to give your Majesties a minute and true account of them. These private mosques where they exist are the largest, finest and most elaborately built buildings of any that there are in the town, and as such they keep them very much bedecked with strings of feathers, gaily painted cloths and all manner of finery. And always on the day before they are to begin some important enterprise they burn incense in these temples, and sometimes even sacrifice their own persons, some cutting out their tongues, others their ears, still others slicing their bodies with knives in order to offer to their idols the blood which flows from their wounds; sometimes sprinkling the whole of the temple with blood and throwing it up in the air, and many other fashions of sacrifice they use, so that no important task is undertaken without previous sacrifice having been made. One very horrible and abominable custom they have which should certainly be punished and which we have seen in no other part, and that is that whenever they wish to beg anything of their idols, in order that their petition may find more acceptance, they take large numbers of boys and girls and even of grown men and women and tear out their heart and bowels while still alive, burning them in the presence of those idols, and offering the smoke of such burning as a pleasant sacrifice. Some of us have actually seen this done and they say that it is the most terrible and frightful thing that they have ever seen. Yet the Indians perform this ceremony so frequently that, as we are informed and have in part seen from our own scanty experience since we have been in this land, there is no year passes in which they do not thus kill and sacrifice fifty souls in every such temple, and the practice is general from the island of Cozumel to the region in which we have now settled. Your Majesties can therefore be certain that since the land is large and they seem to have a large number of temples there can be no year (so far as we have been able up to the present to ascertain) in which they have not sacrificed in this manner some three or four thousand souls. Your Majesties may therefore perceive whether it is not their duty to prevent such loss and evil, and certainly it will be pleasing to God if by means of and under the protection of your royal Majesties these peoples are introduced into and instructed in the holy Catholic Faith, and the devotion, trust and hope which they now have in their idols turned so as to repose in the divine power of the true God; for it is certain that if they should serve God with that same faith, fervour and diligence they would work many miracles. And we believe that not without cause has God been pleased to allow this land to be discovered in the name of your royal Majesties, that your Majesties may reap great merit and reward from Him in sending the Gospel to these barbarian people who thus by your Majesties’ hands will be received into the true faith; for from what we know of them we believe that by the aid of interpreters who should plainly declare to them the truths of the Holy Faith and the error in which they are, many, perhaps all of them, would very quickly depart from their evil ways and would come to true knowledge, for they live more equably and reasonably than any other of the tribes which we have hitherto come across.
To give your Majesties full and detailed account of this land and people would probably be only to include many errors, for there are many particulars which we have not seen for ourselves but only heard from the natives, and consequently we are only venturing to report those things which can definitely be vouched for as truth. Your Majesties may well command full investigation to be made, and that done, if it so please your Majesties, a true account may be made to our holy Father, that all diligence and good order may be applied to the work of converting these people, since from such conversion so much good fruit may be expected: his Holiness may thus see fit to permit evil and rebellious people having first been warned to be proceeded against and punished as enemies to our holy Catholic Faith, such punishment serving as a further occasion of warning and dread to those who still rebel, and thus bringing them to a knowledge of the truth, and rescuing them from such great evils as are those which they work in the service of the devil: for in addition to those which we have already reported to your Majesties, in which children and men and women are killed and offered in sacrifice, we know and have been informed without room for doubt that all practice the abominable sin of sodomy. In all of which we beg your Majesties to provide as may seem to them most fitting to the service of God and of your royal Majesties and that we who remain here in your service may constantly enjoy your Majesties’ favour and protection.
Among other matters which our messengers are instructed to convey to your Majesties there is one in particular which on our behalf they will beg your Majesties, to wit, that no kind of authority, governorship nor judicial powers in these parts be given or granted to Diego Velázquez, Admiral’s Deputy in Cuba, and should any such charges have already been given that they should be revoked, since it is not in the interests of the crown that Diego Velázquez or any other person should hold any dominion or privileges whatsoever except it were by the express will of your Majesties in this new land, seeing that it abounds in riches, according to what we have already obtained and what we hope to obtain in the future. Moreover, besides being against your Majesties’ interest to bestow any office upon the said Diego Velázquez we know that should he receive such an office, we, your Majesties’ subjects who have settled and are living in this land, would be extremely ill-treated by him, for we have good reason to think that what we have already done in your Majesties’ service in despatching such gold and silver and precious stones as we have been able to obtain in this land, would be far from well-pleasing to him, as was plainly to be seen in the conduct of four of his servants who happened to be in our town and who, perceiving our intention to send all the treasure to your Majesties, which was done, proclaimed loudly that it were better to send it to Diego Velázquez and other things by which they endeavoured to stir up the people against sending it to your Majesties: for which actions we arrested them and they are still in prison awaiting sentence, of the result of which we will inform your Majesties in due course. Accordingly, from what we have seen of the doings of Diego Velázquez and from our own experience of him we are greatly afraid that if he were to come to this land armed with some authority he would treat us badly, as he has done in Haiti since he had charge of the government, doing justice to no man save according to his own humour, and punishing those whom he chose in passionandanger, not in reason and equity. In such fashion has he destroyed many good men, bringing them to the lowest degree of poverty, refusing them Indian slaves, taking all for himself and likewise all the gold that they have collected without giving them any part in it; and this he could do having bands of ruffians and other aids ready to hand; and indeed since he is the Governor and assessor of taxes no one dares do otherwise than as he desires knowing and dreading that he can utterly destroy him. But of these things your Majesties have no cognizance nor has any report of them ever reached their ears since the representatives who come to your court from the said Island are his servants and fashioned after his pattern, being kept very well content by frequent gifts of Indian slaves from their lord: likewise representatives who come to him from the village communities to discuss matters concerning the country people find it easy to do what he bids them, for he freely gives them Indian slaves to content them; and when these procurators return to their villages and give an account of what they have done, the people’s one reply is that poor persons should not be sent as representatives since by giving them a single Indian chieftain Diego Velázquez can get them to do anything he wants. Moreover since the regidores and alcaldes who possess Indian servants are afraid of Diego Velázquez taking them away from them, they dare not reprimand the representatives who have betrayed their trust by giving way to Diego Velázquez, and in these as in many other ways he carries on in a fine manner. By which your Majesties may see that all those good reports coming from the Island concerning Diego Velázquez and the rewards asked on his behalf simply represent so many Indian slaves which he has given to the various procurators and not that the village councils are contented or desire any such rewards for him, for they would prefer to see the procurators punished.
Since the above complaints were notorious to all those residing or dwelling in the Rica-Villa of Vera Cruz, they joined with the procurator of this council and begged and required us by a signed declaration that in their name we should entreat your Majesties not to confide such offices nor any of them to the said Diego Velázquez, but rather that he should be required to furnish an account of his government and should be removed from the office which he now holds in Cuba, for if such account were made the truth of this matter would be plain and evident. We therefore beg your Majesties to appoint an examining judge that the whole matter which we have related to your Majesties may be examined by him as concerns the island of Cuba as also other parts, for it is our intention to sift the matter that your Majesties may see whether it is just or right that he should hold royal offices in these parts or in those other parts where he resides at present.
The procurator, citizens and inhabitants of this town have also begged us in their name to entreat your Majesties to appoint Hernando Cortés Captain and Chief Justice of your Majesties and to give him their royal seal and licence, that he may continue justice and good government amongst us until this land is conquered and subject, or such time as may please your Majesties, knowing him to be a person well fitted for such a post. The which request and entreaty we send by the hands of our representatives to your Majesties humbly begging them both this and all other favours which may be asked by the said representatives, and that they may hold us as their very loyal subjects as we have been in the past and shall ever be.
Finally the gold, silver, jewels, bucklers and clothes which we send your Majesties by the hands of our representatives, over and above the fifth which belongs to your Majesties by right, are offered as a token of loyalty by the Captain Hernando Cortés and the members of this council, all of which things are attested in the enclosed list by the said representatives as your Majesties may see.6
From the Rica-Villa of Vera Cruz the 10th of July 1519.