THE FIFTH LETTER

Sent to the Emperor from the City of Tenochtitlan on the 3rd of September 1526.

Sacred, Catholic, and Cæsarian Majesty:

Having given orders for all things concerning Cristóbal de Olid, as your Majesty was informed, I bethought me that my own person had now long been idle, attempting no new matter in your Majesty’s service by reason of my broken arm, and although not wholly recovered from it I thought it well to undertake something. Accordingly on October 12th in the year 1524 I left this city of Tenochtitlan with certain men on horseback and on foot, which were no more than those of my own household and of a few friends and relatives, together with Gonzalo de Salazar y Peralmírez, and Chirinos, factor and veedor of your Majesty. I likewise took with me the chief natives of the land, leaving the administration of justice to the Government in the hands of your Majesty’s treasurer and contador together with the licentiate Alonso de Zuazo²³. In the capital itself I left great store of guns and ammunition and sufficient troops; the forts likewise were well furnished with guns and the brigs in excellent repair. The city with its alcalde was well prepared in every way for defence and even for attack if need be.

I accordingly left the capital in this order and arrived at the township of Espíritu Santo in the province of Coazacoalco, 110 leagues off. Here, while ordering certain matters within the city, I sent to the provinces of Tabasco and Xicalango informing the native rulers of my visit to these parts and bidding them to come to hold speech with me or send persons whom I could instruct as to what they were to do, the which they did, receiving my messengers very warmly and sending me seven or eight persons of lofty rank (as they were wont to do) who informed me that on the other side of Yucatán close to the coast near the Bay of Ascension there were certain Spaniards who were doing them much ill. Not only had they burnt many villages and killed certain natives, on which many had deserted their homes and fled to the woods and mountains, but they had injured merchants and traders even more severely; in such wise that all traffic with the coast which had been considerable had now ceased, and as eye-witnesses they gave me an account of practically all the townships along the coast down to where Pedro Arias de Avila, your Majesty’s Governor, is stationed: they drew the map of the whole coast on a piece of cloth from which I reckoned that I could journey the greater part of it, in particular as far as that place which they pointed out as being occupied by the Spaniards. I was glad to find such good news of a road by which I could put my plan into execution and thus bring the natives of the land to the knowledge of our Catholic Faith and the service of your Majesty, for on such a lengthy journey I was certain to pass through many and various provinces and peoples, and should be able to discover whether these Spaniards of whom I heard belonged to the expeditions which I had sent under Cristóbal de Olid, Pedro de Albarado or Francisco de las Casas. And to order all those things aright it seemed to me expedient to your Majesty’s service that I should go forward in person, especially seeing that it was inevitable but that we should discover many lands and provinces previously unknown and might succeed in pacifying many of them, as indeed afterwards happened. Whereupon, conceiving in my mind the results likely to follow from my visit, I determined, putting aside all possible toil and expense, to follow that road, as indeed I had decided upon before leaving the capital.

Before arriving at Espíritu Santo I had two or three times received letters on the way from the capital, both from those whom I had left as my lieutenants and from other persons. Your Majesty’s officials who were of my company likewise received them. I learnt that there was not that harmony between the treasurer and contador so necessary for all things pertaining to their office and the charge which I had laid upon them in your Majesty’s royal name. I did that which seemed to me best, to wit, wrote them in the strongest terms of rebuke, and even warned them that unless they made up their differences and behaved themselves very differently from that time on, I should make such provisions as would be very little pleasing to them, and would even make report of the matter to your Majesty. Later, since my arrival in Espíritu Santo further letters from them and other persons arrived, in which I learnt that their disputes still continued and indeed increased, so much so that on one occasion swords had been drawn on either side. This caused such scandal and disturbance that not only did the Spaniards arm themselves on both sides, but the natives of the city were induced to fly to arms saying that the tumult was directed against them. Seeing then that my rebukes and warnings were useless and that short of abandoning the expedition I could not return in person to put an end to the matter, I thought it good to send the factor and veedor with equal powers to those held by the treasurer and contador, to see where the fault lay and restore order. I further gave them secret powers by which if the culprits proved unamenable to reason, they should have authority to remove them from the charge which I had laid on them, and should occupy it themselves together with the licentiate Alonso de Zuazo. They should also punish the guilty persons. The matter being thus arranged the factor and veedor left and I held it as very certain that their return would produce much fruit and prove an effectual remedy to calm the passions which had been aroused; and with this my mind was somewhat set at rest.

(Cortés then set off. He had about 140 men, of whom 93 were mounted, and there were some 150 horses. He commandeered a brig which was lying in the port of the Villa del Espíritu Santo having sailed thither from Medellín with supplies for him, and sent it on to the Tabasco river with the supplies that remained, four guns and a considerable amount of ammunition. Cortés then wrote to his agent at Medellín to load two caravels and a larger ship with provisions and send them after him. He also wrote to Rodrigo de Paz bidding him send him five or six thousand pesos of gold to buy Stores. He even wrote to the treasurer at the same time asking him to lend him the money, which he did, and the ships duly arrived at the mouth of the Tabasco.

Cortés now proceeded eastwards along the coast. The land was very marshy and frequently intersected by small streams. There were also three large rivers to cross: the first two the horses managed to swim, their bridles being held by men seated in the canoes, but to cross the last it was necessary to build a bridge which was no less than 934 paces long, a thing as Cortés remarks, “very marvellous to see.” They found abundance of fruit, particularly the cocoa nut, in this province of Cupilco, as also of fish. There were some ten or twelve fair-sized towns and the natives remained quiet although somewhat overawed at the Spaniards whom they saw now almost for the first time. From the last town in the province, Anaxuxuca, Cortés sent on a few Spaniards and Indians to spy out and open up a road, and they reported many mountains and swamps ahead.

The Guaxala river lay immediately in front of them and was crossed in rafts with but a single Indian casualty. While they were doing so the boats with provisions arrived from the mouth of the Tabasco. One of the scouts had made his way up this river and reached the town of Zaguatán itself. He now sent word back by means of some of the natives. The following night in the midst of a violent rainstorm he arrived where Cortés was encamped on the further side of the river with some seventy Indians who had come with him to open up the road. On the day following the main body succeeded in reaching the town, only to find it deserted; even the seventy Indians who had assisted them had fled. For four days Cortés remained in the town thinking they would return when their fears were past, but finding they did not do so sent out parties of Spaniards who captured two native men and a few women. They could or would say nothing as to where all had disappeared, but pointed to a range of hills some ten leagues off where, they said, the chief town Chilapán was to be found on the further side of a great river, which flowed into the Zaguatán and thence into the Tabasco. They also declared that higher up the river was a town called Ocumba.

Cortés remained twenty days longer in this town. It seemed to be entirely surrounded by fearful marshes, and finally in desperation, since food was running short, a large bridge was built and the company set out in the direction of Chilapán. A smaller boat was at the same time dispatched to Ocumba. Here again the natives fled. A few men and women who were captured guided the Spaniards to Chilapán, where they arrived late the next day to find it also burnt and abandoned. Proceeding to Topetitán they found it in like state. They were already extremely short of food and found but little at Topetitán to relieve their want. The advance party was sent on to Istapán with orders to send back word as to the road, until which time the main body would remain in the city. “And so,” says Cortés, “they set off.”

But two days later having received neither letter nor any other news of them I was forced to set out also on account of lack of food, and follow them with only their track through the marshes to guide us along a terribly bad road; for I can assure your Majesty that even on the highest ground the horses sank up to the saddle girths and that although their riders were not in the saddle but leading them by the bridle. I proceeded thus for two days following the track, without news of our comrades ahead and in no little perplexity as to what I should do next; for to retrace our steps was impossible and yet I had no certainty as to what lay in front of us. It pleased God, however, Who in our greatest need is wont to succour us, that as we lay encamped greatly downcast in mind thinking that we must all perish there without hope of aid, two of my native Mexicans arrived with a letter from the Spaniards saying that they had reached Istapán. On approaching the town they found that it stood on a neck of land between two streams: the women and chattels had been already moved to the furthest bank. The men, however, remained in the town itself thinking that the Spaniards would be unable to cross the broad creek that separated them: but seeing them begin to swim it holding on to the saddle-bows of their horses, they set fire to the town and fled across the river, some in canoes and some swimming. Many were drowned in their hurry. The Spaniards arrived before the town was wholly burnt, and took seven or eight prisoners, among whom there was one who appeared to be the chieftain, intending, as they wrote, to keep them until my arrival.

It would be impossible to describe to your Majesty the joy of my men on hearing this letter, for, as I have said, they had almost given up hope. Early on the morrow we continued our march having the two Indians as guides, and late that night arrived at the town where I found all the men of the advance party in good spirits, since they had found many small maize fields, together with yucas²⁴ and red pepper, a food commonly used in the Islands and not unpalatable. I ordered the prisoners to be brought before me and asked them by an interpreter why they burnt and fled from their own homes and villages since I had done them no harm, but on the contrary gave presents to those who received me. They replied that the ruler of Zaguatán had come through there in a canoe and frightened them greatly, persuading them to set fire to their town and abandon it. I confronted this chief with all the natives who had been taken in Zagatuán, Chilapán, and Topetitán, and in order that the natives of Istapan might see how evilly he had lied to them, I desired the others to declare whether I had done them any wrong or whether they had been well treated in my company: the which they declared, weeping and saying that they had been deceived, showing themselves truly sorry for what they had done. Accordingly, the more to reassure them I gave all of them permission to return to their homes together with certain trifles and a letter for each one of them which I ordered them to keep in their villages and show to any Spaniards who might pass that way. They would thus be secure. I bade them tell their chiefs the fault they had committed in burning and deserting their towns and to abstain from it in future, for they might remain securely at home since no hurt or damage was done them. Upon which they departed very contented, and all this being done in the presence of those of Istapán went no small way towards pacifying them also.

This business finished I spoke at greater length with what appeared to be the head man among the captives, telling him that I was come not to harm them but to instruct them in many things that it behoved them to know both for the security of their persons and goods as for the salvation of their souls. I therefore earnestly begged him to send two or three of his fellows (to whom I would add as many Mexicans) to seek out their ruler and tell him to have no fear, for I was certain that it would be greatly to his advantage to come to see me: to this he agreed and on the morrow the messengers returned and the ruler and some forty men with them. He told me that he had burnt his town and fled at the bidding of the chief of Zaguatán who had said that I should burn and slay all that I met, but that he was now aware that he had been misled. He was sorry for what was past and begged me to pardon him, promising to do all that I bade him from that time on. He also asked that certain women taken by the Spaniards on their first arrival should be restored, upon which as many as twenty were found whom I handed over to him, to his great content.

It happened that a Spaniard found a Mexican Indian of his company eating a portion of the flesh of an Indian who was killed when we took the town. He reported this to me and I ordered the Indian to be burnt in the presence of the chief of Istapán giving him to understand the reason, to wit, that he had killed an Indian and eaten him, the which was forbidden by your Majesty and had been publicly so proclaimed by me in your Majesty’s name, for which crime he was to be burnt. For I desired that they should kill no one, but rather according to your Majesty’s commands was set on aiding and defending them, both their persons and property. They should know also that it was their duty to hold and worship one true God, Who is in heaven, Creator and Maker of all things, by Whom all creatures live and are maintained, and to lay aside all those idols and heathen rites which they had hitherto held, inasmuch as they were lies and snares devised by the devil, enemy of the human race, to deceive them and bring them to eternal damnation in great and terrible torments, dividing them from the knowledge of God that they might not save themselves and partake of the glory and blessedness promised and prepared by God for those who believe in Him, the which the devil lost by his own malice and wickedness.

I was likewise come to acquaint them of your Majesty, whom divine providence has willed that the whole world should obey and serve. They also must bow under the imperial yoke and do that which we as your Majesty’s ministers should in your Majesty’s royal name command. Doing which they would be well treated and their rights both of person and of property upheld: but failing so to do they would be proceeded against and punished according to the law.

I dwelt on many other matters with which I will not trouble your Majesty as being too long. To all he agreed very readily and sent off a few of his men to bring further provisions which they did. I gave him certain trifling gifts of Spanish ware which he greatly prized and he remained with me all the time I was there.

Our road lay through Tatahintalpán: and since there was a deep river to be crossed he ordered a road to be made and a bridge built. I sent a party of Spaniards down to my ships in the Tabasco to order them to sail round the point of Yucatán and anchor in Ascension Bay where they would either meet me or receive fresh orders from me: the party was then to return bringing as many provisions as they could and following up a large creek until they met with me in the province of Acalán forty leagues off where I would wait for them. On the departure of these men I asked the ruler of Istapán to let me have three or four canoes and send in them a party of Spaniards and a native chief up-stream to allay the fears of the natives that they might not burn or desert their towns. To this he agreed very willingly, and the project bore no small fruit as I shall proceed to show your Majesty.

Istapán is a fine large town and is situated on the bank of a magnificent river. There are rich grazing grounds on either side and also good farm land. It possesses in addition a fine stretch of cultivated ground.

(After residing for a week in Istapán Cortés again set out. Owing to the winding of the river he reached the first village before the canoes and found it burnt and deserted. Thence he continued his way to Signatecpán, the next large town marked on his map. Some kind of a road had to be made through swamps and over mountains and rivers; finally after two days of stubborn labour spent in cutting a way through dense forest the guides confessed themselves lost. Cortés slaked everything on his ship’s compass, ordered leaders to press on in a straight line to the north-east and was rewarded by coming upon Signatecpán at nightfall. The town itself was burnt, but a large amount of maize had been left behind and there was good grazing for the horses. Nothing was to be seen of the advance party save a single arrow buried in the ground near the town; Cortés was greatly cast down at this, thinking that they had fought with the natives and all lost their lives. On crossing over the river, however, the whole body of natives was discovered who greeted the Spaniards quite fearlessly and confessed that they had been induced to burn their town by the chief ruler of Zaguatán, but that certain Spaniards had arrived in canoes together with natives from Istapán who had reassured them. The Spaniards had stayed two days there and then gone on up-river: Cortés immediately sent word after them, and on the evening of the following day they returned with news of success and four native canoes accompanying them. They had pacified several towns and villages and sent messengers on to three which they had been unable to reach.

Seven or eight further canoe-loads of natives arrived bearing some food and a little gold as gifts to the strangers. Cortés received them graciously, impressing on them their duty to God and to his Catholic Majesty, and some of the idols in Signatecpán were publicly destroyed.

Finally, after carefully enquiring which was the best road and getting very contrary answers, Cortés set out for the province of Acalán, leaving the natives very quiet and contented. He crossed one river with some slight loss, and pushed on for three days through thick jungle, following a very narrow path. From this he came out on to the bank of a great river over five hundred yards wide, and attempted to find a ford both above and below, but was unsuccessful. The guides told him that it was vain to look for one this side of the mountains which were a twenty days’ journey up-stream.)

I was more cast down, says Cortés, at the sight of this arm or inlet of the sea than I could possibly describe. To pass it was impossible on account of its width and the lack of canoes, but even had we had them for the men and baggage the horses would have been unable to get across; for lining either bank were great marshes and large tree roots surrounding them, so that for this and other reasons any idea of getting them across was quite impossible. Yet to attempt to retrace our steps would, it was obvious, mean the death of us all, on account of the wretched roads we had followed and the heavy falls of rain that had since taken place. For we were aware that the river in its rise must have swept away all the bridges we had made, and to build them again would be a matter of tremendous difficulty since the men were now all wearied out: in addition we bethought us that we had now eaten all the stores to be had on the road and should we return would find nothing more to eat; for I had many men and horses with me, including in addition to the Spaniards more than 3,000 native Mexicans. Yet the obstacle to our further progress remained, as I have described to your Majesty, and so formidable a one that the wit of man was powerless to remedy it, had not God, Who is the true remedy and succour of those in affliction or want, put it into my mind. I took the little canoe which the Spaniards whom I had sent on ahead had used and had the river sounded from one bank to the other, when it was found that there was an average depth of four arms’ length. I ordered lances to be tied together to examine the bottom and another two arms’ length of mud was discovered, so that the total depth amounted to six arms’ length. Accordingly as a desperate remedy I determined to make a bridge over it. I immediately ordered wood to be got to those measurements, of some nine to ten arms’ length, allowing for what would rise above the surface of the water. I ordered the Indian chieftains who had accompanied me to cut and bring wood of this length, each one according to the number of his followers. Meanwhile the Spaniards and I began to drive in the stakes, using rafts and the small canoe with two others which were found later, but to all the task seemed impossible to accomplish. Some even whispered behind my back that it would be better to turn back before all the men should be worn out and unable through weakness and hunger to do so. Indeed the murmur grew so loud among my men that they almost dared to say it to my face. Upon this, seeing them so discontented (and in truth they had reason to be since the task was truly overpowering and they had nothing now to eat but roots and herbs) I ordered them to abandon work on the bridge, saying that I would complete it with the help of the Indians. Forthwith I called all the native chieftains together and bade them consider in what plight we were, that we must either pass over or perish. I therefore begged them very earnestly to urge on their people that the bridge might be finished, and once crossed we should enter upon a great province called Acalán where there was great abundance of provisions and where we could encamp: moreover, I reminded them that in addition to the stores to be found in that land I had ordered stores to be brought up to us in canoes from the ships and that therefore in that province we should have abundance of everything; in addition to all this I promised them that when we returned to Mexico they should be very fully rewarded by me in your Majesty’s name. They promised me they would undertake the work, and began forthwith to divide it out among themselves, working at it with such skill and speed that in four days they had finished it and all the horses and men were able to pass over it. Moreover it will take more than ten years to destroy it, provided it is not interfered with by the hand of man; and even so almost the only method would be to burn it, for it contains more than a thousand stakes the smallest of which is about the thickness of a man’s body, to say nothing of smaller logs which are beyond number. And I can assure your Majesty that I think there is no man who could rightly declare after what plan or fashion the natives built this bridge; all that one can say is that it is the most extraordinary thing one has ever seen.

No sooner had the men and horses reached the other side than we came upon a great marsh full two bowshots broad and the most frightful thing that ever my men set eyes on. All the horses, riderless as they were, sank up to the saddle-cloths, nothing else appearing above the slime. To attempt to urge them on was but to make them sink the deeper, in such wise that we lost all hope of being able to get a single horse across and thought that they must all perish. Nevertheless we set to and placed bundles of grass and large branches underneath them on which they were borne up, and no longer sank, matters being thus somewhat relieved. Then as we were busy going hither and thither in our task a lane of water and slime opened up in the middle so that the horses could swim a little, by which help it pleased God that they should all escape without injury, although so fatigued and utterly worn out that they could hardly remain on their feet.

Sketch Map of Guatemala and Yucatán showing Route of Cortés from Coazacoalco to Naco.

We returned thanks to God for his great mercy towards us, and while we were so doing the Spaniards whom I had sent on to Acalán arrived with some eighty natives of that province loaded with stores of maize and birds, at which sight God knows how we rejoiced, more especially when they told us that the natives were very quiet and peaceably disposed with no desire to desert their homes. With the Indians from Acalán came two chief men from the ruler of that province, by name, Apaspalón, to say that he rejoiced greatly at my visit. Many days since he had had news of me from traders from Tabasco and Xicalango, and he was eager to meet me. He sent by their hands a little gold, which I received with as much show of delight as I could, thanking their master for the good will he showed in the service of your Majesty, and giving them a few small presents, after which I bade them return with the Spaniards whom they had accompanied, and they did so very contentedly.

They marvelled greatly at seeing the bridge we had built, and this had no slight effect on the peaceful intentions which they afterwards showed, for since their land lay among lakes and rivers they might well have thought of beating a retreat by means of them, but after seeing our handiwork they thought that nothing was impossible to us.

The same day, immediately after their departure, I set off again with all my men. We slept one night in the jungle, and on the morrow a little after noon approached the farms and plantations of Acalán. It was not long before we arrived at the prosperous town which is called Tizatepelt where we found all the natives in their houses very quiet and peaceful and great stores of food for man and beast, in such quantity indeed that it repaid us for our former want. We rested there six days, during which time a youth came to see me, of good disposition and well attended, who informed me that he was the son of the native ruler; he brought me a certain amount of gold and game, offering his kingdom and person in the service of your Majesty, and concluded by saying that his father was dead. I showed him that I was much grieved at the death of his father, though perceiving that he was lying, and gave him a collar of Flanders lace which I wore round my neck which he greatly prized. I told him that he was free to depart in peace, but he stayed a further two days with me of his own accord.

The native ruler of this town now told me that there was another town of his near at hand which could offer us better dwellings and greater store of provisions, since it was larger and had more inhabitants. He begged me to go there where I should be more comfortable. On my answering that it pleased me well he ordered the road to be opened and lodgings prepared for us. All this was duly performed and we took our way to the town which is five leagues off. We found the natives as before quiet and at home and a certain part of the town cleared for our use. This town, Teutiacá by name, is very fine, and has many magnificent temples, in two of which we lodged, throwing out the idols from their former abode; at this the people showed no great discontent for I had already spoken to them, giving them to understand the error in which they were, how that there was only one God, Creator of all things, and such other doctrines as could be briefly exposed to them, although later I did speak at greater length both to the ruler and to all his people.

I learnt from them that the larger of these two temples was dedicated to a goddess whom they held in great faith and veneration, sacrificing to her only virgin maidens of great beauty, for were they otherwise the goddess was greatly angered with them, for which reason they ever took special care to seek out such that the goddess might be satisfied, and even brought up from their earliest days those of likely appearance for this office. I likewise gave them my opinion as to what was seemly to be done in this matter with which they seemed fairly contented.

The native ruler of this town showed himself very friendly to me, entering into long conversations in which he gave me a long account of the Spaniards I was seeking and the road that I was to take. Finally he confided to me as a great secret, begging me to let no one know that he had warned me, that Apaspalón, the ruler of all that province, was alive, though he had sent to us that he was dead by the youth who was indeed his son, and was intending to turn me from my direct road in order that I should not visit his land and towns. He was warning me of this, so the chieftain confessed, because he wished me well, having received fair treatment from me. But he again begged me to keep the matter very secret for if it were known that he had warned me Apaspaóln would kill him and burn his kingdom. I thanked him much, repaying his loyalty with a few small gifts, and promised secrecy as he desired; I further promised in your Majesty’s name to reward him amply in days to come.

I lost no time in summoning to my presence the youth who had come to visit me and told him that I marvelled greatly at himself and his father wishing to deceive me, knowing as he did how much I desired to see him, to do him honour and give him certain presents as recognition of those many kindnesses which I had received in his land and which I was eager to repay. I now knew for certain that his father was alive, and earnestly requested the youth to seek him and try and bring him to me for I was certain that he would gain much by it. In answer he confessed the truth saying that he had only denied it because under orders to do so, and offered to do all he could to bring his father to me, in which he thought he would be successful, since on learning that I was not come to do any harm but actually gave presents of my own substance, he was anxious to see me, although somewhat ashamed to appear before me after his first refusal. The youth accordingly set out and on the morrow both returned whereat I welcomed them with much pleasure. The chieftain excused himself for his refusal to meet me explaining that he was afraid to do so until he knew my intentions, but once known he was glad to do so; moreover it was true that he had given orders to guide me by roads which did not touch his towns, but now he begged me to accompany him to the prosperous town where he resided, since there were more facilities there for providing me with all the necessities of life. Forthwith he had a broad road cut thither and on the morrow we set out. I ordered a horse to be given him and he rode on it very contentedly until we came to the town which is called Izancanac, very large and with many temples, standing on the bank of a great stream which runs down to the estuary of the Xicalango and Tabasco. Some of his people had left the city, the remainder were in their houses. We obtained plentiful provisions there and the ruler dwelt with me in my lodging although his own house was near by. He continued to give me detailed information about the Spaniards I was seeking and drew me a map on a piece of cloth of the road that I had to take. He also made me a present of a little gold and some women without my asking anything of him, whereas up to the present I have asked the native chieftains of these parts whether they were not willing to give me a certain amount of it. We had to pass the river and the swamp which lay on the nearer side of it. He had a bridge built, provided me with a great number of canoes, as many as were necessary, and gave me guides both for our journey and for messengers whom I wanted to send back to Mexico. Having settled these matters I presented him with a few trifles for which he had taken a liking and so leaving him very contented and all the land very quiet, I finally quitted the province on the first Sunday in Lent of the year 1525, and the whole of that day was spent in crossing the river, which was no small matter. I gave this chieftain a note at his request so that should other Spaniards come there they might know that I had passed that way, and so he remained my very good friend.

In this province an incident occurred which it is well your Majesty should know. A worthy citizen of Tenochtitlan, formerly called Mesicalcingo and now Cristóbal, came to me very secretly one night bearing a certain drawing on a paper after the fashion of their country, and gave me to understand that Guatimocin, ruler of Tenochtitlan when we captured it, and before that of Tezcuco, whom I held prisoner as a dangerous man, and afterwards brought him with me together with other native chiefs whom I thought likely to disturb the peace in Mexico, had held converse with Tetepanquencal, former ruler of Tacuba, and one Tacitecle, who had been with him in Mexico during the siege. Mesicalcingo had also been admitted to these conferences, in the course of which Guatimocin had declared that they were dispossessed of their lands and suffered under the yoke of the Spaniards, and it would be well to seek some remedy by which they might once again enjoy their ancient rights. After many such discussions it was decided that the surest remedy was to contrive the death of myself and all those who accompanied me, afterwards calling the people of these parts together and killing Cristóbal de Olid and all his company. This done they would send messengers to Tenochtitlan bidding them slay all Spaniards who had remained there, which they said would be no difficult matter since the Spaniards left there were all newly come to the land and knew nothing of war. Finally they would proclaim themselves throughout all the land so that in whatever township or village there were Spaniards they might be killed off; strong guards would be placed in the ports to see that no ship coming to these shores should ever leave them, and so no news go back to Castile. In this way they would be rulers as they had been before. They had already divided out the land amongst them and had allotted one province to Mesicalcingo.

I gave thanks to God that I had been warned of his treachery and as soon as dawn came arrested all the chieftains concerned, placing them in separate confinement. I then questioned them about the matter telling each one that the others had confessed, since they were unable to communicate one with another. On this they all admitted that Guatimocin and Tetepanquencal had been prime movers in the affair and that while it was true that they had listened to them yet they had not consented to the matter. Accordingly the two leaders were hanged and the others freed, their guilt apparently amounting to no more than that of listening, although that in itself was worthy of death. Nevertheless the judgment was left open so that if at any time they attempted any such treachery they might be severely punished. Yet I think they are unlikely to attempt it for they have never found out how I learnt of the plot and think that I must have done so by some magical means. They consequently believe that nothing can be hidden from me. For they have often seen me draw out a mariner’s chart and compass in order to ascertain the way, particularly when we are near water, and believed, as they confessed to many of my men and even on occasion to myself, that I made use of these instruments to find out whether they were faithful to me, and have often desired me to look into the mirror and at the map, saying that I should see there that they were faithful, since there was nothing I did not know by means of that instrument: I gave them to understand that this was true.

This province of Acalán is indeed of great size, containing many people and towns, a large number of which were visited by the Spaniards of my company. It is likewise abounding in food of all kinds, especially in honey. Many traders and natives carry their merchandise to every part, and they are rich in slaves and such articles as are commonly sold in the country. The province is completely surrounded by streams, all of which run into the Bay or Harbour of Endings (Términos) as they call it; from here they carry on a great trade by means of canoes with those of Xicalango and Tabasco, and even it is thought, although not known entirely for certain, that they cross in their canoes to the other Southern Sea, so that this land of Yucatán would prove to be an island. I shall endeavour to discover the secret of this and will send your Majesty a true account of it. I could not find that there was any other chieftain in the province except this Apaspalón, whom I have already mentioned to your Majesty, and who is the biggest trader and owner of sea-going ships.

And the manner of his acquiring such wealth and trade I observed in the town of Nito, where as I shall describe to your Majesty I found certain Spaniards of the company of Gil González de Avila; for even there, there was one quarter of the town peopled by his agents, among whom was his own brother, who sold such goods of his as are most common in these parts, to wit, cocoa, cotton cloths, colours for dyeing, another sort of paint which they use to protect their bodies against the heat and the cold, candlewood for lighting, pine resin for burning before their idols, slaves, and strings of coloured shells, which they prize greatly for the adornment of their persons. At their feasts and merrymakings a certain amount of gold changes hands, but of poor quality containing an admixture of copper and other metals.

To Apaspalón and the other chief men of the provinces who came to see me I spoke just as I had done to all others whom I had met with in my march concerning their idols, and what they must do and believe to be saved, as also that which they were obliged to do in the service of your Majesty. In both these matters they seemed well pleased, and burnt many of their idols in my presence, saying that thenceforward they would honour them no more and promising ever to obey whatever was commanded them in your Majesty’s name. I thus took my leave of them and set out as I have already described.

(Four Spaniards had been sent on ahead with a couple of native guides to spy out the road, and the main body were ordered to carry each man provisions sufficient for a six days’ march. The scouts returned saying that the road was good and that they had actually reached some outlying farms of the province, where they had seen a few natives without themselves being perceived. Further scouts were immediately posted a league in advance of the vanguard opening up the road in order to capture any stray natives whom they might come across and so prevent the alarm being given. Two traders of Acalán were thus caught and consented to accompany the Spaniards as guides. The whole body slept that night in the jungle. The next day four Mazatcan Indians were discovered armed with bows and arrows, seemingly on the watch, of whom only one was captured owing to the denseness of the forest. The others accordingly waited until the Spaniards were past and then attacked their Indian followers but were soon beaten of. In order to avoid delay Cortés now pushed on with a small body hoping to reach the town before nightfall, but was held up by a bad swamp and had to wait till morning to bridge it with boughs. The night was spent in a tiny hut. Riding forward on the morrow they came to the town three leagues on the further side of the marsh. It was high and strongly fortified so that they rode round it for some time seeking an entrance. Finally, on forcing their way in they found it deserted but well stocked with provisions. The fortifications were more than usually elaborate and included the natural ones of a lake and torrent flowing into it and also, within, a deep ditch, a wooden breast-work, and lastly a circular Stone wall some twelve feet high. The neighbouring town of Tiac was likewise taken and messengers sent forth to the natives who began to come in, bringing gifts of food and clothing. The chiefs, however, remained obdurate, and Cortés dismissing the Acalán traders to their own homes proceeded on his way eastward.)

Leaving the province of Mazatcan I followed the road to Taica, sleeping in the open after marching four leagues. The road ran through entirely deserted country, traversing great mountain lands in one of which there was a dreadful pass named by us the Alabaster Pass, on account of the rocks and peaks being all made of that material, very fine. On the fifth day the outriders ahead came upon a huge lake, seemingly an arm of the sea, and such I believe it is on account of its size and depth, although its water is sweet. They perceived a town on the island in the middle of it which the guide assured them to be the biggest in the whole province of Taica, but without canoes it was impossible to cross over to it. On this, the Spaniards who were riding ahead being uncertain what to do sent back one of their number to acquaint me with what was happening. I halted all my troops and went forward on foot to examine the shape and position of the lake. On coming up with the advance guard I found that they had captured one of the inhabitants of the town as he was coming armed in a tiny canoe to spy out the road and see if there were any strangers abroad: and although he was not on his guard he would yet have escaped my men had it not been for a dog which they had there, and which got hold of him before he could throw himself into the water. I questioned this Indian and he told me that nothing was known of my coming. On my asking whether there was any passage to the town he replied no, but that nearby on the further side of a small stream leading from the lake there were certain farms and houses where, he thought, we could procure some canoes, if we arrived there without being perceived. I immediately gave orders that the main body was to follow after me and went forward with ten or a dozen bowmen on foot whither the Indian guided us. We waded through a long stretch of marsh and water, such as would have come up to a horse’s girth and sometimes higher, and finally arrived at some farms, but what with the badness of the road and the fact that for a great part of the time we could make no effort to conceal ourselves, it was impossible to remain unseen, and at the moment when we arrived the people were already putting off in canoes and making for open water.

I quickly pressed on along the bank for two-thirds of a league through the farmland, but everywhere we had been perceived and the natives were already fleeing. It was now late, and though I still continued the pursuit it was in vain.

I camped in the farms nearby assembling all my men and allotting them sleeping quarters with all the care I could, since the Mazatcan guide informed me that this was a very numerous and warlike people. He declared himself willing to go to the town on the island something over two leagues distant, in the little canoe in which the native had come. He would speak to the chief, Canee by name, whom he knew very well, and would tell him my intentions and the reason of my coming to these lands which he himself knew and had seen having come with me thus far; and he believed that the chief would be reassured by this and would give credence to what he said, for he was very well known to him and had stayed many times in his house. I forthwith handed over to him the canoe and the Indian who had come in it thanking him for his offer and promising him that if he succeeded in his mission he should be very amply rewarded. He accordingly went off and was back at about midnight with two chief men from the town who declared that they were sent by their lord to see me and assure themselves as to what my messenger had said that they might know what I desired. I received them kindly making them certain trifling presents and told them that I was come to these lands at your Majesty’s command to explore them and convey to the rulers and peoples of it certain things behoving to your royal Majesty’s will and service. I bade them tell their chief that putting aside all fear he should come where I was, and that meanwhile for greater security I was willing to give them a Spaniard to go with them and remain as a hostage until their chief should return. Upon this they went off, and the guide and one of my men with them. Early on the morrow the chief arrived with some thirty warriors in five or six canoes and with him the Spaniard whom I had sent as a hostage. He appeared very pleased to come and for my part I received him very warmly. It was the hour of mass when he arrived and I accordingly had it sung before him with great solemnity, the players on the flageolets and the sackbuts whom I had with me assisting. He listened to these with great attention and regarded the ceremony with equal wonder. Mass finished, the friars who accompanied us approached and made him a sermon by means of the interpreter, in such fashion that he was well able to understand the mysteries of our faith, for they explained with many reasons how that there was only one God, and discovered to him the error of his own religion. He plainly showed and said that he was well content and declared himself eager to destroy his idols straightway and believe in that God of Whom we told him, for he wished greatly to know in what way he must serve and honour Him. If I would visit his town, he said, I should see him burn the idols in my presence, and he desired me to leave there in his town such a cross as he was told I had left in all the other towns through which I had passed.

After this sermon I again had speech with him, telling him of the greatness of your Majesty, and how both he and all of us in the world were your Majesty’s subjects and vassals and obliged to do him service in return for which your Majesty would grant great favours to those who so obeyed, such as I had already granted in your Majesty’s name to all in these parts who had offered themselves in his service and placed themselves under the royal yoke, and so I promised to him also.

He told me in reply that until then he had recognized no one as his rightful lord nor had known anyone who should be so. It was true that some five or six years since certain Indians from Tabasco had told him of a captain who had passed that way with a company of our nation, and after beating them three times in battle, had told them that they must become vassals of a great ruler, and all else which I now declared to him; was the matter, he asked, all of a piece? I replied that the captain of whom the Tabasco Indians had informed him was none other than myself, which he might verify by speaking with the interpreter, Marina, who has ever accompanied me, for it was in Tabasco that I had been given her together with twenty other native women. She accordingly spoke with him and assured him of the truth of what I said, telling him how I had won Mexico and describing all the lands which I held subject under the imperial yoke of your Majesty. He showed himself delighted to hear this and declared himself very willing to become the vassal of your Majesty, saying that he should be happy to serve so great a lord as I described your Majesty to be. Upon this he ordered birds, honey, a little gold and a few strings of coloured shells which they greatly value to be brought and presented them to me. I also gave him certain trifles which I had with me with which he was very well pleased. He had dinner with me with great content and after dinner I told him that I was seeking certain Spaniards on the sea-coast, for they were of my company and I had sent them thither but had had no news of them for many days. I begged him to tell me anything that he knew of them. He replied that he had much information about them, for quite close to them were certain of his vassals who provided him with supplies of peanuts with which the land abounded, and from these and other traders who were constantly travelling backwards and forwards he often received news of them. He offered to give me a guide to where they were, but warned me that the road was very rough and lay over many steep and rocky mountain lands. It would be far less fatiguing if I were to travel by sea.

To this I bade him consider that for so large a company as that which followed me together with our baggage and horses it was impossible to provide sufficient ships and we were therefore forced to go by land. I begged him to show me a way to cross the lake, and he advised me to proceed up the shore some three leagues to a point where there was dry ground, when again proceeding my men could take the road opposite his town. Meanwhile he begged me very earnestly while the troops were making this detour to go with him in a canoe to visit his town and house where I should see him burn the idols and could have a cross made for him. Accordingly, in order to please him, though against the wishes of my men, I got into one of the canoes with about twenty men, mostly bowmen, and crossed to his town where we spent all the day in festival. At nightfall I took my leave of him, embarked again in a canoe with a guide whom he gave me and crossed to the other side to sleep on land, where I found already many of my men who had circled the lake, and so we passed that night together. I left in this town or rather on a farm a horse which had run a sharp stake into its leg and could not walk. The chief promised to take care of it for me, but I know not what he will make of it.

On the morrow, assembling my men I set off following the path pointed out by the guides. After about half a league we came to a stretch of flat pasture land which was succeeded by another rocky portion some league and a half in length which again changed to a very fine open plain. I here sent on a few horse and foot a very long way ahead to take prisoner any natives that they met with on the plain for I was informed by the guides that we should come up to a town before nightfall. In this place we found many fallow deer of which we killed eighteen on horseback with our lances. But what with the sun and the fact that the horses had not run for many days (since we had been travelling through nothing but mountainous country) two of them died and many more were in great danger of doing so.

Our hunting done, we pursued our way and soon came up with some of the outriders who had stopped, with four Indian huntsmen whom they had caught, together with a dead lion and some iguanas, a kind of large lizard which are to be found also in the Islands. I enquired of these persons whether news of me had reached their town. They replied no, and pointed it out to me, which seemed to be not more than a league away on the side of a hill. I made all haste to arrive there thinking to find no hindrance in the way, but as I was about to enter the town and saw my men already making towards it, I suddenly perceived a very deep stream lying right in our way. Upon this I halted and shouted out to the natives. Two of them approached in a canoe bringing about a dozen chickens and game quite near to where I had stopped with the water up to the saddle-girths of my horse. They then stopped and would come no further, and although I stayed there a long time talking and attempting to reassure them they refused to approach any closer, and finally began to paddle back towards the town in their canoe. Upon this a Spaniard who was on horseback near me leapt off his horse into the water and swam towards them. Frightened, they abandoned the canoe and other foot soldiers who were able to swim came quickly up and captured them. By this time all the natives whom we had seen in the town had disappeared and I demanded of the captives where it was possible to cross, upon which they showed me a road leading to a place about a league up-stream where there was dry ground. We reached the town that night and slept in it having marched eight good leagues that day. The town is called Thecon and its ruler Amohan. I remained here four days getting together provisions sufficient for six, which was the time, so the guides told me, it would take to cross the desert. I was also hoping that the ruler of the town would come in, having sent a reassuring message to him by the hand of the Indians we had captured, but neither he nor they ventured to show themselves. Having gathered together all the stores that could be found there I again set out, travelling the first day through very good country, level and fertile, with no mountains and but few stones. After six leagues we came upon a great house standing at the foot of some hills and hard by a river with two or three smaller ones close to it, and surrounded by tilled land. The guides informed me that the house belonged to Amohan, ruler of Thecon, and was kept by him there as an inn, since great numbers of traders were accustomed to pass that way.

I stopped there the whole of the day following our arrival. It was a feast day and the delay gave the men who were going ahead time to open up the road. We had some excellent fishing in the river, catching a large number of shad without losing so much as a single one out of the nets. On the morrow we again set off along a bad road leading over hills and through wooded country for close on seventeen leagues when we came out on to the plains again bare save for a few pines. The plain lasted two leagues in which space we killed seven deer, which we ate in the valley of a delightfully fresh stream which we came upon at the further side of the plain. We now began to ascend a pass, short but so rough that the horses though led by the bridle could only climb it with difficulty. About half a league of downhill easy going succeeded this and then we began to climb another hill, measuring almost a league and a half up to its summit and an equal distance in descent, and all over such rough and stony ground that there was not a single horse which did not lose a shoe. I slept that night in a dried-up river bed and remained there almost till vespers of the next day waiting for the horses to be shod, yet although there were two blacksmiths and more than ten soldiers assisting them, they could not finish shoeing all through that day. I accordingly went forward some three leagues to pass the night leaving many of my men behind both to shoe the horses and to wait for the baggage which on account of the bad roads and the great rains had not been able to keep up with us.

I again set out on the morrow, the guides telling me that nearby there was a village called Asuncapín belonging to the ruler of Taica, and that we should reach it in good time to camp there for the night. After four or five leagues we arrived at the village and found no natives there. I remained in camp there two days to wait for the baggage to come up and to gather together provisions, after which we resumed our road passing through Taxuytel five leagues further on where we slept the night and found great abundance of peanuts but only a meagre quantity of maize and that green.

The guides and the head man of the village here informed me that we should have to pass a very high and rocky range entirely devoid of habitation before arriving at the next village, known as Tenciz, belonging to Canee, chief of Taica. We did not stay long here but set out the very next day, and after seven leagues of flat began to climb a pass which was in truth one of the marvels of the world—I mean the roughness and cragginess of the pass and surrounding hills, in such wise that one is powerless to describe it in words, nor would anyone hearing them be able to form any true idea, only your Majesty must know that we took no less than twelve days in getting through the pass which was eight leagues long. It was on the twelfth day that the last of my men passed through, and of the horses which accompanied them seventy-eight died either through falling down precipitous slopes or breaking their legs: all the rest were so crippled and broken that we thought that not a single one would be fit for use again, and indeed those that escaped were more than three months before they really recovered. During all the time that we were filing through the pass rain never ceased night or day. The rocks were such that no water remained on the surface for drinking and we thus suffered greatly from thirst. Most of the horses died on account of this, and had we not collected water in pots and vessels which were hung outside the rough huts we erected each night, and which owing to the tremendous rainfall provided some for ourselves and our horses, not a single man or horse would ever have escaped from those mountains.

On the road a nephew of mine fell and broke his leg in three or four places, which increased not only his burden but that of all, for to carry him across those mountains was no light matter. To put an end to our ills we found a league before Tenciz a great river so swollen and torrential with the rains that it was impossible to pass: but the Spaniards who were going on ahead had gone up-stream and found a way of passing, which is, I think, the most marvellous that has yet been heard or even thought of. The river winds at this point some two-thirds of a league out of its course by reason of two great mountain peaks which stand right in its way. Between these peaks there are ravines through which the river rushes in the most terrifying and impetuous manner, and of these there are so many that the river can only be crossed between the two peaks. Accordingly we cut down great trees and threw them across from one side to the other, and so passed over in no little peril, clutching hold of a rope of thin reeds which was also fastened from one side to the other: but anyone who had lost his balance in the slightest and had fallen would have met with certain death. There were over twenty of these ravines to be passed before the whole river was crossed, and the business took two days. The horses swam across lower down where the current was less swift, and many of them took three days after that to reach Tenciz, which was not, as I have said, over a league away, but they were so broken by crossing the mountains that they had to be practically carried, being unable to walk.

I arrived at this village of Tenciz on the Saturday before Easter. Many of my men who had horses arrived three days later, but the Spaniards composing the vanguard had arrived two days before, and finding natives in three or four of the dwellings had taken some twenty of them prisoner, for they were quite unprepared for my arrival. I enquired of these whether there were any provisions to be had, to which they replied that there were none either there nor anywhere in their land. This put us in yet greater need than in what we were already, for during the last eighteen days we had eaten nothing but the shoots and nuts of cocoanut palms, and but meagrely of these since we had not the force to cut them. The headman of the village told me, however, that a day’s journey up the other bank of the river there was a large town in the province of Tahuycal and that there we should find great store of maize, cocoa and chickens. He offered to provide me a guide thither, and I immediately dispatched an officer with thirty foot and more than a thousand of our Indian allies, in which venture it pleased our Lord that they should find great abundance of maize, and the land itself deserted of people. We thus secured some provisions although on account of the distance only with much labour.

I sent forward at this time certain Spanish bowmen with a native guide to explore the road which we had to take towards Acuculín. They reached a village some ten leagues further on and six from the chief town of the province which goes by the same name (its ruler being one Acahuilguín). Being unperceived, they captured seven men and a woman in one house and returned with them, to report that the road so far as they had followed it was somewhat difficult but light in comparison with what we had already passed. I questioned the Indian captives as to the Christians whom I was seeking, in particular one native of Acalán, who informed me that he was a trader and had his warehouse in the town of Nito where the Spaniards whom I sought were residing, and where a large amount of trade was carried on between merchants from all parts. The traders of Acalán had their own especial quarters in this town among whom was a brother of Apaspalón, the ruler of Acalán. The Christians, he proceeded to relate, had attacked them by night, taken the town and robbed them of the merchandise stored in it, which was in no small quantity. Since then, which was perhaps as much as a year ago, all the former traders had made their way to other provinces; he and certain other merchants of Acalán had obtained permission from Acahuilguín to settle in his territory, and had built a little town in a place which he had assigned to them. There they carried on their trade, diminished though it was since the coming of the Spaniards, for the easiest passage lay through Nito and they no longer dared to take it. He offered, however, to guide me to where they were, but warned me that we should have to cross at no great distance a huge arm of the sea, together with mountain ranges both many and steep, some ten days’ journey in all. I rejoiced greatly at finding so excellent a guide and did him much honour. The guides whom I had taken with me from Mazatcán and Taica spoke with him, saying how well they had been treated by me, and on what friendly terms I was with Apaspalón, their lord. At this he appeared somewhat reassured, and so trusting to this I ordered him to be unbound together with those who were captured with him. Moreover, I so far placed my confidence in him as to send back the guides I had brought with me, giving them a few trifling presents for themselves and their rulers, and thanking them for their pains, with all which they departed very contented. I then immediately sent on four of the natives of Acuculín and two from Tenciz to speak with Acahuilguín and reassure him so that he should not attempt to flee. After them came those who were entrusted with the business of opening the road. I myself set out two days later owing to shortage of provisions, although we had need enough of rest, especially so far as the horses were concerned. However, leading them for the most part by the bridle we set out, and when dawn of the next day appeared it was to find that both the guide and the other natives of Acuculín had disappeared, at which God knows what grief I felt, especially in that I had sent the other guides back to their homes.

I continued my way, camping that night in the woods five leagues further on and traversing that day mountain passes of no small difficulty, in one of which indeed a horse broke down completely which up till then had been sound. The following day we marched six leagues and crossed two rivers, the first by a tree which had fallen across it from one side to the other, the men crossing by this means and the horses by swimming, two mares being drowned; the second we crossed in canoes, the horses again swimming, and we then camped at a little settlement formed of as many as fifteen newly-made huts. I learned that these had been built by the Acalán traders who had abandoned Nito, the town of which the Spanish settlers had taken possession. I remained there a whole day waiting for my men and the baggage to come up, and accordingly sent ahead two companies of horse and foot to the town of Acuculín. They wrote to me, saying that they had found the town deserted, save for two men in a great house belonging to the ruler, who, so they declared, had been ordered to remain there until my arrival in order to acquaint their lord of it, since he had already heard of my approach and would rejoice greatly to see me. He himself would come immediately on hearing that I had arrived; accordingly one of the two had gone off to inform their ruler and bring back certain provisions while the other had remained behind. They had found cocoa-nuts on the trees, but no maize: the pasturing for the horses, however, was fairly good. On arriving at the town I enquired whether the chieftain had arrived or his messenger returned, to which they replied no, and I accordingly questioned the one native remaining as to why he did not come. He did not know and was himself expecting his arrival, but it might be that he had waited to know that I had definitely arrived.

I waited two days and then spoke to him again; he still could give me no reason for the delay, but asked me to send some Spaniards with him, since he knew where their chieftain was and would tell him. He was straightway sent off with ten Spaniards and led them some five leagues through the jungle to some huts which they found deserted, but which according to the Spaniards certainly seemed to have been lately occupied. The same night their guide gave them the slip and they returned. I thus remained entirely without a guide, which in itself was enough to double our difficulties, and accordingly sent out bands both of Indians and Spaniards who patrolled the whole of the province for more than a week without so much as catching sight of a native, save for a few women who were little to our purpose, for they neither knew the road nor could they give any news of the chieftain or the people of the province. One of them told us that she knew of a town two days’ journey thence, called Chianteca, where there were people who would give us news of the Spaniards whom we sought, since there were many merchants and persons there who held commerce in diverse parts. Accordingly I sent some of my men with this woman as guide, and although the town was two good days’ march from where I was and the road uneven and deserted, yet the natives got wind of my coming and no one was captured.

We had now practically lost all hope in that we were without a guide, and were unable to use the compass on account of the mountain ranges encircling us which were the roughest and steepest ever seen, without so much as a road leading out of them in any direction other than that by which we had entered. At this moment, however, it pleased our Lord, that we should find in the jungle a boy of about fifteen years, who on being questioned replied that he would guide us to some farms in Teniha, another province which, I remembered, we had to pass through. These, he said, were two days off, and accordingly we set out, and in two days’ time arrived at the farms where the advance guard captured an old man, who in turn guided us to the town of Teniha, another two days’ march further on.

Here four more Indians were captured who Straightway gave me very definite news of the Spaniards we sought, saying that they had seen them and that they were but two days’ journey off in the town whose name I had already heard, Nito, which as being the centre of much merchandise was well known in those parts. Indeed, I had already had reports of it in the province of Acalán, as I mentioned to your Majesty, and now two women, natives of Nito, were actually brought before me. From these I received a more detailed report, for they informed me that they had been in Nito when it was captured by the Spaniards, who had attacked it by night and so taken prisoner both themselves and many more, following which they had served certain of the Spaniards as slaves, the names of whom they now recounted to me.

I cannot express to your Majesty the gladness which I and those of my company received from this news which the natives of Taniha gave us, to find ourselves so near the end of so arduous a journey. For even during the four days’ march from Acuculín we met with innumerable difficulties. There were no roads and our way lay through rough and precipitous mountain paths from which several of the horses slipped and were killed. A cousin of mine, Juan de Avalos, rolled with his horse down one sleep slope, broke an arm, and, had it not been for the breastplate he was wearing which saved him from the stones, would have been dashed to pieces; as it was he was only rescued with great difficulty. We suffered many other trials too long to recount and especially that of hunger, for while we Still had a few pigs left from those which we had brought with us from Mexico, yet for more than a week before arriving at Taniha we had not tasted bread, and had eaten only cocoanuts cooked with the meat, without salt, which had long run out, and a few kernels. And even on coming to these villages we found there nothing to eat, for being so near the Spaniards the natives had long ago deserted them through fear of being attacked, although from what I afterwards found out from the state of the Spaniards they were perfectly safe. Nevertheless the news that we were so near our destination made us forget all our sufferings of the past and enheartened us to bear those of the present which were no less acute, especially that of hunger, which was indeed worse for we even ran short of cocoa-nuts, which could be cut only with great difficulty from exceptionally large and lofty palms, the work of cutting a single one taking two men a whole day and the fruit being then consumed in half an hour.

The Indians who brought me the news told me that there were two days of bad road ahead and that then we should come upon a great river flowing between us and Nito which could only be crossed by canoes since it was too wide to swim. I immediately dispatched fifteen of my men on foot to go with the guides, examine the road and the river, and try without raising an alarm to capture one of the Spaniards in order to find out what company they were, whether of those whom I had sent with Cristóbal de Olid or Francisco de las Casas or of Gil González de Avila. They accordingly reached the river, took a canoe from some native traders and there remained hidden for two days, at the end of which time a canoe put off from the other bank of the river where the Spaniards were with four men in it fishing. These they captured without being perceived from the town, and returned with them to me. I learnt that the inhabitants of the town were of the company of Gil González de Avila, all weak and almost dying of hunger. On this I sent two of my servants back to the town in the canoe with a letter acquainting them of my arrival, telling them that I intended to cross the river, and begging them to come with all boats and canoes that they had to this end. I then set out with all my company for the river where we arrived after three days’ journey. There I met a certain Diego Nieto who informed me that he was there to represent the chief justice. A boat and canoe were brought in which I and some ten or twelve others passed over to the town, though not without some considerable difficulty, for a wind caught us in the crossing which is very wide there (being near the mouth of the river), and we were all in grave danger of being drowned: however it pleased God to bring us to the harbour. On the morrow I procured other boats which were there and bound the canoes together two and two, in which manner the whole company, men and horses, passed over during the next five or six days.

The Spaniards whom I found there numbered some seventy men and twenty women, whom Captain Gil González de Avila had abandoned. They were in such a strait that it was the most sorrowful sight in the world to see them and the joy with which they greeted my arrival, for in truth if I had not come not one of them could possibly have escaped alive. For in addition to being few in numbers and without arms or horses, they were ill, wounded and half-dead with hunger, the provisions they brought from the Islands being all finished together with such as they had found in the village when they captured it from the natives. And once finished they had no means of securing more, for they were not in a condition to forage for provisions in the land and even if such had been brought from the Islands they were settled in a part which had no way open to the coast, or at any rate they had been totally unable to find one, and indeed such a road was only found with great difficulty afterwards. They had therefore never ventured more than half a league from the village in which they were settled. Seeing, then, the great necessity of these people, I determined to seek some means of providing for them until I could send them back to the Islands, whither they were preparing to go. For out of their whole company there were not eight fit to remain as settlers. I immediately sent out some of my men in the two ships which were there and in five or six smaller Indian boats to go in various directions. The first expedition I directed to the mouth of the river Yasa, ten leagues from this town and in the direction from which I had come, for I had been informed that there were villages there and plentiful supplies. A party penetrated some six leagues up this river where they came upon some large cultivated farms, but the natives perceiving their coming moved all stores into some large barns hard by and betook themselves with their wives, their children and their belongings into the mountains. Just as the Spaniards were approaching the barns, so it was reported to me, a tremendous storm of rain came on, upon which they took shelter in a large building, and thoughtlessly, being soaked to the skin, they laid aside their arms and even removed their armour and clothes, to dry them and warm themselves in front of fires which they had made there. Suddenly they were attacked by the natives and many taken unawares were wounded, in such wise that they were forced to re-embark and return to where I was, without more provisions than those which they had taken hastily as they departed. God knows how grieved I was not only to see them wounded and some dangerously so, but also on account of the encouragement this success would give the Indians, and finally at the small succour they brought us for the great need in which we were.

I immediately sent out another and larger expedition in the same boats with a different captain in command of both Spaniards and Mexicans who had come with me: and as the boats could not contain them all I ordered them to cross to the other side of the great river which runs near this village and then proceed along the coast, the brigs and native canoes keeping pace with them so as to assist them across the rivers and inlets which abound on this coast. They proceeded in this wise until they came to the mouth of the river where the first party of Spaniards had been wounded, and so returned thence without bringing any provision nor having accomplished anything save capturing four Indians who were putting to sea in a canoe. I asked them how they came thus and they replied that owing to the great rains the river was flowing so furiously that they had been unable to get more than a league up it, and thinking that it would abate they waited at the mouth for more than a week without food or fire, eating nothing but wild fruits, from which diet some were in such plight that no small care was necessary to preserve their lives. I now found myself truly in dire straits, for were it not for the few pigs remaining of those we had brought with us, which were strictly rationed and eaten without bread or salt, we should have been entirely cut off from food. Through my interpreter I asked the Indians captured in the canoe whether they knew of any place where we could find provisions, promising that if they guided me to such they should be set at liberty and given many presents. One of them declared that he was a trader, the others being his slaves, and that he had often voyaged with his ships in these parts for merchandise: he knew, he said, of an estuary leading to the great river which was used as a harbour by all trading ships when on account of bad weather they could not put out to sea. On the banks of that river there were many large townships and the natives were rich and well supplied with food. He offered to guide our men to where they could load up with all the provisions they might require. Since I was certain he spoke the truth (for I had him bound on the end of a chain so that if he spoke false he might receive the penalty he deserved) I ordered the ships and boats to be made ready and putting all the fit men of my company on board I sent them off with the guide. At the end of ten days they returned as they had set out saying that the guide had led them into marshes where neither the ships nor the native boats could make headway and they had been in no wise able to find any way out. I asked the guide why he had deceived me. He replied that he had not done so, but that the Spaniards with whom I sent him had been unwilling to go forward, although they had been very near to coming out at the point where the river enters the estuary, and indeed many even of the Spaniards confessed to having heard the noise of the sea quite distinctly, so that it could not be very far from where they were. I cannot express what dismay I felt at finding myself so helpless and almost without hope of help, and with the thought that not one of us could escape from where we were but must die of hunger. I was in this perplexity when our Lord God, Whose providence always watches over and succours us in these necessities (and has especially preserved and succoured me, unworthy as I am, when busy in the royal service of your Majesty), our Lord, I say, sent hither a ship bound from the Islands little thinking to find me here, and bearing as many as forty men in addition to its crew, thirteen horses, some seventy pigs, twelve measures of salted meat and thirty loads of bread such as they reckon in the Islands. We all gave hearty thanks to our Lord who had succoured us in such necessity and I bought forthwith all the stores and the ship itself which cost me in all 4,000 pesos. I had already set all hands to fitting out the caravel which the Spaniards at Nito had allowed to fall almost to pieces and to building a brig from the remains of several which had been wrecked there so that by the time this ship came the caravel was already finished. But I think we should have been unable to finish the brig if the ship from the Islands had not come, for in it was a man who though not a carpenter by profession proved to have no small talent for it. In the meantime searching the surrounding country we found a path leading over some extremely rugged mountains to the township known as Leguela some eighteen leagues away, in which place plentiful provisions were found: but the road was too long and rough to make it possible to convey them to us.

From certain Indians who were captured there in Leguela I learned news of Naco, a town settled by Francisco de las Casas, Gil González de Avila and Cristóbal de Olid, where the last-named met his death (as I have reported to your Majesty and will recount at length), in particular of the Spaniards actually there, and the exact position of the town. I forthwith had a road pierced to it and sent thither a captain with all the people and horses. There remained with me only my own servants, the sick and certain persons desirous of returning with me over the sea. I gave the captain orders to make for Naco and endeavour to pacify the natives of the province, for it had remained in a state of disturbance since the arrival of the former captains there: he was then immediately to send on ten or twelve horsemen and as many bowmen to the Bay of San Andrés, some twenty leagues further on. I myself would put out to sea with the ships, taking on board all those who were remaining with me, and would make for the bay and port of San Andrés, where (if I arrived before them) I would await the men whom he was to send, and if after, they should wait there for me to hear what was to be done.

This expedition having set off and the brig finished, I was about to embark with the rest when I found that while we had sufficient stores of meat we had none of bread, and it was in the highest degree inexpedient to put to sea under such conditions with so many sick. For should we be detained by bad weather so far from bettering our conditions we should be like to perish all of hunger. In this quandary the captain of the survivors told me that when they had first come there with Gil González they numbered some two hundred men with a good brig and four smaller ships in all; in the brig and the ships’ boats they had ventured up the great river where they had found two huge lakes both fresh and surrounded by many townships and buildings; they had gone as far as the end of the lakes, which was some thirteen leagues up the river; the river then narrowed and became so rapid that in six days they did not succeed in advancing more than four leagues; it remained, however, quite soundable, and they had not been able to discover the secret of it. He was persuaded that there were plentiful supplies of maize to be obtained there, but confessed that I had few men for the purpose since on their expedition there had been eighty Spaniards who had fallen upon one township and taken it by surprise: later, however, the natives had joined together and fought against them, finally forcing them to take to their ships, and had wounded not a few of them.

I, seeing the extreme case we were in and that it was more dangerous to put to sea without provisions than to go and seek them on land, put aside all other considerations and determined to ascend the river. For apart from the fact that we could do no other than seek provisions for those wretched men, it might be that our Lord God would be pleased to discover to us some secret which might redound to your Majesty’s service. I accordingly set to count the men fit to accompany me and found about forty Spaniards, some far from nimble, but all capable of guarding the ships after I had landed. With these therefore and some fifty Mexicans I put to sea in the brig, two ships and four native boats, leaving in the town an official dispenser of my own charged with portioning out the food to the sick who remained there. In this fashion I proceeded up the river with no little difficulty on account of the great rapidity of the current, and after two nights and a day reached the first of the two gulfs some three leagues from the mouth. This gulf must be about twelve leagues long and has not so much as a single village on its shores on account of their being exceedingly marshy. I spent the whole day sailing across this lake before coming to where the river narrowed again; I continued to ascend it and arrived at the second lake on the following morning. It was the most beautiful sight in the world to come upon this inland sea surrounded by exceptionally steep and rocky mountains and spreading some thirty leagues from side to side. I proceeded to skirt one shore until nearly nightfall when I came upon an inlet and some two-thirds of a league further on a village, where, it appeared, we had been perceived, for everything was deserted and abandoned. We found there a great quantity of green maize in the fields which we ate that night, and the next morning seeing that we could not provide ourselves there with what we sought we loaded ourselves up with the maize to eat on our journey and returned to the boats without either meeting or so much as seeing any natives. I then crossed to the other side of the lake, which crossing took some little time, for it was only accomplished with difficulty and the loss of one canoe, whose occupants, however, were saved by one of the larger boats with the exception of one Indian who was drowned. We drew near the shore at about nightfall and had to wait till the morning to land, when with the smaller boats and canoes we advanced up the small river, leaving the brig at its entrance. I here alighted upon a track and landed with thirty men and all the Indians, ordering the boats and canoes to return to the brig. I followed up the path and after about a quarter of a league came upon a village which had been apparently deserted for many days, for the houses were overgrown with grass, though there were good orchards containing bread-fruit and other trees. I explored the village to see whether there were any roads leading anywhere from it and found one very much overgrown which seemed as if it had not been used for a long time. Finding none other, however, I proceeded by it and covered that day five leagues over mountainous country, so rough that the greater part of it we traversed on our hands and knees. On the way we came upon a maize plantation where three women and a man, doubtless the owners of the plot, were captured in a little hut. These guided us to other such holdings where two more women were captured, who showed us the road leading to a large farm with as many as forty little huts in the middle of it apparently but newly made. Our arrival, it seemed, had been perceived, and all the people had fled into the hills, but as they fled hurriedly they had been unable to take all their goods and consequently left us certain of them, in particular, fowls, ducks, partridges and pheasants, which they kept in cages, but of dry maize or of salt we found none whatever. I camped there that night and we somewhat appeased our hunger with some green maize which we found and ate with the flesh of the birds. We had not been above two hours in the village when two of its Indian inhabitants approached, very unprepared to find such visitors in their houses, and were captured by the sentries I had posted. On being asked whether they knew of any township nearby they answered “Yes,” and that they would guide us thither on the morrow, but that it would take almost the whole day to get there.

We set out accordingly next morning with the guide who led us by a road even worse than that of the day before, for in addition to being no whit less rough every two hundred yards or so we had to cross a river. All the rivers of this district flow down into the lake, the various streams joining to form these lakes and marshes; this also explains the great violence with which the river takes its course towards the sea, as I have already described to your Majesty. Proceeding on our way after this manner we journeyed seven leagues without coming to any township, crossing forty-five large rivers and numberless smaller streams. Three women were captured coming from the town whither we were bound and loaded with maize. They assured us that the guide was not deceiving us. Finally when the sun was well-nigh set we heard certain noises of people and on my asking the women what this signified, they replied that it was the sound of a certain festival which they were accustomed to hold that day. On this I hid my men in the mountains as silently and secretly as I could, and placed spies some almost on the outskirts of the town and others in the road with orders to capture any Indian who might pass. In this fashion I remained all that night with a most excellent supply of water but the most evil plague of mosquitoes, and indeed what with the mountainous ground, the road, and the darkness and roughness of the night, I was more than once tempted to leave our position and fall upon the town, yet at no time did I succeed in making out for certain the position of the road, although we were so near the village that we could almost hear the natives talking within it.

Thus I was forced to wait for dawn, at which time we came on them so early that we took them all sleeping. I had given orders that no one should enter a hut or raise a shout, but we were to surround the largest of them, especially that of the local chieftain and a large barn-like structure where, so the guides had informed us, all the warriors slept. Our good fortune was such that this building was indeed the very first we came upon, and as it was now growing light and things could be plainly distinguished, one of my company seeing so many men and arms took it into his head to call out for help seeing that we were few and the enemy as it seemed to him very numerous, although asleep. Accordingly he began to cry out at the top of his voice “Santiago, Santiago:” at which the Indians awoke and some succeeded in snatching up their arms and others not: and as the house in which they were had no walls of any kind (the roof being supported on stakes), they leapt out on whatever side they liked, since we were unable to surround it completely. But I can assure your Majesty that if the fellow had not cried out every single Indian would have been taken prisoner, which had been the most excellent piece of strategy that was ever seen in these parts, and might even have resulted in a general pacification; for I could then have freed them, acquainted them with the object of my visit, and thus reassured them, seeing we did them no harm but rather let them go free after having captured them, and thus much good fruit might have been reaped: instead the contrary occurred. We captured some fifteen men and as many as twenty women, and ten or a dozen others who refused to give themselves up were killed, among whom was the chief, although he was not known as such until our prisoners pointed him out.

We found as little provision that would be of service to us in this village as in the other: there was green maize, but we were not seeking for that. I remained two days here to rest my men and enquired from our Indian prisoners whether they knew of any township where we could obtain stores of dry maize. They answered yes and that its name was Chacujal, a very large and ancient town, well supplied with every kind of provisions. After resting two days, accordingly, I set out again guided by the Indians towards the town of which they spoke, and that day we covered six good leagues, the road still being bad and intersected by numerous rivers. We then came to certain very large farms which, said the guide, belonged to the town which we were seeking. We passed by them for quite two leagues keeping to the woods so as not to be perceived, and in this fashion eight natives were captured, either woodmen and other labourers or men who had come to hunt, and quite unsuspiciously fell in with us; but as I always had outriders posted they were all taken prisoner, not one escaping. The sun was about to set and the guides bade me halt as we were now near the town. I halted accordingly and remained in the wood until about the third hour of the night. I then set out and came upon a river which we crossed breast high and which ran so fiercely that there was no small danger in crossing it, but clinging hold one to another we passed it in safety. The guides now told me that the town was hard by. I accordingly halted all my men and went forward with two companies until we could see the first houses on the outskirts of the town. We could even hear the natives talking and it seemed to me that they were undisturbed and knew nothing of our presence. I returned to my men and gave orders that they were to rest, at the same time posting six sentries on either side of the road to watch the town: this done I returned to rest with my company. I had just laid myself down on some straw when one of the sentries came in to tell me that he could see a large number of armed men coming along the track, talking and as if alarmed at our arrival. I went out to see the oncoming natives as quickly as I could. Now as the road from our position to the town was but short they soon fell in with my sentries at whom (so soon as they perceived them) they shot a volley of arrows, and sent back news to the town. In this fashion they continued retiring and fighting until we came to the entrance of the town, and as it was now dark they almost immediately disappeared in the side streets. I would not allow the men to lay aside their arms, seeing that it was night and that as we had been perceived they might well be preparing some kind of ambush for us. Keeping my company together I came out on to a great square where they had their mosques and temples, and the sight of these buildings after the form and manner of Culua inspired us with a greater fear than any we had felt till then, for since passing Acalán we had seen none of such a fashion. Many of my company were for leaving the town immediately and crossing to the other side of the river before the natives should have found out how few we were and cut off that line of retreat. And in truth the counsel was not wholly bad for in everything that we had seen of the town there was cause to fear. In this manner we stayed some long time all gathered together in the great square, hearing no sound or stir from the natives, and it seemed to me that we ought in no wise to leave the town after that fashion; for perchance the Indians seeing that we remained would be the more frightened whereas seeing us retire they would realize our weakness, and so we should be in worse danger. And so it pleased God to order it, for after remaining a very long space in the square I gathered my men together in one of the large buildings surrounding it and sent certain of them to spy out the town to see if they could perceive anything or hear any disturbance. But so far from meeting with any such they entered many of the houses, for all of them were lit up, and found there great store of provisions with which they returned very cheerful and contented, and so we passed the rest of the night there keeping the best guard we could. As soon as day came we examined the whole town which was very well laid out, the houses close together and stoutly built, and found there much cotton both spun and unspun and clothes such as they wear, in good condition, together with abundance of dry maize, cacao, kidney beans, pepper and salt, and many fowls and pheasants in cages, also partridges and the ducks which they breed for eating purposes and which are tasty enough, together with all kind of provisions: in such quantity, indeed, that had we had ships there and been able to load them I should have accounted myself well provided for many days; but to profit by them we had to bear them twenty leagues upon our backs, and we were in such plight unless we should rest there for some days that it would have been as much as we could do to make our way back to the ship without any other burden.

One of the Indians of the town who had been taken prisoner on an outlying farm during our advance appeared to be a man of some rank from his dress,—he was out hunting when captured and was carrying a bow and arrows,—and also from his person and upright bearing, I spoke to him through the interpreter who was with me bidding him seek out the ruler and people of that town and tell them for my part that I came to do them no harm but rather to speak with them on matters which greatly concerned them. If the ruler or any chieftain would come to me he should learn the cause of my visit, and they might be very certain that if they would come and hold speech with me much good would follow them and if not, much harm. I accordingly dispatched him with a letter, for many had been pacified by my letters in these parts, although it was against the wish of many of my company, who declared that it was not wise to send him, since it would show the natives how few we were, and the town was strong and well peopled as plainly appeared from the buildings it contained; it might be (said they) that the enemy learning how few we were would join with the people from other towns and come and attack us. I saw plainly that they had reason for speaking thus. But my desire to find some means of provisioning ourselves and the belief that if this tribe came in peace they would provide a means of carrying the provisions, made me put aside all that might befall; for in truth the danger that we ran of dying of hunger if we failed to take back provisions was no less than that which threatened us from the attack of the Indians. I persisted therefore in sending off the Indian and it was agreed that he should return the next day since he knew where the ruler and all the people were. But on the morrow when he should have returned, two Spaniards riding on the outskirts of the town to survey the country discovered the letter which I had given him fixed on a stake in the road, from which we concluded for certain that we should get no reply. And so it was, for during the eighteen days we remained resting in that town and seeking some way of removing the provisions neither that Indian nor any other appeared. Thinking on this matter it seemed to me that it would be good to follow the river on which the town stood down to see whether it flowed into the main river and so on into the great lakes where I left the boats, and on asking the Indian captives they replied, yes, although they did not understand us well, nor we them, since they are of a different language to those we have hitherto seen. Using signs and the few words that I understood of their language I requested two of them to go with ten Spaniards and guide them to where their river joined the main one, on which they said that it was very near and that they would return the same day. And so it pleased God that journeying through two leagues of very fine orchards containing bread-fruit and other fruits, they came upon the main river, which (said the guides) was that which flowed down into the gulfs where the ships had been left, and was called in their language Apolochic.

I asked them how many days it would take by canoe to reach the great lakes; they replied, five: and I immediately dispatched two Spaniards with one of the Indians as guide in case they should miss their way: the guide promised to conduct them as far as the brig. I ordered them to bring the brig, smaller boats and canoes up to the mouth of the great river, and endeavour with one canoe and a boat to come up-stream to the point where the smaller river joined it. On their departure I ordered four rafts to be made of stakes and exceptionally large reeds. Each one carried forty measures of maize and ten men, together with abundance of other stores such as kidney beans and red pepper and cocoa, which each of the Spaniards threw in for himself. The making of this took eight days, and by the time they were made and loaded the Spaniards who had been sent for the brig returned. They told me that they had begun to ascend the river six days before, but had been unable to bring the brig to where we were; they had left it some five leagues down-stream with ten Spaniards to guard it, and even with the canoe they had failed, being by that time very fatigued with rowing; the canoe, however, was now hidden but a league away. As they ascended the river a few Indians had attacked and fought with them, and they believed they would unite to oppose our passage. I sent men immediately to bring the canoe up to where the rafts were, and having placed in it all the provisions we had gathered, I ordered such men to take their places as we needed to guide us with long poles and thus keep the vessels clear of trees, which were not a little dangerous in the middle of the river. I appointed a captain for those that remained, ordering them to follow the road which we had taken, and to wait for us where we had originally landed, if they should arrive first I would do the same if I should arrive there before them and would there take them on board. I myself embarked in the canoe accompanying the rafts, with but two crossbowmen, having none others. Thus although the journey was dangerous on account of the tremendous current and the fierceness of the river, since I held it certain that the Indians would attempt to stop us, I was desirous of accompanying them so as to observe all precautions.

Accordingly commending myself to God I set off down the river and we went with such speed that in three hours we came to the place where the ship was and even were desirous of transferring some of the load into her in order to lighten the rafts, but the current was so strong that they could not stop. I myself got on board the boat and gave orders that the canoe well-manned with rowers should always keep ahead of the rafts in order to discover whether there were any Indians in canoes and give warning of any dangerous places. I remained in the rear with the boat, waiting until all the rafts had passed in order to be able to render assistance down-stream, should such prove necessary, for to do so up-stream would be impossible.

Just before sunset one of the rafts struck a stake below the surface of the water which somewhat upset it, but the fury of the water righted it although not before it had lost half its cargo. We continued our journey thus for three hours into the night when suddenly I heard in front a great shout from Indians, but unwilling to leave the rafts behind I did not row forward to see what it was, and after a little time it ceased and was heard no more. Again I heard it and this time, as it seemed, clearer, and again it ceased, without my being able to discover its cause, for the canoe and three of the rafts were now well ahead and I remained behind with the slower raft. We were proceeding now somewhat less on our guard for it was some time since we had heard any shouting and I had left the watch I was keeping to lie down, for the night was very hot, when suddenly we were caught in a furious whirlpool at a bend in the river which cast us, both raft and boat, on shore despite all our efforts. It was from there as it appeared that the shouting had come which we had heard. For the Indians, knowing the river (having been brought up on its banks) had spied on us throughout our journey and were well aware that the current would inevitably throw us on shore there. There were therefore many of them waiting for us at that spot, and as the canoe and rafts in front had grounded there before us, they had wounded nearly all the rowers with their arrows, although knowing that we were behind they did not attack them quite so furiously as they did us. The occupants of the canoe, moreover, had been unable to turn back and warn us on account of the strength of the current. As we touched land they raised a tremendous clamour and poured such a flight of arrows and stones into us that not one of us but was wounded, myself in the head, for it was the only place where I was unarmed. It pleased God that there should be in that place a great cleft and the river flowed exceptionally deep by reason of which we were not taken prisoner, for several of the natives attempting to leap on to the rafts and boat to engage us found themselves in sore plight, it being so dark that they fell into the water and I think but a few escaped. We were so swiftly borne away from them by the current that in a very short space of time we could hardly hear their yells. So we continued almost the whole of the night having no other meeting with the natives save a few shouts from canoes which kept far off and others from the banks of the river. For it is inhabited on both sides with very fine plantations of cocoa and other trees. When dawn came we were about five leagues from the mouth of the river which flows into the lake where the brig was awaiting us, and about noon we reached the lake itself; so that in one whole day and night we had journeyed no less than twenty leagues down the river.

On beginning to unload the rafts and transfer their contents to the brig, however, we found that the greater part of the maize was wet; and seeing that unless it were dried all would be lost and our labour vain (and knowing moreover that there was no other place where provisions might be sought), I gave instructions to set apart all the dry which I ordered to be placed in the brig, and the wet was cast into the two boats and two canoes, which I dispatched to the town with all haste that they could to dry their load, since there was no place on all the shore of the lake where it could be dried on account of the floods. They departed forthwith, and I ordered them further to return with the boats and canoes to assist in transporting the men, for which the brig and one canoe remaining did not suffice. On their departure I also set sail and came to the place where I was to meet the party coming by land. At the end of three days they arrived all in good health and spirits, with the exception of one Spaniard whom they said had eaten of certain shrubs growing by the way and had died almost at once. They brought an Indian with them, captured in the town where I left them, who had ventured carelessly into the open, and since he differed from the other natives both in speech and dress, I enquired of him by signs and by means of another captive who understood his language, who he was, on which he revealed that he was a native of Teculutlan: and on hearing the name of this town pronounced it seemed to me that I had heard it several times before. Since then I have consulted certain memoranda which I had by me, and discovered that in very truth I had heard it, and that from where I was across to the Southern Sea where Pedro de Albarado is, cannot be more than some seventy or eighty leagues. For I found from my memoranda that several Spaniards of Albarado’s company had been in that town of Teculutlan, and this the Indian confirmed, and I rejoiced greatly to hear of the short distance which separated us.

My men were now all come up, and seeing that the ships did not return and we were exhausting the small remnant of our provisions which had remained dry, we all embarked in the brig though not without difficulty since it was too small to contain us, and intended to cross to the town where we had first landed and whose maize fields we had left soaked through with hail; but seeing that twenty-five days had now elapsed we quite thought to find much of it dry enough to be of use; we accordingly set sail and half-way across the lake sighted our boats returning so that we joined forces and proceeded together. Immediately on landing, the whole company, Spaniards, Indian allies and even the Indian prisoners made straight for the town, and found the maize fields in very good condition, a large quantity of it being dry and no one to hinder our taking it. Christians and Indians joined that day to make three roads, for the fields were close to the shore. In this way I loaded up the brig and boats and proceeded straight to Nito, leaving all my men carrying the maize; I then sent them back two of the boats and another from a vessel bound for New Spain which had foundered on the coast, and also four canoes, in which all the company returned bringing great quantities of maize. This success was worth all the labour it cost, for without it we must have perished of hunger without hope of succour.

I forthwith loaded up the ships with all our provisions and set sail²⁵ for the port of San Andrés with all the original settlers under Gil González who had remained with me. I anchored at a point some distance along the coast and put on shore all those who could walk together with a couple of horses, with instructions to make for San Andrés by land where they were to meet or await the party from Naco, for they had already passed along that road once, and there was no slight danger in our proceeding with so many on board for we were very low in the water. I sent a boat to accompany them along the coast and assist them across the rivers in their way. I myself arrived at San Andrés to find that the party from Naco had preceded me by two days. From them I learnt that all the rest were well and had abundance of maize, pepper and native fruits, but neither meat nor salt, which for two months now they had had to do entirely without.

I remained at San Andrés twenty days seeking to restore order in the affairs of the settlers left at Naco and trying to find a suitable place to settle a town close to this port, for it is the best yet discovered on the whole coast of Tierra-Firme, or I might say, from Las Perlas to Florida.²⁶ It pleased God that I should find what I sought in a very convenient and good position: I immediately ordered fresh water springs to be searched for, and in a very short space of time at a distance of one and two leagues respectively from the town, good samples of gold were found. On this account and seeing that the harbour was so fair and the surrounding country so prosperous and well peopled it seemed to me that your Majesty would be well served by such a settlement, and I forthwith sent to Naco where the remainder of the settlers were, to enquire whether any of them were willing to remain here as citizens: and as the land is fruitful, about fifty decided to do so, including some (indeed they were in the majority) of those who had come with me from Mexico. Accordingly I founded a town there in your Majesty’s name which, since we started to clear the ground for it on the Nativity of Our Lady, I called by that name (Natividad de Nuestra Señora) and appointed alcaldes and regidores; I also left priests provided with church ornaments and all things necessary for the celebration of mass, and in addition officials of a mechanical kind, a blacksmith with an excellent forge, a carpenter, a shipwright, a barber and a tailor; twenty mounted men and several bowmen were included in this company, and they were left in addition a certain number of guns and some powder.

Immediately on arriving at San Andrés I had learnt from the Spaniards who had come from Naco that the natives both of that town and others nearby had rebelled and left their houses for the woods and hills, nor would they be reassured, though I had speech with a few of them, on account of the sufferings they had received at the hands of those who had accompanied Gil González and Cristóbal de Olid. I accordingly wrote to the captain in command at Naco bidding him do all in his power to capture certain of the natives by whatever means and send them to me that I might speak with them and reassure them. This he did, sending me certain of them whom he took in a sudden attack, whom I spoke to and reassured greatly, bidding them also have speech with the chiefs I had brought with me from Mexico, who informed them who I was and what I had done in their country, the good treatment that they had all received from me since they had become my friends, how they themselves, their property, wives and children were upheld in their rights, and how grievously those were treated who rebelled against the service of your Majesty, together with many other things which pacified them not a little. Yet (they told me) they still feared that what these people said was false, for the former captains who had visited them had promised them the same things and more, and had then broken their promise, carrying off the women to make bread and the men to carry loads, and they feared that I would do the same: yet seeing how those from Mexico were treated and after speaking with the interpreter whom I had with me they became somewhat more reassured, upon which I sent them to speak with the rulers and peoples of the other towns. A very few days later the Spanish captain wrote to me that several of the neighbouring towns had already come in peaceably, particularly the largest of them, which are Naco itself (where the Spaniards are), Quimiotlan, Sula and Tholoma, the smallest of which is two thousand houses, and exclusive of a number of villages which each town holds subject. The towns assured him that the whole land would now soon be quiet, since they had sent messengers abroad informing the natives of the fact that I was in the land and of all that they had heard from thenatives of Mexico. They earnestly desired that I would visit that part, for seeing me the natives would be much reassured; the which I would have done very willingly had it not been necessary for me to pass to another matter which I shall now report to your Majesty.

On my first arrival at Nito, Invincible Cæsar, where I found the settlers abandoned by Gil González, I learnt from them that Francisco de las Casas whom I had sent to bring back news of Cristóbal de Olid, as I have already informed your Majesty, had left certain Spaniards some seventy leagues along the coast at the port of Honduras, as the pilots call it, where they had definitely settled. On coming to San Andrés and while busy there in matters concerning both the town of Nuestra Señora and the affairs of Naco I sent a ship that I bought there to visit the port of Honduras and bring me news of the party there. It now returned with the procurator and one regidor of the town on board who begged me to visit and assist them for they were in great need. The captain and the alcalde appointed by Francisco de las Casas had decamped with a ship and fifty men out of the 110 of their party and had taken moreover arms, armour and all that they had from those who remained, so that they feared each day that the Indians would attack and kill them, or that they would die of hunger from being unable to go abroad and seek provisions. Accordingly, to remedy this matter I again embarked in my ships with all the sick except those who were now dead, and so bore them thither and then on to the Islands and to New Spain. I took also certain of my private servants and ordered twenty horsemen and ten bowmen to proceed by the road which I knew was a good one, although there were several rivers to be crossed. We were five days at sea on account of rough weather. Finally, casting anchor in the port of Honduras I leapt into a small boat with two Franciscan friars, who have ever accompanied me, and about ten of my own servants, and so made for the shore. Already all the people of the town were gathered together on the water-front awaiting me, and as I approached the shore, they trooped into the water, lifted me out of the boat and bore me to the land, showing great joy at my arrival, after which we went towards the town and the church that they had there. Having given thanks to God they begged me to be seated, being desirous of giving me an account of all that had passed, for they feared that I was displeased with them on account of some evil report made to me, and they desired me to know the truth before judging them by that. I did as they bid me, upon which a clerk stood forward and proceeded to give me the following account:

“Señor, you are already aware in what manner all or most of us present were sent by you from New Spain with Cristóbal de Olid, your Captain, to settle these parts in his Majesty’s name, being ordered by you to obey the said Cristóbal de Olid in everything he should command us, as we should yourself, and so we set sail with him for Cuba to finish taking on board certain provisions and horses which we needed. There, on arriving at the port of Habana he exchanged letters with Diego Velázquez and his Majesty’s officials residing in that island, who sent him a number of men, and after being very completely supplied with all that we needed by your servant Alonso de Contreras, we again set sail and continued our voyage. Omitting incidents that befell us on the way which would be long to tell, I will simply say that we arrived at this coast fourteen leagues east of the port of Caballos and landed. Cristóbal de Olid immediately took possession of it in the name of your Honour and there founded a town under the government of the alcaldes and regidores who came with him. He made certain decrees touching both the holding of property and the peopling of the town, all in your Honour’s name and as your Captain and lieutenant, and then some few days later joined with certain followers of Diego Velázquez who accompanied him from Cuba, and thereupon issued certain edicts in which he showed himself plainly disobedient to your Honour. And although all or the most of us thought it ill done we dared not dispute it since he threatened us with the gallows. Accordingly so far from opposing him we consented to all he wished, including even certain followers and relatives of your Honour who dared do no otherwise. After this, knowing that certain of González de Avila’s men were making for where he was (this he learnt from six messengers whom he captured), he took up a position close to a ford in a river which they would have to pass, in order to take them prisoner and so remained there some days on the watch for them. But as they did not come he left a captain on guard there and himself returned to the town where he set to fitting out two caravels, loading them with many guns and much powder in order to go and attack a town lying on the coast to the east which Gil González had founded. While he was preparing for his departure Francisco de las Casas arrived with two ships: and as soon as he knew who it was he ordered the guns in the ships to fire on him. Moreover, although las Casas hoisted the flag of peace and showed that he was come from your Honour, yet he ordered his men not to cease firing, and fired yet another ten or twelve shots at him, one of which passed clean through the ribs of the ship. Las Casas, perceiving now his evil intentions and seeing that his suspicions of him were but too well founded, ordered his men into the long boats, returned the fire of his enemy, and finally took the two ships that were lying in the port, with all the guns in them. The adventurers fled to the shore and Olid now began to attempt to treat with him, not intending to come to any agreement, but simply to delay him until the men whom he had left on the look-out for Gil González should return; he thought he would be able in this way to deceive las Casas. The latter, indeed, willingly carried out all that was suggested, and began treating with him without concluding anything until a severe storm broke out: and as there was no real harbour there but only the bare coast, las Casas’ ship was driven on shore, some thirty men were drowned, and everything on board was lost. He and his men escaped with their lives, but were so rudely handled by the sea that they could not defend themselves and were all taken prisoner by Olid, being forced before they entered the town to swear upon the gospel that they would obey him as their Captain and would never turn against him. At this moment news arrived from his lieutenant saying that he had taken fifty-seven men commanded by an alcalde mayor of Gil González and had then released them, the two parties separating and going off in different directions. He was greatly angered at this and forthwith travelled inland to Naco where he had been before, taking with him Francisco de las Casas and some of the others whom he had captured, and leaving the rest in the port of Honduras in the charge of his lieutenant, who acted as alcalde.

“Many times las Casas asked him in the presence of all to allow him to go where your Honour was to give him an account of what had passed, and warned him that if he would not grant him this he had better guard him well and put no trust in him, but Olid would never give him such permission. A few days later he learnt that Gil González de Avila was at the port of Tholoma with a few men, and immediately sent a small party there who fell upon them by night and captured all, bringing them back as prisoners to Naco. There he kept both Captains for many days, refusing to free them although many times they begged him to do so, and made González’s men swear that they would recognize him as Captain just as he had done to all those of las Casas. Time and again after the capture of Gil González, las Casas requested him either to free them or to guard them with especial care, for they were determined to kill him, but he would never consent. Finally since his tyranny was now well known to all, one night when the three of them were talking of certain matters in a room with many others present, las Casas seized him by the beard and stabbed him with a paper-knife, with which he was in the act of cutting his nails, for he had no other weapon, crying out at the same time: ‘We have suffered this tyrant long enough.’ Gil González and others of your Honour’s servants immediately leapt forward, disarmed his bodyguard and inflicted other wounds upon him. The captain of the guard, the ensign and the lieutenant were taken prisoner in a moment, no man being killed, and Cristóbal de Olid in the uproar escaped into hiding. In two hours las Casas and González had restored order among the people, imprisoned the chief of their opponents and published a declaration to the effect that anyone who knew of Olid’s whereabouts was to inform them under pain of death. It was not long before they found out his hiding-place and imprisoned him under a strong guard. The next morning he was tried and both Captains jointly sentenced him to death, the which sentence was carried out on his person and his head was struck off. From that time the people lived in great content and freedom.

“A proclamation was now made bidding all decide whether they would stay and settle in the land or accompany las Casas and Gil González elsewhere to that part in which your Honour was, upon which it was found that 110 were willing to settle and the remainder, among whom were 20 mounted men, decided to go on further: to this party all we belonged who are in this city. Francisco de las Casas then gave us all we needed, appointed a Captain, and ordered us to make for this coast and to settle there on your Honour’s behalf and in his Majesty’s name, appointing alcaldes, regidores, notary, and procurator of the town council and an alguacil, and ordering the town to be called Trujillo. He promised that he would get your Honour within a very short space of time to provide us with all things necessary to pacify the land and gave us two interpreters, an Indian girl and a Christian. So we set out and coming to the port of San Andrés, which is de Caballos, we found there a ship from the Islands. The port appeared to us ill suited for settling and we had heard of this one. Accordingly the Captain went on board with forty men and all the stores, leaving the rest of us (including all the horsemen) on land, and carrying but a single shirt to our backs in order that we might go more lightly and with less encumbrance should anything befall us on the way. The Captain gave over his powers to one of the alcaldes, who is even now still with us, and to whom he bade us owe obedience in his absence, for the other alcalde was accompanying him in the ship. In this manner we separated, intending to join one another again at this port. We had certain encounters with the natives on the road, in which two Spaniards and certain Indian carriers were killed. Finally we came near this port, worn out and our horses lacking shoes, yet light-hearted with the thought of finding the Captain before us with all our stores and arms, but on arriving we found nothing at all: and it was no slight blow to us to find ourselves lacking clothes, weapons and horse-shoes, all of which the Captain had gone off with in the ship, and so we remained in great perplexity not knowing what to do. At length we resolved to await help from your Honour which we held very certainly would come and forthwith founded our town, taking possession of the land on your Honour’s behalf and in his Majesty’s name, all being duly registered before the public notary in a decree which your Honour may see for himself.

“Five or six days later a ship was perceived at dawn anchored some two leagues out and on the constable rowing out to enquire who she might be, he informed us that her master was a certain Pedro Moreno, Bachelor,²⁷ of Hayti, who was come to these parts by order of the judges of that Island to settle certain matters as between Cristóbal de Olid and Gil González, and that he had great store of arms and provisions on board, all of which belonged to his Majesty.

“We were all very merry at this news and offered up many thanks to God believing that we were saved from our evil plight. Forthwith the alcalde with the regidores and a few citizens went out to request their help and acquaint them with our need. But as their rowing boat approached armed men were posted in the ship and not a single man was allowed to go on board. Finally after long discussion four or five were allowed to board without arms, who straightway informed them that we were settled there in his Majesty’s name and of all the misfortunes that had befallen us, begging them that since what they carried belonged to his Majesty to furnish us with it, for not only would such be pleasing to his Majesty but we would bind ourselves to repay all that should be given us. The master replied that he had not come hither to bring us supplies and he would give us nothing of what he carried save in exchange for gold or native slaves.

“There were two merchants in the ship and a certain Gaspar Troche from the Island of San Juan,²⁸ who urged him to give us what we asked and offered themselves as security up to five or six thousand castellanos to be paid at any time he should agree upon; and he was well aware that they were solid for this amount and were willing to advance it because they believed it to be in his Majesty’s interests, holding it also for very certain that your Honour would repay them as well as thank them, yet still Pedro Moreno refused to grant us anything whatsoever: he merely bade us depart in peace for he himself was eager to set sail. On this he forced us to leave the ship being abetted by one Juan Ruano who had been the principal mover in Cristóbal de Olid’s treachery towards your Honour. This man took the alcalde, regidores, and some others of us aside and told us that if we would do what he counselled he would make Moreno give us everything we needed and would even so arrange matters with the judges in Hayti that we should not have to pay for what was given us; he himself would return to Hayti and see to it that the judges should furnish us with men, horses, provisions and all other necessities, with which Moreno would very swiftly return together with authority from the judges to be our Captain. As to what we had to do, he explained, before anything else was to replace the royal officials, the alcalde, regidores, tesorero, contador and veedor, who had been appointed in his Majesty’s name, and request Moreno to appoint Juan Ruano as our Captain, seeing that we wished to owe allegiance to the judges in Hayti and not to your Honour. We were all to make this request and swear to obey the said Juan Ruano as our Captain, while if any decree or men arrived from your Honour we were not to obey them, and should even resist them with arms if any attempt to infringe our liberty were made. We replied that it was impossible; we had sworn otherwise and were settled there in the Emperor’s name, owing allegiance to your Honour in his name as our Captain and Governor, and we would not go back on this. Juan Ruano again urged that we should decide on this course or be left to die; for should we decide otherwise Moreno would not give us so much as a jug of water, and we might be very sure that so soon as he should learn that we were unwilling he would set sail and leave us thus to our fate; it would be well therefore for us to consider the matter deeply. We accordingly gathered together and by the sheer force of necessity decided to do what he wished and so escape death either by starvation or at the hands of the Indians, for we were unarmed. We informed him of this decision, upon which he put back to the ship and returned with Moreno who landed with a large number of armed men. Juan Ruano himself drew up the petition in which we requested that he should be made our Captain, and all or most of us signed it: the royal officials all resigned their offices and the name of the town was changed to that of Ascension: in addition certain proclamations were made declaring that we were settled in the name of the judges and not in that of your Honour. Then and only then he gave us what we asked for. He ordered an attack on the natives and captured certain of them whom he chained and carried off as slaves; but he refused to pay the royal fifth to his Majesty and ordered that there should be no special offices of tesorero, contador, and veedor to look after the royal rights, but that Juan Ruano as Captain should take all this business upon himself without any other check or account being made.

“In this fashion he departed, leaving Juan Ruano as Captain with a proclamation which he should cause to be read if any of your Honour’s men visited this town, and promising to return in a very short time with such power that no one would be able to resist him. But after his departure, seeing that what had been done was far from agreeable to the service of his Majesty and was likely to stir up yet greater scandals than those we had seen already, we took the aforesaid Juan Ruano and sent him back to the Islands, upon which the alcaldes and regidores began to exercise their office as before; and so we have been and are still loyal to your Honour whom we serve in the name of his Majesty: and we beg, señor, that you will forgive those things which were done with Cristóbal de Olid, for both in that matter and in this latter one we were forced to act as we did.”

I replied that I forgave them in your Majesty’s name for those things which were done with Cristóbal de Olid, and that in this recent matter they were not to blame since their need had forced them to act as they had done, but that henceforward they must avoid such disturbances and scandals by which great disservice was done your Majesty, and for all of which they would be punished if any such should occur in future. And that they might the more certainly believe that I had wiped the memory of these past things from my mind and would in the future help and favour them in your Majesty’s name so long as they bore themselves as loyal vassals, I confirmed those in their offices (such as alcaldes and the like) whom Francisco de las Casas in my name and acting as my lieutenant had appointed. With this they were very satisfied and not a little relieved that their crimes would not be brought up against them.

Hearing that Moreno was likely to return very shortly with decrees from the judges in Hayti I was unwilling to leave the port and venture inland. I was informed, however, by the Spaniards of certain native towns some six or seven leagues away with whom, they said, they had had a few encounters when seeking food, but many were of the opinion that if an interpreter could be found to make himself understood by them, they might be pacified, for they had given evidence by signs of good intentions: not that they had received good treatment from the Spaniards but the reverse, for Moreno had attacked them, taken numbers of women and boys prisoner, whom he had then chained and carried off with him as slaves. God knows what grief I felt on hearing of this for I know well the great harm that would follow such an action: and accordingly in the ships that I sent to the Islands I dispatched a letter to the judges setting down at length all that Moreno had done in this town and with the latter a warrant bidding them in your Majesty’s name to send the said Moreno hither as a prisoner and under strong guard, together with all those natives whom he had carried away from this land as slaves: for this he had done in very deed against all law, as they might see from the evidence which I sent them. I know not what they will do in this matter, and will inform your Majesty of their reply when it comes to hand.

(Cortés succeeded by means of a native interpreter in getting into touch with the natives, in particular with those inhabiting the two towns of Chapagua and Papayeca, some seven leagues away from Trujillo. Their respective populations were as much as 8,000 and 10,000. Ambassadors came in, saying that they had hitherto feared to approach, thinking they would be carried away as slaves, and on this Cortés reassured them, declaring his own object in visiting their country and promising them peace and liberty if they would become the vassals of his Catholic Majesty. He concluded by giving them small presents with which they were very pleased and desired them to found a town on a lofty hill nearby. To this they agreed and within a few days some fifteen or sixteen other towns and villages sent in messengers to offer themselves as subjects and to assist in the work of building.)

During this time I dispatched the three ships which I had and one which afterwards came here and which I bought, putting on board all those of the sick who had remained alive. The first I sent to the ports of New Spain with a long letter to your Majesty’s officials, whom I had left to take my place and to all the town councils telling them of all that I had done and the need that there was for my remaining yet some time further in these parts. I urged them strongly to fulfil that which I had left in their charge and gave them my counsel on certain necessary matters. I ordered these ships to call at the Island of Cozumel, which was on their way, and take off a number of Spaniards (as I had heard over seventy in number) whom one Valenzuela, a mutineer who had seized a ship and looted the town founded there by Cristóbal de Olid, had abandoned there.

The second ship which I had bought in Cuba I sent to the town of Trinidad in Cuba to load up with meat, horses and men, and return as quickly as possible. The third I sent to Jamaica with like orders. The caravel or brig which I had made I sent to Hayti bearing a servant of mine on board with letters to your Majesty and the judges who reside in the capital there. As it afterwards appeared, however, not one of these ships reached its proper port. That sent to Trinidad touched land at Guaniguanico and the men had to go fifty leagues overland to Habana for their cargo. On the return of this ship (which was the first) they brought me news that the ship sent to New Spain had taken off the people from Cozumel but had then run ashore on Cape San Antonio at the western extremity of Cuba. There they had lost all their cargo, the captain, a cousin of mine, one Juan de Avalos, was drowned together with two Franciscan friars who had accompanied me from Mexico, and some thirty other persons who were taken as crew. Those who got to land had wandered over the mountains not knowing where they went and had for the most part died of hunger: so that out of over eighty persons not more than fifteen remained alive, and these finally arrived at the port of Guaniguanico where my other ship lay anchored. A merchant of Habana happened to have an estate there and with produce from this which was very abundant the ship was loaded. There the travellers who had thus succeeded in remaining alive reposed themselves. God knows the grief I felt at this loss; for over and above losing a relative and servants, together with many breastplates, muskets, crossbows and other arms which were on board the ship I was yet more grieved at the non-arrival of my dispatches on account of what I shall shortly relate to your Majesty.

The two ships bound for Jamaica and Hayti fetched port in Trinidad and there met with the licentiate Alonso de Zuazo whom I had left as Chief Justice and a member of the council in charge of the government of New Spain. They found also a ship in that port which the Judges in Hayti were on the point of dispatching to New Spain to acquaint them with the news of my death. Hearing that I was alive the ship’s captain changed her course, for he carried thirty-two horses, some harness, and certain stores which he thought to sell at a better price where I was. This ship also bore a letter from Alonso de Zuazo saying that there had been great disturbances and scandals in New Spain among your Majesty’s officials; they had given me out as dead, proclaimed two of themselves as governors, and had themselves sworn as such. They had imprisoned Zuazo and the other two officials, as also Rodrigo de Paz whom I left in charge of my house and estate, which they had then proceeded to loot. They had removed Justices appointed by me and replaced them by others of their own making, and many other things had they done which, since your Majesty may read them in the original letter which I am sending, I do not set out here.

Your Majesty may well imagine the grief that I felt at this news, particularly to learn of the way in which they repaid my services, robbing me of my house as a reward for my deeds in Mexico, which had been ill done even if I had been dead indeed; for though they may say or insinuate that I owed your Majesty over 70,000 pesos of gold, yet they knew full well that I owed no such sum, but rather that over 150,000 pesos are owing to me, the which I have spent and well-spent in the service of your Majesty. I forthwith considered how best to remedy this. On the one hand it seemed to me that I ought to set sail in that ship immediately and punish such insubordination; for already all men here think when they are put in charge of some expedition that unless they make a great show of insolence they will not be regarded as people of any importance: thus there is another captain whom the governor Pedro Arias sent out to Nicaragua who has likewise renounced his allegiance, as I shall elsewhere recount fully to your Majesty. On the other hand it grieved me to the heart to leave this land in the unsettled state in which it was, for it meant its total loss, and I am very certain that it is going to contribute much to your Majesty and prove a second Mexico. For I have reports of great and rich provinces governed by great lords with regal pomp, and especially one, Eneitapalan, or as some say Xucutaco, which I have known of these last six years, have pursued throughout this my last journey from Mexico, and will be bound it cannot be more than eighteen days’ march, or, say, fifty to seventy leagues from Trujillo where we now are.

And of this province there is such great news that one may well marvel at what is told of it, of which if only a third be true it must greatly surpass Mexico in riches and equal it in the size of its towns, the multitude of its peoples, and the gentleness of their manners.

Being in this perplexity I bethought me that nothing can be well done or directed unless by the hand of the Mover and Doer of all things, and accordingly ordered masses to be said and processions and sacrifices to be made beseeching God to guide me in that path most pleasing to Him. After this had been done for several days I came to the conclusion that putting aside all else I ought to go and settle the disturbances in New Spain. Accordingly I left some thirty-five horsemen and fifty foot in Trujillo, under the command of a cousin of mine, one Hernando de Saavedra, brother of that Juan de Avalos who was drowned. Then after giving him certain instructions as best I could and having spoken with some of the native rulers I took ship with my household servants, sending orders at the same time to the people at Naco to proceed along the road which Francisco de las Casas had taken running along the southern coast, and so join forces with Pedro de Albarado.²⁹ I likewise sent instructions to the town of the Natividad de Nuestra Señora. We embarked in fine weather, with the ship riding at the stern anchor, but no sooner were we on board than a dead calm succeeded so that we could not put to sea. Early next morning news reached me on board ship that there were murmurings among the people in the town and they feared disturbances as soon as I was gone. On account of this and the calm I landed again, made investigations and by punishing certain of the ringleaders restored complete quiet. I remained two days on shore: on the third a wind sprang up, I embarked again and we set sail. But two leagues from where we set out in doubling a point the main mast broke and we were forced to put back into port to mend it. The job took three days and I then again set sail with a fair wind which bore us on our journey for two nights and a day, during which time we covered some fifteen leagues or more, but then a tremendous gale from the north met us, which snapped the main mast off at its base and forced us to return with great difficulty to port, where once arrived we all gave hearty thanks to God, for we had thought ourselves lost. And I and all my men were now so wearied and battered by the sea that we had need take some repose, until the weather improved and the ship was put to rights. Meantime, accordingly, I landed with all my men, and seeing that having thrice put to sea in fair weather I had each time been compelled to return, I considered that God was unwilling that this new land should be so abandoned, and, what added force to my conviction, a few of the Indians who had peaceably surrendered had risen, upon which I again commended the matter to God and ordered processions and masses to be made. I then resolved to send the ship (in which I had already ventured) to New Spain, and by it a proclamation giving all my powers to my cousin, Francisco de las Casas, together with letters to the town councils and your Majesty’s officials rebuking their evil deeds. I also sent certain Indian chiefs who had come with me that the Mexicans might know that I was not dead, as had been published there, and so peace and order would be restored and an end put to the treachery which had been begun. I accordingly arranged matters in this way, but there were many things left unprovided for (which I should have provided had I been aware of the loss of the first ship which I had sent, and which I reckoned as certainly having arrived there many days since) particularly in the matter of dispatching ships to the southern sea.

(Cortés was still suffering from the effects of his voyage and accordingly sent a lieutenant on an expedition inland. Operations were conducted peaceably and a number of further tribes came in to offer their allegiance. A slight revolt among the natives was put down and one of their chiefs executed which had a great effect on the rest.

Francisco Hernández, one of Pedro Arias de Avila’s captains, had been sent by him to explore Nicaragua. A detached party of his men reached Trujillo and was warned by Cortés against following the example of Moreno and betraying their allegiance to their own commander.

Shortly afterwards natives arrived from the province of Huilacho seventy-five leagues away with the news that a body of Spaniards some sixty strong at the head of a large number of Indians from neighbouring provinces was destroying their land, robbing them of their property and enslaving their women and children. Almost at the same time a message arrived from Gonzalvo de Sandoval, whom Cortés had left as his lieutenant in those parts, to say that the marauders were men belonging to Francisco Hernández under the captaincy of one Gabriel de Rojas. Cortés wrote vigorously both to his lieutenant and to Hernández and the latter withdrew his men but continued to stir up bad feeling with the natives.)

“I myself,” says Cortés, “was eager to go to Nicaragua, believing myself able to set the matter aright, by which your Majesty would be greatly served. While still making preparations, in particular cutting a path through the pass in the mountains which is somewhat rough going, the ship which I had sent to New Spain arrived back at Trujillo, with a cousin of mine on board, a friar, Diego Altamirano, of the order of Saint Francis. From him and from the letters which he bore I learnt of the many scandals and disturbances which had taken place among the officials of your Majesty whom I had left in charge, and the urgent need of my presence to put an end to them. Accordingly my visit to Nicaragua and return along the southern coast had to be put off, though I think that it would have redounded greatly to the service of your Majesty on account of the many great provinces which I should have passed through. Some of them have already been pacified, but I think that my visit would have strengthened them in your Majesty’s allegiance, especially those of Utlatan and Guatemala, where Albarado has been governor, but which ever since they rebelled on account of harsh treatment have never really settled down again. Rather they do and have done great hurt to the Spaniards and their Indian neighbours, for the land is wild and well populated and the people fierce and warlike; they have invented many methods of attack and defence, making pits and other traps to upset the horses of which they have killed many.

For although Albarado has never ceased to make war on them and is still doing so with over two hundred horse and five hundred foot, and with anything from five to ten thousand Indian allies, nevertheless he has not yet succeeded in bringing them under your Majesty’s yoke. On the contrary they fortify themselves more strongly and receive reinforcements from other tribes. Yet I think that if it pleased God that I should go there, I could bring them either by love or by other means to a better course; for there were several provinces which rebelled against harsh treatment during my absence and over 120 horse and 300 foot together with many guns and native allies under the command of the veedor (who was acting as governor at that time) went against them and could do nothing: indeed they lost some ten or a dozen Spaniards and many natives, and things remained in the same unsettled state. Yet on my arrival no sooner had I sent them a message acquainting them of my presence than the chiefs of the province, which is called Coatlan, came to me without the least delay, and informed me of the cause of the rising, for which indeed there was cause enough. For one of the Spaniards who had been given a repartimiento of natives had burnt eight chieftains so that five died at the stake and the three others within a few days. They had asked for justice in this matter but it was denied them. I placated them as best I could and they are now at peace and serving your Majesty as loyally as before I went there, without any danger of war or any other disturbance.

And so I think might have occurred with the other tribes which were in this unsettled condition in the province of Coazacoalco, for on learning of my visit to their land, even without receiving any messenger from me, they would have quietened down.

I have already informed your Majesty of certain small islands lying off the port of Honduras, known as the Guanajos,³⁰ several or which are now entirely depopulated, the natives having been taken off in ships as slaves to the Islands; others have still a few natives left. I learnt at this time that new fleets were putting out from Cuba and Jamaica to complete the work of destruction and despoliation. To avert this I sent a caravel to seek the fleet in the vicinity of the islands and require them on the part of your Majesty not to land on the said islands nor do any hurt to the natives, for I was intent upon pacifying them and bringing them to the service of your Majesty. I had already had some intelligence with them by means of those who had come over to live on the mainland of Tierra-Firme. The caravel fell in with one of the ships of the fleet whose captain was a certain Rodrigo de Merlo at the island of Huitila, whereupon my captain compelled him and all the natives whom he had taken off from the island to accompany him to Trujillo where I was. I immediately had the natives taken back to their homes, but did not proceed against the captain himself since he showed me a licence for what he had done granted by the Governor of Cuba in virtue of the powers which he holds from the judges resident in Hayti. I accordingly dismissed him and his men, their only loss being that of the natives whom they had captured on the islands, and the captain and most of those who came in his company remained as settlers in the town, the land liking them well.

The rulers of the islands learning of the good turn I had done them and hearing from those on the mainland of the good treatment they received, came to thank me for my kindness and to offer themselves as subjects and vassals of your Majesty, asking that I should command them in what they might serve him. I ordered them in your Majesty’s name for the present to set to work tilling fresh ground, for in truth they can serve in naught else. So they departed taking for each island a decree from me to show to any persons who should land there, whereby I assured them in your Majesty’s name that they should not receive hurt. They begged me to let them have one Spaniard to be on each island, which request owing to the closeness of my departure I could not provide for, but I left orders to my lieutenant, Hernando de Saavedra, to provide for it.

I now went aboard the ship which had brought me the news from New Spain, and some twenty of my own followers with their horses came on board this ship and two others. The greater number of them were remaining as settlers in the towns, and others were awaiting me on the road thinking that I was to travel by land. These I sent for telling them of my departure and the cause of it and they were soon on their way.

Having given final instructions to the towns which I left peopled in your Majesty’s name, with no little grief and sickness of heart at being unable to leave them as I had hoped to do and as was fitting, I set sail with those three ships on April 25th, and had such fine weather that in four days we were come within 150 leagues of the port of Vera Cruz; but then we met such a storm that we could make no headway. Thinking that it would wear itself out we battled against it for a day and a night, but it was so strong that it tore away the sails and rigging of the ships and I was forced to make for Cuba where after six days I cast anchor in the port of Habana. There I landed and rejoiced greatly with the citizens of that town, for there were many among them who had been my friends when I lived on that island. The ships had been somewhat battered by the storm and it was consequently necessary to repair them, which business occupied us there ten days; however, to shorten my journey I bought a ship which I came across in that port and left behind the one in which I had so far sailed, as she was leaking badly.

The very morning following my arrival at Habana, a ship arrived from New Spain, as did one on the next day and also the day following. From them I learnt that the land was restored entirely to peace and order after the death of the factor and veedor (i.e., Salazar and Chirinos), although they admitted that there had been certain disturbances, but those responsible for them had been punished. I was greatly cheered by this, for I had been grieved at going so far out of my way and was not a little anxious. I forthwith wrote to your Majesty although quite briefly, and set sail again on May 16th, taking with me some thirty natives of Mexico who were being privily carried off in those ships. After eight days I arrived off Vera Cruz, but could not enter the harbour owing to contrary weather. Accordingly a little before nightfall I put in two leagues further up the coast and by means of a brig which I found derelict and the ship’s boat I landed that same night and made my way on foot to the little town of Medellín some four leagues distant without being perceived by a soul. I went straight to the church and gave thanks to our Lord. The morrow was Sunday and the citizens were as rejoiced to see me as I to see them. That night I dispatched messengers both to the capital and all other towns informing them of my return and ordering certain matters which might further the service of your Majesty and the good of the land. I remained at Medellín for eleven days recovering from the toil of the journey, during which time many of the natives, both rulers and common people round about, came to visit me and express their delight at my return. Thence I set out for the capital and was fifteen days on the road, during the whole course of which I was met by vast numbers of the natives, many of whom had come over eighty leagues to see me, for they had posted relays of messengers to pass on the news of my coming which they were eagerly awaiting: so that in a very short time great numbers were gathered together from various and distant regions, and all wept on seeing me, describing the pains they had suffered in my absence and the harsh treatment that they had received with such burning and piteous words that they broke the hearts of all that heard them. It would be difficult to give your Majesty an account of all the things they told me, but there are some that I could find worthy of noting down, which nevertheless I refrain from doing, since they are not becoming ex ore propio.

On my arrival in the capital its inhabitants, both Spaniards and natives, and others from all the country round joined together and welcomed me with as much joy and merrymaking as if I had been their father.

Your Majesty’s treasurer and contador came out to meet me with many horse and foot in parade order, displaying the same goodwill as did all the citizens. I went straight to the house and monastery of Saint Francis to render thanks to God for having brought me out of so many great dangers and hardships, into such a state of peace and rest, beholding the land which had been in such turmoil restored to such quietness and order. There I remained six days with the friars giving an account of my sins to God. When I had been there four days a messenger arrived from Medellín and told me that certain ships had cast anchor there, bearing, so they said, an examining judge (pesquisidor) of some kind by your Majesty’s orders, which was all that he had been able to learn. I myself thought that your Majesty must have heard of the disturbances and rebellions into which your Majesty’s officials to whom I entrusted the government had plunged the land and was desirous of settling the matter, at which God knows how much I rejoiced, since I was very anxious not to have to be the judge of this question. For since I was insulted and despoiled by those tyrants, it seemed to me that anything that I should do in the matter would be set down by evil-minded men to personal resentment, than which there is nothing I hate more, although in truth no actions of mine could exceed in severity what they had richly deserved by their crimes. Accordingly I dispatched in haste a messenger to the port to know the truth of the matter, and sent word to the lieutenant and justices of Medellín that no matter with what powers the judge arrived, since he came by command of your Majesty, he was to be well received and waited on and lodged in a house which I possess in the town, where I ordered that both he and all his followers should be served in every way, although, as it afterwards appeared, he was unwilling to accept this service.

The following day, that of Saint John, another messenger arrived in the midst of certain bull-fights, tournaments and the like, bringing me a letter from the judge and from your Sacred Majesty, by which I learnt who he was, and that your Catholic Majesty was pleased to order me to give an account of the government of this land during such time as your Majesty has been pleased to entrust me with it: at which, in truth, I rejoiced greatly, both for the kindness your Sacred Majesty did me in wishing to be informed of my services and faults as also for the benevolence with which your Majesty acquainted me of his royal desire and intent to grant me favours; for both of which things I kiss the feet of your Sacred Majesty a hundred thousand times, and pray God that He may deign so far to favour me that I may repay in some slight measure this immeasurable kindness and that your Majesty may know of my desire to serve you; for such recognition alone will be no slight reward for me.

In his letter Luis Ponce de León wrote that he was on the point of setting out for the capital; and since there are two main roads and I knew not from his letter which he proposed to take, I dispatched my servants along both of them to meet him and do him service and point out the lie of the land to him. But such was the haste with which Luis Ponce travelled that although I dispatched these men with all speed they met him but twenty leagues from the city. And although as they said, he showed himself much pleased at meeting with my men, yet was he unwilling to receive the least service from them. Thus, while it grieved me that he did not receive it, for, as I was told, by reason of his haste he was in need of it, yet I had also occasion to rejoice, in such as he appeared by this an upright man who desired to perform his office with all rectitude, and since he was coming to examine my dealings, was unwilling to give any ground for suspicion.

That night he arrived within two leagues of the town before retiring to sleep, and I ordered preparations to be made to receive him in the morning, but he sent asking me not to come out to him in the morning because he wished to remain where he was until dinner. He desired me to send him a priest to say mass, the which I did; but fearing his real intention, which was to avoid an official reception, I kept on my guard; yet even then he was so early that in spite of all my hurry he had already entered the town when I met him, and so we went together to the Monastery of San Francisco where we heard mass. This done, I requested him to present his papers of authority, if he were willing, since all the city council were gathered there with me, including your Majesty’s treasurer and contador; but he was unwilling to do this, saying that he would put it off until another day. Accordingly on the morrow we all met together in the morning in the principal church of the town, the council, the aforementioned royal officials, and myself. He then presented his papers which were duly received by us, kissed, and placed on our heads as the decrees of our natural king and lord, and obeyed and carried out to the letter, according as your Majesty commanded us; at the same time the wands of justice were handed over to him. All other provisions were duly observed as your Majesty commanded in greater detail, all this taking place before the public notary. My residencia³¹ was then publicly proclaimed in the city square, and for seventeen days I was busy with it, during which time not a single plaint was brought against me. Meanwhile, however, Luis Ponce fell ill and all those that had come with him, of which illness it pleased God that he should die, together with more than twenty others among whom were two friars of the order of Santo Domingo who accompanied him. Even today there are still many persons sick and in danger of death, so that it seems almost a kind of plague that they brought with them. It even attacked some of the citizens, two dying of it, and still there are many in the city who have not yet recovered.

As soon as Luis Ponce had passed from this life and been buried with such honour and pomp as befits a person sent by your Majesty, the council of the capital and the procurators of all the towns who were assembled here, begged and requested me on behalf of your Catholic Majesty to take upon myself again the burden of government and the administrating of justice, as I had up to that time according to your Majesty’s royal command and authority. Many were the reasons they gave, many the inconveniences which, they said, would follow should I refuse to accept it, all of which your Majesty may see (as he asked to do) in the copy of them which I am sending. I excused myself from the office, as will also appear in the separate document, and since then they have made further requests of the like tenor and urged still more violent inconveniences that may follow if I do not accept. So far I have resisted all such proposals in spite of the fact that I have perceived certain inconveniences in my doing so, but I am desirous that your Majesty should be entirely convinced of my fealty and wholehearted desire to serve him, holding that as my principal object, since if your Majesty should have any other opinion of me, I should desire no goods or rewards in this world but rather to quit it altogether.

To this end I have put aside everything, nay, more, I have done everything I could to support Marcos de Aguilar in that office, who was the chief justice of the late Luis Ponce and accompanied him here; I have more than once asked and required him to proceed with the accounts of my governorship and complete them; but he has been unwilling to do so saying that he has no power to conclude such a matter, which grieved me not a little, since I desire above all things and not without cause that your Majesty should be truly informed of my services and faults; for I hold it certain (and not without reason) that knowing them your Majesty will grant me great and extensive favours, considering not how little my slight capacity may be capable of receiving but how much your Majesty is obliged to bestow on one who has served him as well and faithfully as I have done. I therefore beg your Majesty with all the earnestness of which I am capable not to allow this matter to remain in doubt, but to see that what is good and evil in my services to your Majesty be published openly and with all frankness. It is a matter in which honour is concerned, to gain which I have suffered great toils and exposed my person to a thousand dangers: may God not grant, nor your Majesty permit nor consent that the tongues of envious, evil and angry men should succeed in despoiling me of it. I neither wish nor beg your Majesty in reward of my services to grant me any other boon than this, without which God grant I may cease to live.

In my judgment, most catholic Prince, while I have had since first I concerned myself with this business, many, various and powerful rivals and enemies, yet their envy and malice have been unable to effect anything which my notorious loyalty and services have not overborne; so that despairing of all other measures they have at last hit on two by which, it would seem, they have obscured the eyes of your Majesty by some manner of cloud or falsehood, and so moved him from that godly and catholic intent which your Majesty has ever displayed to requite and pay me for my services. One of those measures is to accuse me before your Majesty of the crime of high treason (crimine lesæ majestatis), declaring that I have refused obedience to royal decrees and hold this land not in the might of your name but in a tyrannical and abominable manner, to which end they give base and diabolical reasons which are nothing more than false and idle conjectures. Whereas, were they to regard my works themselves like unbiassed judges they would have to give a very different opinion. For up to this present there has not been, nor shall there be while I live, a single letter or other decree of your Majesty addressed to me or brought to my notice which has not been and shall not be in the future duly obeyed and complied with by me down to the smallest detail. But of late the malice of those who have made such accusations has been more clearly and openly revealed, for were their accusations true I should never have journeyed six hundred leagues away from this city through an uninhabited land and by dangerous roads nor left the land in the charge of your Majesty’s officials, whom one might have thought the persons most likely to display the greatest zeal in your Majesty’s service, although their actions were far from corresponding to the trust I reposed in them.

The second accusation is that I have possessed myself of all or nearly all the inhabitants of this land who serve me and by whom (they say) I have gathered together great store of silver and gold which I keep treasured up. They add that I have spent more than 70,000 gold pesos of your Majesty’s revenue over and above what was necessary; also that I have not sent all the gold due to your Majesty’s revenue, but have kept back some portion of it by certain subtle ways and means, whose working is beyond my power to fathom. But doubtless since they have heard the rumour they will have given some colour of truth to it, though for my part I confess that if any such malversation had taken place it would need no very minute observation to discover the fraud. As to their accusation that I possess a large part of the land, I admit that it is true and that no small quantity of gold has been had from it. But I maintain that such gold as has been obtained has not been sufficient to prevent my remaining a poor man and in debt to the tune of over 500,000 pesos of gold without so much as a castellano with which to pay it.³² For if much has been received much more has been spent, and that not in buying lordships or other sources of income for myself but in extending your Majesty’s dominions and property in these parts, conquering and winning over at the cost of such gold (as also at the cost of exposing my person to numberless toils, risks and perils) many kingdoms and lordships for your Majesty: which conquests cannot be hidden or glossed over by the serpent tongues of these evil men. For if my books be examined there will be found more than 30,000 pesos of my own fortune spent on these conquests; and it was only when what I had was spent that I used the 70,000 pesos of your Majesty, and even then not spending them myself nor taking possession of them but handing them over to others to defray expenses of conquest that they were profitably used is abundantly clear from the results. As to their accusation that I have not sent your Majesty’s revenues, it is manifestly false, since during this short time that I have been in this land, I believe, and it is the truth, that more treasure has been sent from here to your Majesty than from the Islands and the mainland during the whole of the thirty odd years since they were discovered and settled, be it noted, at great expense to your Majesty’s ancestors, the Catholic Kings. There has been no expense here; and not only has that portion belonging to your Majesty’s revenue been duly sent but also some portion of what belonged to myself and those who helped me, excepting those sums which we spent in the royal service. For with my very first letter to your Majesty by the hands of Alonso Hernández Portocarrero and Francisco de Montejo I sent not merely the fifth due to your Majesty but all that we had so far obtained, which seemed to me right as being the firstfruits of the conquest. Then during Muteczuma’s lifetime all the gold that was obtained in the capital was melted down and a fifth sent to your Majesty, which amounted to over 30,000 castellanos; and although the jewels would also normally have been divided up, each man receiving his share, yet both they and I gladly decided not to distribute them but to send them all to your Majesty, to the value of over 500,000 pesos. Both the gold and the jewels, I admit, were lost, being taken from us by the enemy when we were forced to leave the city as a result of the rising provoked by Narváez’s visit to this land; and thus, while it were perhaps a reward for my sins, it was not due to any negligence of mine. Moreover when the capital was afterwards recaptured and reduced to your Majesty’s royal service I again settled that after a fifth of the melted gold had been set aside for your Majesty all the jewels should be sent with it, which were of no less value than those we formerly possessed, and to this all my companions agreed. Accordingly I dispatched them with great haste and caution together with 30,000 pesos in golden ingots under the charge of Julian Alderete, then your Majesty’s treasurer, but the French captured them. Yet again this was not my fault but the fault of those who failed to supply the convoy for them as far as the Azores, as they ought to have done for so valued a cargo.

Again when I left the capital for Honduras, 70,000 pesos were dispatched to your Majesty in the charge of Diego de Ocampo and Francisco de Montejo, and the only reason that more was not sent was that in my opinion, as also in that of your Majesty’s officials, even to send so much was exceeding and contravening the provisions laid down by your Majesty for the shipping of gold from these parts; yet we were so bold as to send this sum on account of the need which we knew your Majesty had of it. And in this ship I also sent your Majesty by the hand of Diego de Loto, my servant, all that I had, retaining not so much as a peso for myself; my offering took the form of a silver cannon which, including the metal, casting and other expenses, cost me over 35,000 golden pesos. I likewise sent certain ornaments of gold and precious stones, not for their intrinsic value, though that was not inconsiderable for me, but because the French had captured those I had originally sent, and I was grieved that your Majesty should not have seen them, but now seeing a sample of them your Majesty might consider what the total amount had been like. Thus, since I have ever been eager to serve your Majesty loyally with what I had, I know not what reason there can be for thinking that I should retain anything that belongs to your Majesty. In addition the officials have informed me that in my absence they did not fail to dispatch a certain quantity of gold at every opportunity that they had.

(Finally, says Cortés, out of the 200 separate estates from which he draws revenue in Mexico he is willing as a proof of his entire loyalty to hand over 180 to the Emperor, retaining only 20 for himself: he begs that all suspicion may be removed from his Majesty’s mind and that he will grant him the opportunity of serving him at Court; by which, he said, “I think your Majesty will profit greatly, since as one who is first in information I shall be able to advise your Majesty of what I actually provided for and what is expedient to be done in your Majesty’s service, so that he will run no risk of being misled by false reports.” Too often, Cortés adds, both on the Islands and on the mainland the annual revenue is diminished instead of increased solely on account of bad government and because those who advise the Emperor are zealous for their own particular interests, not the service of his Majesty. He has already done much in extending the royal dominions, conquering many provinces and noble towns and cities, Stamping out idolatry and bringing many to the bosom of the Catholic faith, so much so indeed that in a short time one may expect to see arise in this new land a church, in which more than any other in the world God may be worshipped and glorified. If, however, concludes Cortés the Emperor cannot grant him this favour of returning to Spain, he begs at least that he will grant him suitable provision in Mexico for himself and his heirs that he may not find himself forced on arriving in Spain to beg for bread. He adds a brief outline of his plans for further exploration.

There are three ships at Zacatula prepared to examine the Southern Sea for spice islands and find if possible the long-sought Strait communicating with the Atlantic. Another expedition is being sent by land and sea to settle the Tabasco river. Three captains are also being dispatched to the province of the warlike Zaputecans to subdue them; for not only have they been disturbing their peaceful neighbours but within their territory are the richest mines in all New Spain. Another expedition is going north to the las Palmas river in the direction of Florida. Between the province of Mechuacan and the sea to the north are the Chichimecas, a savage tribe; a small army is being sent against them. The captain has orders “if he find any aptitude or capacity in them to live as the other native inhabitants, accept the Catholic faith, and acknowledge the service they owe to his Majesty, he is to pacify them and bring them under his Majesty’s yoke, establishing a settlement there in whatever part seem to him best; but if he find no such signs, but rather that they are unwilling to be obedient, he is to make war on them and take them as slaves, that there may be no useless tribes in the land nor such as do not recognize and serve his Majesty, and by enslaving these tribes, who are indeed almost savages, his Majesty will be served and the Spaniards profited not a little, for they can dig gold from the mines, and it may be that merely by coming into contact with us some of them will become civilized.” Finally, the captain who had been dispatched some two months before Cortés left the capital for Honduras to the town of Coliman, over a hundred leagues away on the Southern Sea, had just returned, having proceeded a hundred and thirty leagues further down the coast as ordered. He brought news of many tribes, some peaceful, some warlike, great cities, and a river so large that it might well be the strait for which they were seeking. Cortés accordingly sent him back with fresh troops and munitions to explore further. He then proceeds:)

The captains of all these expeditions are prepared to depart almost all at once. May it please God to guide them, for though I lose your Majesty’s favour I cannot cease from serving him, for it is impossible but that in time your Majesty will come to recognize my services; and even though this time never come, yet I am satisfied in doing my duty and in the knowledge that I hold myself in debt to no man while my services and loyalty are well known to all with whom I deal. I desire no other estate to bequeath to my sons than this.

Invincible Cæsar, our Lord God preserve the life and expand the kingdom of your Sacred Majesty for many days to come, as your Majesty desires.

From this city of Tenochtitlan, the 3rd of September 1526.

HERNAN CORTÉS.