The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an…
of adelantado and governor of the provinces borderingon the river St. Peter and St. Paul,
and of all the countries heshould discover.
By virtue of this appointment he fitted out three vessels, having on board 240 men;
including a strong body of cavalry, crossbow-men,and musketeers. The chief command of
this armament he gave to Alonso Alvarez Pinedo, who, as I have above mentioned, was
sooncut off, with the greater part of his men, by the Indians, so that therewas only one
vessel with sixty men that escaped to Vera Cruz, who,with their captain, Comargo, entered
our army.
Garay, being ignorant of the miserable termination of this expedition, sent out two more
vessels, under command of Diaz de Auz and Ramirez, with many soldiers, horses, a
quantity of provisions, and a considerablestore of arms of various kinds; but when these
vessels arrived in theriver Panuco, and nowhere met with any traces of the other armament,
excepting a few pieces of burnt wood of the first vessels, lying on theshore, they likewise
put into Vera Cruz. Though I have mentionedall this above, it was nevertheless necessary to
recapitulate these circumstanceshere, to render the whole more intelligible to the reader.
After Garay had thus spent so much money to no purpose, and heard of the great good
fortune which attended Cortes; of the large towns he had discovered, and of the vast
treasures in gold and jewels which hehad accumulated in New Spain, envy, as well as thirst
for riches, also rose up in his breast to torment him; and he was resolved to fit out as
extensive an armament as he possibly could, and to take the command of it himself. He
accordingly equipped a small fleet, consisting of eleven vessels and two brigantines, on
board of which there were 130 horse and 840 foot, most of the latter being armed with
muskets andcrossbows. As he was a man of great wealth, he spared no expensein fitting
out this splendid armament. With this fleet Garay leftJamaica in the month of June, of the
year 1523, sailed in the directionof Cuba, and thence ran into the harbour of Xagua, where
he learnt that Cortes had already subdued the whole province of Panuco; that he had
founded a colony there, and that the expedition had costhim above 60,000 pesos; that he
had petitioned his majesty to unitethe government of this province with that of New Spain,
and to appoint him the viceroy. This of itself was disheartening to Garay; but when he
further heard of the heroic deeds of Cortes and his companions, andhow we with a mere
handful of men had gained the victory over Narvaez,although he had an army of 1300 men,
besides eighteen heavy guns, he began to fear the good fortune of our general. His
apprehensions were further augmented by what he heard from several distinguished
personagesof Cuba, who had come to pay their respects to him at Xagua;among these was
also the licentiate Zuazo, whom the royal court ofaudience at St. Domingo had expressly
sent to Cuba, to reside nearDiego Velasquez. From the different interviews which Garay
had withZuazo, he soon foresaw that, if he proceeded to Panuco, he would haveto dispute
its possession with Cortes; he therefore proposed to Zuazothat he should accompany him
thither, and act as a mediator betweenhimself and Cortes. To this Zuazo replied, that he was
not at libertyto leave his present abode without permission from his superiors, butthat he
would follow him as soon as possible.
[Pg 150]
Garay then weighed anchor and sailed in the direction of Panuco. He encountered very
boisterous weather at sea, so that he was driven too far north off the mouth of the river
Palmas, which he entered withhis fleet on the day of Santiago de Compostella. Here he sent
severalof his officers, with a small detachment of his troops, on shore, whoreturned with so
bad an account of the country that Garay determinedto leave this place and go in search of
the river Panuco, and to repairto the town Cortes had founded, where, at the same time, he
wouldbe nearer to Mexico. Upon this, Garay again required the whole ofthe officers and
soldiers to take the oath of fidelity, and to promiseimplicit obedience to him as captaingeneral.
He likewise appointedthe alcaldes, the regidors, with all the chief authorities of a
town he intended to found, and to which he said he would give thename of Garayana. He
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