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

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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… the last, thereby drawing off the enemy's attention from us; and while they were busily engaged in plundering our trunks we found time to set the canoesafloat, and to push off from the shore. Thus, through the great mercyof God, we made our escape by means of these canoes, and passedacross this deep and broad river, which abounded with alligators; butin order to elude the pursuit of these Cimatecs, we were obliged toconceal ourselves for the space of eight days among the mountains.In the meantime the news of our disaster had reached Guacasualco, and the four Indians, who had also been fortunate enough to save themselves by flight, confidently asserted, as we were so long in returning,that we must have been killed. Luis Marin, who likewise gave us up for lost, had already, as was customary at that time, divided our Indiancommendaries among the other Conquistadores, and had written toCortes for fresh indentures to convey the property; besides that, hehad sold off all our moveable goods by public auction. However, afterthe space of twenty-three days, we again, to the surprise of all, made our reappearance in Guacasualco, where our friends were indeed delightedto see us, but those who had obtained our possessions drew very long faces. Luis Marin was at length fully convinced that he should never be able to put down the rebellion in the provinces, unless he wasallowed a stronger body of troops, for now he was sacrificing thelives of the few men he had to no purpose. He resolved thereforeto repair in person to Mexico, and beg Cortes for a further reinforcement, and other necessaries, to carry on a war. He particularlycautioned the Spaniards to remain quiet during his absence, and ordered that they should not move to a greater distance than twenty miles from the town, unless to procure themselves provisions. [Pg 179] When Marin reached Mexico, and had given Cortes an account of the state of affairs in Guacasualco, he only furnished him with twentysoldiers, and desired him to return thither without delay. Among thesewas Alonso de Grado, whom I have so often mentioned above, and fatherJuan de las Varillas, who was a profound scholar, and had come to NewSpain with Zuazo. According to his own account, he had studied inthe college of Santa Cruz, at Salamanca, and he said he was of a verydistinguished family. Marin's instructions from Cortes were to march with all the Spaniardswho had settled in Guacasualco, and the fresh troops he brought with him, into Chiapa, to quell the disturbances, and found a new town inthis province. We therefore equipped ourselves in the best possible manner for this campaign, and commenced operations by clearing the road along the line of our route, for the country was full of swampsand dangerous mountains. We had to carry along with us heavy beams,by means of which our horse were to pass the marshes, but even those were insufficient in many places. In this way, with the utmost difficulty,we arrived at Tezpuatlan, which township we could only reachby ferrying across a broad river in canoes, for which purpose we hadfirst to run up the river to a considerable distance. From this placewe arrived at Cachula, which lies high among the mountains, in theprovince of Chiapa, and must not be confounded with a township ofthe same name, prettily situated in the neighbourhood of la Puebla de los Angeles. Leaving Cachula, we passed through several smalltownships dependent on it; here we made ourselves a perfectly new road along the river, which flows from Chiapa, for there was previously no road whatever in this place. The inhabitants of the surroundingdistricts lived in perpetual fear of the Chiapanecs, who at that time were the most warlike people of New Spain. I will not even except the Tlascallans, the Mexicans, the Zapotecs, or the Minges; nor were the monarchs of Mexico ever able to subdue them; besides which, their population was extensive, and their warlike spirit universallydreaded. They were continually at war with their neighbours ofCinacatan, the tribes on the lake Quilenayas, and with the Zoques; in short, they levied contributions on all the surrounding townships,dragged the inhabitants forcibly away to sacrifice them to their gods,and devoured their flesh at their festive orgies. They posted troops in all the narrow passes of Teguantepec, to lay wait for the trading Indianmerchants, thereby often destroying all intercourse between the differentprovinces. [Pg 180] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 122/282
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… They had even carried off into slavery the population of whole districts, and formed settlements of them in the neighbourhood of Chiapa, compelling them to cultivate their plantations. After we had marched to a considerable distance up this river towards Chiapa, (it was during the lent of the year 1524,) we halted within ashort distance of this place. Here Marin reviewed his troops, whichhe had been unable to do up to this moment, as a number of the inhabitants of the country had been absent, besides many of the soldiers, to collect the tribute of the townships, which lay dispersed among theCachula mountains. Our musterroll gave twenty-five horse, but of which five were scarcely fit for service; fifteen crossbow-men, and eight musketeers. We had one field-piece, and one artilleryman, who hadserved in the campaign of Italy; but that was all, for he was the mostdetermined coward I ever saw. The rest of our Spanish troops consistedof those who were armed with swords and bucklers, amountingto sixty men. Further we were joined by eighty Mexicans and the cazique of Cachula, with several other distinguished personages. Butthe men of this latter place stood in such dread of the enemy, that wecould only employ them in clearing the road as we advanced, and totransport our baggage. As we approached nearer to the enemy we conducted our march with greater military precaution, and the nimblest of our men werealways in front of the troops. I myself formed one of the scouts onthis occasion and had left my horse behind, as the nature of theground here was in every respect unfavorable for the cavalry. We were continually a couple of miles in advance of the main body, and as the inhabitants of Chiapa are very expert huntsmen, we soon came up with some of them, and immediately they kindled fires in variousdirections to assemble their warriors. In the vicinity of their townshipsthe road was uncommonly narrow, but the country round about wasbeautifully cultivated with maise and different kinds of leguminousplants. The first township we came to was Estapa, which lay aboutsixteen miles from the chief town, and was totally deserted by its inhabitants;but we found abundance of provisions, consisting in fowls,maise, and other eatables, so that we had a right good supper. As wehad carefully posted our watches, and sent out the patroles and pickets, we could not be taken by surprise, and two of the horse came suddenly galloping up with the intelligence that a large body of the enemy was approaching. However, we were always ready for action,so that we marched out against them before they could enter the town.A very severe conflict ensued, for the enemy were well provided with bows, arrows, lances, pikes of uncommon length, and excellent cotton cuirasses. Besides which they were armed with a species of club,shaped like a scimitar, and as the ground was strewed with stones theydid us much injury with their slings, and by an artful manœuvre attempted to surround us, killing two of our men and four horses in the first encounter. Besides which, father Juan and thirteen soldiers,with several of our Indian auxiliaries, were wounded, and Luis Marinhimself in two places. The battle lasted until nightfall, when, to our great joy the enemy retreated after we had severely punished them with our swords, muskets, and other weapons. Fifteen of their number lay dead on the field of battle, and several were so dreadfully wounded that they were unable to move. Two of these, who appeared to bemen of distinction, assured us that we should be attacked on the following day by the whole armed force of the country. [Pg 181] This night we spent in burying our dead and in dressing the woundsof our men. Our captain was himself very unwell, as he had lostmuch blood; and by standing so long on the field of battle had chilled his wounds. We observed the utmost vigilance during this night: the horses stood saddled, and the whole of us were ready for action ata moment's notice, for we were almost certain that the enemy contemplatedsome sudden attack. We considered our position in everyrespect dangerous, as with all our firing and courageous fighting wehad not been able to drive the foe from the field of battle, and we soondiscovered that we had to deal with bold and intrepid warriors. Ourcavalry were therefore commanded to charge the enemy's line in smallbodies, five abreast, and to poise their lances at the face. Several of us https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 123/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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