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…
many banditti, plundered and burned the townships, and forcibly carried off the females,
until the natives rose up against them in a body.Cortes' only reason for despatching several
of his officers to Garay wasthat they might assist him with their advice and authority; to
peruse his papers, and see how far they interfered with the powers which Cortes had
obtained from his majesty. When Garay found that thewhole of his men had deserted, and
that the greater number of his vessels were lost, he repaired in person to Mexico, to beg
assistancefrom Cortes. On his road thither he everywhere met with the heartiestreception;
in Tezcuco a splendid banquet took place in his honour,and when he had approached within
a short distance of Mexico, Corteshimself came out to meet him, and quartered him in one
of his own palaces. They became so friendly with each other, that the preliminaries of a
marriage were settled between a daughter of Cortes and the eldest son of Garay, and in
consideration of this union it was particularlystipulated that Cortes was to assist Garay in
an expedition to the river Palmas. But because Garay soon after fell suddenly ill, and it
pleased the Almighty in his wisdom to call him to another world,Velasquez's agents had
thought proper to reproach Cortes with hisdeath! who, however, had given sufficient proofs
of the deep sorrow hefelt at his untimely end, by the funeral pomp with which he honoured
his last remains, and the mourning which he put on; besides which,the surgeons had stated
on oath that Garay died of pleurisy.
Cortes had likewise been reproached for subtracting an equal fifthwith the emperor from all
the gold that was collected; but to this the answer was, that the troops had unanimously
agreed to allow him such a share of the gold when they elected him captain-general and
chief justiceof New Spain, with the proviso, however, that this should only remainin force
until his majesty should otherwise dispose. For the rest, Corteswas in every way entitled to
this portion, as he had embarked his whole fortune in the service of his majesty, and on
different occasions had paidlarge sums out of his own private purse, as, for instance, in the
expeditionagainst Panuco alone he had expended above 60,000 pesos;moreover, it would
have been impossible for Cortes to have sent those valuable presents for his majesty to
Spain unless the troops had allowedhim this fifth.
Against this justification of Cortes' conduct, Velasquez's agents werealso unable to bring in
a word, and our agents continued:
Cortes had likewise been reproached for giving his men so trifling ashare of the gold; but
how was it possible for him to give more thanhe possessed; for the conquest of the city of
Mexico had produced verylittle gold, as the Tlascallans and other auxiliaries had carried off
thegreater part of the booty. It was likewise a false accusation againstCortes to say he had
put Quauhtemoctzin and other caziques to the torture, in order to extort more gold from
them. Cortes indeed hadbeen quite averse to this inhuman act, but the officers of the crown
had insisted on it, in order to force from them a confession as to wherethey had concealed
Motecusuma's treasure.
[Pg 205]
It was certainly true, continued our agents, that Cortes was buildingextensive and splendid
mansions, but in this he had the emperor'sinterest entirely at heart, for they were all built in
his majesty's name.It was, however, altogether false that he ordered the wood and stone to
be brought to Mexico from distant parts, for the wood grew near to the city, and was
conveyed thither by water; and as for the stones,they had, in all truth, a sufficient supply in
the place itself, from thenumerous temples which had been pulled down. Velasquez's agents
had altogether misrepresented things, with regard to the system of building in Mexico.
Cortes had certainly one great advantage withregard to labourers, for he had only to say the
word, and Quauhtemoctzin readily furnished him with the necessary workmen from the
surrounding townships; but this was quite in accordance with the custom of the country,
where the subjects are always obliged to build the housesfor their chiefs.
Narvaez's accusation, said our agents, is equally unfounded, whenhe says that Alonso de
Avila took the papers from him containing hisappointment, and had refused to return them,
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