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…
four women andthree men, whom we had captured among the mountains. In gratitudefor
this, and in order to show how friendly they were disposed towards us, these Indians
presented our general with several ornaments of gold, but the metal was of an inferior
quality. In this neighbourhood wehalted three days, as it contained plenty of good food for
our horses,and a great abundance of maise. Cortes considered this would be amost eligible
spot to found a colony in, as the country round about contained a number of wealthy
townships, from which a settlement would derive great advantages, and have a constant
supply of all necessaries.Here Cortes also made the most minute inquiries of the caziques
and Indian merchants as to the route we were to take; for which purposehe laid before them
a piece of nequen cloth, he had broughtwith him from Guacasualco, and on which were
noted down all thetownships we had to pass through up to Huyacala. This place wastermed
by these Indians Great Acala, in order to distinguish it fromanother, called Little Acala, and
they assured us that the greater partof our route lay through a country containing numerous
rivers, andwas intersected in various places by arms of the sea. Up to Tamaztepecalone,
they said, which lay at a distance of three days' journey, weshould have to pass no less than
three rivers, and one estuary, whichwas exceedingly broad.
In consequence of this information, Cortes requested the caziques tofurnish us with canoes,
and assist us in the construction of bridges.This they readily consented to do, but took care
not to fulfil their promise.We, however, placed perfect confidence in what they had said,
and only took provisions for three days with us. But it appears they hadmerely wished to
get rid of us as speedily as possible; for, instead ofthree, it took us seven days' march before
we arrived at Tamaztepec,nor did we find at any of the rivers either canoes or bridges; so
thatour Indian friends had deceived us in every way. We were thereforecompelled to set to
work ourselves, to construct bridges sufficiently strong to carry our horses; every officer
and soldier set diligently towork in felling the heavy trees, and dragging them to the river
side, inall of which we were likewise greatly assisted by the Mexican warriors.Three days
were spent in the construction of this bridge, during whichtime we had nothing to subsist
on but grass, and a wild root called bythe Indians quecuenque, which burnt our lips and
tongues. After wehad at length, with great difficulty, safely crossed this broad estuary, our
further progress was almost impeded by an impenetrable barrier of thickets and woods,
through which we were obliged to cut a road withour swords. In this way we continued to
move forward in a straightline, in the hopes of reaching some township. One morning, as
usual,when we had again commenced marching forward in this laboriousmanner, Cortes
himself began to find that our position was trulymiserable. He could not help hearing how
the men murmured againsthim, and cursed the whole expedition, and the terrible hunger
theysustained; uttering aloud that he ought immediately to march back toMexico, if at least
he was not desirous of starving us to death. To allthis suffering was added, that we now saw
before us nothing but terrificmountains, which almost hid the very heavens from our view.
Thoughsome of us climbed to the tops of the highest trees, all we could seewas one huge
pile of mountains frowning above the other on every side.Besides this, two of our Indian
guides had secretly decamped, and thethird was so ill, that he was unable to move along,
and had so far lost hisrecollection, that he could give us no information as to which way we
were to bend our steps. But as Cortes was a man who never shrunkback from any difficulty,
and whose active mind was never at a loss, heordered the pilot Pedro Lopez to bring him
the compass, which he placed on our map of nequen cloth above mentioned, and then
desired him to point out the direction we were to take, in order to reach the nearest
township. In accordance with Lopez's instructions, we commenced cuttingour way through
the woods in an easterly direction, and moved upthe mountains. It was here that our general
himself declared he shouldbe quite at a loss what to do, if we did not reach some township
by thenext day.
[Pg 242]
Although every one of us would gladly have marched back to NewSpain at this moment,
yet, strengthened by hope, we continued our difficultroute, and in a short time it pleased
God we should come up to a treewhich had been recently cut down, and a little further on
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 162/282