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…
deep and broad; after this our route would lay through an extensive moorland, full of
dangerous bogs, and they assured us we should not be able to cross the rivers without
canoes. Cortes therefore despatched two Spaniards with three distinguished Indians in
advance, to bring him an accurate account ofthe state of the rivers and the marshes, and
inform him what would be the easiest method of crossing them. The two soldiers who
receivedthese commands were, Pedro de Ribera and Martin Garcia, of Valencia,who was
alguacil of our army, and in whom our general placed thegreatest confidence. They set out
on their march, explored the riversin small canoes, and were of opinion that the only way to
pass theformer would be by throwing bridges across; but as for the marshes,which lay four
miles further on, they had never even given them athought, and they only brought word
about the difficulty of throwingbridges across the water. Cortes then sent for myself and
GonsaloMexia, and commissioned us to go in company of some of the chiefs ofCiguatepec
to the Acallan townships, and do all in our power to gainthe friendship of the inhabitants,
that they might not run away as ourarmy approached.
These Acallan townships were above twenty in number, some builton the mainland, some
on the small islands which lay in the river andat the head of the estuary, so that they could
only communicate with each other by means of canoes. We accordingly set out with our
Indian friends, who, however, deserted us on the first night, becausethey were at enmity
with these townships, as we subsequently learnt.We were, therefore, obliged to continue
our route in the best way we could without the help of guides, and it was only with the
greatest difficulty we found our way through the morasses to the first of the Acallan
townships. Although on our approach the inhabitants immediatelytook up arms, we sought
to gain their friendship by kind words and presents of glass beads, begging of them to
accompany us to Malinche and take him something to eat. These people were then not
aware that Cortes was advancing with so large a body of foot andhorse, and showed little
inclination to return with us. It was notuntil the following day, when they learnt from some
Indian merchants what a large army Malinche had with him, that they evinced greater
willingness to supply him with provisions. Though, at the same time,they told us he must
wait for these until he arrived in person, when they would gladly supply him with
everything that lay in their power.They could not think, they added, of entering upon the
territory of Ciguatepec, where their enemies lived. While we were thus holding a
conference with these people, two Spaniards arrived with a letter fromCortes, in which he
desired me to meet him on his march with as large a quantity of provisions as I could
possibly collect together, forthe whole of the inhabitants of Ciguatepec had suddenly fled,
and nota morsel of food was to be got; he was therefore compelled to commencehis march
immediately, and I was to use all my endeavours topersuade the caziques to remain in their
townships.
[Pg 247]
These two Spaniards also told me that our general had despatchedfour men up the river in
search of provisions among the townships,which were said to lie in that direction. But none
of these men hadreturned, having most probably been murdered by the inhabitants.
Cortes, therefore, began his march, and arrived in the space of twodays on the banks of the
broad river above mentioned. Here he displayedhis usual activity of mind in superintending
the construction ofa bridge, which, with the utmost exertions, was completed in thespace
of four days of the tallest and thickest trees growing in theneighbourhood, which greatly
excited the astonishment of the inhabitantsof Acala. During these four days our troops had
scarcely anything to eat, as they had commenced their march without any provisions
whatever. And what was worse, they were totally ignorantwhether any maise was to be had
further on, or whether the country was at peace. Some of the veteran troops stopped the
gnawing painof hunger by cutting down a species of very tall palm-tree, which boreon the
topmost branches a kind of nut, with an uncommon hard shell,these they roasted in the fire
and ate the kernel.
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