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… bed, in order to pass into anadjoining large apartment, where a number of idols stood, and wherethe Indians were accustomed to hold their meetings. It seems that heforgot the two steps which led down into it, so that he fell ratherheavily, and bruised his head severely. This wound he had secretlydressed, nor did he himself ever mention the accident to any one. The next morning, very early, we again broke up our quarters, andour guides led us exactly in the direction they had previously described,and we arrived, without anything happening to us worthy of mention,in front of a morass, which lay at the foot of very high mountains, where we encamped for the night. With break of day we again continuedour march, and arrived about the hour of high mass, at atownship which lay in the midst of this extensive morass. This townhad every appearance of having been recently built, and indeed wefound that the houses had only been erected a few days before ourarrival. It was surrounded by a double entrenchment, formed of the trunks of large trees, encircled by other huge poles stuck in perpendicularly, The approaches were secured by a deep fosse, and they were protected by a double inclosure of a circular form: one of whichwas supplied with a regular battlement, small towers and loop-holes;the other was very high and strongly built of large stones, and waslikewise provided with a battlement. As the other side was coveredby the morass this place might, in every sense of the word, be called afortress. [Pg 254] When we entered the town we did not meet with a single inhabitant,but were surprised to find in the houses quantities of boiled turkeysand other fowls, dressed according to Indian fashion, with hot peppers and maise cakes, which they call tamales. We were perfectly astonished at this great abundance, and we made all manner of speculations on so extraordinary a sight. Another large building we found filled with bows and arrows and small darts. We now carefully searched the surrounding neighbourhood, but we could nowhere see any maiseplantations. While we were thus looking about us we observed fifteen Indiansapproaching from the side of the morass, who, on coming up,touched the ground with their hands and kissed it. These were thechiefs of the township, and they begged of Cortes, in a half-cryingtone of voice, not to set fire to their buildings. They had, they said,but recently settled in this spot, and had been compelled to fortifythemselves thus strongly from fear of their enemies; whom, if I donot mistake, they termed Lacandones. These people had burnt downtheir two former towns which lay on the plain, had plundered them of all they possessed, and had killed numbers of their countrymen. Onour further march we should pass over the ashes and ruins of their former habitations. These chiefs then related the cause of their enmity, and described their mode of warfare. Upon this Cortes inquired ofthem what had induced them to dress so large a quantity of turkeysand other fowls? To which the chiefs replied, that they again expectedan attack from the Lacandones, who would be sure, if victorious, tocarry off all their property and fowls; they had therefore determined to eat up all their provisions before the enemy arrived; but if theythemselves proved victorious, they would march into the enemy's towns,plunder them in their turn, and so make up for their recent losses. [Pg 255] Cortes told them he was extremely sorry to hear of their wars, but that it was not in his power to render them any assistance at present,as he was obliged to continue his march. This tribe, to whom the twoother large townships also belonged, through which we passed on thefollowing day, were termed the Mazotecs, a name which, in their language,denotes the land or the nation of the wild deer, and this wasindeed a most appropriate appellation, as the reader will presently see. From this place we took two guides with us, who led us over theruins of the two townships above mentioned, and gave us some furtheraccount of the Spaniards whom we should find at a considerable distancefurther on. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 170/282
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… CHAPTER CLXXVIII. We continue our march, and what further happened to us. After we had quitted this fortified township, we came into an extensive open plain, on which, as far as the eye could reach, there wasnot a tree to be seen, and the heat was more excessive than we hadever experienced before. This plain abounded with wild deer, which were so little shy that we could easily catch them with our horses, andin a very short time we killed upwards of twenty. On questioning our guides how it came that these animals were neither afraid of our horses nor anything else, and so easily to be caught, they answered that the Mazotecs revered them as beings of a superior nature, because they appeared such to them from their external form, and their idolshad strictly commanded the people not to kill or in any way to scarethem. One of Cortes' relatives, named Palacios Rubios, lost his horse inchasing these deer, for he galloped up and down the plain until thefat melted in its body, and the poor animal dropped down dead all ofa sudden. [47] It was not long before we came to the townships which had beendestroyed, and certainly they presented a most miserable picture to theeye. On our further march, our scouts came up with two Indianswho belonged to a town which lay in advance of us. These men were returning from the chase, and had killed a large lion and a number of iquanas, [48] which resemble small serpents, and are excellent food. Ourscouts then inquired of these Indians whether there was any township in the neighbourhood, to which they answered in the affirmative, andoffered their services to conduct them thither. This place lay on anisland in the fresh water, and could only be approached by means of canoes on the side we were advancing, which compelled us to march tothe distance of two miles along the water until we came to a spot wherethe latter was sufficiently shallow for us to wade through, though eventhen it reached almost up to our arms. Only a few of the inhabitantshad remained in the town, the rest having fled immediately on ourapproach, with all their property which they concealed among the reedsin the neighbourhood of their cultivated fields; but several of our men quartered themselves for the night among the maise plantations, feasted plentifully off the fruit, and took care to provision themselves for thenext day's march. [Pg 256] Adjoining this township lay a fresh water lake of considerable extent,which abounded with large fish covered with sharp prickles, and verymuch resembled the disgusting-looking and insipid-flavoured fish calledthe shad. By means of a few old cloaks and tattered nets which wefound in the deserted habitations, we dragged the lake from one endto the other, and succeeded in taking above 1000 of these ugly fish.Among the fields we likewise captured a few of the inhabitants, whowere requested by Doña Marina to guide us to the towns where themen with the beards and horses had settled. With this they readilycomplied, for they soon perceived it was not our intention to harm them in any way, and five of them immediately accompanied us. Atfirst the road along which we marched was very broad, but this graduallybecame narrower as we approached a broad river or estuary, whichwas much frequented by canoes. Here the inhabitants ferried across to the opposite township of Tayasal, situated on an island, and of which the houses and temples were covered with white plaster, so that theycould be seen to a vast distance. All the lesser townships in this neighbourhoodwere subject to the first mentioned. As our road was becoming very narrow, and we found that it terminatedin a small path, we resolved to encamp for the night in the vicinity of some elevated mountains. During the night-time Cortes despatchedfour companies along the footpaths which led to the estuary, in searchof guides; and, indeed, they had the good fortune to capture tenIndians and two females, with two canoes laden with maise and salt.When these people were brought into the presence of Cortes, he spoke to them in the most affectionate terms, through Doña https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 171/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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