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… Marina, whom they informed that they were inhabitants of a township which lay onan island sixteen miles further on. Our general then despatched thelesser of the two canoes, with four of the Indians and two Spaniards,thither, in order to request the caziques to come with their canoes andferry us over the water, and our men were to present them with some Spanish toys, and assure them that no harm should be done theirpersons. The whole of the troops now marched forward until they arrived onthe banks of the broad river, where, to our great joy, we found the caziques, besides several other distinguished personages waiting forus with five canoes, a supply of maise, and a number of fowls. Our general addressed the caziques very affectionately; and, after they hadheld some excellent discourses with him, he embarked with thirty crossbow-men in the canoes, and so proceeded with the chiefs to theirtown. When arrived there, they set before him the best of everythingin the shape of provisions, and presented him with several of theircloaks and a small quantity of gold, though of inferior quality.According to their assurances, there were men like ourselves in twodifferent townships, namely, in Nito, which we called San Gil de BuenaVista, lying on the north coast, and in Naco, which lay in the interiorof the country. According to their account, these two towns were tendays' journey distant from each other. We were very much surprisedthat Oli should thus have divided his troops, we being at that momentignorant of the existence of Buena Vista, founded by Avila. [Pg 257] The whole of our troops passed the broad river in canoes, and weencamped for the night eight miles further on to wait for Cortes, who still continued at the township above mentioned. On returning to themain body, he ordered one of the horses, which had likewise been overheatedin chasing the deer, to be left behind. While we were stayinghere, one of our negroes and two female slaves ran away. Even threeSpaniards chose rather to stay here and run the risk of being murderedby the Indians than to undergo the fatigues of our march for anotherthree days. I myself was far from well; the excessive heat of the sunhad affected my head, and I scarcely knew how to bear myself. Buteven this distressing heat was more welcome to us than the torrents ofrain which began to fall, and lasted, without intermission, for threedays; nevertheless, we were obliged to continue our march, as we hadnot a morsel of food left. In the space of two days we arrived at somesmall hills, which were completely covered with stones, and these sosharp that they cut like razors. Our men gave themselves considerabletrouble in searching for some other road in order to avoid these stones,but all their endeavours were fruitless, though they went to a distanceof above four miles. This part of our march was most dangerous forthe horses; for, as it still continued to rain, they constantly stumbled, and were sure to cut their knees, and even their bellies in the most dreadful manner on the pointed stones; but the descent was stillmore difficult, eight of the horses being killed and many others shockinglylacerated, and one of the soldiers named Palacios Rubios, a relative of Cortes, had the misfortune to break his leg. We could not, therefore, feel sufficiently thankful to the Almighty when at last we got clear of this mountain of flint, as we ever after termed it. [Pg 258] As we had now advanced within a short distance of the townshipTaica, we were not a little rejoiced at the thoughts that we should againget some food. In the neighbourhood of this place we came to a riverwhich poured down over the precipices of a very high mountain, andwas so much swollen by the rain of the three last days that it rolleddown in immense volumes, and the roaring noise of the flood, as it dashed from one precipice to another, could be distinctly heard at thedistance of eight miles. There was no other possibility of passingthis turbulent river but by throwing a bridge across from one rock tothe other. We accordingly set to work with the utmost diligence, and in the space of three days we constructed a bridge of the largest trees,and the whole of us passed safely to the other side of these cataracts.While we were engaged in building this bridge, the Indians of Taicahad gained sufficient time to run off and conceal all their provisions. When, therefore, we arrived in this township and met not a singleinhabitant, nor found the smallest particle of food to still our hunger,we stared at each other in dismay when we considered our dreadful https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 172/282
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… position. The hope of soon obtaining food had alone inspired us withsufficient courage and strength to undertake the construction of this bridge. For myself I do not hesitate to acknowledge that I never, inthe whole course of my life, felt so distressed in mind as on this occasion,when I found that I could neither procure food for my men normyself. Added to all this, we had overheated ourselves by marchingabout the neighbourhood in a burning sun for a couple of hours insearch of the inhabitants. It happened to be the eve of Easter day,and I shall never forget this day as long as I live; and the reader caneasily imagine what a pleasant Easter we spent without a morsel of food. We should have considered ourselves blessed and happy if wehad only had a handful of maise. In this great distress Cortes despatched all his servants and grooms with our guides to traverse the hills in search of maise plantations. On the first day of Easter they indeed returned with some maise, butall they had was scarcely a bushel, and what was this among so many mouths! Cortes, seeing that our distress was each moment increasing, ordered myself and several other soldiers, mostly of those who hadsettled in Guacasualco, into his presence, and told us our condition wasat present so lamentable, that he must beg of us to search the wholecountry round to procure some kind of provisions or other. Pedro deIrcio happened to be present when Cortes was thus soliciting us; andas he was always ready with a mouthful of words, he supplicatedCortes to give him the command of this foraging party. As far asregards myself, replied our general, go, and may God be with you!But as I was well aware that Ircio was a miserable pedestrian, and,instead of being any assistance to us, would only be a troublesomecompanion, I secretly communicated what I thought to Cortes and myfriend Sandoval, and requested that he might not be sent with us, as aperson with splay feet as he had was least of all able to make hisway through bogs and marshes; added to which, he was all talk, butseldom acted, and altogether unable to bear the fatigues of a longmarch. Our general, accordingly, followed my advice, and he countermandedthe order he had given to Ircio. I now set out with four soldiers and two guides. First we passed several rivers of considerable depth, then crossed some marshes untilwe arrived at a small village, whither most of the inhabitants of thedeserted township had fled. Here we had likewise the good fortune tofind four houses, completely filled with maise, also about thirty fowls,and a few melons. We captured four Indians and three women, and we now celebrated Easter right jollily. Above a thousand Mexicanswhom Cortes had sent after us arrived in the night, and we immediatelyloaded as much of the maise on them as they could carry, with whichthey returned to our camp: we at the same time sent above twentyfowls for Cortes and Sandoval, besides the prisoners we had taken, andthen placed a watch over these storehouses in order that the inhabitantsmight not set fire to them during the night, or carry off their contents. The following day we continued our march, and discovered some more buildings full of maise, fowls, and various kinds of vegetables. HereI made myself a little ink, and I wrote a letter to our general on a smallpiece of drum skin, requesting him to send me a detachment of Indian troops, as we had found another storehouse full of provisions. The next day, accordingly, above thirty Spaniards and 500 Indians arrived,and each took as heavy a load of provisions as he could possibly carry.In this way God in his great mercy again relieved us in the utmostdistress, and we halted five days in Taica to rest from our fatigues. [Pg 259] [Pg 260] The bridges which we threw across the numerous rivers we passedon our march had been so strongly put together that several of themwere still to be seen for many years after; and subsequently, when all these provinces were subjected to the Spanish crown, our countrymen regarded them in astonishment, and exclaimed, These are the bridges of Cortes! in the same way as people say, These are the columns ofHercules! After marching forward for two more days, we arrived at a townshipcalled Tania, which was also deserted by its inhabitants, though wefound some maise and other provisions, but not in sufficient quantityfor our troops. On thoroughly exploring the country round about, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 173/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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