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… CHAPTER CLXXX. How eighty of us on the second day after our arrival in Buena Vista,marched out under the command of Luis Marin to explore thecountry and to search for provisions. The population of the town of Buena Vista consisted of fortySpaniards, four Spanish ladies and two mulattoes. The whole of these people were suffering from ill health, and had a yellow sickly appearanceabout them. They had no provisions, and suffered as muchfrom hunger as we did ourselves, nor could any one tell where we wereto go in search of maise for this purpose. Cortes, therefore, saw that there was not a moment to be lost, and he despatched Luis Marin,with the men of Guacasualco, into the country. [Pg 267] We were altogether eighty in number, and we all set out on foot, inorder first to see whether horses would be able to traverse the country.An Indian, of Cuba, accompanied us as guide to some townships which lay thirty-two miles further up the country. When we reached these we found, to our inexpressible joy, that they contained great abundance of maise, beans, and other vegetables; besides that, the whole neighbourhoodwas literally sown with cocoa-nut trees. We first feastedsumptuously ourselves and then despatched a courier to our general,desiring him to send us all the Mexican troops to fetch away the maise,forwarding him in advance ten bushels of the latter as a supply forthe moment, and begged of him to send our horses to us. When Cortes learnt that we had arrived in so fertile a neighbourhood,and was told by some Indian merchants that the road to Naco,where Christobal de Oli was beheaded, led through the township wherewe were staying, he ordered Sandoval to follow us with the greaterpart of the remaining troops, and not to leave this township until he should receive further instructions. Sandoval, on arriving in our camp, was not a little delighted to findus thus surrounded by plenty, and he immediately despatched theMexicans with thirty bushels of maise to Cortes, who distributed this welcome supply among the colonists, and as they had not been accustomed for a length of time to any other nourishment than fruit and a little cassave bread, they ate so ravenously of the maise that the greaterpart fell ill in consequence, and seven of them died. During this great distress for want of provisions, it pleased theAlmighty that a vessel should run into the harbour from Cuba, havingon board seven passengers, seven horses, forty pigs, eight barrels ofpickled meat, and a large quantity of cassave bread. The cargo belongedto a certain Antonio de Comargo, and Cortes purchased thewhole of it upon credit, distributing a great part of the provisionsamong the colonists; but the consequences again proved fatal to manyof these unfortunate persons, for they had become so enfeebled, thattheir stomachs were unable to bear this very nourishing food, whichbrought on dysentery, and ten more of them died. As this vessel had brought a few soldiers and had eight sailors onboard, Cortes determined to embark in her and sail up the river to visitthe townships which lay on the banks, and to explore the interior ofthe country. He also ordered one of the brigantines of Gil Gonsalez de Avila to be repaired, and a boat to be constructed in the shape ofthose used in unloading vessels; also four canoes, to be securely fastenedtogether. On board these vessels Cortes embarked with thirtysoldiers, the eight sailors, and twenty Mexicans. He may have sailed up the river to the distance of about forty miles, when he came to alarge lake, which, to judge from the measurement of the eye, was about twenty-four miles in breadth, and its [Pg 268] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 178/282
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… banks were quite uninhabited, as the whole surrounding country was subject to frequent inundations.Further up, the river continually became more rapid, until the vesselsarrived at some cataracts, which none of them were able to pass; Cortes, therefore, landed his men here, and, after leaving six Spaniardsin charge of the vessels, he commenced his march up the country along a very narrow path. First, he arrived at some townships which were deserted by the inhabitants, and then to a few maise plantations, inwhich he captured three Indians, whom he took along with him asguides. These people conducted him to several small villages, wherethere was abundance of maise and fowls. The inhabitants here also kept pheasants, (which they call sacachueles,) tame partridges, andpigeons. This breeding of partridges as domestic birds I never observedin any other part of the country but in the townships on the GolfoDulce. From this place Cortes took new guides, and next arrived in some townships which are called Cinacatan-Tencintle. The whole surrounding neighbourhood was covered with maise, cacao, and cotton plantations. When Cortes had approached within a short distance, heheard the sound of drums, trumpets, and a noise as if the Indians werein the midst of some festive orgie. Our general then concealed himselfwith his men on a rising ground, in order to watch for a favorableopportunity of falling upon these Bacchanalians. This he accordinglydid before they were in the least aware of it, and captured ten men and fifteen women. The rest of the Indians fled to their town, armed themselves, and commenced flying their arrows at us. Cortes immediatelyfell upon them, and very soon cut down eight of their chiefs,which brought the others to their senses, and they despatched four old men, of whom two were papas, to our general, with a trifling present ingold, and begged hard that the prisoners might be restored to them.Cortes spoke to them through Doña Marina, who had accompanied thedetachment with her husband Juan Xaramillo, and gave them to understandthat they should send maise, fowls, salt, and a large supplyof other provisions to our vessels. If they complied with this he wouldimmediately restore the prisoners to their families. They accordinglyset their canoes afloat, which lay in a hollow communicating with theriver, and loaded them with the required provisions; but as Cortes didnot release all the prisoners at once, and detained three men with theirwives to bake some bread, the whole of the inhabitants again flew toarms, and showered forth their arrows, stones, and darts upon ourtroops, wounding twelve men, and Cortes himself in the face. Duringthis skirmish one of the canoes upset, by which part of the provisionswas lost, and one Mexican killed. There were such swarms of moschitoes along the banks of this river as to render it impossible for a person to live there; but Cortes boreeverything with patience, and returned to Buena Vista, which had never before been so well supplied with provisions. The last township, wherethe inhabitants had attacked Cortes, was called Cinacan, and consideredto be about 280 miles from Guatimala. In this expedition upthe river our general had spent twenty-six days; but, notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, he did not consider it an eligible spot for acolony, as the population of the country was too small. He thereforewrote word to Sandoval that he would shortly march to Naco himself, but that he was first desirous of making a short expedition to Puertode Caballos, for which purpose he would require ten of the veterans ofGuacasualco, without whom it was impossible to undertake anythingwhich required activity and perseverance. [Pg 269] CHAPTER CLXXXI. How Cortes embarks, with the soldiers who accompanied him on this expedition, and with all the inhabitants of Buena Vista, for Puerto de Caballos, where he founds a colony, to which he gives the name ofNatividad. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 179/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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