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… marching hither, in company of several cavaliers, in search ofCortes, to hasten his return to Mexico. He likewise gave us full particularsof everything that had taken place in this town during ourabsence, and how the government of New Spain had been offered toAlvarado, who had not dared to accept of it, from fear of the factor. After two days' further march, we came up with Alvarado himself,who was encamped, with his men, in a township, called CholutecaMalalaca. It would, indeed, be a difficult task for me to describe the delight he experienced when we told him of Cortes' departure for Mexico, which was the more excessive, as he was now spared the furtherfatigues of a long march, on which his troops had already suffered many hardships. In this township we likewise met several of Pedro Arias' officers, one of whom was named Garavito, and another Campannon, who said they were despatched by Arias to discover new countries, andto settle about some boundaries with Alvarado. The whole of our troops,and the two officers of Arias, remained three days in Choluteca, fromwhich place Alvarado despatched a certain Gaspar Arias de Avila, whohad settled in Guatimala, to the governor Arias, as we understood, respecting the preliminaries of a marriage, which is indeed most likely, as Gaspar Arias was a great adherer to Alvarado. [Pg 314] On the fourth day we left Choluteca, and continued our march tothe province of Guatimala, but before we could reach the territory ofCuzcatlan, through which our route immediately lay, the rainy seasonset in, and we found the river Lempa so greatly swollen, that it seemed an impossibility for us ever to cross it. The only resource we had leftwas to fell a ceiba tree of very large dimensions, of which we hollowed out a canoe of such magnitude, that nothing was ever seen equal to itin this country before. Even then it took us five whole days before we had all passed across, during which time we suffered dreadfully from hunger, as we had not a grain of maise left. After we had passed the river, we came to the townships of Chapanastec, where the inhabitants killed one of our men, namedNicuesa, and wounded three others. These men had gone out insearch of provisions, and were attacked before we could come up totheir assistance. As we did not wish to be detained any longer,we would not give ourselves the trouble of chastising the inhabitants for their murderous attack. This took place in that provincewhere at present the town of San Miguel is built. From this place wecame into the territory of Cuzcatlan, the inhabitants of which we foundvery hostilely inclined towards us; nevertheless, we had plenty of provisions; and we now came into some townships in the neighbourhood of Petapa, where the Guatimaltecs were lying in wait for us, in deep hollows, between steep rocks. It took us three days before we couldsucceed in forcing this passage. Here I was slightly wounded by an arrow. In this way we at length reached Petapa, and the day following wearrived in a valley, to which we gave the name of Fuerto, and in whichat present the town of Guatimala stands. At that time the whole ofGuatimala was up in arms against us, so that we had to fight our waythrough the country. I shall never forget the dreadful earthquake wefelt here. We were marching steadily along the slope of a rising ground,when the earth began to tremble so strongly, that several of our soldiers were no longer able to stand on their legs, and fell down; and thisfearful shaking continued for a considerable length of time. From thisplace we had a good road to Old Guatimala, where the two caziques Sacachul and Cinacan generally resided. However, the whole armed force of Guatimala lay in wait for us, in a deep hollow, near the town, to prevent our entry; but we soon dispersed them with considerableloss, and we took up our quarters for the night in the town, whichcontained many large and beautiful buildings, owing to the circumstance of all the caziques, who governed the neighbouring provinces,residing there. The next morning we again quitted the town, and encampedon the plain, where we constructed ourselves huts. Here we layfor the space of ten days, as Alvarado had twice summoned the inhabitantsof Guatimala, and other townships of the surrounding neighbourhood,to submit, and was desirous of knowing what [Pg 315] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 208/282
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… answer they wouldreturn; but as they neither sent any message nor ambassadors to him,we again broke up our camp, and continued to move forward by forcedmarches. We did not, however, pass any way near to the districtwhere Alvarado had left his brother Gonzalo in command of the greatbody of his troops, for the whole country had risen up in arms. The township we next came to was Olintepec, where we halted for severaldays, to rest from our fatigues. From this place we marched to Soconusco and Teguantepec, where two of our countrymen, and theMexican cazique Juan Velasquez, who had been commander-in-chief under Quauhtemoctzin, died on the road. Here it was that we receivedthe first intelligence of the death of the licentiate Leon, which was themore to be regretted, since so much good was expected from him, andthe excellent choice which his majesty had made in his person. We now marched forward with the utmost expedition, so impatientwere we to see Mexico again. As, altogether, we were eighty in number,and that under the command of Alvarado, we immediately sent Cortesnotice, when we had arrived in Chalco, that on the following day weintended making our entry into Mexico, and we begged that quartersmight be got in readiness for us, as, during an absence of above two years and three months, we should almost be strangers there. As soon as it was known in Mexico that we had arrived in Iztapalapan, Cortes, accompanied by several cavaliers, came out to meet us along the causeway.The first building we visited in the town was the principal church,whither we instantly repaired, to offer up our thanks to the Almighty for our safe return. From the church we were conducted by Cortes to his palace, where a sumptuous repast had been prepared for us. Alvarado took up his quarters in his official dwelling, belonging to the fortifications,of which he was alcalde at that time. Sandoval gave Luis Marina lodging in his house, and I, and one of my friends, the captain LuisSanchez, were invited by Andreas de Tapia to take up our abode withhim, and we were treated with every mark of respect. I now very soonreceived from Sandoval, Cortes, and other of my old friends of thistown, different articles of wearing apparel, some gold, and a quantityof cacao, all of which were sent as presents to me. The next day afterour arrival, I and my friend Luis Sanchez, having first attended mass,walked out together in the town, first of all to pay our respects to the governor Marcos de Aguilar. We requested Sandoval and Tapia to accompany us on this occasion, to interest themselves for us with thegovernor; to which they readily consented, and they explained to himwho we were, what important services we had rendered to the crown,and then begged of him to bestow on us Indian commendaries in theneighbourhood of Mexico, as those we possessed in the province ofGuacasualco were of very little value. [Pg 316] Marcos de Aguilar, in reply, promised very kindly to do all hecould for us, but at the same time assured us that it was totally out of his power either to grant or take away any commendary, as Ponce deLeon, in his last will, had particularly ordered that all the lawsuits and the unoccupied commendaries should remain as they were until his majesty had otherwise disposed; and concluded by saying, that assoon as he should receive full powers to distribute the Indians, hewould present us with the most lucrative commendaries in the wholecountry. About this time, also, Diego de Ordas arrived from Cuba in Mexico,and as it was said he had written the letters which the factor sent to Spain, respecting the certainty of our all having perished with Cortesin the late expedition, the latter, Sandoval, and several other cavaliers, reproached him most bitterly for having written things of which he had no certainty, and that by his letters he had brought New Spain tothe brink of destruction; but Ordas swore most solemnly that he hadnever written any letter to that effect. He certainly had been, he said,in a township called Xicalango, and had learnt that two Spanish vessels had lain there for some time; that a dispute had arisen among the menon board, who came to blows, and many on both sides were killed; and that the few who remained were massacred by the Indians. It was respecting this unfortunate affair that he had written to New Spain,and this might, indeed, have caused the rumours to be set afloat of ourtotal destruction. Moreover, the letter he had written might still be found among the factor's [Pg 317] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 209/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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