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…
But all this is rather foreign to my narrative, and I will rather relate what happened to
Sandoval and the other officers whom Cortes sent outto form settlements in the provinces.
But so many circumstances happened in the meantime, that I was obliged to break the
thread of myhistory, and they were certainly too important to withhold from thecurious
reader. There was the arrival of Christobal de Tapia in VeraCruz, which obliged Cortes to
recall Sandoval and Alvarado from theirexpeditions into the provinces, in order that they
might assist him withtheir excellent support and counsel in a matter of so much importance.
Then there was the insurrection in the province of Panuco, and themission to our emperor;
and so it happened that my narrative becamerather confused.
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CHAPTER CLX.
How Sandoval arrives in the town of Tustepec, what he did there; hismarch to
the river Guacasualco, and what further happened.
As soon as Sandoval arrived in the township of Tustepec, messengersof peace came to him
from every part of the province, and therewere only a few Mexican chiefs who durst not
make their appearance,on account of the sixty Spaniards, with their wives, (all of Narvaez's
corps,) who had been massacred in this place. It was two months afterthis tragical affair
that I arrived at Tustepec with Sandoval, and I took up my quarters in a kind of tower,
which had been a temple. In thissame tower my unfortunate countrymen had sought refuge
when they were attacked by the inhabitants, and had defended themselves until hunger,
thirst, and wounds put an end to their existence. I selectedthis tower, which was very high,
to rid myself of the moschitoes, whichswarmed in this neighbourhood, and plagued us all
day long; besideswhich, I was here in the immediate vicinity of Sandoval's quarters,which
rendered mine doubly convenient to me.
Sandoval was very desirous of getting the above-mentioned chiefsinto his power, and at
length succeeded in capturing the principal one,who was tried, and sentenced to the stake.
Several other Mexicanswere brought in at the same time with this chief, but though they
hadequally deserved death, they were allowed to go at large, and thus onehad to suffer for
all. Sandoval then sent to the townships of the provinceof the Tzapotecs, which lay about
forty miles further on, desiring them to despatch messengers of peace to him; but they
refusing to do so, he ordered off the captain Briones (who had commanded one of the
brigantines, and had, as he himself assured us, signalized himself in the Italian wars,)
against them, with one hundred men, among whom there were thirty crossbow-men and
musketeers, besides one hundred auxiliaries of the allied provinces. The Tzapotecs were
duly apprized of Briones's approach, and lay in ambush for him, from which they fell
suddenly upon him, and wounded more than a third part of his men, ofwhom one died soon
after. The Tzapotecs inhabit the most ruggedand inaccessible mountain districts, where no
cavalry can approach, andeven the foot soldiers could with difficulty move along narrow
paths, one behind the other; besides which, these mountains are enveloped in everlasting
mists, and the dew is always falling, which renders the ground so slippery that it is
dangerous to move along. The lances of thispeople were also very formidable, and much
longer than ours, and providedwith a species of blade made of flint, which is much sharper
than aSpanish sword. They also had light shields, which covered the whole body,and they
use the bow, the pike, and the sling. When these wild people,who are excessively nimble,
bounded from one rock to another, where our men could not get at them, they
communicated with each other bymeans of piping and shouting, and the noise rolled and
resoundedthrough the mountains for a length of time, until lost in distant echoes.
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