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…
The captain Briones then returned with a great number of his men wounded, he himself
having been struck by an arrow. The township where he met with this defeat was called
Tiltepec, and the inhabitantssubsequently submitted of their own accord, when the district
was givenas a commendary to a soldier, named Ojeda, the one-eyed, who at presentlives in
the town of San Ildefonso.
When Briones called upon Sandoval to give him an account of hisexpedition, and said a
great deal about the courage of the Tzapotecs,Sandoval reminded him of the many bloody
engagements he had spoken of in his Italian campaigns, and added, "It appears,
nevertheless,captain, that you experienced hotter work on this occasion than in anyof your
previous battles?"
Briones, who appeared greatly annoyed, swore that he would at anytime rather stand over
against heavy cannon and a large army, would even rather fight against the Turks and
Saracens, than against theTzapotecs; and adduced good reasons for saying so.
To this Sandoval immediately answered, "Then I must say I am sorry I gave you that
command; but after the many things you have told usof your Italian campaigns, I could not
help thinking but this expedition would be a mere frolic to you. In what light will these
Tzapotecs look upon us henceforth? At present they will certainly entertain a different
notion of our bravery to what they did previously!"
After this unfortunate expedition, Sandoval sent word to the inhabitantsof the province of
Xaltepec that they should despatch ambassadorsto us, and declare themselves vassals of our
emperor. This tribealso belongs to the Tzapotecs, and their country is bounded by that of
the Minxes, another very courageous and warlike tribe, with whom theXaltepecs happened
to be at war just then. Twenty of the caziques and principal personages soon made their
appearance, bringing withthem a present of gold dust in ten small tubes, besides various
prettyornaments. These chiefs were clad in very large cotton cloaks, whichhung down to
their feet, and were embroidered after the manner of theMoorish mantle. They presented
themselves to Sandoval with a most respectful demeanour, who received them most
courteously, and gavethem some glass beads. This kind reception emboldened them to beg
of him that some of his teules might accompany them home, in orderto assist their country
in a war against the Minxes; but as Sandovalat that moment could not well spare any of his
men, as a great part ofBriones' detachment was wounded, and many suffering with fever, of
which four men had recently died, he put off these chiefs with manyflattering assurances,
and promised them he would request Malinche,who was at Mexico, to send a strong body
of teules to their assistance;in the meantime he would send eight of his companions with
them toexplore the dangerous passes and that part of the country from whichthey intended
to fall upon the Minxes. But Sandoval's real motive insending these ten soldiers with them
was, that they might visit thosedistricts, and particularly the mines whence the Xaltepecs
obtained theirgold. Three of the caziques Sandoval desired should remain with him, andthe
rest left in our company. It happened that there were three soldiersof the name of Castillo in
Sandoval's troops, who all accompaniedthe caziques on this occasion. One was Alonso de
Castillo, surnamedthe Discreet, because he always gave a ready and suitable answer toany
question that was put to him; the second was myself, whom the soldiers surnamed the
Gallant, for at that time I prided myself verymuch on my courteous behaviour: the third
Castillo had a very meditativecountenance, and always took a long time to consider before
he replied; but when he did it was sure to be something very ridiculous, and he was
surnamed the Deliberate. But enough of this. We arrived in the province, and began
diligently to explore the mines, accompaniedby a great number of Indians, who washed the
gold dust for us ina kind of trough, from the sand of three different rivers. In this waywe
obtained four tubes full of gold dust, each about the thickness of the middle finger.
Sandoval was highly delighted when we broughthim these, and concluded that the country
must contain rich goldmines. He then divided the townships of the province among thoseof
[Pg 139]
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 97/282