Bernal Diaz del Castillo
The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)
CHAPTER CLXXIII
How Cortes sent out a captain, named Francisco de las Casas against Christobal de Oli, on receiving intelligence that this officer had made common cause with Diego Velasquez, and had renounced all further obedience to him.
In order to render this chapter quite intelligible to the reader I must recur to prior events. I mentioned above that Cortes fitted out an armament for the Honduras and Higueras, the command of which he intrusted to Christobal de Oli. It was not long before our general received intelligence of the unfortunate termination of this expedition, as far as regarded himself. When, therefore, he learnt that Oli had made common cause with Diego Velasquez, and had determined to act independent of him, he became very pensive. But, as he was remarkably spirited, and not accustomed to joke in matters of this kind, he at once determined either to march against Oli in person, or to send out an officer against him on whom he could place implicit reliance, as he had previously declared to his majesty.
About this time there had arrived in Mexico a cavalier, named Francisco de las Casas. As he was a man in whom he could confide, being also related to him, he resolved to send him against Oli. For this purpose he fitted out a small armament, consisting of five vessels, well provided with cannon and other ammunition. On board of this fleet he embarked one hundred men, among whom were several of the veteran Conquistadores, as for instance, Pedro Moreno Medrano, Juan Nuñez de Mercado, Juan Vello, and many others, whose names I will not mention, as they died on their way thither.
Francisco de las Casas received full powers from Cortes to seize Oli and throw him into chains. He set sail from Vera Cruz with very favorable weather, and arrived in a short time in the bay of Triunfo de la Cruz, where Oli had founded a town of the same name, and in front of which his vessels lay at anchor. As Francisco de las Casas on entering the bay had hoisted a white flag, Oli scarcely knew what to think at first, but thought at all events it was better to be upon his guard, and ran out two of his smallest vessels, well-armed with a strong body of men, in order to prevent Las Casas from entering into the harbour and landing his troops, though he was as yet quite ignorant who the new comers were. Las Casas, who was a man of great courage and determination, immediately lowered his boats, on board of which he placed one of the falconets and the most active of his men, well armed with muskets and crossbows, being resolved, he said, to land his troops some how or other. A severe conflict now ensued, in which Las Casas bored one of Oli's vessels into the ground, killed four of his men and wounded several others.
Christobal de Oli, seeing that matters were growing very serious, thought it advisable on his part to stay hostilities, in order to gain time to assemble all his troops about him; for he had, a few days previously, despatched two companies to the river Pechin against a certain Gil Gonsalez de Avila, who had begun to subdue the country there. He therefore sent word to Las Casas that he was desirous of making terms of peace with him; to which Las Casas so far consented that he staid hostilities for the present, and lay out at sea with his vessel for the night, in order to effect a landing in some other bay. How much more fortunate it would have been for him if he had acted according to the letter which was secretly thrust into his hand during the engagement! In this letter namely, several of Oli's men who favoured Cortes advised Las Casas by all means to land his troops without delay; that they would all run over to his side and deliver up Oli a prisoner to him. Fortunately for Oli, and unfortunately for Las Casas, a furious north wind, which is the most dangerous of all on this coast, arose during the night, and the whole of his vessels were wrecked; thirty of his men were drowned, and all the ammunition and stores went to the bottom. Las Casas and the rest of his men, after wandering about the country for two days benumbed with wet and cold, without a morsel of food to eat, were all taken prisoners by Oli's troops.
Christobal de Oli, it may be imagined, was excessively rejoiced that things had thus terminated so unexpectedly in his favour, and he exulted greatly in having the person of Las Casas in his power. He immediately took the latter's troops into his service, and compelled them to take a solemn oath never to desert him, but to oppose Cortes if he should come with an army against him; not until they had promised all this did he set them at liberty. Las Casas alone he kept a prisoner.
Shortly upon this the detachment also returned which had been sent against Gil Gonsalez de Avila. This man had arrived in the country with the appointment of governor of Golfo Dulce, and he had already founded, at about four miles distance from the bay of the same name, a town which he called San Gil de Buena Vista. The country bounding on the river Chipin was at that time inhabited by a very warlike people; and as by far the greater part of Gil Gonsalez's troops were suffering from ill health, the latter had only been able to throw a feeble garrison into the town of Buena Vista. Christobal de Oli had been duly apprized of this, and ordered the town to be attacked; but his troops could not so easily get possession of the place as they expected. Avila's small body of men defended themselves most vigorously, and eight of the soldiers, with a cousin of his, were killed. Christobal de Oli was both rejoiced and proud to have taken prisoners the chief commanders of two separate armaments; and as he bore the character of being an excellent soldier, which, indeed, no one could deny, and it was of importance to him that the success of his arms should be made known through the islands, he immediately sent information of his good fortune to the governor of Cuba.
After this victory he marched his troops towards the interior of the country to a large township named Naco, which lay in a very populous district. It was upon this occasion that Naco was completely destroyed, and the whole of the surrounding country laid waste, and this I relate from eyewitness, as I subsequently visited these parts myself, when I accompanied Cortes on his expedition to the Honduras, of which a full account will be given in the proper place.
From Naco, Oli sent out a strong detachment to forage the country, under the command of Briones, who had been one of the first to advise Oli to declare his independence of Cortes. This Briones was of a turbulent disposition, besides being very passionate, and had only the upper half of his ears left, having had the bottom halves, as he asserted, cut off by the enemy, while he, with several other officers, was obstinately defending some fortification. He terminated his life in a miserable manner, for he was subsequently hung at Guatimala for creating a sedition among the troops. Some time after Briones had been sent out by Oli to a distant part of the country with a considerable body of his troops, he received intelligence that he had deserted, with the whole of the men under his command, and was marching in the direction of New Spain; this news was indeed found to be perfectly correct.
This circumstance, Las Casas and Avila thought, presented to them a most favorable opportunity to rid themselves of Oli, who still continued to treat both of them as prisoners of war, though they were allowed to go at large, for Oli depended too much upon his own personal courage to fear anything from them. The whole of the adherents of Cortes secretly joined Las Casas and Avila, and they agreed upon a certain signal to fall upon Oli and stab him to death under the cry of "In the name of the emperor and of Cortes, down with the tyrant!" Everything had been arranged in the best possible manner for this purpose, and Las Casas, on one occasion said to Oli: "Señor captain, do grant me my liberty and allow me to return to New Spain, in order that I may render an account to Cortes of the unfortunate termination of this expedition? I promise you to become mediator between yourself and Cortes, and to procure for you the government, with the chief military command of this country, and I will myself see the appointment drawn up in due form. What can you gain by detaining me a prisoner, for I am only a hindrance to you in all your undertakings?" To this Oli replied, "That he was perfectly contented with things as they were, and that he was delighted to have a man of his worth about him."
"But have at least then," continued Las Casas, "some thought for your own personal safety, for I might get it into my head some day or other to put you to death!"
As Las Casas said all this in a joking humour, he took no notice of it, and continued as little on his guard as ever.
One evening Las Casas, Avila, Juan Nuñez de Mercado, and other soldiers of Cortes' party were invited to sup with Oli. The first two, as prisoners of war, were not allowed to carry arms, but had concealed on their persons large knives, which were ground very sharp. The whole of the company had already laid aside their cloaks to seat themselves at table, and stood around Oli, discoursing on Cortes' good fortune and the conquest of the strong city of Mexico. As Christobal de Oli was thus quite off his guard, not in the least suspecting that there was any design upon his life, Las Casas, on a sudden, seized forcibly hold of his beard and stabbed him in the neck with his knife. Upon this the other conspirators fell in a body upon him, and gave him so many stabs, that he fell to the ground; but as he was a man of enormous muscular power he regained his consciousness, while the conspirators were sitting at table enjoying their suppers, and assembling all his strength he started up from the floor with the cry of: "My friends, assist your captain!" and then ran out to hide himself in the woods until his adherents should have rallied round him. And, indeed, a great part of his troops instantly assembled for this purpose; but Las Casas cried out to them: "In the name of the emperor and of Cortes I command you to fall upon the tyrant! His tyranny is no longer to be borne!"
As soon as these names were mentioned no one durst stir a finger in Oli's defence; on the contrary, every one quietly submitted and immediately obeyed Las Casas' commands, by hurrying off in search of Oli to bring him in a prisoner. He then made known that any one who knew of Oli's concealment and neglected to give information of it should suffer death.
By this means it was soon discovered where Oli lay concealed, and after he had been brought in a prisoner, a criminal suit was commenced against him in due form, and sentence of death being passed on him he was decapitated by order of these two officers, Las Casas and Avila on the market-place at Naco.
Thus miserably did Christobal de Oli end his days by listening to the advice of bad men, and forgetting how greatly he was indebted to Cortes, who had appointed him quartermaster-general, and had bestowed upon him lucrative commendaries. He had always proved himself a man of great courage, and was recently married to a Portuguese lady, named Filipa de Araujo, by whom he had a daughter.
As soon as Las Casas and Avila had got rid of their common enemy they assembled all the troops; they divided the command equally between themselves, and continued on the best terms with each other. Las Casas soon after founded the town of Truxillo, which he so called from his native place of Truxillo in Estremadura; and Avila despatched a small body of troops to the town which he had previously founded, called Buena Vista, in order to see what condition the colony was in. The command of this small detachment he gave to an officer named Armenta, with orders not to make any changes there, if at least he found everything in the same condition as when he left it; but to await his return from New Spain, whither he would immediately repair to beg Cortes for a fresh supply of troops. Las Casas likewise determined to proceed with Avila to Mexico, in order that they might jointly give Cortes an account of every circumstance that had transpired.
I must, however, close this chapter here, for I shall have to return to these occurrences in the proper part of my history; I have merely to observe, that Cortes did not receive intelligence of what I have just related till some considerable time after.
CHAPTER CLXXIV
How Cortes himself marches at the head of his troops to the Honduras in search of Christobal de Oli; of the officers and men he selected on this occasion, and of other matters.
Several months having now elapsed since the departure of Las Casas with the armament, and Cortes still without any tidings from him, he began to fear that some misfortune had befallen him. The more he thought of the many dangers to which vessels are exposed, and the various changes of good and bad fortune which are inseparable from an expedition of this nature, the more he regretted, notwithstanding all the confidence he placed in Las Casas, that he had not gone in person at the head of the armament. All this, added to the assurances he had received of there being lucrative gold mines along the coast of the Honduras, determined Cortes to march thither in person at the head of his troops.
His first care was to have the fortifications of Mexico well mounted with cannon, and a good supply of ammunition to be laid by in the arsenals for the protection of the city. The government of New Spain he intrusted in his absence to the treasurer Alonso de Estrada and to the accountant Albornoz. How he could make choice of the latter is quite beyond my speculation; but he certainly would not have done so if he had been aware of the infamous manner in which Albornoz had slandered him to the emperor.
The licentiate Zuazo, who has so often been mentioned in the course of this history, he appointed alcalde-mayor of Mexico, and the entire management of his own private property he gave to his relative Rodrigo de Paz.
After he had thus made every provision for the government and security of Mexico, he particularly desired the crown officers, to whom he had intrusted the chief government, the Franciscan friar Toribio Motolinia, and the excellent father Olmedo, who was held in the highest estimation in Mexico, and had deservedly the greatest influence on all classes of people, to act in harmony to assist each other in the conversion of the Indians and to maintain peace and good order throughout the provinces, as well as in the city itself. In order, however, to deprive the discontented of the Indian population in the city and in the provinces of all possibility of choosing any leader of distinction, should they take it into their heads to rise up in arms during his absence, he took along with him Quauhtemoctzin, besides the king of Tlacupa, and several others of the most distinguished caziques of the country, among whom the chief of Tapiezuela held the first rank, and even despatched a message to the caziques of Mechoacan, desiring them also to join his army.
As Geronimo de Aguilar had died some time previously, he only took Doña Marina with him as interpretess. The suite of principal officers and cavaliers who accompanied him in this expedition was very brilliant; of which I shall only mention Sandoval, Luis Marin, Francisco Marmolejo, Gonzalo Rodriguez de Ocampo, Pedro de Ircio, the brothers Avalos and Saavedra, Palacios Rubios, Pedro de Sauzedo, Geronimo Ruiz de la Mota, Alonso de Grado, Sante Cruz Burgales, Pedro de Solis, Juan Xaramillo, Alonso Valiente, Navarrete, and Serna; further, Diego de Mazariegos, cousin to the treasurer Gil Gonsalez de Benavides, Herman Lopez de Avila, Gaspar Garnica, and several others, whose names I have forgotten. The priests who joined this army were, father Juan de las Varillas, of Salamanca, and two Flemish monks, who were profound theologians, and preached a good deal. Besides these, there was another priest, whose name has slipped my memory. Of the officers of his household, Cortes selected his major-domo Carranza, his chief waiters Juan de Jasso and Rodrigo Mañeco, his butler Cervan Bejarano, and two stewards of the kitchen department, San Miguel and Guinea.
As Cortes took with him a great quantity of gold and silver utensils and ornaments, he gave the immediate charge of these to a certain Tello, of Medina, and another person, named Salazar, of Madrid. As physician he took the licentiate Pedro de Lopez, of Mexico, and as surgeon Diego de Pedraza. To all these was added a number of pages, of whom Don Francisco de Montejo was one, who subsequently commanded in Yucatan, and was son to the oft-mentioned Montejo, adelantado of the latter province; further, there were two pages appointed as his lance-bearers; his chief equerry Gonzalo Rodriguez de Ocampo, with a number of grooms, and three Spanish mule-drivers; two falconers, Garci Caro and Alvaro Montanes; a number of performers on the sackbut, clarion, and dulcimer; lastly, a buffoon and a juggler, who likewise entertained the men with puppet-shows; further, he took with him a large herd of swine, in order that the troops might have a constant supply of fresh meat on their march. Besides the numbers of Indians which accompanied the several caziques, a body of 3000 Mexican warriors were also joined to this army.
Just as Cortes was about to commence his march from Mexico, the factor Salazar and the veedor Chirinos, who were both hurt and disappointed that Cortes had not thought proper to give them any particular appointment during the time he would be absent, urged on the licentiate Zuazo and Rodrigo de Paz, besides all the veteran Conquistadores and Cortes' intimate friends who remained behind in the metropolis, earnestly to dissuade him from leaving Mexico, and not to intrust the government of the country to other hands, as there was not the least doubt but that the whole of New Spain would revolt in his absence. These representations occasioned much debate between both parties; but as Cortes abided by the resolution he had taken, the factor and veedor begged of him to allow them, at least, to accompany him to Guacasualco, through which his march lay, and so far to accept of their services.
Cortes thus left Mexico47 at the head of his army, and took the road leading to the last-mentioned province. The splendour with which he was received in every township he came to, and the festivities which took place in his honour, were really astonishing. On his march he was also joined by fifty men who had but recently arrived from Spain, all light-hearted extravagant young fellows.
In order that his troops might not be detained on the road for want of provisions, and to procure these the more readily, he divided his army into two bodies, which marched by different routes to Guacasualco. Immediately about his person were Sandoval, the factor and the veedor, who vied with each other in their attentions to him; but none of them carried their politeness so far as the factor, who, whenever he addressed Cortes, bowed himself almost double, with his head uncovered, and took every opportunity, under the most flattering assurances of his devoted attachment, to dissuade him from this tedious and perilous expedition, and summoned to his aid all the subtlety of rhetoric in representing to him the evils that might ensue from it, and the little advantage he could gain. He would often sing out, when riding along at the side of Cortes:
Turn back, dear uncle, turn back;
Dear uncle, turn back!
To this Cortes likewise replied, in a singing tone of voice:
Forward, nephew; forward, nephew;
Let not omens dishearten you;
The will of God it must be done;
Forward, nephew; forward, nephew!
When the division which was commanded by Cortes himself arrived in the neighbourhood of Orizaba, the property of the squinting Ojedo, Doña Marina was married to Juan Xaramillo, and the hymeneal knot was solemnly tied in presence of witnesses.
The army now marched further on towards the extensive township of Guazaltepec, which was comprised in the commendary of Sandoval. From this place we received intelligence in Guacasualco of Cortes' approach, and the whole of us officers and distinguished personages of the town, with the alcaldes, regidors, and all the chief authorities, immediately marched out, and we advanced about 132 miles into the country to receive our general. This was done with such zeal on our part as if we were each going to receive some large benefice; and I merely mention this circumstance to show the reader how much Cortes was esteemed and feared at the same time. He was always pleased to find this kind of respect paid to his person, and it was impossible to go too far in your attentions to him.
The army now continued its march from Guazaltepec further on towards Guacasualco, and had to pass over a very broad and rapid river, when the first ill omen showed itself; for three of the canoes, which were conveying across considerable sums of money and other things, upset, and all they contained went to the bottom. Upon this occasion Juan Xaramillo lost the half of his baggage, nor was it possible to save any part that floated down the river, on account of the enormous alligators with which the water abounded.
From this place Cortes marched over the townships of Uluta up to the broad river of Guacasualco, where every preparation had been made to convey the army across, for which purpose a great number of canoes lay ready fastened two and two together. In the town of Guacasualco itself triumphal arches had been erected, and every preparation had been made to entertain our general as magnificently as possible. Sham fights took place between Christians and Moors, all kinds of fireworks were displayed at night, and various other rejoicings were kept up.
Cortes staid altogether six days in Guacasualco, during which time the veedor and factor left him not a moment's peace, with their representations to relinquish the expedition, and return to Mexico. They constantly reminded him of the men to whom he had confided the chief government, and told him that the accountant Albornoz was a man fond of innovation, restless of disposition, and double-faced; that the treasurer openly prided himself on being a son of his catholic majesty; so that very little trust could be placed in either of these gentlemen. From the moment he had intrusted the government to them, and even previously, they had laid their heads together, and determined upon some secret movement. They likewise reminded Cortes of the letters he had received on his march hither, from Mexico, in which it was stated that his two representatives had already began to slander his government of the country. In short, the veedor and factor spoke in such eloquent and flattering terms of their great attachment to his person, and how much more fitting persons they were themselves to have been intrusted with the government in his absence than the two other gentlemen, that at last they actually persuaded him to grant them equal power in the administration; and not only this, but with the additional authority to take the sole government into their own hands, if they saw that Albornoz and Estrada acted against the true interests of his majesty.
The power which Cortes thus conferred upon the veedor and factor was the source of many evils, and of the terrible insurrection which shortly after burst out in Mexico, and of which I will give a full account in a following chapter, when our army has fairly reached the town of Truxillo, after a long and tedious march. I will only take this opportunity of observing, that father Olmedo, and the Franciscan monks who accompanied us, did not hesitate a moment to tell Cortes how greatly they disapproved of this measure, and said, they hoped to God he would not have to repent of this step: and indeed their apprehensions were but too well confirmed by future events! Cortes, however, took little heed of what the good Franciscans had said; for only the words of father Olmedo, whom he consulted on most occasions, had ever any weight with him.
When the factor and the veedor took leave of Cortes before returning to Mexico, it was ludicrous to behold their reverential bows, and to hear the compliments they paid him. The factor, in particular, had a manner of sighing peculiar to himself, and he appeared ready to burst into tears when he took leave of Cortes, and the deed of appointment, which had been drawn out by his intimate friend, the secretary Alonso Valiente, was put into his hands. Both these gentlemen now set out for Mexico, whither they were accompanied by Hernan Lopez de Avila, as he was suffering from severe pains in his joints and large swellings in his groins, so that he could scarcely move along.
We will now wish them a pleasant journey, and begin to think of our tedious march, during which we suffered so many hardships, that it was a wonder any of us ever returned alive.
