Bernal Diaz del Castillo
The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)
Cortes now again despatched me to the Acallan townships, in order to induce the caziques, with whom I had become very friendly, to send off some provisions to him in advance. I instantly set out on my journey, arrived towards evening in Acala, and despatched that very night three Spaniards who had accompanied me, with about one hundred Indians, to Cortes, laden with maise and other provisions. When our general gave me these instructions, he added: "This time I will await the arrival of the provisions, and stand guard over them, that I may not fare as badly as I did before." And sure enough, when they arrived, he, Sandoval, and Luis Marin took them into their own custody, and ordered them to be distributed under their own eyes.
The following day, about noon, the army arrived in Acala, the caziques of which place having met our general with a supply of provisions; but I will break off here, and relate what further took place in the next chapter.
CHAPTER CLXXVII
Cortes' further plans after his arrival among the Acallan townships; how he orders the powerful cazique of Mexico Quauhtemoctzin, and the king of Tlacupa, to be hung; his reasons for doing this; and of other matters.
After Cortes had arrived in Gueacala, and had been thus kindly received by the caziques, he told them all manner of fine things, through our interpretess, Doña Marina, and he presented them with various kinds of Spanish toys, all of which appeared vastly to amuse them. They willingly supplied us with provisions, and Cortes questioned them as to the route we were next to take, and whether they had seen other people like unto us, with beards, and riding on horseback, or any strange vessels off the coast?
To which they replied, that eight days further on there were numbers of people with beards, who had women of Castile, horses, and three acales (for so they term vessels) with them. Respecting our inquiries about the direction in which we were to march, they answered by laying before us a large piece of cotton cloth, on which were drawn all the rivers, swamps, morasses, and townships of the country.
Cortes was excessively rejoiced at all this, and he requested the caziques, as their population was so numerous, to bring their canoes, and throw bridges across the river for us. To this they answered, that their townships were indeed above twenty in number, but that the greater part of these refused obedience to them, particularly those which lay between the rivers. It would therefore be necessary, they added, for him to send a number of his teules – so they termed us – thither, and command them to furnish him with provisions.
Cortes followed their advice, and commissioned Diego de Mazariegos, cousin to the treasurer Estrada, whom Cortes had appointed governor of Mexico, to repair to the latter townships. Cortes was very partial to Mazariegos, and was desirous of distinguishing the man, by conferring this command upon him. But as Mazariegos had very little experience in the manners and customs of these countries, Cortes desired him in confidence to request me to accompany him, and advised him to act upon my advice in all matters. This hint was not lost upon Mazariegos, who did not neglect to follow our general's counsel. I have not mentioned this in praise of myself, for it was well known to the whole of the troops, and Cortes himself, in his despatches to the emperor respecting the expedition to the Honduras, and which I read myself, also detailed this circumstance.
The caziques readily furnished us with the necessary canoes, in which eighty of us, with Mazariegos, set out. We arrived safely in the townships above mentioned, met with the most friendly reception, and the inhabitants gave us as large a quantity of provisions as they could possibly spare. We therefore loaded one hundred canoes with maise, fowls, honey, and salt, taking along with us besides ten female slaves, who had been presented to us, and the caziques accompanied us themselves on our return, to pay their respects to Cortes. After the lapse of three days, however, most of the caziques suddenly left, and we had only three guides remaining, with whom we continued our march. We had two rivers to pass, one of which we crossed by means of a bridge, that broke down before we had all stepped on land; the other we ferried over in canoes, and in this way we reached another of the Acallan townships, which was quite deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions, which they had concealed among the hills on our approach.
I have now to relate a circumstance of a very different nature, which occasioned much grief to us all. Quauhtemoctzin and other Mexican chiefs who accompanied our army had, it would appear, spoken among themselves, or secretly determined to put the whole of us to death, then march back to Mexico, and assemble the whole armed power of the country against the few remaining Spaniards, and raise an insurrection throughout the whole of New Spain. This circumstance was discovered to Cortes by two distinguished Mexican chiefs, one of whom was named Tapia, and the other Juan Velasquez. This latter personage had been Quauhtemoctzin's captain-general during our war with Mexico, and his testimony was borne out by the investigation which Cortes made into the matter, and by the confession of several of the caziques themselves who were implicated in the conspiracy. These men fearlessly declared, that seeing how carelessly and dispiritedly we roamed about; that numbers of the men were ill from want of food; that four of our musicians, with the buffoon and five soldiers, had died of hunger; and that three other men had turned back, more willing to run the risk of reaching Mexico again than of moving forward, the thought struck them that they could not do better than fall suddenly upon us while we were crossing some river or marsh, particularly as they were upwards of 3000 in number, all armed with lances, and several of them with swords. Quauhtemoctzin did not hesitate to acknowledge that these men had spoken the truth, but added that the conspiracy did not emanate with him, and that he himself had never for a moment contemplated carrying it into effect, but had merely spoken about it with the other caziques. All the cazique of Tlacupa confessed was, his having declared to Quauhtemoctzin that it was better to die at once than daily to have death before their eyes on these fatiguing marches, and see their countrymen and relations perish with hunger.
These were sufficient proofs for Cortes, and without any further ceremony he sentenced Quauhtemoctzin and his cousin the king of Tlacupa to the gallows. Before, however, this sentence was executed, the Franciscan monks, with the assistance of Doña Marina, strove to comfort these unfortunate men, and commended their souls to God. When they were being led to the place of execution, Quauhtemoctzin turned to Cortes, and said: "Oh Malinche! I have for a long time perceived, from your false words, that you had destined me for such a death, because I did not lay violent hands on myself when you entered my city of Mexico! Why are you thus going to put me unjustly to death? God will one time ask this of you!"
The king of Tlacupa said, he could only rejoice in a death which he would be permitted to suffer with his monarch Quauhtemoctzin.
Previous to their being hung, both these unhappy caziques confessed to father Juan, who understood the Mexican language, and they begged of him to commend their souls to God. For Indians they were good Christians, and they died in the true faith, and fully believed in our holy religion.
The death of these two monarchs grieved me excessively, for I had known them in all their glory, and on our march they honoured me with their friendship, and showed me many little attentions; for instance, they would often order their servants to go in quest of fodder for my horse; besides which, they were innocent of the guilt imputed to them, and it was the opinion of all who accompanied this expedition that they were put to death unjustly.
But I will leave this miserable subject, and return to our march, on which we henceforth observed the utmost vigilance, for we greatly feared the Mexicans might rise up in arms against us, after they had thus beheld their monarch ignominiously hung by the neck from a tree. But hunger, fatigue, and sickness weighed heavier upon their minds than the misfortune of Quauhtemoctzin.
On our further march we came up to a river, which we crossed by means of canoes, and soon after we arrived in a township which was entirely deserted by its inhabitants. However, in searching for provisions in some houses lying in the neighbourhood, we discovered eight Indian papas, who, after a little persuasion, followed us to the township, where they were brought into the presence of Cortes, who, by means of Doña Marina, spoke very kindly to them, telling them to banish all fear from their minds, and to go and call their countrymen. The papas said they were very willing to fulfil his commands, but they must beg of him not to allow any one to touch the idols which stood in a building adjoining Cortes' quarters. Our general promised them faithfully that no harm should be done the idols, but observed, that they were mere lumps of clay and wood, wicked things, which were unworthy of the veneration they paid them, and that the whole of their idolatrous worship was the work of Satan. The Franciscan monks also put several questions to the papas respecting their idol worship, to which they returned very intelligent answers, promising for the future to abolish it altogether.
Thirty loads of maise and some fowls were now soon brought us, and Cortes inquired of the papas how many suns (that is to say days' journey) it was from this place to the people with the beards and horses. They replied, that it was seven suns to the township of Nito, where the men with the horses had settled, and they would themselves show us the way to the next township, but that on our road thither we should have to pass one night in an uninhabited village.
Near to the building in which the idols were placed there stood a ceiba tree of an immense size, in the bark of which Cortes ordered a large cross to be cut. Our general had for some time appeared in low spirits, and very pensive. The thoughts of our fatiguing march, the number of Spaniards who had fallen ill, the still greater number of our Mexican troops that died away, and perhaps also the regret he felt for having put Quauhtemoctzin and the king of Tlacupa to death without any trial, constantly preyed upon his mind, and left him no peace either night or day; so that he would rise up from his bed in the depth of night to stroll about, which also happened to be the case in this township. He got up in the dark from his bed, in order to pass into an adjoining large apartment, where a number of idols stood, and where the Indians were accustomed to hold their meetings. It seems that he forgot the two steps which led down into it, so that he fell rather heavily, and bruised his head severely. This wound he had secretly dressed, nor did he himself ever mention the accident to any one.
The next morning, very early, we again broke up our quarters, and our guides led us exactly in the direction they had previously described, and we arrived, without anything happening to us worthy of mention, in front of a morass, which lay at the foot of very high mountains, where we encamped for the night. With break of day we again continued our march, and arrived about the hour of high mass, at a township which lay in the midst of this extensive morass. This town had every appearance of having been recently built, and indeed we found that the houses had only been erected a few days before our arrival. It was surrounded by a double entrenchment, formed of the trunks of large trees, encircled by other huge poles stuck in perpendicularly, The approaches were secured by a deep fosse, and they were protected by a double inclosure of a circular form: one of which was supplied with a regular battlement, small towers and loop-holes; the other was very high and strongly built of large stones, and was likewise provided with a battlement. As the other side was covered by the morass this place might, in every sense of the word, be called a fortress.
When we entered the town we did not meet with a single inhabitant, but were surprised to find in the houses quantities of boiled turkeys and other fowls, dressed according to Indian fashion, with hot peppers and maise cakes, which they call tamales. We were perfectly astonished at this great abundance, and we made all manner of speculations on so extraordinary a sight. Another large building we found filled with bows and arrows and small darts. We now carefully searched the surrounding neighbourhood, but we could nowhere see any maise plantations.
While we were thus looking about us we observed fifteen Indians approaching from the side of the morass, who, on coming up, touched the ground with their hands and kissed it. These were the chiefs of the township, and they begged of Cortes, in a half-crying tone of voice, not to set fire to their buildings. They had, they said, but recently settled in this spot, and had been compelled to fortify themselves thus strongly from fear of their enemies; whom, if I do not mistake, they termed Lacandones. These people had burnt down their two former towns which lay on the plain, had plundered them of all they possessed, and had killed numbers of their countrymen. On our further march we should pass over the ashes and ruins of their former habitations. These chiefs then related the cause of their enmity, and described their mode of warfare. Upon this Cortes inquired of them what had induced them to dress so large a quantity of turkeys and other fowls? To which the chiefs replied, that they again expected an attack from the Lacandones, who would be sure, if victorious, to carry off all their property and fowls; they had therefore determined to eat up all their provisions before the enemy arrived; but if they themselves proved victorious, they would march into the enemy's towns, plunder them in their turn, and so make up for their recent losses.
Cortes told them he was extremely sorry to hear of their wars, but that it was not in his power to render them any assistance at present, as he was obliged to continue his march. This tribe, to whom the two other large townships also belonged, through which we passed on the following day, were termed the Mazotecs, a name which, in their language, denotes the land or the nation of the wild deer, and this was indeed a most appropriate appellation, as the reader will presently see.
From this place we took two guides with us, who led us over the ruins of the two townships above mentioned, and gave us some further account of the Spaniards whom we should find at a considerable distance further on.
CHAPTER CLXXVIII
We continue our march, and what further happened to us.
After we had quitted this fortified township, we came into an extensive open plain, on which, as far as the eye could reach, there was not a tree to be seen, and the heat was more excessive than we had ever experienced before. This plain abounded with wild deer, which were so little shy that we could easily catch them with our horses, and in a very short time we killed upwards of twenty. On questioning our guides how it came that these animals were neither afraid of our horses nor anything else, and so easily to be caught, they answered that the Mazotecs revered them as beings of a superior nature, because they appeared such to them from their external form, and their idols had strictly commanded the people not to kill or in any way to scare them.
One of Cortes' relatives, named Palacios Rubios, lost his horse in chasing these deer, for he galloped up and down the plain until the fat melted in its body, and the poor animal dropped down dead all of a sudden.49
It was not long before we came to the townships which had been destroyed, and certainly they presented a most miserable picture to the eye. On our further march, our scouts came up with two Indians who belonged to a town which lay in advance of us. These men were returning from the chase, and had killed a large lion and a number of iquanas,50 which resemble small serpents, and are excellent food. Our scouts then inquired of these Indians whether there was any township in the neighbourhood, to which they answered in the affirmative, and offered their services to conduct them thither. This place lay on an island in the fresh water, and could only be approached by means of canoes on the side we were advancing, which compelled us to march to the distance of two miles along the water until we came to a spot where the latter was sufficiently shallow for us to wade through, though even then it reached almost up to our arms. Only a few of the inhabitants had remained in the town, the rest having fled immediately on our approach, with all their property which they concealed among the reeds in the neighbourhood of their cultivated fields; but several of our men quartered themselves for the night among the maise plantations, feasted plentifully off the fruit, and took care to provision themselves for the next day's march.
Adjoining this township lay a fresh water lake of considerable extent, which abounded with large fish covered with sharp prickles, and very much resembled the disgusting-looking and insipid-flavoured fish called the shad. By means of a few old cloaks and tattered nets which we found in the deserted habitations, we dragged the lake from one end to the other, and succeeded in taking above 1000 of these ugly fish. Among the fields we likewise captured a few of the inhabitants, who were requested by Doña Marina to guide us to the towns where the men with the beards and horses had settled. With this they readily complied, for they soon perceived it was not our intention to harm them in any way, and five of them immediately accompanied us. At first the road along which we marched was very broad, but this gradually became narrower as we approached a broad river or estuary, which was much frequented by canoes. Here the inhabitants ferried across to the opposite township of Tayasal, situated on an island, and of which the houses and temples were covered with white plaster, so that they could be seen to a vast distance. All the lesser townships in this neighbourhood were subject to the first mentioned.
As our road was becoming very narrow, and we found that it terminated in a small path, we resolved to encamp for the night in the vicinity of some elevated mountains. During the night-time Cortes despatched four companies along the footpaths which led to the estuary, in search of guides; and, indeed, they had the good fortune to capture ten Indians and two females, with two canoes laden with maise and salt. When these people were brought into the presence of Cortes, he spoke to them in the most affectionate terms, through Doña Marina, whom they informed that they were inhabitants of a township which lay on an island sixteen miles further on. Our general then despatched the lesser of the two canoes, with four of the Indians and two Spaniards, thither, in order to request the caziques to come with their canoes and ferry us over the water, and our men were to present them with some Spanish toys, and assure them that no harm should be done their persons.
The whole of the troops now marched forward until they arrived on the banks of the broad river, where, to our great joy, we found the caziques, besides several other distinguished personages waiting for us with five canoes, a supply of maise, and a number of fowls. Our general addressed the caziques very affectionately; and, after they had held some excellent discourses with him, he embarked with thirty crossbow-men in the canoes, and so proceeded with the chiefs to their town. When arrived there, they set before him the best of everything in the shape of provisions, and presented him with several of their cloaks and a small quantity of gold, though of inferior quality. According to their assurances, there were men like ourselves in two different townships, namely, in Nito, which we called San Gil de Buena Vista, lying on the north coast, and in Naco, which lay in the interior of the country. According to their account, these two towns were ten days' journey distant from each other. We were very much surprised that Oli should thus have divided his troops, we being at that moment ignorant of the existence of Buena Vista, founded by Avila.
The whole of our troops passed the broad river in canoes, and we encamped for the night eight miles further on to wait for Cortes, who still continued at the township above mentioned. On returning to the main body, he ordered one of the horses, which had likewise been overheated in chasing the deer, to be left behind. While we were staying here, one of our negroes and two female slaves ran away. Even three Spaniards chose rather to stay here and run the risk of being murdered by the Indians than to undergo the fatigues of our march for another three days. I myself was far from well; the excessive heat of the sun had affected my head, and I scarcely knew how to bear myself. But even this distressing heat was more welcome to us than the torrents of rain which began to fall, and lasted, without intermission, for three days; nevertheless, we were obliged to continue our march, as we had not a morsel of food left. In the space of two days we arrived at some small hills, which were completely covered with stones, and these so sharp that they cut like razors. Our men gave themselves considerable trouble in searching for some other road in order to avoid these stones, but all their endeavours were fruitless, though they went to a distance of above four miles. This part of our march was most dangerous for the horses; for, as it still continued to rain, they constantly stumbled, and were sure to cut their knees, and even their bellies in the most dreadful manner on the pointed stones; but the descent was still more difficult, eight of the horses being killed and many others shockingly lacerated, and one of the soldiers named Palacios Rubios, a relative of Cortes, had the misfortune to break his leg. We could not, therefore, feel sufficiently thankful to the Almighty when at last we got clear of this mountain of flint, as we ever after termed it.
As we had now advanced within a short distance of the township Taica, we were not a little rejoiced at the thoughts that we should again get some food. In the neighbourhood of this place we came to a river which poured down over the precipices of a very high mountain, and was so much swollen by the rain of the three last days that it rolled down in immense volumes, and the roaring noise of the flood, as it dashed from one precipice to another, could be distinctly heard at the distance of eight miles. There was no other possibility of passing this turbulent river but by throwing a bridge across from one rock to the other. We accordingly set to work with the utmost diligence, and in the space of three days we constructed a bridge of the largest trees, and the whole of us passed safely to the other side of these cataracts. While we were engaged in building this bridge, the Indians of Taica had gained sufficient time to run off and conceal all their provisions. When, therefore, we arrived in this township and met not a single inhabitant, nor found the smallest particle of food to still our hunger, we stared at each other in dismay when we considered our dreadful position. The hope of soon obtaining food had alone inspired us with sufficient courage and strength to undertake the construction of this bridge. For myself I do not hesitate to acknowledge that I never, in the whole course of my life, felt so distressed in mind as on this occasion, when I found that I could neither procure food for my men nor myself. Added to all this, we had overheated ourselves by marching about the neighbourhood in a burning sun for a couple of hours in search of the inhabitants. It happened to be the eve of Easter day, and I shall never forget this day as long as I live; and the reader can easily imagine what a pleasant Easter we spent without a morsel of food. We should have considered ourselves blessed and happy if we had only had a handful of maise.
In this great distress Cortes despatched all his servants and grooms with our guides to traverse the hills in search of maise plantations. On the first day of Easter they indeed returned with some maise, but all they had was scarcely a bushel, and what was this among so many mouths! Cortes, seeing that our distress was each moment increasing, ordered myself and several other soldiers, mostly of those who had settled in Guacasualco, into his presence, and told us our condition was at present so lamentable, that he must beg of us to search the whole country round to procure some kind of provisions or other. Pedro de Ircio happened to be present when Cortes was thus soliciting us; and as he was always ready with a mouthful of words, he supplicated Cortes to give him the command of this foraging party. As far as regards myself, replied our general, go, and may God be with you! But as I was well aware that Ircio was a miserable pedestrian, and, instead of being any assistance to us, would only be a troublesome companion, I secretly communicated what I thought to Cortes and my friend Sandoval, and requested that he might not be sent with us, as a person with splay feet as he had was least of all able to make his way through bogs and marshes; added to which, he was all talk, but seldom acted, and altogether unable to bear the fatigues of a long march. Our general, accordingly, followed my advice, and he countermanded the order he had given to Ircio.
I now set out with four soldiers and two guides. First we passed several rivers of considerable depth, then crossed some marshes until we arrived at a small village, whither most of the inhabitants of the deserted township had fled. Here we had likewise the good fortune to find four houses, completely filled with maise, also about thirty fowls, and a few melons. We captured four Indians and three women, and we now celebrated Easter right jollily. Above a thousand Mexicans whom Cortes had sent after us arrived in the night, and we immediately loaded as much of the maise on them as they could carry, with which they returned to our camp: we at the same time sent above twenty fowls for Cortes and Sandoval, besides the prisoners we had taken, and then placed a watch over these storehouses in order that the inhabitants might not set fire to them during the night, or carry off their contents. The following day we continued our march, and discovered some more buildings full of maise, fowls, and various kinds of vegetables. Here I made myself a little ink, and I wrote a letter to our general on a small piece of drum skin, requesting him to send me a detachment of Indian troops, as we had found another storehouse full of provisions. The next day, accordingly, above thirty Spaniards and 500 Indians arrived, and each took as heavy a load of provisions as he could possibly carry. In this way God in his great mercy again relieved us in the utmost distress, and we halted five days in Taica to rest from our fatigues.
The bridges which we threw across the numerous rivers we passed on our march had been so strongly put together that several of them were still to be seen for many years after; and subsequently, when all these provinces were subjected to the Spanish crown, our countrymen regarded them in astonishment, and exclaimed, These are the bridges of Cortes! in the same way as people say, These are the columns of Hercules!
After marching forward for two more days, we arrived at a township called Tania, which was also deserted by its inhabitants, though we found some maise and other provisions, but not in sufficient quantity for our troops. On thoroughly exploring the country round about, we discovered that we were now completely surrounded by rivers and small streams; the guides we had brought with us ran away in the night from the soldiers who had charge of them. These men had but recently arrived from New Spain, and it appears had been overtaken by sleep; our general, on receiving the first information of their neglect of duty, was going to have them severely punished; however, he was at length induced to pardon them, and he sent out another party to explore our route; but as this neighbourhood abounded with rivers, and it continued to rain very fast, almost the whole of the country was inundated; besides which, we could have no hopes of meeting with any of the inhabitants. Thus situated, in the midst of the waters, we scarcely knew which way to turn, and our distress and alarm were each moment increasing. Cortes himself appeared considerably disheartened, and said, with a good deal of ill humour, to Ircio, and other officers who came with him from Mexico: "I should like to know which of you will volunteer to go out in search of some Indian guide, or to discover a way out of these waters; for it is shameful to leave everything to the veterans, who have accompanied us from Guacasualco!"
After this reproach, Ircio, with some of his friends and acquaintances, offered himself, and he actually marched out for this purpose. Marmolejo, a person of distinction, likewise went out with six men; so also Santacruz Burgales, with a like number. Each of these three small detachments went off in a different direction, and they wandered about for three days, but returned with the disheartening news, that wherever they came there was nothing but water to be seen. Cortes was ready to burst with vexation when they told him this, and he desired Sandoval to go and speak with me, and request me, in his name, to try if I could not discover some road, to rescue the army from its present perilous position. All this he said in an affectionate and begging tone of voice, as he very well knew that I was by no means in good health: and indeed I was suffering with a bad fever, for which reason I had refused to accompany my intimate friend Marmolejo, to whom I said: "You expect me to do everything; let others bestir themselves as well!" First I refused Sandoval also, but he came a second time to my hut, and begged very hard of me to comply with our general's request, who had said, that next to God he could only expect assistance from me at this juncture. Though I felt very ill, yet my honour would not allow me to refuse any longer, and I desired that Hernando de Aguilar and a certain Hinojosa might accompany me, both of whom were men I well knew could bear any fatigues.
