present of poor gold of little value (for it is not found in that country) and some mantles. And there the Indians informed Cortes of where the two villages of the Bearded Men (as they call the Spaniards) were. They said that one of them was called Pueblo de Nito (Ferns) and was on the coast to the north, while the other was called Pueblo de Naco and was inland.
“This news brought great joy to Cortes and his men on account of the great desire they all had to find the Spaniards in search of whom they had undertaken this perilous journey.
“Those of the army who were marching along the shore of the Lake went with great care, being suspicious lest the affability of Canek was but a piece of premeditated craftiness to enable him to perpetrate some treachery.
Cortes Takes Leave of Canek, Leaving Morzillo. “But things did not take such a course as they had feared. Indeed, Don Fernando Cortes was ahead of time (at the meeting place) with all his crossbowmen, and when he joined with the main body of his army he rid the rest of all the anxiety they had suffered during his absence.
“He took leave of Canek and the Itza Indians who had accompanied him to the mainland. He left in their charge his horse Morzillo, which had been injured in the ankle, charging them to take good care of him, and to cure him. Cortes said that he would send after the horse from the place where he should meet those Spaniards for whom he was seeking. Such horses were, he said, esteemed highly, for it was a good horse.
Idols not Burnt. “There was no burning of the idols, nor anything else of the sort, in that city of Tayasal (as they call it) or Chief City of Canek. Some say, however, that the idols were burnt in the presence of Cortes, but in truth, from the time when he left his horse among the Itza Infidels, they had a worse and more abominable idol than they had had before, as we shall see later....[1]
- ↑ This refers to the horse of Cortes, Morzillo, which was wounded in the foot either during the deer hunt described above or while crossing the Mountains of Alabaster. Morzillo's injuries were so severe that he became a burden to the expedition, and Cortes left him behind with Canek, charging the latter to take good care of him. When Morzillo died, probably from lack of proper food, the Itzas made an image of him which they treated as an idol. In 1618
