there were as many as two hundred and twenty men slain. They also said that the past should be the past, and henceforward they wished to be vassals of those Princes of whom he had told them, giving and holding themselves as such, and that they would acknowledge and bind themselves to serve them whenever they should be commanded to do so in the name of Your Majesties. Thus peace was made and agreed upon, and the Captain asked the said Indians, through the interpreter whom we had with us, who were the people who had taken part in the battle, and they answered that they came from eight provinces, and according to their counting they were in all forty thousand men,[1] and that they knew perfectly well how to count up to that number. Your Royal
- ↑ Andres de Tapia fixes the number at 48,000, but these figures seem hardly possible, and Orozco y Berra observes that they must be taken as representing the idea of multitude, rather than an actual counting. This decisive battle, which took place on March 25th, became known as the battle of Ceutla, and in Gomara's chronicle, as well as in Tapia's narrative, and that of others, the victory was attributed to the miraculous intervention of St. James, the patron of Spain, or of St. Peter the patron of Cortes. Bernal Diaz says that it may be as Gomara describes, and that "los glorios apostolos Señor Santiago and Señor San Pedro" did appear, but he, miserable sinner, was not worthy to behold the apparition.
accepted, and they were given some glass beads in return, they were sent back to say that if their people wanted peace the chiefs must come themselves, as the Spaniards could not treat with slaves. Some thirty head-men appeared the next day, bringing the usual present of provisions, and asking permission to bury and cremate their dead, offering to conclude peace the following day. This was agreed to, and the dead were buried, or burned according to the usage of each tribe. At noon the next day, the chiefs appeared, and in the conversation Jeronimo de Aguilar acted as interpreter. Cortes adroitly arranged a show of gun firing and horsemanship to impress them, and he threw all the blame for the fighting upon them, but declared that, if they were ready for peace his sovereigns would regard them as friends, and favour and help them. Negotiations terminated the next day, when an assembly of all the neighbouring chiefs acknowledged themselves vassals of the Spanish king, giving Cortes presents of gold and slaves. Amongst these latter was Marina, of whom further notice will appear.
