more than thirty thousand men of the people of Guajucingo, Churultecal, and Calco. This division was to go to the city of Iztapalapa for the purpose of destroying it, and afterwards to advance over a causeway in the lake, protected by the brigantines, in order to join with the garrison at Cuyoacan, so that after I entered the lake with the brigantines, the alguacil mayor might fix his headquarters wherever it seemed to him most convenient. For the thirteen brigantines with which I was to enter the lake, I left three hundred men, almost all of whom were sailors[1] and well drilled, so that in each brigantine were twenty-five Spaniards; and each small vessel had a captain, a pilot, and six archers and musketeers.
According to the foregoing order the captains, who were to command the forces in the cities of Tacuba and
- ↑ Although a number of the men had been sailors or fishermen, and consequently knew something about handling boats, none of them wanted to act as rowers for the brigantines, and it was with difficulty that Cortes completed his crews. Many of the natives of Palos, Triana, and other sea-ports, whom he ordered to take the oars, even objected on the score of their gentle birth, but the commander enforced his orders in spite of all excuses and protests. Each brigantine displayed the royal standard as well as its own particular ensign (Bernal Diaz).
he fitted out an expedition in 1535, by royal licence, composed of some five or more ships, carrying fifteen hundred men, and the necessary horses and arms, bound for Peru, where he landed at Puerto Vie jo, marching thence to Quito. His arrival was unwelcome to Pizarro and Diego Almargo, who solved the difficulty by buying out his armament for 100,000 castellanos said at the time to have been an enormous price. He returned to Mexico, and undertook other ventures to the Spice Islands and California, and was finally killed in 1541 by a kick from a horse. When dying, he was asked where he suffered, to which he replied "In my soul."
Alvarado was called Tonatiuh (the sun) by the natives, on account of his high colouring and red beard; he was handsome, physically strong and brave, a typical swashbuckler of his period, cruel to the Indians, faithless to his friends, of quick temper, poor judgment, and known as a confirmed liar. Bernal Diaz fought in Alvarado's division during the siege.
