THE MASTERING OF MEXICO
CHAPTER I
How we discovered Yucatan
When we, who were at Nombre de Dios in the province of Tierra-firme,[1] learned that the island of Cuba had just been conquered, and Diego Velasquez appointed governor there, some of us gentlemen and soldiers, all persons of quality, met together and asked of Pedro Arias de Avila, governor of Tierra-firme, permission to go to Cuba. He readily gave us leave, since his son-in-law, Balboa, had so far subdued the people and successfully administered the colony that Avila himself found no employment for so many men as he had brought from Spain.
We forthwith embarked in a good ship and with fair weather landed in Cuba, where we went at once to pay our respects to the governor, Diego Velas-
- ↑ Tierra-firme extended along the north coast of South America from Cape Vela westward to Darien, and northward to Cape Gracias-a-Dios in Honduras. The spelling of names in this book, and statements of numbers, are for the most part taken from "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo," translated into English by Alfred Percival Maudslay.
