Velazquez added a third vessel, a small bark, in consideration of a share in the speculation.[1] After laying in a supply of cassava, a bread made from the yucca root, and some salt beef, bacon, and glass beads for barter, the expedition departed from Santiago de Cuba, and went round to the north side of the island. There were in all one hundred and ten[2] soldiers, with Antonio de Alaminos as chief pilot, Alonso Gonzalez priest, and Bernardino Iñiguez king's treasurer. Here the chief pilot said to the commander, "Down from Cuba Island, in this sea of the west, my heart tells me there must be rich lands; because, when I
- ↑ Opinion has been divided as to the original purpose of the expedition. As it turned out, it was thought best on all sides to say nothing of the inhuman and unlawful intention of capturing Indians for slaves. Hence, in the public documents, particularly in the petitions for recompense which invariably followed discoveries, pains is taken to state that it was a voyage of discovery, and prompted by the governor of Cuba. As in the Décadas Abreviadas de los Descubrimientos, Mendoza, Col. Doc. Inéd., viii. 5-54, we find that 'El adelantado Diego Velazquez de Cuéllar es autor del descubrimiento de la Nueva España,' so, in effect, it is recorded everywhere. Indeed, Bernal Diaz solemnly asserts that Velazquez at first stipulated that he should have three cargoes of slaves from the Guanaja Islands, and that the virtuous one hundred indignantly refused so to disobey God and the king as to turn free people into slaves. 'Y desque vimos los soldados, que aquello que pedia el Diego Velazquez no era justo, le respondimos, que lo que dezia, no to mandana Dios, ni el Rey; que hiziessemos á los libres esclavos.' Hist. Verdad., i. On the strength of which fiction, Zamacois, Hist. Méj., ii. 224, launches into laudation of the Spanish character. The honest soldier, however, finds difficulty in making the world believe his statement. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 348, does not hesitate to say very plainly that the expedition was sent out to capture Indians, 'ir é enviar á saltear indios para traer á ella,' for which purpose there were always men with money ready; and that on this occasion Córdoba, Morante, and Caicedo subscribed 1,500 or 2,000 castellanos each, to go and catch Indians, either at the Lucayas Islands or elsewhere. Torquemada, i. 349, writes more mildly, yet plainly enough; 'para ir à buscar Indios, à las Islas Convecinas, y hacer Rescates, como hasta entonces lo acostumbraban.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 1-6, follows Bernal Diaz almost literally. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 60, is non-committal, stating first 'para descubrir y rescatar,' and afterward, 'Otros dizen que para traer esclauos delas yslas Guanaxos a sus minas y granjerias.' Oviedo and Herrera pass by the question. Landa, Rel. de Yucatan, 16, 'a rescatar esclavos para las minas, que ya en Cuba se yva la gente apocando y que otros dizen que salio a descubrir tierra.' Says the unknown author of De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 338, 'In has igitur insulas ad grassandum et prædandum, ut ita dicam, ire hi de quibus suprà dictum est, constituerant; non in Iucatanam.' It is clear to my mind that slaves were the first object, and that discovery was secondary, and an after-thought.
- ↑ Bernal Diaz holds persistently to 110. It was 110 who came from Tierra Firme, and after divers recruits and additions the number was still 110.
says the three associates were all Cuban planters; that they equipped three ships, Velazquez adding one. This Hernandez de Córdoba was not he who served as lieutenant under Pedrarias, though of the same name.
