The Mastering of Mexico/Chapter 2

by Kate Stephens

CHAPTER II

 

How the Governor of Cuba ordered another fleet sent out, and what happened.

In the following year of our Lord, 1518, after he had heard the good account we gave of the country we discovered, Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba, determined to send another expedition there. He chose four vessels, of which were the two we soldiers had purchased at our own cost and sailed in with Cordova.

While he was busily engaged in fitting out this squadron, I, Bernal Diaz of Castile, worn out and miserably poor, arrived at Santiago de Cuba, where he lived; and I called upon him, for we were kinsmen. He was highly pleased to see me and asked if my wounds were healed so that I could make another trip to Yucatan. I, laughing, asked him who had given the country that name. He answered, "The Indians you brought back call it that." "Call it rather," I returned, "the land where they killed one half of our men and wounded the other half." "I know you underwent many hardships," he answered; "hardships come to those who set out to discover new lands and win honor, and his majesty, the king, to whom I shall write, will reward you. Therefore, my son, join yourself to the fleet I am getting ready, and I will tell the captain to treat you with honor,"

The account we had brought back that houses in the newly discovered country were built of stone, had spread a vast idea of the riches of its people, and, added to this, one of our Indians had said there was gold. So soldiers, and settlers who owned no Indians in Cuba, were eager to go to the new land, and in a very short time we mustered two hundred and twenty companions. Every one of us, out of his own funds, furnished what he could of arms, stores and other things for himself.

With four men of courage and energy and means Velasquez soon came to terms—one of them, Juan de Grijalva, a kinsman of his, was to have chief command of the expedition, while the other three should each control a ship. These officers were also to furnish stores of cassava bread and salt pork, and Diego Velasquez to provide crossbows, guns, and supply of beans, and beads and other things for barter.

The instructions Velasquez gave our officers, so far as I could learn, were to barter for all the gold and silver they could find, and to form a settlement, If they deemed it advisable; if not, then to return to Cuba. On the 5th of April, 1518, we met together, and after the pilots, three of whom accompanied us on our former voyage, had had their instructions and the signals had been fixed, we paid our devotions at church and weighed anchor. In ten days we doubled the point called by the sailors San Anton, and eight days after we sighted the island of Cozumel. Our ships, carried by currents of the sea, stood further off than when we were there with Cordova, and we landed on the south side of the island, where was good anchorage, free from reefs, and also a town.

A large body of us went on shore with our captain, but the people of the town, when they saw our ships approaching, took to flight, because they had never seen such a sight before. We found two weak, old men, however, hidden in a corn field, and we brought them before our captain. With the help of Julian and Melchior, whom, as I said, we had taken in our previous visit—with the help of our two Indians, who understood their language, our captain spoke kindly to these feeble old men and gave them some beads, and sent them away to bring the cacique of the town. But they never again appeared.

While we were still waiting for their return, a comely Indian woman came towards us and began talking in the language of Jamaica, which many among us understood. She said the people had fled to the mountains out of fear of us. Our captain then dispatched her to fetch them back, but she could persuade none to come. She told us that two years before she had left Jamaica with ten Indians in a large canoe with the plan to fish near some small island. But sea-currents had driven them to this shore, and the people had killed her husband and the other Indians in sacrifices to their gods.

As soon as we had boarded our ships, we took the course we had taken under Cordova the year before, and after eight days arrived off the coast where the natives had used us so ill and had slain fifty of our men and wounded the rest, Chanpoton. In these parts the sea is very shallow, and we anchored about three miles from the shore. The Indians gathered, as they had done the year before, and their haughty bearing showed they had not forgotten their victory. They were all well armed after their manner, with lances, bows and arrows, shields, slings and broad-swords, and they bore drums and trumpets, while they wore cotton cuirasses and had their faces painted black and white. Ranged along the seashore, they stood ready to fall upon us when we landed. We had learned prudence by suffering, however, and this time were well armed.

When we were near enough to be hit, they let fly such a shower of arrows that they speedily wounded half our men. We gave them return with our matchlocks and good swords, however, as soon as we got on shore. Still they kept up the fight against us, each selecting a man against whom, as at a target, they shot. At length we were able to drive them back to the wells of the town. We had taken the precaution to put on cotton cuirasses, yet in the combat we lost seven soldiers, had over sixty men wounded, and our captain, Juan de Grijalva, got three arrow wounds and lost two of his teeth.

Not a single native stayed in the town, which, after putting our enemy to flight, we entered to dress our wounds and bury the dead. The three we made prisoners our captain treated with every kindness, gave them green beads and small bells to give to the people to gain their good will, and sent them to summon their chief. They left us, indeed, but took good care not to come back.

I shall never forget this place because of the immense locusts we saw here. While we were fighting they jumped up and kept flying in our faces, and as the Indians were storming us with arrows at the same time, we sometimes mistook the locusts for arrows. But as soon as we saw our mistake, we made another worse, for when the arrows were coming towards us, we thought them only flying locusts, and in consequence we suffered greatly.

Making our way towards the west, sailing along the coast by day and at night lying to on account of the shallows and rocks, we saw one morning the very broad mouth of a river, and we went near shore with the ships, thinking we should find good harborage. As we came closer in we saw the waves breaking, and found that our larger vessels could not enter because of a bar. It was therefore determined that the two smaller ships, which did not draw so much water, with all our boats well manned, should go on up the river. To this time the river had been called Tabasco, because the chief of the town called himself Tabasco. But since we discovered it during this expedition, we gave it the name of Grijalva, in honor of our captain, and under that name it stands on the sea charts.

Along the shore we could see troops of Indians with bows and arrows and other weapons, after the fashion of the people of Chanpoton, and we reasoned that a town could not be far off. We might have been say two miles from the town, when we heard the sound of the felling of trees. The Indians were making barricades and getting ready for war against us. As soon as we learned this, we disembarked on a point of land where some palm trees were growing. When they saw us land, Indians armed after their manner made towards us in fifty canoes, while many other canoes, manned in the same way, lay off in the creeks as if the warriors dared not approach us.

Seeing how ready they were for action, we were on the point of firing our great guns, when It pleased God to prompt us first to try and gain their friendship. Through our Indians, Julian and Melchlor, therefore, we told them they had nothing to fear from us; that we wished to talk with them and had things to tell, which, as soon as they learned, they would be glad we came to their country; moreover, they should come to us and we would gladly give them of the things we had brought.

When they heard our message, four of the canoes neared us, and we showed the thirty Indians sitting In them strings of glass beads and small mirrors. At the sight of green beads they were delighted, for they thought them made of chalchihuites, a jadeite, which they treasure as very precious.

Then, again, through our Indian interpreters our captain told them we had come from a distant country and were subjects of a great emperor whose name was Don Carlos, who had many lords as vassals, and that they ought to acknowledge him as their lord, and then It would go well with them; also. In exchange for the beads they should bring us fowls and other food.

Two of the Indians, one of them a chief and the other a papa, that is, a priest of their religion,—these two answered and said they would bring the food we wanted, and would barter with us; but, for the rest, they already had a chief, and they could not help feeling a good deal astonished that we, who had just arrived, should be wanting to put a master over them; we should beware about making war as we had done at Chanpoton, for they had at hand three armies, each of eight thousand men; to find what we intended to do was their real errand, however, and whatever it was they should report to caciques assembled from many towns to unite for peace or war.

In token of peace our captain now embraced the ambassadors and presented them with strings of glass beads, desiring them to bring back answer as soon as possible, and adding that if they did not come back, we should have to enter their town by force.

But after consulting their caciques and papas, they returned and told us they would accept our offers of peace and supply us with food; and not only they themselves, but the neighboring towns would make us a present of gold to insure our friendship. Indians commonly, we afterwards learned, give presents when making peace.

The following day about thirty Indians, laden with roasted fish and fowls, maize bread and fruit, came to the promontory where the palms stood. They also brought pans filled with live coals on which they strewed resin and incensed all of us. After this they spread some mats on the ground, and over the mats cotton cloths, and on these some small ornaments of gold in the shape of lizards and ducks, and three necklaces and other articles made of a low grade of gold. Although the presents they offered were of little value, all together not worth two hundred dollars, still we were glad of the proof they brought that there was gold in this country. They also brought some cloaks and waistcoats, such as they wear, and said we must accept them in good part for they had no more gold to give us, but that further on, towards the setting of the sun, there was plenty of gold, adding "Colua! Colua! Mexico! Mexico!" We, however, did not know what Colua, or Mexico, could mean.

As soon as they had made us the presents they told us we might set out, and after our captain, had thanked them and given each some green beads, we determined to re-embark, for if a norther should begin to blow the two ships would be in danger; and we had now, moreover, to go in quest of that strange country, "Mexico! Mexico!" which, these Indians said, abounded in gold.

We boarded our ships and ran along the coast for two days, when we came in sight of a town. We could see crowds of Indians hurrying to and fro along the shore—their shields made of huge tortoiseshells glittered so beautifully in the sun that some of our soldiers believed them gold. Further along we came to a bay into which the Tonala flows, and we gave the river the name of San Antonio, which it still has upon the maps. And we also passed the mouth of the great Coatzacoalcos, where we would gladly have run in the bay, if winds had not prevented. Soon we sighted great snow mountains, crested with snow the whole year round, and other mountains, too, nearer the sea, which we called San Martin because a soldier of that name, who came from Havana, was the first to see them.

So we kept on our course, all four ships together, when we came to the mouth of another river, which we called the Banderas^[1] or flag stream, because there a troop of Indians filled the river banks, and each lance they bore carried a flag of white cloth with which they waved to and beckoned us.

By this time the great city of Mexico must be known throughout Christendom—how like Venice it was built in the water, how it was governed by a mighty monarch, Montezuma, king of countries more than four times as large as Spain, a lord so powerful he would extend his rule beyond what was possible and would know things he never could learn. This great Montezuma had received news of our visit under Cordova the year before, and of what happened at the battle of Chanpoton during this present voyage, and he knew that we soldiers, merely a handful, had defeated the warriors of that town and their allies. Moreover, he had learned that we sought gold, and for that we gladly exchanged our goods. All this Information he had from time to time received through figures drawn, as is the custom of the people, on a thick cloth much like linen and made from fibres of the maguey.

Now, when Montezuma knew we were coasting along towards his dominions, he sent orders to his governors that at every place where we landed they should exchange gold for our glass beads, especially for the green beads which so much resemble their valued chalchihuites or jadeite. Further, he ordered them to gain all knowledge they could of us and of our plans. The reason he dwelt most particularly upon the last point was that a legend of their Indian ancestors had foretold how men with beards should, in the future, come from the rising of the sun and gain dominion over them.

For whatever purpose it may have been, the great Montezuma had ordered these sentinels who filled the banks of the river, and every lance hung with a white cotton cloth, which the sentinels waved inviting us to come to them.

For ourselves, we were fairly astonished at so novel a sight, and our captain, with other officers and soldiers, agreed to find out what the whole matter meant. We therefore lowered two of our boats and manned them with twenty of our most daring soldiers, who, with Francisco de Montejo in command, should go to enquire. I was of the number. It pleased God that the weather should be calm, which is rare enough on these coasts, and we all got safely ashore, where three caciques, one of them a governor under Montezuma, met us. They were attended by many Indians, who brought fowls, maize bread, pineapples and other food, and they spread mats in the shade of trees and invited us to sit down, all by signs, for Julian from Yucatan did not understand their Mexican language. Then they brought clay pans filled with live coals, on which they strewed a resin and incensed us.

As soon as Francisco de Montejo sent word of what had taken place, our captain determined to anchor the ships and go ashore with all our men. When he landed the cacique paid him most marked respect and incensed him with great zeal. He in return gave them beads and treated them in every friendly way, and after he signified that they should bring gold to barter, the governor sent orders to neighboring towns to fetch every trinket they had in the shape of gold for exchange with us. Thus it happened that during the six days we stayed there they brought more than sixteen thousand dollars' worth of jewelry of low grade gold and various workmanship.

In the name of his majesty, the king of Spain, we took possession of the land, and as soon as we did this our captain presented the Indians with some Spanish shirts and told them we wished to return to our ships. One of their number we took with us, and after he had learned our language he became a Christian named Francisco.

Further along the coast we sighted islands, among them one, about five miles from the shore, which offered us a very good roadstead. Here our captain gave orders for the ships to come to anchor, and after we had lowered boats many of us soldiers went aland, for we had seen smoke as we neared the shore. We found two strongly built stone houses, each with steps leading up to an altar, and on these altars idols of horrible shapes. Bodies of five natives still lay where the night before the papas had sacrificed them—their chests cut open, their arms and legs off, while the walls about were besmeared with blood. At all this we stood in utter amazement, and gave the island the name of Isla de Sacrificios.

Sailing onwards, we anchored opposite another island about two miles from the main land—at a harbor at present thought the best in the country, the port of Vera Cruz. When we were landed on the sands of this beach, swarms of mosquitos so annoyed us that we had to build huts on the great sand dunes, and in the tops of trees. From our boats we carefully examined the harbor and found that it had a good bottom for anchorage, and it was, moreover, sheltered from northers. Our captain and thirty of us soldiers, all well armed, went over the island, and found a temple on which stood a large and ugly idol of the god Tezcatlipoca.^[2] Four Indian priests or papas, clad in wide black cloaks, and with flying hair, had that very day offered the hearts and blood of two boys before the horrible figure. The papas came towards us to Incense us with the perfuming resin with which they had incensed Tezcatlipoca, but we were so shocked at the sight of those two boys they had just killed, and so disgusted with their abominations, we would not suffer their incense. Our captain, by signs, questioned the Indian Francisco, whom we had brought with us from the Banderas stream, and who seemed to be intelligent, and Francisco answered that the people of Colua had ordered the sacrifices. As Francisco halted in his speech, he pronounced the word "Olua, Olua," and from this happening, and because our captain himself was present and was named Juan, and also because it was the day of St. John in June, we called this small island San Juan de Ulua.^[3] This harbor, we say, has been much frequented. In the fifty years since our discovery of it great numbers of ships have refitted there; and now all merchandise from Castile for Mexico is there unladen.

While we were encamped on these sand dunes, natives from nearby towns brought us gold trinkets for barter, but the few things were so poor in quality that we scarce troubled ourselves about them. In the huts we had built we stayed seven days, although we suffered much discomfort from mosquitos. Our captain, Grijalva, who had proved himself a large minded man and brave soldier, was well minded to found a colony even with our few men. But because we were now convinced that these lands before us were the mainland and contained large towns, and because our cassava bread had become mouldy and unfit to eat, and because our numbers were too few to permit us to form a settlement—thirteen of our men had died of wounds and four were still ill—we agreed to forward to Diego Velasquez account of our condition and ask him to send succor. To go on this mission to Cuba, Pedro de Alvarado was chosen, and he soon sailed in the good ship San Sebastian, taking with him all the gold and cotton cloth we had bartered for, and also our sick men. The officers of the other ships, each giving his own account, also sent the governor letters of what we had seen.

From the moment our fleet had quitted Cuba, Diego Velasquez had been downcast and anxious lest some misfortune befall us. When, however, Alvarado came into port with the gold and cloth and sick men, and when Velasquez saw the gold worked into various trinkets, and heard the whole story of what we had found, his joy was great. Nor were the officers who received the king's fifth less astonished at the riches of the lands we had discovered. Alvarado, who knew how to gain over Diego Velasquez, afterwards said that the governor could do nothing but embrace him, and that he ordered festivities and sports for eight days. Rumor of riches in these lands had already gone about, but now that gold had really come, fanciful reports spread through all the islands and the whole of Spain.

After Alvarado had set sail for Cuba our officers held our course along the coast, and we saw numbers of towns lying from six to nine miles inland. From one of these a troop of Indians in twenty large canoes came out and attacked us. We continued our course, however, until we neared a wide cape,^[4] where on account of strong currents we could make no headway, and it was finally agreed that we should return to Cuba.

We therefore turned our ships about, hoisted all sails, and, aided by the currents, came in a few days to the waters of the broad Coatzacoalcos. Here boisterous weather forced us onward to the smaller river Tonala, where we careened one of our ships, for she had struck three several times on entering the river and was fast making water.

While we were busy at this work many Indians came from the town of Tonala, about four miles away, and with great good will brought us maize bread, fish and fruits. Our commander paid them kind attentions and gave them white and green glass beads, signing to them also that they should bring us gold for barter and that for it we would give our goods in return. They brought gold, and this also did people from Coatzacoalcos, exchanging their ornaments—of a debased gold, however—for the green glass beads they highly valued.

Besides gold, every Indian had with him a highly polished copper axe, the handle curiously wrought as if to serve as well for an ornament as for battle use. We thought these axes were made of a low grade gold and began bartering for them, with the result that within three days we had taken more than six hundred, with which we, thinking, I say, they contained gold, were even more content than the Indians were with their green glass beads.

How I sowed some orange seeds in this place I must tell. So many mosquitos swarmed along the river that I one day went up and lay down to rest in a tall temple of the Indians. In gratitude for the quiet sleep I had, and because it was rumored that we were to come back there to settle, I planted at the foot of the temple eight orange seeds I had brought with me from Cuba. When they came up the papas of the temple must have seen they were plants different from those they knew, and they must have protected them from the ants and weeds, and watered them. For years after, when we had conquered Mexico, and the most Illustrious of the conquerors, among which number was myself, settled in this province, I did not forget to look for, and to my joy find, my orange trees. I transplanted them and they flourished most uncommonly, and all the oranges of New Spain are descendants of my plants. I know well it will be said such old tales are quite out of character here, so I will tell no more of them.

Boarding our ships again we set sail for Cuba, and after more than forty days of weather, sometimes fair and sometimes foul, we arrived at Santiago. When Diego Velasquez saw the gold we had brought, well worth four thousand dollars, he was highly pleased, for with that already given over by Alvarado, the amount was now twenty thousand dollars. Some made the sum less, some even more. Officers of the king took the royal fifth, and were so minded as to the six hundred axes, but when these were brought out and seen to be merely a good kind of copper there was a good laugh at us and much broad-spread fun at our zeal in bartering.

 

1. Rio Jamapa on modern maps.
2. When, in the following pages, the reader meets the names Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli, will he kindly bear in mind these differences between the two gods?
   There were few departments of native life with which the god Tezcatlipoca was not intimately connected. He was present everywhere and saw all that happened and therefore his images bore a mirror as a symbol. As the night wind he was supposed to wander through the streets after dark in search of evil doers, and as night-god and warrior-god to appear in all sorts of grisly shapes to test the courage of those he might meet. Schools in which children prepared for military service were under his protection. Of slaves he was defender. As god of divine punishment he was also god of confession—the penitent confessing his sins before a priest whom he regarded as representative of the god and who gave absolution. The fifth months of the year, beginning the 23rd of April, was symbolized by a figure of the god and was the occasion of the feast at which a young man, identified with the god, was sacrificed to him after a year spent in the enjoyment of every luxury that Mexican civilization could afford.
   Huitzilopochtli was tribal god of the Aztecs to whom he gave the bow, saying, "All that flies on high do the Mexicans know how to hit with the arrow." God of war and of hunting he sprang, the legend ran, from an earth goddess after a ball of down had fallen on her from heaven. The ninth month beginning the 12th of July was sometimes symbolized by a figure of Huitzilopochtli, and celebrated by a flower-feast. For further knowledge about gods of the Mexicans the reader should consult "Mexican Archaeology" by Thomas A. Joyce—from which book the contents of this note were gained.
3. In the halting of the speech of this Indian is the origin of the name of the celebrated fort of San Juan de Ulua, on one of the reefs fronting Vera Cruz—a name enduring through most varied fortunes of three centuries.
4. Cape Roxo.