At this time the fat cacique of Chempoalla complained to Cortes of certain outrages committed by the soldiers of a Mexican garrison in a town called Cincapacinga, nine leagues off Chiahuitztla, where we were then quartered, and requested his assistance. Turning to some of the Spaniards who were about him, Cortes said jocularly: "You see that these people esteem us as superior beings; let us encourage their prejudice, and make them believe that one of us can drive an army of the natives before him. I will send old Heredia the musketeer, whose fierce scarred countenance, great beard, one eye, and lame leg, will terrify them." Heredia had served in the wars of Italy, and was ordered by Cortes to proceed only to the river, where he was to fire a musket as a signal, meaning only to try how far the credulity of the Indians would carry them. As Heredia was present, Cortes pointed him out to the Indians, and desired him to go with his teule, who would kill or make prisoners of all their enemies. The caciques set out accordingly with their warriors, headed by Heredia, who went firing his musket before them. As soon as they reached the river, the old soldier made the appointed signal, and Cortes sent to recal them, having sufficiently tried their faith, and informed them that he would march against their enemies with all his troops. When the soldiers were ordered to prepare for this duty, those who were of the party of Velasquez refused to obey, and insisted on returning to Cuba. The mutineers who avowed themselves on this occasion were only seven in number; and on being reprimanded by Cortes, they insolently replied, that they wondered at his temerity, in attempting to establish a colony among such prodigious multitudes of natives with so small a force; that they were already tired of being so dragged about, and were resolved to go back to their plantations in Cuba. Though he disapproved their conduct, Cortes declared he would not oppose them; on which they embarked, taking on board their provision of bread, vegetables, and oil for the voyage, and one of them named Moron sold a good horse to Juan Ruano, receiving its price in an assignment over some property in Cuba. When the vessel was about to sail, we all waited on Cortes, having the civil officers of the colony at our head, and requested that no one should be allowed to quit their colours, for which these men rather deserved to die, than to be thus permitted to depart. Cortes appeared at first unwilling to recal his permission, but at last acceded to our wishes, and the seven deserters were obliged to return, under the ridicule of us all. Moron in particular was most laughed at, as having lost his horse, which Ruano refused to return, referring to the assignment in Cuba for the agreed payment.

The discontents being for the present appeased, Cortes set out against Cincapacinga with 400 soldiers, and was joined at Chempoalla by 1000 of our allied natives, divided into four companies. We marched five leagues the first day, and reached the outskirts of Cincapacinga next day, which we found situated among steep rocks of difficult access. Eight of the principal inhabitants of the place waited on Cortes, whom they asked with tears in their eyes what misconduct of theirs had induced him to destroy them; adding, that the ill will of our allies of Chempoalla proceeded from an ancient dispute about boundaries, and they now took the advantage of our assistance to rob and murder them unjustly. They acknowledged that a Mexican garrison had been in their town, but assured him that it had retired when the officers of Montezuma were arrested at Chiahuitztla, and earnestly entreated to be admitted into favour. Cortes gave immediate orders, forbidding the allies to advance; but they were already engaged in plundering the suburbs, at which Cortes was very angry, and ordering the Chempoallan captains into his presence, he reproached them for their misrepresentations, when their obvious purpose was to employ us, who were bound to prevent and redress injustice, to aid them in plundering their neighbours. He commanded them therefore, on pain of death, instantly to liberate all their prisoners, to restore their plunder, and to withdraw for the night with all their men from the town; with all which orders they immediately complied. By this just conduct, Cortes won the hearts of the people in this district to our cause, and the chiefs and priests listened attentively to his exhortations to abandon their abominable idolatry and barbarous human sacrifices, coming under engagements of allegiance to our king, and making heavy complaints against the tyranny of the Mexican government. Next morning, Cortes brought the chiefs of Chempoalla and Cincapacinga together, and effectuated a complete reconciliation between the two districts. We then set out on our return, taking a different route from that by which we advanced, and halted after a fatiguing march, in a village belonging to the district of Cincapacinga. While here, one of our soldiers took two fowls from one of the inhabitants, and Cortes got notice of the transaction, who was so highly incensed at the commission of such an outrage in a peaceable district, that he immediately ordered the soldier to be hanged; but captain Alvarado cut the rope with his sword in time to save his life. We proceeded from that village to another in the district of our first allies, where the cacique of Chempoalla waited for us with a supply of provisions, and next day marched back to our quarters at Chiahuitztla, into which we were escorted by all the chiefs. Our conduct on this expedition raised us higher than ever in the esteem of the natives, who could distinguish the excellence of justice, though untaught, and saw that the behaviour of Cortes corresponded with his professions of having come into their country to redress injuries, and to put an end to tyranny.

The natives were now under great terror of the power and vengeance of Montezuma for revolting from his authority. They proposed therefore to fix our abode in their country by inducing us to marry their women; and for this purpose, eight young women of the principal families of the district were introduced, all richly dressed and decorated with gold collars and ear-rings, attended by many female slaves. The fat cacique then made a speech to our general, in which he said that seven of these women were intended for the captains of our army, and the eighth, who was his own niece and proprietor of several villages and many vassals, was meant for himself. Cortes received this offer with thanks; but observed, that in order to establish an entire friendship between them and us, they must first renounce their gross idolatry, the shameful custom of male youths appearing in female attire, and their barbarous human sacrifices; as we were daily shocked by seeing four or five horrid murders, the miserable victims being cut up and exposed as beef is in our public markets. The chiefs and priests replied that they could not consent to renounce the accustomed worship of their gods, but were willing to abolish the other evil customs of which he complained. We were by no means satisfied with this answer, and having made sure of our hearty co-operation, Cortes ordered us all under arms, and informed the chiefs that we were determined upon suppressing their idolatrous worship by force at the hazard even of our lives. On hearing this resolution, the fat cacique ordered all his people to arm for the defence of the temple; and when we were about to ascend the great flight of steps, he expostulated with Cortes for attempting a measure which would ensure the destruction both of them and us, by incensing their gods. Cortes replied that their remonstrances were all in vain, as he was determined to hurl their pretended gods down the steps of the temple. Then fifty of us went up to the summit of the temple, whence we threw down and dashed in pieces all the abominable idols we could find, some like dragons, others having half human figures, and others again like dogs. At this sight, the chiefs and priests wept and prayed us to desist, but the warriors seemed ready to attack us; on which we immediately seized the fat cacique and six other chiefs and priests, exclaiming that we would put them all instantly to death, if any resistance or outrage was attempted. The cacique then ordered his warriors to desist, and the tumult being appeased, Cortes made them a long harangue on the subject of religion. He then gave orders that the fragments of the broken idols should be burnt; on which eight priests, who were accustomed to take care of them, brought all their fragments into the temple, where they were consumed to ashes. These priests were dressed in long black mantles like sheets, hanging down to the ground, with hoods hanging on their shoulders like our cannons, and other smaller hoods resembling those of our Dominican friars. Their long hair was matted together with clotted blood, some of them having it so long as to hang down to their feet, and others only to the waist. Their ears were all torn and cut, and they smelt horribly of putrid flesh. These priests were said to be all of noble families.

When all this was ended, Cortes made a harangue to the people, saying, That we were now really brothers, and that Montezuma should not oppress them any more, for he would place them under the protection of the Mother of God, whom we adored; and he added many good and holy arguments exceedingly well expressed, to all of which the people listened most attentively. He then had the walls of the temple cleared of blood and new plastered, employing a number of Indian masons for this purpose, using lime which the place afforded in plenty. After having thus cleaned and purified the temple, he ordered a new altar to be erected, which he hung all round with rich mantles, and adorned it with wreaths of odoriferous flowers; and ordering four native priests to cut off their hair and to put on white garments, he committed the altar to their care, on which he planted the holy cross, before which our chaplain Olmedo celebrated the mass. He also instructed the natives to make wax candles, and enjoined the four priests to keep some of these always burning before the altar. All these things being arranged, he placed a lame old soldier named Juan de Torres, to reside in the temple as a hermit, and to keep the native priests to their new duty. In this first Christian church of New Spain, the principal persons of the surrounding districts attended divine service, and the eight native ladies, already mentioned, having been previously instucted in our holy faith, were solemnly baptized. The niece of the fat cacique of Chempoalla, who was as ugly as possible, was named Donna Catalina; yet the general took her by the hand very affectionately. Puertocarrero was more fortunate, as his lady, who was called Donna Francisco, was very handsome for an Indian, and her father, named Cuesco, was a cacique of considerable power. Having thus cemented a firm friendship with the Totonacas, we returned to our new settlement of Villa rica. We found there a vessel newly arrived from Cuba, under the command of Francisco Sauceda, called el pulido or the beau, from his affectation of finery and high manners. In this vessel there had arrived an able officer named Luis Marin, accompanied by ten soldiers and two horses. He brought intelligence that Velasquez had received the appointment of adelantado of Cuba, with authority to barter and colonize in New Spain. This news gave much satisfaction to the friends of Velasquez in our army, but made no change in the plans of Cortes.

As the works of Villa Rica were nearly completed, many of us became eager for the proposed visit to Montezuma, and expressed our wishes to Cortes that we might try our fortune in that expedition. It was resolved in the first place in a grand consultation, to send a deputation to Old Spain, to give an account to his majesty of all our proceedings, together with all the gold and other articles of value which we had hitherto obtained. For this purpose Ordas and Montejo went through among all the officers and soldiers, and persuaded them to allow of the whole treasure being sent to the king, as it was for the general interest to renounce our claim for a partition. Puertocarrera and Montejo were appointed agents for Cortes and the army, our general having gained Montejo to his party by a present of 2000 crowns. By these gentlemen Cortes sent a letter to his majesty, the contents of which we were not made acquainted with. The cabilda or council of the new settlement wrote also a letter to the king, in conjunction with those soldiers who were most solicitous for the settlement of the colony, and had voted in the election of Cortes as captain-general. Nothing was omitted in this letter which seemed calculated to establish our cause at court, and my name was signed to it along with the rest.

Beginning with expressions of our most profound respect, we related all the events which had occurred from our setting out on the expedition, down to the election of Cortes as our captain-general, till the pleasure of his majesty might be made known on the subject, together with our engagement to allow Cortes a fifth part of the treasure, after deducting the kings part. We gave an account of our having discovered two Spaniards in the country; of our having procured two excellent interpreters; of our war in Tabasco; of the interviews with the messengers of Montezuma; our march into the country, and our alliance with the natives, who had renounced their allegiance to Montezuma and submitted themselves and their country to his majesty; of our expedition to Cincapacinga; the abolition of idolatry at Chiahuitztla, and the establishment of Christianity; the construction of our fortress of Villa Rica; and of our present determination to march to the court of Montezuma, the great sovereign of Mexico. We gave likewise a succinct account of the military establishment and religious observances of the natives, an enumeration of the articles of treasure we had transmitted to his majesty by our agents, and that we had sent over four natives, whom we had rescued from the cages at Chempoalla, where they were fattening for victims to the false gods of the country. We then stated that we were only 450 soldiers, surrounded by innumerable multitudes of enemies, yet ready to sacrifice our lives for the glory of God and the service of his majesty; and we earnestly entreated that he would be graciously pleased not to bestow the government of this great and rich country upon an unworthy person, expressing our fears of what Velasquez might attempt to our prejudice, by means of his patron the bishop of Burgos, whom he had secured in his interest by grants of valuable estates in Cuba which ought to have belonged to his majesty. In conclusion, we awaited the return of his gracious answer with the most profound reverence; yet humbly assured his majesty, if the bishop of Burgos sent over any person to assume the command, we were resolved to suspend our obedience till his majesty's pleasure were clearly made known to us, remaining in the mean time, as now, under the command of his majesties most faithful servant and our general Hernando Cortes, whose merits we painted in glowing colours. When this was extended in due form, Cortes asked permission to read it, and expressed his perfect satisfaction with the whole, excepting two articles, the mention of his share of the treasure, and the names of Cordova and Grijalva as having previously discovered this country; as he assumed the whole merit to himself in his private letter. He wished therefore to have these passages expunged, but some of us roundly told him, that his majesty must not only be informed of the truth, but of the whole truth.

When this important affair was completed, our agents set sail from Villa Rica on the 26th July 1519[2], with strict injunctions not to touch at the Havanna or the port of el Marien, as we wished to keep the whole from being known to Velasquez. Yet they went directly to the Havanna, the pilot Alaminos being over-persuaded into this measure, under pretence of Puertocarrero being sick, and that Montejo wanted to procure provisions from his estate of El Marien. As soon as the ship came to anchor, Montejo sent letters on shore to Velasquez, giving an account of all that had taken place during the expedition; and as the messenger went through the island, he everywhere communicated the news of all that had occurred to our army. On receiving this intelligence from Montejo, Velasquez was highly enraged against Cortes, and heartily cursed his secretary and contador, who had persuaded him to confide the expedition to his guidance. He immediately dispatched two armed vessels to detain our ship, but soon got the unwelcome news that she was considerably advanced on her voyage to Europe. Besides writing to his patron the bishop of Burgos, he lodged a complaint against Cortes before the royal audience at St Domingo; but the members sent him an answer highly favourable to us, with whose good services they were already acquainted. All these untoward circumstances gave the adelantado infinite vexation, insomuch that from being very fat, he became quite lean. But he used every exertion to collect a powerful armament on purpose to overwhelm us as rebels against his legitimate authority, going about the whole island in person to incite the settlers to take up arms in his cause, and prepared a fleet of eighteen sail of vessels for the expedition against us, which was confided to the command of Pamphilo de Narvaez, of which we shall give an account hereafter.

Our agents passed through the Bahama channel, under the direction of the pilot Alaminos, being the first ship which took that passage from the West Indies for Europe. After touching at the island of Tercera for refreshments, they proceeded for Seville, and arrived a few days afterwards at Valladolid, where the court was then held. Our agents immediately waited on the bishop of Burgos, who was president of the council of the Indies, expecting a favourable reception, and requested him to transmit our letters and present them with all speed to the emperor, who was then in Flanders. The bishop gave them a haughty and repulsive answer, saying, That he would make a proper representation of our conduct, for having thrown off our obedience to Velasquez. The arrival of Benito Martinez, chaplain to the governor of Cuba, contributed to place our affairs in an unfavourable light; and as Puertocarrero made a remonstrance to the bishop, he caused him to be thrown into prison, on a frivolous charge of having taken away with him a woman from Medellin to the Indies. The bishop made a represention of our affairs to his majesty, stating every thing in the most favourable light for Velasquez, and as much as he possibly could against us, suppressing all mention of our letters and present, and even appropriated a great part of the latter to his own use. But our agents concerted matters with Martin Cortes, our generals father, and the licentiate Nunez, his near relation, who had an office in the royal council, and by means of some noblemen who were jealous of the bishop and disgusted with his haughty demeanour, they procured duplicates of all our letters to be transmitted to his majesty, together with complaints of the partiality of the bishop. These letters got safe to his majesty, with which he was well pleased; and for a long time his court was full of the praises of Cortes and of us his soldiers. The emperor conceived much displeasure against the bishop of Burgos for his conduct on this occasion; who became quite furious against Cortes and the rest of us, when he heard of the light in which our affairs had been seen at the court; but about two years afterwards the bishop became quite crest-fallen, as he was censured by the emperor, while we continued to be esteemed as loyal subjects. On receiving these duplicates of our letters, the emperor was pleased to say, That he would soon return to Spain, when he would attend to our memorials, and would reward our faithful services.

Four days after the departure of our agents, a plot was discovered which had been concerted among the enemies of Cortes, for seizing a vessel to carry over intelligence to Velasquez of the departure of our agents, and of the measures which had been taken by us against the authority of the adelantado. Among the conspirators were, Escudero, Cermeno, Umbria a pilot, Bernardino de Coria, a clergyman named Juan Diaz, and some sailors who had been whipped at the island of Cozumel; but the plan had been suggested by some persons of consequence, who were enraged at Cortes for preventing their return to Cuba, and for having been deprived of their shares of the treasure which was sent to the emperor. This plot was revealed only a few hours before the vessel was to have sailed, by the repentance of de Coria. All the before-mentioned conspirators were immediately seized, and having confessed the whole plot, they were all condemned to die except the priest, who was in a terrible fright. Escudero and Cermeno were hanged; Umbria had his feet cut off, and each of the sailors received 200 lashes. When Cortes signed the ratification of this sentence, he exclaimed with a sigh: "Happy is he who cannot write, that he may not have occasion to sign the death-warrants of other men." In my opinion, this sentiment is often affected by judges, in imitation of Nero, at the time he counterfeited the appearance of clemency. As soon as the sentence was put in execution, Cortes set off full speed for Chempoalla, ordering 200 soldiers and all the cavalry to follow him to that place, where likewise he sent orders for a detachment that was then out under Alvarado to march.

In a consultation respecting our intended expedition to Mexico, Cortes was advised by his friends to destroy the fleet, in order to prevent all possibility of the adherents of Velasquez deserting to Cuba, and likewise to procure a considerable augmentation to our force, as there were above an hundred sailors. In my opinion, Cortes had already determined on this measure, but wished the proposal to originate with us, that we might all become equally responsible for the loss. This being resolved upon, Cortes ordered his friend Escalente to dismantle all the ships and then sink them, preserving only the boats for the purpose of fishing. Escalente bore inveterate enmity against Velasquez, who had refused him a good district in Cuba, and went immediately to Villa Rica where he executed this service effectually. All the sails, cordage, and every thing else that could be useful were brought on shore, and the whole of the ships sunk. Escalente then came back to Chempoalla with a company formed of the mariners, many of whom became excellent soldiers. Cortes now summoned all the chiefs who had renounced their allegiance to Montezuma into his presence, whom he exhorted to give every service in their power to the detachment he meant to leave in Villa Rica, and to assist them in completing the town: Then taking Escalente by the hand, whom he had appointed to command there in his absence, he presented him to the caciques as his brother, desiring them to obey him in every thing, and assuring them that he would protect them against their enemies. The chiefs all engaged to perform every thing, he had enjoined. Escalente was left in charge of this port as a person in whom Cortes could entirely confide, to repel any attempts that might be made against him by Velasquez, while absent on the expedition to Mexico. Soon after the destruction of the vessels, Cortes assembled us one morning after mass; and, after some discourse on military affairs, he said, That we now knew the business in which we were engaged, wherein we had no other alternative but conquest or death; for in case of defeat we had no means of escape, and must depend entirely, under GOD, on our own valour; afterwards adding many comparisons of our present situation with incidents drawn from the Roman history. We unanimously answered, That we were prepared to obey and follow him wherever he chose to lead, the lot being now cast, as Caesar said on passing the Rubicon, and we devoted ourselves to the service of God and our emperor. He then addressed us in an eloquent speech; after which he called for the fat cacique, whom he informed of our intended march to Mexico, and gave him strict injunctions to take great care of the holy cross and the church we had established.

When we were ready to depart on our expedition to Mexico, a letter was brought from Escalente, informing Cortes that a strange ship had come to anchor in a river about three leagues from Villa Rica, from which he could get no answer to his signals. Cortes left the command of the army during his absence to Alvarado and Sandoval, and set out with four horsemen for Villa Rica, leaving orders for thirty of the lightest armed infantry to follow, who accordingly arrived that night. Escalente offered to go with twenty men to the vessel, lest she might escape; but Cortes set out along the coast without delay, and fell in with four Spaniards on the road, who had been sent on shore by Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda, the captain of the vessel, to take formal possession of the country. One of these was a notary, named Guillen de la Loa, and the rest attended him to witness the act. From these men Cortes was informed that Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, had procured a commission from the court as adelantado of such districts as he might discover on this coast to the north of the river of St Peter and St Paul, and had sent three ships with 270 soldiers under Pineda, who was then in the river of Panuco. Cortes wished to have got possession of the ship, but no signals could induce the people to land, as we were informed by de la Loa that their captain was aware of our being on the coast. As a stratagem to decoy them on shore, Cortes dressed four of his soldiers in the clothes of the Spaniards he had taken, and left them on the spot, returning along-shore towards Villa Rica, that he might be noticed from the ship; but after we had got out of sight, we made a secret detour through the woods, and got back about midnight to the rivulet where we had left our disguised companions, where we carefully concealed ourselves. Early in the morning, our disguised men went down to the shore, making signals to the people of the ship, in consequence of which a boat put off with six sailors, two of whom landed with casks to take in water. Our men held down their faces to avoid being noticed, pretending to wash their hands; but on being spoken to by the men in the boat, one of them desired them to come on shore; when alarmed by the strange voice, they put off. We were going to fire upon them, but Cortes would not permit, and they escaped. We thus missed our object, and returned to Villa Rica, having procured six men as a reinforcement to our small force.

[1] Chempoalla appears to have been a place of considerable size, both from the testimony of eye-witnesses and the extent of its ruins. Torquimada in one place says its inhabitants amounted to twenty or thirty thousand; in another place he extends their number to 50,111, and in his index to 150,000. Like many others of the Indian cities in New Spain, it dwindled down, by the diseases and vexations of the sixteenth century, and at length became entirely depopulated.—Clavigero, II. 21.

[2] Bernal Diaz has given no dates of the transactions of Cortes in Mexico, from the 21st of April till now, the 26th of July, a period of 3 months and 5 days.—E.

END OF VOLUME THIRD