Before describing our further march, I must not forget to mention that a few Mexican chiefs, who were unable to endure the pains of hunger any longer, had secreted two or three Indians of the townships we had pa.s.sed through, among their baggage. These unfortunate beings they slaughtered on our march, and baked them after the fashion of their country, between heated stones, under ground, and then devoured their flesh. We afterwards discovered that our two guides, whom we so suddenly missed, had been served in a similar manner. When Cortes was informed of this revolting circ.u.mstance, he ordered the caziques into his presence, and reprimanded them for committing such atrocities, threatening to punish them most severely if they repeated this abominable conduct. One of the Franciscan monks likewise preached a sermon on the occasion, and he told them many holy and edifying things. In order, however, to deter the caziques from committing a similar offence, one of them was sentenced to be burnt at the stake.[46]
I will not go further into the particulars of the many hardships and privations we had to suffer. Our distress was so great, that even the performers on the sackbut, clarion, and dulcimer, who were constantly to have amused us with their instruments, the only hard work they had to do, fell ill for want of food, and so an end was put to their music.
There was only one of them who managed to force out a tune now and then, but we all grew so sick of his blowing and puffing that we told him it sounded in our ears like the mingled howls of foxes and wolves, and that a handful of maise to stay the cravings of hunger would be more acceptable than all his music.
Several persons on reading this history have asked me, why we did not kill the herd of swine which Cortes took with him? For you know, they said, that necessity breaks through all law, and Cortes would undoubtedly have distributed some of the flesh from time to time among the troops. To this I answered, that Cortes" chief butler Guinea, a man of a dubious character, gave out that the hogs had by degrees all been devoured by the alligators and sharks in crossing the rivers. However, in order that we might never catch sight of these swine, they were always kept about four days" journey behind us; though I must confess that the whole herd put together would not have fed our numerous troops for one single day, and besides this, no one ever spoke of killing them for fear of annoying Cortes.
In every township we came to, and in various other places wherever we found proper trees for the purpose, particularly the ceiba tree, we cut the form of a cross into the bark, these being much more durable than those crosses usually constructed of two pieces of wood and stuck into the ground; besides that, the former become more and more perceptible as the bark grows. To these we likewise fastened sc.r.a.ps of paper, that would immediately catch the eye, and on which was written: _Cortes pa.s.sed this way on such and such a day_, for the instruction of those who might be sent after us. On our march to Ciguatepec we were accompanied by above twenty Indians of Tamaztepec, in order to a.s.sist us in crossing the rivers with their canoes; some of them likewise went in advance, to acquaint the inhabitants of the townships that we came in a friendly disposition. By this so much was gained, that those who would otherwise have fled at our approach now quietly awaited our arrival without evincing the least fear.
CHAPTER CLXXVI.
_How Cortes on our arrival at Ciguatepec despatches Francisco de Medina in search of Simon de Cuenca, with orders for the latter to repair with the two vessels to Triunfo de la Cruz; and what further happened._
Cortes" first care on our arrival in Ciguatepec was to gain the friendship of the caziques and of other distinguished persons of the township, and for this purpose he presented them with a number of Mexican chalchihuis stones. These people then gave him an account of a very broad river which flowed at no great distance from their township, and emptied itself into an arm of the sea, near to the township of Gueyatasta, which lay close to the larger one called Xicalango. From Ciguatepec Cortes, therefore, considered it most advisable to send some one to the north coast in search of the two transports under Simon de Cuenca, and after making the minutest inquiries respecting the route they were to take, he despatched two Spaniards thither for this purpose, the princ.i.p.al one of whom was Francisco de Medina, a man who was very active and prompt in everything he undertook. This is the same officer who caused an insurrection in Chamula, in our expedition under Luis Marin against Chiapa, mentioned in a former chapter.
Cortes gave him full power to share the command between himself and Cuenca, but it would have been much better if he had never given him this authority, as will presently be seen. However, Medina went down the river and found Cuenca lying at anchor with his vessels in front of Xicalango, awaiting Cortes" further commands, according to the instructions he had received. As soon as Medina stepped on board he produced his authority from our general with respect to the command, which gave rise to high words between both parties, and ended in so b.l.o.o.d.y a conflict in which the crews mingled, that they slew each other without mercy, and only seven men remained alive. But here misfortunes were not at an end, for when the Indians of Xicalango and Gueyatasta saw how the Spaniards quarrelled among themselves and weakened their strength, they fell suddenly upon those that survived, put them to death and then set fire to the vessels. Though we did not hear of all this until two years and a half had elapsed.
The caziques of Ciguatepec informed us that we were still three days"
journey from Gueyacala, and that we should have to cross two rivers, of which one was uncommonly deep and broad; after this our route would lay through an extensive moorland, full of dangerous bogs, and they a.s.sured us we should not be able to cross the rivers without canoes. Cortes therefore despatched two Spaniards with three distinguished Indians in advance, to bring him an accurate account of the state of the rivers and the marshes, and inform him what would be the easiest method of crossing them. The two soldiers who received these commands were, Pedro de Ribera and Martin Garcia, of Valencia, who was alguacil of our army, and in whom our general placed the greatest confidence. They set out on their march, explored the rivers in small canoes, and were of opinion that the only way to pa.s.s the former would be by throwing bridges across; but as for the marshes, which lay four miles further on, they had never even given them a thought, and they only brought word about the difficulty of throwing bridges across the water. Cortes then sent for myself and Gonsalo Mexia, and commissioned us to go in company of some of the chiefs of Ciguatepec to the Acallan townships, and do all in our power to gain the friendship of the inhabitants, that they might not run away as our army approached.
These Acallan townships were above twenty in number, some built on the mainland, some on the small islands which lay in the river and at the head of the estuary, so that they could only communicate with each other by means of canoes. We accordingly set out with our Indian friends, who, however, deserted us on the first night, because they were at enmity with these townships, as we subsequently learnt. We were, therefore, obliged to continue our route in the best way we could without the help of guides, and it was only with the greatest difficulty we found our way through the mora.s.ses to the first of the Acallan townships. Although on our approach the inhabitants immediately took up arms, we sought to gain their friendship by kind words and presents of gla.s.s beads, begging of them to accompany us to Malinche and take him something to eat. These people were then not aware that Cortes was advancing with so large a body of foot and horse, and showed little inclination to return with us.
It was not until the following day, when they learnt from some Indian merchants what a large army Malinche had with him, that they evinced greater willingness to supply him with provisions. Though, at the same time, they told us he must wait for these until he arrived in person, when they would gladly supply him with everything that lay in their power. They could not think, they added, of entering upon the territory of Ciguatepec, where their enemies lived. While we were thus holding a conference with these people, two Spaniards arrived with a letter from Cortes, in which he desired me to meet him on his march with as large a quant.i.ty of provisions as I could possibly collect together, for the whole of the inhabitants of Ciguatepec had suddenly fled, and not a morsel of food was to be got; he was therefore compelled to commence his march immediately, and I was to use all my endeavours to persuade the caziques to remain in their townships.
These two Spaniards also told me that our general had despatched four men up the river in search of provisions among the townships, which were said to lie in that direction. But none of these men had returned, having most probably been murdered by the inhabitants.
Cortes, therefore, began his march, and arrived in the s.p.a.ce of two days on the banks of the broad river above mentioned. Here he displayed his usual activity of mind in superintending the construction of a bridge, which, with the utmost exertions, was completed in the s.p.a.ce of four days of the tallest and thickest trees growing in the neighbourhood, which greatly excited the astonishment of the inhabitants of Acala.
During these four days our troops had scarcely anything to eat, as they had commenced their march without any provisions whatever. And what was worse, they were totally ignorant whether any maise was to be had further on, or whether the country was at peace. Some of the veteran troops stopped the gnawing pain of hunger by cutting down a species of very tall palm-tree, which bore on the topmost branches a kind of nut, with an uncommon hard sh.e.l.l, these they roasted in the fire and ate the kernel.
A short time after this strong bridge had been completed, I and my companions returned to where the army lay encamped, bringing with us one hundred and thirty loads of maise, eighty fowls, some honey, some salt, and various kinds of vegetables. Though it was pretty late when we arrived, yet the whole of the men were keeping a sharp look out for us, as they were perfectly aware we had gone out in search of provisions; our general, moreover, having a.s.sured them he had good hopes they would shortly get something to eat, if at least the Indians did not kill me, as they had the four other Spaniards he had despatched in search of provisions.
As I was thus approaching the camp in the dark, the whole of our troops suddenly fell upon the provisions like ravenous wolves, and took entire possession of them, nor did they leave the smallest quant.i.ty, either for Cortes, Sandoval, or the other superior officers. "This is for Cortes!"
cried they each time they forcibly carried off a load of provisions. His major-domo Carranza, and his butler Guinea, certainly disputed the possession with them, and tugged with all their might at the sacks, but our men were determined to keep all to themselves, and continually cried out: "Cortes and you regaled yourselves with the hogs while we were famishing with hunger, and you never offered us a morsel; and now in our turn we are determined to care for n.o.body but ourselves!" In short, all Cortes" officials might say went for nothing, and they divided the whole of the provisions among themselves.
When Cortes heard this he stamped the ground with rage, swore he would bring the guilty persons to trial and punish them severely. However, after he had given vent to his anger for some time, and had considered the matter a little, he found that all his threats amounted to nothing.
Yet he sent for me, and asked me, in a tone of reproach, why I had not defended the possession of the provisions more effectually? I replied, "That he should have despatched a small detachment to meet me on the road," although, added I, "if your excellency had formed one of the guard yourself it would have been of no avail, for hunger knows no law."
When he saw that there was no remedy, and that extreme distress alone had induced the men to act thus he became quite friendly again, and praised me in the most flattering terms. Gonzalo de Sandoval happened to be present when he was thus kindly addressing me, and I still well remember how Cortes said to me, "O! senor Bernal Diaz del Castillo, for the love you bear me, if you have concealed any provisions on the road do, I beg of you, let me share them with you! You cannot certainly have forgotten to stow some part away for yourself and your friend Sandoval!"
The tone in which he said this went to my very heart; besides that, Sandoval exclaimed, at the same moment, "I declare to Heavens I should feel grateful for a mere handful of maise to roast on the fire for my supper!"
Well, said I, when all is quiet and the whole of the troops have retired to rest, we will steal out in the depth of night and repair to the next village, where the inhabitants have put by for me twelve loads of maise, twenty fowls, three jars of honey, some salt, and have presented me besides with two females to bake my bread. We must use the utmost circ.u.mspection and fetch all this while it is yet dark, that our men may not again waylay us on the road, and likewise deprive us of these provisions.
Sandoval was so exceedingly thankful for this fair prospect of getting something to eat in a short time, that he fell about my neck and embraced me, with the a.s.surance that he would march out with me that very night. We accordingly left our camp in company, had the good fortune to bring in these provisions unperceived, and we regaled ourselves at our ease. Cortes upon this inquired whether the monks had been provided for? To which I replied, that G.o.d took better care of them than he did, for the soldiers had not forgotten to give them a share of the provisions they had plundered, in order that they might not perish of hunger.
I have merely mentioned all this in order to show the reader in what an awful predicament a general may be placed who penetrates with an army into an unknown country. Though Cortes was greatly feared by the troops, yet they even to a man grudged him a handful of maise to still his hunger, and Sandoval himself was obliged to go in search of provisions when he wanted any, for he durst not trust any of his men. So little confidence did one place in the other!
We had all safely pa.s.sed the broad river, and marched about four miles in a straight line, when we got fixed in a terrible mora.s.s. Here all throwing in of trees and other materials to make a road was fruitless.
Our horses sunk in so deep, that often their heads alone were to be seen above ground, and we thought we should never have rescued a single one of them alive. Yet we were ordered to march forward, for we should again be on firm ground at the distance of about half a bowshot. We thus continued to move on, while our army left a deep hollow track behind it, formed of mud and water, the horses swimming, sometimes wading, through the deeper parts. At length we reached firm land, and we offered up thanks to G.o.d for our escape.
Cortes now again despatched me to the Acallan townships, in order to induce the caziques, with whom I had become very friendly, to send off some provisions to him in advance. I instantly set out on my journey, arrived towards evening in Acala, and despatched that very night three Spaniards who had accompanied me, with about one hundred Indians, to Cortes, laden with maise and other provisions. When our general gave me these instructions, he added: "This time I will await the arrival of the provisions, and stand guard over them, that I may not fare as badly as I did before." And sure enough, when they arrived, he, Sandoval, and Luis Marin took them into their own custody, and ordered them to be distributed under their own eyes.
The following day, about noon, the army arrived in Acala, the caziques of which place having met our general with a supply of provisions; but I will break off here, and relate what further took place in the next chapter.
CHAPTER CLXXVII.
_Cortes" further plans after his arrival among the Acallan townships; how he orders the powerful cazique of Mexico Quauhtemoctzin, and the king of Tlacupa, to be hung; his reasons for doing this; and of other matters._
After Cortes had arrived in Gueacala, and had been thus kindly received by the caziques, he told them all manner of fine things, through our interpretess, Dona Marina, and he presented them with various kinds of Spanish toys, all of which appeared vastly to amuse them. They willingly supplied us with provisions, and Cortes questioned them as to the route we were next to take, and whether they had seen other people like unto us, with beards, and riding on horseback, or any strange vessels off the coast?
To which they replied, that eight days further on there were numbers of people with beards, who had women of Castile, horses, and three acales (for so they term vessels) with them. Respecting our inquiries about the direction in which we were to march, they answered by laying before us a large piece of cotton cloth, on which were drawn all the rivers, swamps, mora.s.ses, and townships of the country.
Cortes was excessively rejoiced at all this, and he requested the caziques, as their population was so numerous, to bring their canoes, and throw bridges across the river for us. To this they answered, that their townships were indeed above twenty in number, but that the greater part of these refused obedience to them, particularly those which lay between the rivers. It would therefore be necessary, they added, for him to send a number of his teules--so they termed us--thither, and command them to furnish him with provisions.
Cortes followed their advice, and commissioned Diego de Mazariegos, cousin to the treasurer Estrada, whom Cortes had appointed governor of Mexico, to repair to the latter townships. Cortes was very partial to Mazariegos, and was desirous of distinguishing the man, by conferring this command upon him. But as Mazariegos had very little experience in the manners and customs of these countries, Cortes desired him in confidence to request me to accompany him, and advised him to act upon my advice in all matters. This hint was not lost upon Mazariegos, who did not neglect to follow our general"s counsel. I have not mentioned this in praise of myself, for it was well known to the whole of the troops, and Cortes himself, in his despatches to the emperor respecting the expedition to the Honduras, and which I read myself, also detailed this circ.u.mstance.
The caziques readily furnished us with the necessary canoes, in which eighty of us, with Mazariegos, set out. We arrived safely in the townships above mentioned, met with the most friendly reception, and the inhabitants gave us as large a quant.i.ty of provisions as they could possibly spare. We therefore loaded one hundred canoes with maise, fowls, honey, and salt, taking along with us besides ten female slaves, who had been presented to us, and the caziques accompanied us themselves on our return, to pay their respects to Cortes. After the lapse of three days, however, most of the caziques suddenly left, and we had only three guides remaining, with whom we continued our march. We had two rivers to pa.s.s, one of which we crossed by means of a bridge, that broke down before we had all stepped on land; the other we ferried over in canoes, and in this way we reached another of the Acallan townships, which was quite deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions, which they had concealed among the hills on our approach.
I have now to relate a circ.u.mstance of a very different nature, which occasioned much grief to us all. Quauhtemoctzin and other Mexican chiefs who accompanied our army had, it would appear, spoken among themselves, or secretly determined to put the whole of us to death, then march back to Mexico, and a.s.semble the whole armed power of the country against the few remaining Spaniards, and raise an insurrection throughout the whole of New Spain. This circ.u.mstance was discovered to Cortes by two distinguished Mexican chiefs, one of whom was named Tapia, and the other Juan Velasquez. This latter personage had been Quauhtemoctzin"s captain-general during our war with Mexico, and his testimony was borne out by the investigation which Cortes made into the matter, and by the confession of several of the caziques themselves who were implicated in the conspiracy. These men fearlessly declared, that seeing how carelessly and dispiritedly we roamed about; that numbers of the men were ill from want of food; that four of our musicians, with the buffoon and five soldiers, had died of hunger; and that three other men had turned back, more willing to run the risk of reaching Mexico again than of moving forward, the thought struck them that they could not do better than fall suddenly upon us while we were crossing some river or marsh, particularly as they were upwards of 3000 in number, all armed with lances, and several of them with swords. Quauhtemoctzin did not hesitate to acknowledge that these men had spoken the truth, but added that the conspiracy did not emanate with him, and that he himself had never for a moment contemplated carrying it into effect, but had merely spoken about it with the other caziques. All the cazique of Tlacupa confessed was, his having declared to Quauhtemoctzin that it was better to die at once than daily to have death before their eyes on these fatiguing marches, and see their countrymen and relations perish with hunger.
These were sufficient proofs for Cortes, and without any further ceremony he sentenced Quauhtemoctzin and his cousin the king of Tlacupa to the gallows. Before, however, this sentence was executed, the Franciscan monks, with the a.s.sistance of Dona Marina, strove to comfort these unfortunate men, and commended their souls to G.o.d. When they were being led to the place of execution, Quauhtemoctzin turned to Cortes, and said: "Oh Malinche! I have for a long time perceived, from your false words, that you had destined me for such a death, because I did not lay violent hands on myself when you entered my city of Mexico! Why are you thus going to put me unjustly to death? G.o.d will one time ask this of you!"
The king of Tlacupa said, he could only rejoice in a death which he would be permitted to suffer with his monarch Quauhtemoctzin.
Previous to their being hung, both these unhappy caziques confessed to father Juan, who understood the Mexican language, and they begged of him to commend their souls to G.o.d. For Indians they were good Christians, and they died in the true faith, and fully believed in our holy religion.
The death of these two monarchs grieved me excessively, for I had known them in all their glory, and on our march they honoured me with their friendship, and showed me many little attentions; for instance, they would often order their servants to go in quest of fodder for my horse; besides which, they were innocent of the guilt imputed to them, and it was the opinion of all who accompanied this expedition that they were put to death unjustly.
But I will leave this miserable subject, and return to our march, on which we henceforth observed the utmost vigilance, for we greatly feared the Mexicans might rise up in arms against us, after they had thus beheld their monarch ignominiously hung by the neck from a tree. But hunger, fatigue, and sickness weighed heavier upon their minds than the misfortune of Quauhtemoctzin.
On our further march we came up to a river, which we crossed by means of canoes, and soon after we arrived in a township which was entirely deserted by its inhabitants. However, in searching for provisions in some houses lying in the neighbourhood, we discovered eight Indian papas, who, after a little persuasion, followed us to the township, where they were brought into the presence of Cortes, who, by means of Dona Marina, spoke very kindly to them, telling them to banish all fear from their minds, and to go and call their countrymen. The papas said they were very willing to fulfil his commands, but they must beg of him not to allow any one to touch the idols which stood in a building adjoining Cortes" quarters. Our general promised them faithfully that no harm should be done the idols, but observed, that they were mere lumps of clay and wood, wicked things, which were unworthy of the veneration they paid them, and that the whole of their idolatrous worship was the work of Satan. The Franciscan monks also put several questions to the papas respecting their idol worship, to which they returned very intelligent answers, promising for the future to abolish it altogether.
Thirty loads of maise and some fowls were now soon brought us, and Cortes inquired of the papas how many suns (that is to say days"
journey) it was from this place to the people with the beards and horses. They replied, that it was seven suns to the township of Nito, where the men with the horses had settled, and they would themselves show us the way to the next township, but that on our road thither we should have to pa.s.s one night in an uninhabited village.
Near to the building in which the idols were placed there stood a ceiba tree of an immense size, in the bark of which Cortes ordered a large cross to be cut. Our general had for some time appeared in low spirits, and very pensive. The thoughts of our fatiguing march, the number of Spaniards who had fallen ill, the still greater number of our Mexican troops that died away, and perhaps also the regret he felt for having put Quauhtemoctzin and the king of Tlacupa to death without any trial, constantly preyed upon his mind, and left him no peace either night or day; so that he would rise up from his bed in the depth of night to stroll about, which also happened to be the case in this township. He got up in the dark from his bed, in order to pa.s.s into an adjoining large apartment, where a number of idols stood, and where the Indians were accustomed to hold their meetings. It seems that he forgot the two steps which led down into it, so that he fell rather heavily, and bruised his head severely. This wound he had secretly dressed, nor did he himself ever mention the accident to any one.
The next morning, very early, we again broke up our quarters, and our guides led us exactly in the direction they had previously described, and we arrived, without anything happening to us worthy of mention, in front of a mora.s.s, which lay at the foot of very high mountains, where we encamped for the night. With break of day we again continued our march, and arrived about the hour of high ma.s.s, at a township which lay in the midst of this extensive mora.s.s. This town had every appearance of having been recently built, and indeed we found that the houses had only been erected a few days before our arrival. It was surrounded by a double entrenchment, formed of the trunks of large trees, encircled by other huge poles stuck in perpendicularly, The approaches were secured by a deep fosse, and they were protected by a double inclosure of a circular form: one of which was supplied with a regular battlement, small towers and loop-holes; the other was very high and strongly built of large stones, and was likewise provided with a battlement. As the other side was covered by the mora.s.s this place might, in every sense of the word, be called a fortress.
When we entered the town we did not meet with a single inhabitant, but were surprised to find in the houses quant.i.ties of boiled turkeys and other fowls, dressed according to Indian fashion, with hot peppers and maise cakes, which they call tamales. We were perfectly astonished at this great abundance, and we made all manner of speculations on so extraordinary a sight. Another large building we found filled with bows and arrows and small darts. We now carefully searched the surrounding neighbourhood, but we could nowhere see any maise plantations.