and some copal, which is the incense of the Indians; also knives made of hard flint, with which they cut their meat offerings, and otherwise make use of in their sacrifices. Besides these things, he found two small wooden boxes, filled with golden trinkets which are worn about the head and neck; also small idols, and other ornaments somewhat resembling our pearls. The idols he brought to his commander, but took care to keep the gold himself. It seems, however, that some one had been watching him all the time, who reported what he had seen to our captain. We all felt concerned at this, and spoke a good word for him, as he was a kind-hearted being: we begged hard of our commander that he might be allowed to retain his treasure, minus the fifth part claimed for the emperor, which being granted, the man had nigh upon eighty pesos left for himself. In this place I must also acquaint my readers how I sowed some orange seeds close to one of these temples. On account of the numbers of muschetoes which swarm along this river, I had, being tired, laid myself down to rest on the summit of a high temple: in gratitude for the quiet slumber I enjoyed there, I sowed, at the foot of this building, eight orange seeds which I had brought with me from Cuba. These seeds grew very fast, and when grown to small plants, were most probably watered and preserved from the ants by the papas, as soon as they perceived the new plant. I have merely related this in order to acquaint my reader that these were the first orange seeds that were planted in New Spain. Subsequent to the conquest of Mexico and friendly subjection of the Indian tribes on the Guacasualco, this province, being excellently situated, was considered of greater importance than any other, no less on account of its mines than for its beautiful harbour. The country, moreover, abounded in gold, and contained fine pastures for sheep, which was the reason why the most illustrious of the conquistadores8 of Mexico settled themselves there; among which number was myself, – and I did not forget to look for my orange trees, which, indeed, I transplanted, and they afterwards flourished uncommonly.
I am well aware that it will be said, such old tales as these are quite out of character here; I will not, therefore, say another syllable on the subject, but merely acquaint the reader that the inhabitants of these districts were all very much pleased with us, and embraced us at our departure. We set sail for Cuba, and arrived there in the space of forty days, during which time the weather was sometimes favorable and sometimes boisterous. We were most friendly received by the governor Diego Velasquez, who was highly delighted with the additional gold we brought him. Altogether it was well worth 4000 pesos; so that with the 16,000 brought over by Alvarado, the whole amounted to 20,000 pesos. Some make this sum greater, some less; but one thing is certain, the crown officials only took the fifths of the last-mentioned sum. When they were about to take this also of the Indian axes, which we had mistaken for gold, they grew excessively angry on finding them to be merely of a fine species of copper; nor did this circumstance fail to produce the usual laughter at the expense of our trade of barter. Diego Velasquez, however, appeared perfectly satisfied, though not so with his relative Grijalva. This was wrong on his part, for it originated solely in the misrepresentations of Alonso de Avila, a man of a bad disposition, who did all he could, backed by Montejo, to lower Grijalva in his eyes. All this – rumour spread – was done in order to fit out another armament, and select a new commander.
CHAPTER XVII
Diego Velasquez despatches one of his officials to Spain.
My readers may perhaps think, that what I am now about to relate does not exactly belong to this history; but in the course of it they will readily perceive that I have been obliged to notice many circumstances before I could introduce them to the captain, Hernando Cortes. They ought also to bear in mind, that it often happens that two or three things take place at the same moment; in which case there only remains for the historian to treat of one circumstance after the other, and begin with that which lies nearest at hand. In this place the following comes first under our consideration.
After the arrival of Pedro de Alvarado with the gold which we had made in the newly-discovered country, Diego Velasquez began to fear that some one at court, who might have received private information of all this, would anticipate him, in forwarding his imperial majesty the first news of our important discovery, and so rob him of the reward. He, therefore, despatched one of his chaplains, named Benito Martinez, a thorough man of business, to Spain, with letters and a few of the valuable things, to Don Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, bishop of Burgos, and archbishop of Rosano. He wrote at the same time to the licentiate Louis Zapata, and the secretary Lope Conchillos, who at that time had the conduct of all Indian affairs under the archbishop.
Diego Velasquez was quite devoted to these gentlemen, and had presented them with considerable Indian villages in Cuba, with the inhabitants of which they worked their gold mines. But he took particular care to provide well for the archbishop, troubling himself very little about his majesty, who was at that time in Flanders.
He sent moreover to these, his patrons, a great portion of the gold trinkets which Alvarado had brought with him; for everything that was determined in the imperial council of India depended upon these gentlemen. Diego Velasquez therefore sought, by means of his chaplain, to obtain unlimited permission to fit out armaments at any time he might think proper to make voyages of discovery, and to found colonies in the new countries as well as in those that might subsequently be discovered: in the accounts he transmitted to Spain, he spoke of the many thousands of gold-pesos which he had already spent in like undertakings; thereby giving such a favorable direction to the negotiations of his chaplain, Benito Martinez, that his expectations were more than fulfilled, who even obtained for him the additional title of Adelantado of Cuba. This latter appointment, however, did not arrive until the new expedition under Cortes had left. I will not make any further remarks on these matters at present, but rather say a few words respecting Francisco Lopez de Gomara's History of the Conquest of New Spain and Mexico. His history fell into my hands while I was writing my own, and I soon foresaw that I should have to contradict him in many instances. My intention is to give a faithful account, and that in due order, of every circumstance; this will greatly differ from his narrative, which is quite at variance with truth.
CHAPTER XVIII
Of some errors in the work of Francisco Lopez de Gomara.
While busily engaged writing this narrative, the eloquent History of the Conquest of Mexico and New Spain, by Gomara, fell into my hands; and when I perceived the elegance of his style, and considered the rudeness of my own, I laid down my pen, ashamed at the very thoughts of its being read by men of distinction. With my spirits thus damped, I once more undertook to go through his history; it was then I, for the first time, discovered how mistaken this author was with respect to the occurrences which had really taken place in New Spain. He is equally bad whenever he writes about the magnitude of the towns and number of the inhabitants; in which, whenever it suits him, he does not, for instance, hesitate a moment to put 8000 for eight. In the same way he mentions the extensive buildings we were stated to have commenced, though, in fact, we were only 400 in number when we first went out to war, and had sufficient work to defend ourselves and prevent the victory from going over to our enemies. Though the Indians may have been timid, we were, nevertheless, guiltless of such wholesale slaughter and other barbarities as Gomara would lay to our doors. On the contrary, such was our situation, and I hereby seal my words with an oath when I state, that we daily offered up our prayers to God and the Holy Virgin to preserve us from destruction.
Alaric was certainly a most courageous monarch, and Attila a soldier whose excessive pride would not allow him to shrink back from anything; yet they never slaughtered such multitudes of human beings on the Catalonian plains as we do in the book of Gomara!
In the same way he mentions what numbers of towns and temples we either burnt or destroyed. I am speaking of the Indian temples, called by the inhabitants cues. This latter circumstance would certainly be most pleasing to his readers; but he never gave it a thought, when he was writing, that the conquistadores themselves, and those better informed, would detect his errors and falsehoods. Even in his other works, whenever he speaks about New Spain, he immediately commits blunders. In one place he praises a commander far
So those Spaniards, who made the first conquests in New Spain, termed themselves, by way of preference, which name they ever after retained as an honorary title. Even to this day in Spain it is considered very distinguishing to be descended from one of the Conquistadores, and some of the first families there date all their greatness from one of these bold adventurers. (p. 37.)
