The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol 2 Part 15

When Marin reached Mexico, and had given Cortes an account of the state of affairs in Guacasualco, he only furnished him with twenty soldiers, and desired him to return thither without delay. Among these was Alonso de Grado, whom I have so often mentioned above, and father Juan de las Varillas, who was a profound scholar, and had come to New Spain with Zuazo. According to his own account, he had studied in the college of Santa Cruz, at Salamanca, and he said he was of a very distinguished family.

Marin's instructions from Cortes were to march with all the Spaniards who had settled in Guacasualco, and the fresh troops he brought with him, into Chiapa, to quell the disturbances, and found a new town in this province. We therefore equipped ourselves in the best possible manner for this campaign, and commenced operations by clearing the road along the line of our route, for the country was full of swamps and dangerous mountains. We had to carry along with us heavy beams, by means of which our horse were to pa.s.s the marshes, but even those were insufficient in many places. In this way, with the utmost difficulty, we arrived at Tezpuatlan, which towns.h.i.+p we could only reach by ferrying across a broad river in canoes, for which purpose we had first to run up the river to a considerable distance. From this place we arrived at Cachula, which lies high among the mountains, in the province of Chiapa, and must not be confounded with a towns.h.i.+p of the same name, prettily situated in the neighbourhood of la Puebla de los Angeles. Leaving Cachula, we pa.s.sed through several small towns.h.i.+ps dependent on it; here we made ourselves a perfectly new road along the river, which flows from Chiapa, for there was previously no road whatever in this place. The inhabitants of the surrounding districts lived in perpetual fear of the Chiapanecs, who at that time were the most warlike people of New Spain.

I will not even except the Tlascallans, the Mexicans, the Zapotecs, or the Minges; nor were the monarchs of Mexico ever able to subdue them; besides which, their population was extensive, and their warlike spirit universally dreaded. They were continually at war with their neighbours of Cinacatan, the tribes on the lake Quilenayas, and with the Zoques; in short, they levied contributions on all the surrounding towns.h.i.+ps, dragged the inhabitants forcibly away to sacrifice them to their G.o.ds, and devoured their flesh at their festive orgies. They posted troops in all the narrow pa.s.ses of Teguantepec, to lay wait for the trading Indian merchants, thereby often destroying all intercourse between the different provinces. They had even carried off into slavery the population of whole districts, and formed settlements of them in the neighbourhood of Chiapa, compelling them to cultivate their plantations.

After we had marched to a considerable distance up this river towards Chiapa, (it was during the lent of the year 1524,) we halted within a short distance of this place. Here Marin reviewed his troops, which he had been unable to do up to this moment, as a number of the inhabitants of the country had been absent, besides many of the soldiers, to collect the tribute of the towns.h.i.+ps, which lay dispersed among the Cachula mountains. Our muster-roll gave twenty-five horse, but of which five were scarcely fit for service; fifteen crossbow-men, and eight musketeers. We had one field-piece, and one artilleryman, who had served in the campaign of Italy; but that was all, for he was the most determined coward I ever saw. The rest of our Spanish troops consisted of those who were armed with swords and bucklers, amounting to sixty men. Further we were joined by eighty Mexicans and the cazique of Cachula, with several other distinguished personages. But the men of this latter place stood in such dread of the enemy, that we could only employ them in clearing the road as we advanced, and to transport our baggage.

As we approached nearer to the enemy we conducted our march with greater military precaution, and the nimblest of our men were always in front of the troops. I myself formed one of the scouts on this occasion and had left my horse behind, as the nature of the ground here was in every respect unfavorable for the cavalry. We were continually a couple of miles in advance of the main body, and as the inhabitants of Chiapa are very expert huntsmen, we soon came up with some of them, and immediately they kindled fires in various directions to a.s.semble their warriors. In the vicinity of their towns.h.i.+ps the road was uncommonly narrow, but the country round about was beautifully cultivated with maise and different kinds of leguminous plants. The first towns.h.i.+p we came to was Estapa, which lay about sixteen miles from the chief town, and was totally deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions, consisting in fowls, maise, and other eatables, so that we had a right good supper. As we had carefully posted our watches, and sent out the patroles and pickets, we could not be taken by surprise, and two of the horse came suddenly galloping up with the intelligence that a large body of the enemy was approaching. However, we were always ready for action, so that we marched out against them before they could enter the town. A very severe conflict ensued, for the enemy were well provided with bows, arrows, lances, pikes of uncommon length, and excellent cotton cuira.s.ses. Besides which they were armed with a species of club, shaped like a scimitar, and as the ground was strewed with stones they did us much injury with their slings, and by an artful manoeuvre attempted to surround us, killing two of our men and four horses in the first encounter. Besides which, father Juan and thirteen soldiers, with several of our Indian auxiliaries, were wounded, and Luis Marin himself in two places. The battle lasted until nightfall, when, to our great joy the enemy retreated after we had severely punished them with our swords, muskets, and other weapons. Fifteen of their number lay dead on the field of battle, and several were so dreadfully wounded that they were unable to move. Two of these, who appeared to be men of distinction, a.s.sured us that we should be attacked on the following day by the whole armed force of the country.

This night we spent in burying our dead and in dressing the wounds of our men. Our captain was himself very unwell, as he had lost much blood; and by standing so long on the field of battle had chilled his wounds.

We observed the utmost vigilance during this night: the horses stood saddled, and the whole of us were ready for action at a moment's notice, for we were almost certain that the enemy contemplated some sudden attack. We considered our position in every respect dangerous, as with all our firing and courageous fighting we had not been able to drive the foe from the field of battle, and we soon discovered that we had to deal with bold and intrepid warriors. Our cavalry were therefore commanded to charge the enemy's line in small bodies, five abreast, and to poise their lances at the face. Several of us veteran Conquistadores had frequently cautioned the new recruits to adopt this mode of attack, but many of them had neglected this good advice, and imagined they had done enough by merely wounding their antagonist. Four of the less experienced ones had paid dearly for this neglect, for the Indians wrested the lances out of their hands and wounded them and their horses with their own weapons. In this battle, six or seven of the enemy had boldly set upon each horse at a time, and laid hold of them with their hands; one of the men they had already dragged by force from his saddle, and they would undoubtedly have carried him off and sacrificed him to their idols if we had not hastened up to his a.s.sistance.

During this night we came to the determination of marching early the next day against the town of Chiapa itself. And, indeed, it might in every respect be termed a town, so fine an appearance had the houses, besides being so regularly built. Its population amounted to above 4000 souls, in which that of the many surrounding towns.h.i.+ps is not included, though the whole of them were subject to Chiapa. Early next morning, accordingly, we marched forward for this place and observed the utmost military precaution; but we had scarcely advanced one mile when we came up with the united forces of this province. The enemy, with surprising swiftness and accoutred in their most splendid war costume, fell upon us from all sides at once under the most hideous yells, and fought with the ferocity of infuriated lions. Our black artilleryman, (for he was every way ent.i.tled to the appellation of negro,) in the dread of the moment had quite lost his senses, and forgot to fire the cannon; but when at last, by hollowing out to him at the top of our voices, he summoned sufficient courage to fire it with a trembling hand, he wounded three of our own men, instead of committing any destruction among the enemy's ranks. Our captain seeing how matters stood, now ordered the cavalry to form themselves in the small bodies above mentioned, the rest of the troops to close in a firm body together and in that way to fall vigorously upon the enemy; but their numbers were too great, and if there had not been many of us present who were accustomed to Indian warfare, the rest of the troops would have been in the greatest consternation. We were indeed astonished to find how firmly these Indians maintained their ground. Father Juan kept constantly encouraging us to the attack, by saying, "That our reward would lay with G.o.d and the emperor." Our captain likewise animated us with the cry of: "Forward!

gentlemen, Santiago is with us!" And now we fell upon the enemy with renewed courage and compelled them to give way. From the very unfavorable state of the ground, which was covered with loose stones, our cavalry were unable to pursue the enemy with any success; but we kept as close at their heels as we possibly could, and marched with less precaution, as we thought this day's work was at an end, and we offered up thanks to G.o.d for our victory. However, when we had arrived near to some small hills we found even larger bodies of men drawn up in order of battle. Besides their usual weapons they had a number of ropes with loops at the end, which they threw at the horses in order to pull them to the ground. Strong nets which they use for the purpose of snaring the wild deer were also fixed at certain distances to catch our horse, and they had other smaller ropes with loops, which were to be thrown about our necks to pull us towards them. The whole of these troops in an instant fell upon us, pouring forth as they came along so vast a number of stones, darts, and arrows, that almost every man of us received a fresh wound. In this severe engagement we lost two Spaniards and five horses, and four of the cavalry soldiers had their lances wrested from their hands.

During this battle we saw a very fat old Indian female marching up and down between the enemy's ranks. She was, we were told, venerated as a G.o.ddess by these people. She had divined to her countrymen that we should be vanquished the moment she appeared among them on the field of battle. This woman carried in her hands an idol, carved of stone; and an earthen censer, in which she burnt incense; her body was daubed all over with various colours, and raw cotton was sticking to the paint. Without evincing the least fear she walked into the midst of our Indian allies while they were hotly engaged with the enemy; but this cursed witch met with very little respect from them, for they tore her limb from limb.

When we saw what terrific bodies of the enemy attacked us from all sides, and the astonis.h.i.+ng bravery with which they fought, we began to consider ourselves in a very critical position, and we begged of father Juan to commend us in prayer to the protection of the Almighty. We then once more fell vigorously upon the enemy and put them to flight. Numbers concealed themselves in the fissures of the rocks, others threw themselves into the river and sought to escape by swimming, of which art these Indians are likewise perfect masters. We now halted for a short time while father Juan sang a salve, in which those who had a good voice joined in chorus. This melody was indeed pleasing to the ear, and we thanked the Almighty the more fervently for this victory, when we considered our great loss in killed and wounded. We then marched to a small towns.h.i.+p at no great distance from the town, near the river side.

Here the cherry-trees were hanging full of ripe fruit, for it was then lent, which is the season when cherries come to perfection in this country, and they were of a most delicious flavour; we spent the whole day here in order to bury our dead in places where they would not easily be discovered by the inhabitants. Several of our men were wounded, and ten of the horses very severely so; we therefore resolved to pa.s.s the night in this towns.h.i.+p.

The hour of midnight was already past, when ten distinguished Indians arrived in our camp from the towns.h.i.+ps in the neighbourhood of Chiapa.

They had crossed the deep and broad river with five canoes in the utmost silence, in order to elude the vigilance of the Chiapanec troops, and as they came creeping along the bank in a very suspicious manner they were seized by our outposts and brought in prisoners, which was the very thing they desired. When brought into the presence of our captain they addressed him as follows: "We are not, sir, Chiapanecs, but natives of the province of Xaltepec. The base Chiapanecs once commenced a destructive war with us and put great numbers of our countrymen to death, and after plundering us of all we possessed they carried off the greater part of the inhabitants with our wives into slavery, to till their grounds. It is now twelve years that we have toiled for them in base servitude. We are compelled to labour in the plantations of our oppressors, are obliged to fish for them and to do all manner of hard work; but this is not all, for whenever it suits them they forcibly carry off our wives and daughters. We now come to offer you a sufficient number of canoes to pa.s.s the river, which we will despatch hither this very night. We will also point out to you the safest ford, for we a.s.sure you, without our a.s.sistance, you will have great difficulty and run great risk in crossing over. In reward for this good office, we beg of you when you shall have vanquished these Chiapanecs, to rescue us out of their power and allow us to return to our homes. And in order that you may place perfect reliance in what we have stated, we have brought as a present for you three ornaments of gold in the shape of diadems, which we have left behind in the canoes, besides some fowls and cherries."

They then begged permission of our captain to return to their canoes, in order to fetch these presents, telling him what great precaution they were obliged to use not to fall into the hands of the enemy, who had posted watches everywhere along the river.

Our captain joyfully accepted of their kind offer, and not only promised to grant them their wish of returning to their own country, but to give them a share of the booty we should make in Chiapa. On further questioning them respecting the last battle, they informed us that the enemy had above 120 dead and wounded, but they were determined to attack us the next day again with their united forces; besides that, they would bring into the field the inhabitants of the towns.h.i.+ps which they, the amba.s.sadors, now represented, but a.s.sured our captain they had secretly agreed among themselves to run over to him as soon as the action commenced. The enemy intended, they further said, to fall upon us while we were crossing the river, should we make this dangerous attempt.

Two of these Indians remained with us, while the others returned to their towns.h.i.+ps, in order to make the necessary arrangements for despatching twenty canoes to us by break of day, which arrived punctually at the time mentioned. In the meantime we laid ourselves down to enjoy a little rest, but took every precaution in posting our watches, as we could plainly hear the wild music of sh.e.l.l-trumpets and drums each time a fresh body of the enemy arrived on the banks of the river.

When day began to dawn we again recognized our new friends as they were secretly coming up with their canoes; but the Chiapanecs had already suspected these people would turn their arms against them, and run over to our side, and had taken several of them prisoners; the rest had fled to the top of an elevated temple, where they fortified themselves, and so it happened that the battle should first commence between the enemy and their former slaves.

Our new allies now led us to the place where we were to ford the river, and they exerted themselves to the utmost to hasten our pa.s.sage across, for they feared the enemy would sacrifice those of their countrymen whom they had captured in the night, unless we arrived speedily to their rescue. When we came to the ford our horse and foot united in a close body together, in order to stand the better against the rapid stream; we then boldly marched into the water, which reached up to our b.r.e.a.s.t.s; but the canoes kept close up with us at our side, and in this way we fortunately reached the opposite sh.o.r.e; but here we were suddenly attacked by the enemy with excessive fury before the half of us could get on dry ground. The greater part of us were instantly wounded, some severely so in two places; two of the horses were lost, and one cavalry soldier, named Guerra or Guerrero, a native of Toledo, had unfortunately got with his horse into a whirlpool, where he himself was drowned, but his horse swam on sh.o.r.e.

We were unable for a length of time to gain a firm footing on dry land, and drive back the enemy; nor could we succeed till our new allies fell upon their rear, and richly did they repay them for their last twelve years of oppression. The whole of us now leaped on sh.o.r.e, and attacked the enemy so vigorously that they fled away in disorder. Our captain then drew up the troops in order of battle, desired our new allies, who had a.s.sembled in great numbers, to join our ranks, and in this way, with flying colours, we marched in a direct line for the metropolis itself.

When we arrived in the princ.i.p.al quarter of the town, where the temples stood, we found the houses so crowded together, that we durst not risk to quarter ourselves there, from fear of fire, but encamped in an open s.p.a.ce, where we were out of all danger. Our general then despatched three of our new allies, and six Chiapanec chiefs, whom we had taken prisoners, with a message to the enemy, desiring them to submit peaceably to our emperor. These messengers were also commissioned to inform the enemy that if they sued for peace without delay, their recent hostilities would be pardoned; but in case they refused to do so, we were determined to punish them severely, and would commence by setting fire to the town. These threats soon brought the enemy to their senses, and they immediately despatched amba.s.sadors to us with a present in gold, offered various excuses for having commenced hostilities with us, and declared themselves va.s.sals of our emperor. At the same time they begged of our captain to forbid our allies setting fire to any more of their dwellings; for they had burnt down several houses in a small towns.h.i.+p near Chiapa. Luis Marin willingly complied with this request, and strictly commanded both our allies and the inhabitants of Cachula not to commit any further destruction of property.

In this town we found three large wooden cages filled with prisoners, all of whom were merchants, who had been purposely waylaid on the high road by the Chiapanecs, and thrown into these dens to fatten for their sacrifices, and they were all fastened by means of collars to strong beams. Some of these unfortunate beings belonged to the country of the Tzapotecs, others to that of the Quilenes, and several of them were inhabitants of Guautepec and of the province of Soconusco.

We instantly liberated the whole of these prisoners, and sent them to their respective homes. We also found in the temples diabolical looking idols, all of which father Juan ordered to be burnt on the spot, with the remains of several old and young Indians who had been sacrificed in these buildings. In the temples we also discovered traces of other abominations of a most horrible nature.

Our captain now sent to every towns.h.i.+p in the neighbourhood, desiring the inhabitants to come and sue for peace, and to declare themselves va.s.sals of our emperor. The first who came over were the people of Cinacatan, Capanaustla, Pinola, Quehuiztlan, Chamula, and those of other towns.h.i.+ps, whose names I have forgotten; after these came the Quilenes, and other tribes who speak the Zoque language. All these tribes expressed their utter astonishment that we should have been able to vanquish the Chiapanecs with so small a body of men, but were excessively rejoiced, for the whole of them were at enmity with this people.

We remained altogether five days in Chiapa, during which time father Juan celebrated the holy ma.s.s, confessed many of our men, and preached several sermons to the Indians in their own language, of which he possessed considerable knowledge. The inhabitants listened to him with great delight, knelt down before the cross, and promised they would allow themselves to be baptized. They became indeed excessively fond of father Juan, and said we appeared to be a very good kind of people.

While we were thus living on the most friendly terms with the inhabitants, one of our men, without asking our captain's leave, quitted the camp with eight Mexicans, and marched to the towns.h.i.+p of Chamula, which had already submitted to our arms without offering any resistance.

This man demanded, in the name of his captain, gold ornaments from the inhabitants, of which they gave him a small quant.i.ty; but finding at length he could exact no more from them, he took the princ.i.p.al cazique prisoner, which presumptuous behaviour so exasperated the inhabitants, that at first they were going to kill the Spaniard, but for the moment contented themselves by rising up in arms, and persuaded their neighbours of Quehuiztlan to do the same. When Luis Marin received intelligence of this, he ordered the guilty Spaniard to be brought into his presence, and immediately sent him off to Mexico, there to appear before the tribunal of Cortes, being unwilling to punish him himself, as he was a person in high authority; nor will I, for the sake of his honour, mention his name at present, as I shall again have occasion to speak about him, for he afterwards committed an offence of a more criminal nature, and was, upon the whole, very cruel to the Indians.

Luis Marin then sent a messenger to the Chamulans, desiring them to return to their former obedience, as he had sent the Spaniard who had offended them to Mexico, where he would meet with severe punishment; but they returned a most impudent answer to this message, which we were the more determined to resent, as they had incited their neighbours of the surrounding towns.h.i.+ps to join them in the revolt. We therefore resolved to march against Chamula, and not to desist until we had thoroughly subdued the inhabitants.

Before our departure, father Juan and our captain said many edifying things to the inhabitants of Chiapa respecting our holy religion, and admonished them to abolish their idol-wors.h.i.+p, the sacrificing of human beings, and other abominations which they practised. Father Juan then placed a cross and the image of the blessed Virgin on the altar which had been erected, and Luis Marin explained to them, among other things, how we were all va.s.sals of our great emperor, and then took possession of above half their town, in which we intended to form a settlement. Our new allies, who were so serviceable to us in a.s.sisting us across the river, marched, with their wives, children, and all their property from the land of the Chiapanecs, and settled themselves forty miles further down the river, at a spot where at present Xaltepec stands, the neighbouring towns.h.i.+p of Istatlan being also comprehended in their territory.

Before we entered on our expedition against Chamula, we sent to the inhabitants of Cinacatan, who are a people of sound understanding, and, for the greater part, merchants, desiring them to provide us with 200 porters, as we should pa.s.s over their town on our way to Chamula. In the same way we requested the Chiapanecs to furnish us with 200 of their warriors to join us in this campaign; these they supplied without any hesitation.

In this way we marched out one morning very early from Chiapa, and arrived on the first day near some salt pits, where the people of Cinacatan had erected huts for us made of green boughs; and about noon on the following day, which happened to be Easter Sunday, we reached the latter towns.h.i.+p itself. From this place we once more sent a message to the Chamulans, desiring them to return to obedience; but as they still obstinately refused, we were obliged to continue our march thither. The distance from Cinacatan to Chamula may have been about twelve miles; the town itself, from its natural position, was a perfect fortress, and on the side we contemplated our attack was a deep ravine, which was even more formidable and less easy of approach at other points. When we had arrived near to the town, we were greeted by so vast a number of arrows, darts, and stones from the heights above, that the ground was literally covered with them, and five Spaniards, with four horses, were wounded; the enemy, at the same time, yelling most hideously, accompanied by the wild music of sh.e.l.l-trumpets, pipes, and drums, all of which must indeed have terrified those who had never heard the like before. Our captain soon discovered that the cavalry would not be able to act at all among these rugged mountains, and therefore ordered them to move back again into the plain beneath, and watch the movements of the Quiahuitlans, who had likewise revolted, and might fall upon our rear while we were thus hotly engaged with the Chamulans.

We now commenced an incessant fire upon the enemy with our muskets and crossbows, but were unable to do them any injury, so securely were they posted behind the breastworks, their position being in every respect advantageous, and they continually wounded our men. In this way the battle lasted until nightfall, and we were no further advanced than when we commenced our attack in the morning. At one time we attempted to force a pa.s.sage which led between the ramparts; but here no less than 2000 Indians stretched out against us a forest of long lances; and if we had entered this pa.s.sage we should have run great danger of being pushed headlong down the deep hollow, and so have been dashed to atoms. Finding we should never be able to make any impression on the fortress in this way, we determined to send to a small towns.h.i.+p in the neighbourhood for some wood and other materials, and to construct a species of penthouse sufficiently large to cover twenty men, who were to undermine the fortress with mattocks and pick-axes. Accordingly, when the penthouse was finished, our men set hard to work, and at length succeeded in cutting an opening sufficiently large to admit one person at a time; and by this means only was it possible to get into the town, for we had carefully inspected the spot on all sides, full four miles in circ.u.mference, and we found but one other entrance to this rocky height, which would have been even more difficult to force, and a person might as well have thrown himself at once down an abyss as to have attempted an attack upon it, so very steep was the descent. While we were busily at work under our penthouse in widening the breach, the enemy cast down upon us a quant.i.ty of burning pitch and resin, boiling water and blood, hot ashes and firebrands; but when they found we were not to be daunted by this, they rolled down huge pieces of rock upon the penthouse, by which it was shattered, and we were obliged to retire in order to construct stronger ones.

When these were finished, and we were again moving on with them towards the breaches we had made, four priests, with several distinguished personages, all well covered with s.h.i.+elds, appeared on the battlements, and cried out to us, "As your only object is to obtain gold, come in here, we have it in abundance!" With these words they threw towards us seven diadems of very fine gold, besides various other trinkets, all of which they accompanied by a cloud of stones, arrows, and darts. As we had by this time made two considerable breaches, and it was growing dark and beginning to rain, we retreated to our camp for the remaining part of the day: our captain also sent orders to the cavalry not to quit their position on the level plain, but narrowly to watch the enemy's movements, and to keep their horses ready saddled and bridled.

The enemy continued their fearful yells during the whole of the night, with the discordant sound of sh.e.l.l-trumpets, drums, and screeching pipes. The next day, they said, we were all to be killed, for this had been promised them by their G.o.ds. The following morning early, when we again moved forward with our penthouses to widen the breaches, the enemy defended themselves right valiantly, and wounded five of our men. I myself received a heavy thrust from a lance, which completely pierced my armour, and I should certainly have lost my life on the spot if my cuira.s.s had not been strongly quilted with cotton. Thus I fortunately escaped with only a slight wound, and with my jacket considerably torn.

By this time it was mid-day, and rain fell in torrents, which was followed by so dense a fog that we could scarcely see each other; for as this towns.h.i.+p lay very high among the mountains, it either rained there, or the place was enveloped in a mist. Owing to the great darkness, our captain had ordered the men to desist from the attack; but, for myself, as I was well acquainted with the Mexican mode of warfare, I soon concluded, from the circ.u.mstance of the enemy's war music gradually dying away, and their yells becoming less frequent, that they were likewise desirous of retiring, on account of the fog. After a short time I could not count above 200 of the enemy's lances; so that I, with one of my companions, boldly entered one of the breaches, and we certainly did not encounter a greater number of the enemy than I had counted lances. In an instant they fell upon us, and we should undoubtedly have been killed if some Indians of Cinacatan had not hastened to our a.s.sistance and alarmed the rest of our troops, who now likewise forced their way in between the breaches into the fortress. As soon as the enemy espied our troops rus.h.i.+ng in, they fled precipitately; the women and children ran off to the other declivity, which was the most difficult to reach; we, however, followed them closely, and took a number of them prisoners, besides thirty men. The towns.h.i.+p was now entirely in our possession, but we found nothing in it, with the exception of a few provisions, and we quitted the place almost immediately again. We then returned along the road leading to Cinacatan, and formed our camp on the banks of the river where at present Ciudad Real stands, which is also termed Chiapa de los Espanoles. When we had arrived here, our captain liberated six of the women and a like number of the men, and despatched them to their countrymen with offers of peace, and also to a.s.sure them they had nothing further to fear from us,--on the contrary, we would liberate all the prisoners we had taken.

This message met with a favorable reception, and amba.s.sadors were sent to us next morning by the inhabitants, who now, for the second time, declared themselves va.s.sals of our emperor, and, as we had promised, all the prisoners were instantly restored to their families.

After we had satisfactorily arranged all matters here, Luis Marin presented the towns.h.i.+p of Chamula to me as a commendary, for Cortes had expressly desired him to give me some valuable possession in the conquered countries. I always stood upon very good terms with Luis Marin, and he had not forgotten that I was the first man who forced his way into the town. This place, according to the deeds I received from Cortes, was given to me in perpetuity, but I only enjoyed the rents which it produced for little more than eight years, at the end of which time Ciudad Real was founded, and my commendary became the property of the inhabitants. When I entered into possession of it, I desired father Juan to preach to the inhabitants, and to explain our holy religion to them, with which he willingly complied, and ordered an altar to be constructed in the town, on which he placed a cross and the image of the blessed Virgin. Fifteen of the inhabitants allowed themselves to be baptized, and the father said he hoped to G.o.d they might all become good Catholic Christians. I felt highly delighted with all this; for, as these people were my own property, I naturally took a more particular interest in their welfare.

Though Chamula had again submitted to our arms, the towns.h.i.+ps of Guegust.i.tlan still obstinately held out, notwithstanding all our kind messages to the caziques; we had, therefore, no other resource left than to march against them, and subdue them by force of arms. Each of these towns.h.i.+ps (for there were three) was strongly situated, and we therefore left our allies, with the baggage, in the camp, our captain only taking the most nimble and active of the Spanish troops with him, besides 300 warriors of Cinacatan. The distance to Guegust.i.tlan was sixteen miles; but the enemy had everywhere cut down trees and constructed barricades along the line of our march to obstruct the cavalry; however, with the a.s.sistance of our Indian friends, we soon cleared these obstacles out of our way, and it was not long before we attacked one of the three towns.h.i.+ps. The place was well fortified and filled with warriors fully equipped for war; we, nevertheless, stormed the town, although it was even more difficult of access than Chamula. The enemy had not waited to offer any resistance to our arms, and we found the town quite deserted by its inhabitants, who had also carried off all their store of provisions; but it was not long before our Indian friends brought in two of the inhabitants prisoners, whom our captain immediately liberated, desiring them to go and call their countrymen. We staid one whole day in this place, during which time the inhabitants of all three towns.h.i.+ps submitted themselves as va.s.sals to our emperor, and presented us with a small quant.i.ty of gold and some quetzal feathers, which are of great value in this country.

After we had returned to our camp we deliberated whether or not we should follow up Cortes' instructions, and lay the foundations of a town in this neighbourhood. Many of us were in favour of doing so, but others, who had lucrative possessions in Guacasualco, were quite opposed to it, and said we should have no shoes for the horses; that the most of us were wounded, and we were altogether too small in numbers to think of settling in a country so thickly populated: besides that, all the towns.h.i.+ps were strongly situated among steep mountains, inaccessible to our cavalry. But those who objected most to our founding a colony here were Luis Marin himself and Diego de G.o.doy, a very bl.u.s.tering sort of a man, both of whom felt more inclination to return to Guacasualco.

I have above spoken of a certain Alonso de Grado, who was a very turbulent fellow, though but a poor soldier. This man had managed to procure privately from Cortes a certain grant by which he was to have half the gold we should find in Chiapa when we had subjected this towns.h.i.+p. Grado now produced this doc.u.ment and claimed half of the gold found in the temples of this place, and of that which we had obtained from the inhabitants, altogether valued at about 15,000 pesos; but our captain maintained that, out of this gold, the value of the horses was to be deducted which had been killed in our recent campaign. This, added to other circ.u.mstances, gave rise to high words between the two, and Grado frequently made use of unbecoming expressions during the dispute; and the secretary G.o.doy, to make matters worse, now also put in his word, and things at length came to such a pa.s.s that Luis Marin lost all patience, and threw both these gentlemen into chains. After they had been in prison for about eight days, our captain sent Grado on his parole to Mexico, and also released G.o.doy, who had shown full contrition for his past behaviour. This was very impolitic on the part of Luis Marin as far as regarded himself, for Grado and G.o.doy now concocted measures together, and the latter wrote a letter to Cortes, in which he scandalized our captain in every possible manner. Alonso de Grado also requested me to draw up a letter to Cortes, in which he wished me to exculpate him in this affair, for he had been a.s.sured by G.o.doy that Cortes would believe me. I willingly complied with his request, and drew up a faithful account of the whole matter, but stated that no blame could be attached to Luis Marin. With these letters Grado set out for Mexico, after our captain had made him promise on oath to appear before Cortes within the s.p.a.ce of eight days; for the distance from this place to Mexico by the road we had marched was 760 miles.

Our next step was to march to Cimatan, in order to punish its inhabitants, who, it will be remembered, killed two Spaniards on the occasion when Francisco Martin and myself so narrowly escaped. When we were on our march thither, and had arrived at no great distance from Tapelola, we came to some large mountains, containing several dangerous pa.s.ses, through which our march lay to this towns.h.i.+p; Luis Marin, therefore, sent to the caziques of this place, desiring them to clear the roads for us that our horses might pa.s.s along in greater safety.

This they readily undertook to do; but even then it was with great difficulty our cavalry could pa.s.s through the defiles. From Tapelola we marched peaceably over the towns.h.i.+ps Silo, Suchiapa, and Coyumelapa, to Panguaxaya, and it was not until we approached the towns.h.i.+ps of Tecomayacatl and Ateapan, which then formed but one town, that matters began to a.s.sume a different aspect. These were the most populous towns.h.i.+ps in the province, and formed part of my commendary. As the inhabitants of themselves were very numerous, and had besides called in the a.s.sistance of their neighbours, they mustered a very considerable body of troops, and attacked us as we were crossing the deep river which flows through the midst of their town. Six Spaniards were wounded and three of our horses killed, the battle continuing very sharply for a length of time before we could reach the opposite sh.o.r.e and drive the enemy back, who set fire to the houses in their flight, and then escaped to the mountains. Here we rested for five days to cure our wounds, and we sent out frequent foraging parties who captured many a fine Indian female. We then forwarded a message to the inhabitants, inviting them to return to obedience, with which they instantly complied, and their wives and children were again restored to them. The secretary G.o.doy had indeed advised Luis Marin not to return the prisoners, but to mark them with the iron and retain them as slaves, a punishment to which all those were subject who had once acknowledged themselves va.s.sals of our emperor, and afterwards revolted without any apparent reason. These people, G.o.doy maintained, had commenced hostilities with us from sheer obstinacy, and we ought at least to demand a sufficient number of slaves as a compensation for the loss of our three horses. For myself, I loudly protested against this, and said it would be unjust to punish these people who had freely submitted again to our arms. At length G.o.doy and myself got to high words about this matter, which ended in our drawing swords and wounding each other, when our friends interfered and brought about a reconciliation between us. Luis Marin, who was, upon the whole, a very kind-hearted man, was convinced of the justness of my observation, and ordered all the prisoners to be returned to the caziques, and so we departed from them in perfect peace.

From this place we marched towards Cimatlan and Talatupan. At the entrance of this towns.h.i.+p the Indians had constructed, on the top of a hill, a species of rampart, with loop-holes, beyond which lay a marsh of considerable extent. When we had arrived up to this outwork, the enemy suddenly showered their arrows upon us, wounding above twenty of our men and killing two horses; and if we had not made a hasty retreat our loss might have been very serious.

The Indians of this province excel as archers, and fly their arrows with so much strength that they will pierce a jacket doubly quilted with cotton.

After this momentary attack upon us, the Indians drew back to the marshes, and we remained two whole days in this place, during which time we despatched several messages to them; but as they obstinately refused to submit, and were securely posted between the swamps, where our horse could not manoeuvre, nor would it have been an easy matter for the foot to have got at them, and as we ourselves were quite tired of roving about, we unanimously determined to march back to Guacasualco. We took our route through the towns.h.i.+ps of Guimango, Nacaxu, Xuica, Teot.i.tan-Copilco, and several others, all belonging to the province of Chontalpa. We then crossed the rivers Ayagualulco, and Tonala, and we arrived safely in Guacasualco, when the owners of those horses which had been killed in this campaign were reimbursed for their loss from the gold collected in Chiapa and Chamula.

In the meantime Alonso de Grado reached Mexico, and presented himself to Cortes; who, when he learnt the real state of the case, grew excessively angry with this officer, and said to him, "It appears thus, Senor Alonso, that you cannot live in peace with any one! I must earnestly advise you to alter your bad disposition; if not, I will give you 3000 pesos, and send you off to Cuba. I cannot suffer you to go on in this manner any longer!" Alonso de Grado then humbly begged his pardon, and expressed his sorrow for what had happened, so that our general, and even Luis Marin, became reconciled to him shortly after.

I must now conclude this chapter, in order to acquaint the reader with what was going on at the imperial court in Spain respecting the bishop of Burgos.

CHAPTER CLXVII.

_How our agents in Spain brought certain accusations against the bishop of Burgos, and what further happened._

The reader must have seen, from what I have stated in former chapters, that the bishop of Burgos and archbishop of Rosano, Don Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, favoured Diego Velasquez in every way, and that, on the other hand, he took every opportunity of thwarting the designs of Cortes and of all of us. But now, by divine permission of the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy father Adrian[35] was elected Pope in the year 1521; and as this happened at the time he was governor of Spain, our agents repaired to the town of Vittoria, where he was then residing, to kiss his holiness's feet. There arrived with them, at the same time, in Vittoria, a German gentleman of distinction named La Chau,[36] who had been despatched thither by the emperor to congratulate the new Pope. As this gentleman had heard a great deal of the heroic deeds of Cortes and his troops, how we had conquered New Spain, what great and memorable services we had rendered to his majesty, and of the many thousands of Indians we had converted to Christianity, he supplicated his holiness to investigate the matter of dispute between Cortes and the bishop of Burgos. To this his holiness consented, and he immediately took the matter in hand, which he did the more earnestly, as the complaints of our agents had emboldened several other men of distinction to prefer charges of injustice and oppression against the bishop. This bishop was, upon the whole, detested, as, in his capacity of president of the council of the Indies, during the emperor's absence in Flanders, he had governed in the most arbitrary manner; notwithstanding this, it was a matter of no small difficulty for our agents to reject him as the judge in our own affairs.

Francisco de Montejo, Diego de Ordas, the licentiate Francisco Nunez, and Martin Cortes, were purposely staying at Valladolid to wait an opportunity of preferring their charges against the bishop. In this place they found great protection and favour from several distinguished cavaliers and grandees of the court, particularly from the duke of Bejar, so that our agents were emboldened to maintain with great firmness that they could not acknowledge the bishop as judge in their affairs, for which they gave the following reasons:

Firstly. Diego Velasquez had given the bishop of Burgos a very lucrative commendary in Cuba, the gold mines of which the former worked with the inhabitants of the island, and sent the produce to Spain for the bishop. Not one of the towns.h.i.+ps of that island had Velasquez set apart for the emperor, although he was so greatly indebted to him.

Secondly. In the year 1517 one hundred and ten of us, under an officer named Cordoba, had fitted out an armament at our own expense, with which we had discovered and explored the coast of New Spain. The circ.u.mstances relative to the expedition had been so represented to his majesty by the bishop of Burgos, as if Velasquez had fitted out the armament at his own expense, and had discovered the country himself, although he had had nothing to do with it either one way or the other.

Thirdly. It was not until this expedition returned that Velasquez sent out one of his nephews, named Juan Grijalva, with a small armament to make further discoveries. Grijalva returned to Cuba with above 20,000 pesos' worth of gold, the greater part of which found its way into the pocket of the bishop, and not a fraction of it was paid into the royal treasury.