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our treasurer Gonzalo Mexia on account of the gold which was missing
from the heap, and how Cortes put an end to that dispute 282
CHAP. CVII. How Motecusuma offers one of his daughters in marriage to
Cortes, who accepts her, and pays her the attention due to her high
station 284
CHAP. CVIII. How the powerful Motecusuma acquaints Cortes that it is
requisite for his safety to quit Mexico, with the whole of his men, as
all the caziques and papas were upon the point of rising up in arms to
destroy us all, in compliance with the advice given them by their gods:
the steps which Cortes took upon this news 286
CHAP. CIX. How the governor of Cuba, Velasquez, in all haste fits out an
armament against us, the command of which he gives to Pamfilo de
Narvaez, who was accompanied by the licentiate Lucas Vazquez de Aillon,
auditor of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo 289
CHAP. CX. How Narvaez arrives with the whole of his flotilla in the
harbour of San Juan de Ulua, and what happened upon this 290
CHAP. CXI. How Pamfilo Narvaez despatches five persons to Sandoval, the
commandant of Vera Cruz, with summons to surrender up the town to him
293
CHAP. CXII. How Cortes, after he had gained every information respecting
the armament, wrote to Narvaez, and several of his acquaintances who had
come with him, and particularly to Andreas du Duero, private secretary
to Velasquez; and of other events 296
CHAP. CXIII. The high words which arose between the auditor Vazquez de
Aillon and Narvaez, who orders him to be seized and sent back prisoner
to Spain 298
CHAP. CXIV. Narvaez marches, with the whole of his troops, to Sempoalla;
his proceedings there; and how we in Mexico determine to march against
him 300
CHAP. CXV. How the powerful Motecusuma inquires of Cortes whether it was
really his intention to march out against Narvaez, though the latter's
troops were double the number of ours 302
CHAP. CXVI. How we determined once more to despatch father Olmedo to
Narvaez's head-quarters, and what we commissioned him to say 306
CHAP. CXVII. How father Olmedo arrived in Narvaez's head-quarters at
Sempoalla, and what he did there 308
CHAP. CXVIII. How Cortes reviews the whole of his troops, and we are
supplied with two hundred and fifty very long new lances, by the
Tchinantecs 310
CHAP. CXIX. How Duero, with the soldier Usagre and two of his Indian
servants from Cuba, arrived in our camp; who this Duero was, and the
reason of his visit, &c. 311
CHAP. CXX. How Juan Velasquez arrives in Narvaez's head-quarters, and
what took place there 314
CHAP. CXXI. What took place in Narvaez's quarters after the return to
our camp of the ambassadors we had sent there 318
CHAP. CXXII. The order of our march against Narvaez; the speech Cortes
made to us; and our reply to it 320
CHAP. CXXIII. How the 2000 Indians of Chinantla, whom Cortes had
demanded of the caziques there, arrived at Sempoalla after Narvaez's
defeat 329
CHAP. CXXIV. How Cortes despatches Francisco de Lugo, with two men who
had formerly been ship-builders, to the harbour where Narvaez's flotilla
lay, to bring all the captains and pilots of the vessels to Sempoalla
329
CHAP. CXXV. How we all, including Narvaez's troops, hasten to Mexico by
forced marches 333
CHAP. CXXVI. How the Mexicans made war upon us, and the battles we
fought with them 337
CHAP. CXXVII. Cortes determines to announce Motecusuma's death to the
Mexican generals and chiefs who are at war with us 345
CHAP. CXXVIII. How we come to the determination of leaving Mexico
secretly at night; and what further happened 347
CHAP. CXXIX. How we quartered ourselves in the metropolis of Tlascalla,
and what we did there 359
CHAP. CXXX. How we marched into the province of Tepeaca, what we did
there, and of other things which happened 365
CHAP. CXXXI. How a vessel, which had been sent by Diego Velasquez from
Cuba, arrived at Vera Cruz, commanded by the captain Pedro Barba, and
the manner in which Caballero captured her 369
CHAP. CXXXII. How the inhabitants of Quauhquechola called upon Cortes,
and begged of him to drive out the Mexican troops from their town, as
they were plundered and ill-used by them 370
CHAP. CXXXIII. How one of the vessels which Francisco de Garay had
fitted out for the object of forming settlements on the river Panuco,
put in at Vera Cruz, and what further happened 373
CHAP. CXXXIV. How Cortes despatches Sandoval with 200 men, among which
were twenty horse and twelve crossbow-men, to punish the tribes of
Xalatzinco and Zacatemi, for having put some Spaniards to death, and to
demand restitution of the gold they had robbed us of; and also further
to explore the country 375
CHAP. CXXXV. How all the slaves we had taken in Tepeaca, Quauhquechola,
Tecalco, and Castilblanco, were brought together in our head-quarters,
and branded with an iron, in his majesty's name 379
CHAP. CXXXVI. How the chief officers and principal personages of
Narvaez's troops request leave to return to Cuba, which Cortes grants,
and they accordingly leave; also how our general sends ambassadors to
Spain, St. Domingo, and Jamaica 381
NOTES 387
[Transcriber's Notes: The errata below have been corrected in the
text. Footnote 24 has also been moved to its correct position in the text.]
ERRATA.
P. 17, _l._ 3, _for_ Fronseca, _read_ Fonseca.
17, 24, _for_ dubbloons, _read_ doubloons.
20, 18, _for_ Chaopa, _read_ Chiapa.
20, 26, _for_ Mautanzas, _read_ Matanza.
31, 8, _for_ this, _read_ their.
31, 28, _for_ surrounded, _read_ surmounted.
51, 17, _for_ his, _read_ its
P. 53, _l._ 19, _read_ whom the king Quauhtemoctzin took.
126, 2, _for_ which, _read_ whom.
230, 22, _for_ were, _read_ was.
355, 9, _for_ when, _read_ where.
365, 33, _for_ were the townships, _read_ was the township.
CONQUEST
OF
MEXICO AND NEW SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
_The time of my departure from Castile, and what further happened to
me._
In the year 1514 I departed from Castile in the suite of Pedro Arias de
Avila, who had just then been appointed governor of Terra Firma. At sea
we had sometimes bad and sometimes good weather, until we arrived at
Nombre Dios, where the plague was raging: of this we lost many of our
men, and most of us got terrible sores on our legs, and were otherwise
ill. Soon after our arrival, dissensions arose between the governor and
a certain wealthy cavalier, named Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, who had brought
this province to subjection, and was married to one of the daughters of
Avila. As, however, suspicion had been excited against him, owing to a
plan he had formed of making a voyage to the South Sea at his own
expense, for which he required a considerable body of troops, his own
father-in-law deposed him and afterwards sentenced him to decapitation.
While we were spectators of all this, and saw, moreover, how other
soldiers rebelled against their superior officers, we learnt that the
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