HKB
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, Doña 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, morasses, 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 circumstance.
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 quantity 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 pass, 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.