As soon as we others, who had confederated, heard this, we declared to Cortes that he was doing wrong in thus wishing to deceive us. At Cuba he had publicly announced that he was going out to found a colony, and now it appeared it was merely for the sake of trafficking. We begged of him, for the sake of God and our king, not to break his word, but to found a colony, as was required of us, to promote the interests of his majesty and the service of God. It would be impossible for us to return here at any future time, as the inhabitants would certainly not permit us to land: but, if a colony was once founded, soldiers from every island in these parts would come flocking hither in order to assist us. Diego Velasquez had deceived us when he falsely announced that he was empowered by his majesty to found colonies: we were, therefore, determined to found one, and left it to the choice of the others if they wished to return to Cuba. Cortes at first refused to comply, and only submitted after much begging and entreating; as the saying goes,
What you desire
Is my wish.
He, however, made the condition that we should nominate him chief justice and captain-general, and, what was worse, that a fifth part of the gold should fall to his share which remained after deducting the fifths for his majesty: concerning all which and everything else, the royal secretary Godoy was to draw up a formal deed. Upon this we resolved that a town should be built, and called Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, as we arrived off this coast on Holy Thursday, and stepped on land on Good Friday. The addition of Villa Rica (rich town) was owing to what Puertocarrero had some time previous said to Cortes, "He might look upon these rich countries—he would know how to govern them;" meaning to say thereby, that he wished Cortes to be appointed captain-general.
After the ceremony of laying the first stone of the town was ended, we nominated the alcaldes and regidors. The chief alcaldes were Alonso Puertocarrero and Francisco de Montejo: Cortes purposely appointed the latter because he was not on the best terms with him. To give all the names of the regidors would be superfluous, and it must suffice to mention their names as they appear in the course of this narrative. We also erected a pillory inside the town, and a gallows outside. Pedro de Alvarado was appointed city-major; Christobal de Oli, colonel; Juan de Escalante, alguacil-major; treasurer, Gonzalo Mexi Mexia; book-keeper, Alonso de Avila; standard-bearer, a certain Corrar, as Villareal, who first filled this post, had got into disgrace with Cortes about an Indian female of Cuba, and was obliged to relinquish it. Achoa of Biscay and Alonso Romero were nominated alguacils of the camp.
The reader will wonder that I have not yet mentioned the name of one of our principal men, Gonzalo de Sandoval, though he was such a renowned officer, being second to Cortes only, and particularly distinguished by our emperor himself. There is no other reason than that Sandoval was still very young, and that we did not make so much of him and other brave officers then as we did subsequently, when we saw all his real qualities developed in a manner that drew forth unbounded praise from Cortes and every soldier: indeed he was considered equal to Cortes himself.—Gomara has likewise related a good deal respecting these matters, of which he has been ill informed. I could not leave this unnoticed, however beautiful his style of writing may be, in which his strength really lies.
CHAPTER XLIII.
How the partisans of Diego Velasquez would not acknowledge the power we had conferred upon Cortes, and what further took place.
The partisans of Diego Velasquez, finding we had elected Cortes captain-general, and appointed the other officers just mentioned, were terribly annoyed and vexed. They armed themselves in small troops, and threw out the most insolent language against Cortes and those among us who had chosen him captain-general. All this they considered should not have been done without the consent of the whole of the officers and soldiers. Diego Velasquez had merely empowered Cortes to barter with the natives. In short, their dissatisfaction rose to such a pitch, that our party was afraid matters would be carried much farther, and end in hostilities. Cortes now secretly desired Juan de Escalante to intimate that we should demand the instructions to be produced which he had received from Velasquez. This was accordingly done, and Cortes pulled them out from under his waistcoat, handing them over to the royal secretary to be read aloud. And sure enough the words were, After you have bartered for as many precious things as possible, you shall return home. This document was signed by Velasquez, and countersigned by his private secretary Andreas de Duero. Upon this we desired of Cortes that these instructions should be entered into the appointment we had given him, and announced by a public crier, as had been done at Cuba, in order that his majesty might convince himself of the true state of things, and that everything was done to further his sovereign interest only. This step was most agreeable to our purpose, as the bishop of Burgos, Don Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, was wrongly informed respecting these proceedings, and only laboured to ruin us, as we subsequently learnt. The partisans of Diego Velasquez, however, were not to be silenced by this; and as the election had been made without their knowledge, they considered it illegal, and maintained that they were not called upon to obey his commands, but were determined to return to Cuba. Cortes answered, that he would not compel them to remain, but would discharge any one who might wish it, even if he himself should, in the end, remain alone behind. By this some were silenced. Juan Velasquez de Leon, (who was closely related to Velasquez,) Diego de Ordas, Escobar, (whom we commonly termed the page,) Pedro de Escudero, and others of Velasquez's party, still continued refractory, and things at last came to such a pass, that, in the end, they formally refused to obey Cortes. In such a state of affairs it was necessary to adopt some stronger measure, which was carried into execution with our consent. We seized the persons of the above-mentioned refractory officers, bound them in chains, and kept watch over them as if they had been prisoners.
Respecting these circumstances Gomara has again been misinformed, and not a word is to be credited of anything he says on the subject.
CHAPTER XLIV.
How Pedro de Alvarado was ordered to make an excursion into the interior of the country, in order to procure maise and other provisions; and what further happened.
It was now resolved that Pedro de Alvarado should make an excursion into the interior to explore the country, gain further knowledge of some townships which we knew by name, and procure maise and other provisions, of which we were in the greatest want. For this purpose 100 men were selected, among whom were fifteen crossbow-men and six musketeers; above half, moreover, were adherents of Velasquez: the rest of us, on whom Cortes could fully depend, remained with him, in order that no conspiracy might be set on foot against him.
Alvarado, during this expedition, visited some small townships which were subject to a greater one, called, in the Aculhua language, Costatlan.17* This language is that of Mexico and Motecusuma; and when we speak of persons of Aculhua, we must always understand subjects of his empire. Alvarado nowhere met with any inhabitants, but found sufficient proofs in the temples that boys and full-grown people had very recently been sacrificed; for the altars and walls were covered with drops of fresh blood. The flint knives with which the unfortunate victim's breast is cut open to tear the heart away, and the large stones on which they are