The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)

Among the hands on board this small vessel there happened to be two carpenters of Ribera, who had fortunately rescued their tools; it was therefore determined that they should construct a boat from the timber of the vessel. When they had finished and completely rigged this boat, a supply of turtles and smoked seals' flesh, with some water, was put on board, besides a sea-chart and a compass. With this frail bark, three Spanish sailors, and one of the Cuba Indians, boldly put out to sea in quest of some harbour of New Spain, whence they might send a vessel to the rescue of those left on the island. After encountering various kinds of weather, they at length arrived safe in the river Bandera, where at that time goods were landed from Spain. The three Spaniards immediately repaired to Medellin, where a certain Simon de Cuenca was Cortes' commandant, to whom they related their unfortunate shipwreck off the Viboras isles. Cuenca, on hearing this, fitted out a small vessel, which he despatched thither with a letter to Zuazo, in which he told him how pleased Cortes would be to hear of his arrival in New Spain. Cortes, to whom Cuenca had sent information of this circumstance, highly commended the conduct he had pursued, and desired him, as soon as Zuazo and his companions should arrive, to provide them with every necessary, and with horses for their journey to Mexico.

This vessel had very favorable weather, and soon reached the little island. The joy of Zuazo and his companions can easily be imagined; but they had, in this interval, to their great sorrow, lost their friend father Gonzalo, who gradually sunk under hardships to which he was unaccustomed. They commended his departed soul to God, embarked on board the vessel which had come to their deliverance, and, in a short time, reached the coast of New Spain, from whence they arrived in Medellin, where they met with a very kind reception. From this place they hastened to Mexico, where Cortes gave them one of his own palaces to live in, and shortly after appointed Zuazo his alcalde major.

What I have here related of Zuazo's voyage to New Spain I have copied word for word from a letter which Cortes wrote to us the town council of Guacasualco about it, which exactly corresponds with what the sailors related themselves. The reader may, therefore, rely upon this as being a true narrative.

CHAPTER CLXIV

How Cortes despatched Alvarado to subdue the province of Guatimala, and to found a colony there.

Cortes strove to emulate Alexander the Macedonian in all things; his thoughts were always busied with some grand scheme, and his love of dominion knew no bounds: when, therefore, with the assistance of his excellent officers and brave soldiers, he had rebuilt and repeopled the great city of Mexico, and had founded the towns of Guaxaca, Zacatula, Colima, Vera Cruz, Panuco, and Guacasualco, he also determined to subdue the thickly-populated province of Guatimala, the inhabitants of which were very warlike. Cortes knew that there were gold mines in this country, and had several times invited the inhabitants to submit, but received no answer in return; he therefore resolved to despatch Alvarado thither to subdue the country and to found colonies in it. For this important campaign he selected above 300 foot, of which 120 were musketeers and crossbow-men, 153 horse, and four field-pieces, with an abundant supply of powder. The chief artilleryman was Usagre, and above 300 auxiliary troops, composed of Tlascallans, Cholullans, and Mexicans were joined to these forces. Father Olmedo, who was a most intimate friend of Alvarado, also begged Cortes that he might join him in this campaign, in order to preach the gospel to the inhabitants; but our general, who always wished to have father Olmedo near his person, refused his request, and appointed another excellent priest to this expedition who had come to New Spain with Garay, and who gladly undertook the office of missionary. Father Olmedo, however, left Cortes no peace until he had obtained his consent, though this was given with great reluctance, as the father was of valuable assistance to him, and a man whom he consulted in all matters of importance.

The instructions which Alvarado received were, above all, to strive by every means to gain the inhabitants by kindness and friendship; besides which, father Olmedo was supplied with the necessary interpreters, through whom he was to make every exertion to induce the inhabitants to abolish their human sacrifices and other abominations, and to lead them into the bosom of our holy Christian church. As soon as these troops were in marching order, Alvarado took leave of Cortes, and left Mexico on the 13th of December of the year 1523. He took his route over some mountains in the province of Guantepec, and quelled an insurrection there which had broken out among the inhabitants of the country. From this place he marched to the large township of Tecuantepec, which is inhabited by a tribe of the Tzapotecs, where he met with the kindest reception, and was even presented with some gold. The province of Soconusco, which he next came to, he also found in perfect peace. This country was at that time thickly populated, and contained about 15,000 inhabitants, who all quietly submitted, and brought Alvarado a present in gold; but as soon as he left this province, everything began to wear a warlike appearance, and, on his next day's march, when he arrived in the neighbourhood of the Zapotitlan townships, he came up to a bridge which lay across a small river, near to which there was a dangerous pass, and large bodies of the enemy were drawn up in order of battle, to prevent Alvarado from crossing over. Here Alvarado encountered a severe engagement, and lost one horse, and had many of his men wounded, of whom one died shortly after. It was not only the warriors of Zapotitlan which opposed Alvarado, but they were joined by so vast a body of the inhabitants from the surrounding country, that, though the Spaniards continually mowed down the enemy's ranks, they were obliged to renew the attack three several times; and it was only after a good deal of hard fighting that our troops at last gained a complete victory over them, and they then submitted as vassals to our emperor. The next township Alvarado came to was Quetzaltenanco, which had a considerable population, and likewise bid an obstinate resistance to the Spaniards, of whom a great number were wounded. The inhabitants of this place had been joined by their neighbours of Utatlan, the chief of a series of townships round about Quetzaltenanco: nevertheless, Alvarado put them to flight, and strewed the field of battle with dead and wounded.

From this place his route lay through a dangerous and very narrow mountain defile, about six miles in length. The troops therefore marched forward with every military precaution, and began to ascend the acclivity. When they had arrived at the most elevated point of the pass, they found a fat old Indian female and a dog, which had been sacrificed to their gods; a certain sign of war. This indeed was soon verified; for they had not marched far before they came up with immense bodies of the enemy, who were lying in wait for them, so that Alvarado stood in great danger of being hemmed in on all sides. At this spot the pass was so narrow, and the ground so thickly strewed with stones, that the horse were scarcely able to render any assistance; but the crossbow-men, musketeers, and the rest of the foot, armed with bucklers and swords, closed the more bravely with the enemy, who retreated fighting, down the narrow pass to some deep hollows, where other bodies stood drawn up in order of battle. From this place the enemy, by a preconcerted plan, fell back, as Alvarado advanced, to another position, where they had posted above 6000 of their men. These were the warriors of Utatlan and their subjects, who had made sure they would easily be able to cut off Alvarado, with the whole of his men; but our troops fought with such determination and courage, that they put the enemy to flight, having only three of their men and two horses wounded. The enemy, however, rallied again, were joined by other large bodies, and renewed the attack with great intrepidity. The most desperate part of the action took place near a fountain, where a strong body of the enemy rushed forth from an ambush; so that the Spaniards were compelled to fight foot to foot with the Indians, who had in particular singled out the cavalry, and each horse was attacked by three of the enemy, while several others at the same time strove to pull them to the ground, by hanging to their tails. Here the Spaniards were placed in the utmost danger, for the enemy's numbers were overwhelming; but father Olmedo encouraged the men, reminding them that they were fighting with the intention of serving the Almighty, and to promote His holy religion; that the Lord would assist them, and that they must either conquer or die in this battle!

Notwithstanding this, and the utmost endeavours of the Spaniards, the victory remained dubious for a length of time, until at last the enemy began to give way. Now the cavalry were able to gain the open field, and they dispersed the Indians on every side with considerable slaughter, so that they were unable to show themselves for the next three days. During this time Alvarado encamped on the field of battle, and sent out small detachments to forage. He then marched, with the whole of his troops, to the township of Quetzaltenanco, where he learnt that two caziques of Utatlan were killed in the recent battles. In this place he allowed his men to halt for some time, to dress their wounds, but soon received intelligence that the surrounding tribes again contemplated an attack upon him, for which purpose they had assembled an army of two Xiquipiles, there being 8000 warriors to one Xiquipil. With this formidable body of 16,000 men the enemy were determined to conquer or die. On receiving this information Alvarado drew out his troops on the open plain in order of battle; nor was it long before the enemy came pouring forth with great force, and strove to surround him on all sides; but as the cavalry were unrestricted in their movements on this level plain, they made heavy charges on the enemy's line, who were soon put to a disorderly flight. Several of Alvarado's men were wounded, but some of the most distinguished chiefs had fallen in the battle; so that from this moment the Indians really began to fear the Spaniards, and the whole province came to the determination of suing for peace, and they sent ambassadors to Alvarado with a small present in gold. But all this was mere stratagem on the enemy's part, whose object was to entice the Spaniards, under the assumed cloak of peace, to the strongly situated town of Utatlan, which was surrounded by deep hollows, and there to put them to death, when they least suspected any treachery.

As I have just stated, a great number of distinguished personages arrived in Alvarado's camp to sue for peace; they handed over their miserable present, were remarkably courteous in their behaviour, and begged of Alvarado to pardon their late hostilities, and to acknowledge them as vassals of our great emperor. This humble language they accompanied by an invitation for him and his troops to return with them to the town of Utatlan, which they said was very large, and they would provide them excellent quarters, with every possible comfort.

Alvarado, who did not for an instant imagine they had any treacherous designs, received the caziques very kindly, granted them the peace they sued for, and accepted of their polite invitation. The next morning early he drew out all his troops, and marched to Utatlan; but as soon as the Spaniards arrived in this town they were struck with the warlike aspect which everything wore. There were only two gates by which the town could be entered, one of which was approached by a flight of twenty-five steps, and the other by a causeway, which was intersected in several places. There was also a large building, which was strongly fortified; the houses of the town stood very close together, and the streets were uncommonly narrow. There was neither a woman nor a child to be seen anywhere, for these had all been concealed in the hollows adjoining the town, and it was very late before the troops could obtain any provisions, which even then were bad. The caziques had likewise assumed a different tone to that of the previous day, and Alvarado was secretly informed by some of the inhabitants of Quetzaltenanco that the caziques of Utatlan intended to fall suddenly on his troops in the night, and massacre them all; for which purpose they had concealed a number of their warriors in the adjoining hollows, who were to rush forth from their hiding-place the instant they observed the smoke rising from the houses of the town which would be set on fire, and to fall upon the Spaniards, who would be half suffocated by the smoke and flames, while the inhabitants attacked them from another quarter.

The instant Alvarado was apprized of the imminent danger which threatened him, he assembled the officers, with the whole of the men, and informed them of what he had heard, adding, that their safety now depended upon their leaving the town as quickly as possible, and in gaining some level spot between the hollows, as it was then too late to reach the open field. He then made the necessary arrangements for the troops to abandon the place, and called upon the principal personages of the town, as if he were quite unconscious of their designs; but in the course of the conversation he remarked, as if by chance, that his horses were accustomed to go to grass for a certain time each day, for which reason he would be obliged to quit the town again, where altogether the houses were too much crowded, and the streets too narrow for him. This came like a thunderclap upon the caziques, nor could they hide their inward grief and vexation when they saw the Spaniards marching out again.

As soon as Alvarado was outside the town he threw off the mask, ordered the chief cazique to be seized, and he was tried in due form by a court-martial, which sentenced him to be burnt at the stake. Before this sentence was put into execution father Olmedo begged permission of Alvarado to make an attempt to convert this Indian to Christianity, for which purpose he requested that his execution might be postponed for one day; but of this one day came a second day, at the end of which it pleased the Lord Jesus to incline the cazique's heart to Christianity, and he allowed himself to be baptized by the father, who then prevailed upon Alvarado to commute his sentence into that of hanging. The son of this unfortunate man was then raised to the caziquedom. But matters did not end here, for Alvarado was now attacked by the Indians, who lay concealed in the hollows, but he soon put them to flight.

There was another large township in this province, called Guatimala, the inhabitants of which had been duly apprized of all the battles which Alvarado had fought since his arrival in the country, and how he had each time come off victorious. They also knew that he was staying at Utatlan, and that he made frequent incursions into the surrounding townships, and compelled them to submit to his arms. As the inhabitants of Guatimala were at enmity with the Utatlans, they despatched ambassadors to Alvarado with a present of gold, and declared themselves vassals of our emperor; adding, that they were ready to assist the Spaniards in carrying on the war in that province. Alvarado received these ambassadors in the kindest manner possible, thanked them for their present, and he told them, in order to prove whether they were in earnest in soliciting his friendship and in their offers of assistance, that he would demand of them 2000 of their troops to join his army. He was totally unacquainted, he continued, with the country, which was besides so full of hollows and narrow passes, that he should be glad of this reinforcement to clear the roads which had been barricaded by trees, and to transport his baggage. The inhabitants of Guatimala soon showed they were friendly disposed, and it was not long before the required troops, with their generals, arrived in the Spanish camp. Alvarado staid about eight days in the province of Utatlan, during which time he made repeated incursions into the different townships, and as several of these again revolted after submitting to the Spanish crown, great numbers of the male and female inhabitants were carried off as slaves and marked with the red-hot iron. Of these slaves a fifth were set apart for his majesty, and the remainder were immediately divided among the troops.

Upon this Alvarado marched to Guatimala, where the inhabitants gave him a kind and hospitable reception. Here the men enjoyed some rest, and they congratulated each other on the success that had attended their arms, and now they thought with pleasure on the fatigues they had undergone. Among other things, Alvarado declared to father Olmedo and his officers, that he had not been in any battle where he considered himself in greater danger than in the one they had recently fought with the tribes of Utatlan, who had combined excessive ferocity with uncommon bravery, and he considered that his men had done wonders on that occasion. "It was the arm of God," remarked father Olmedo, "that was with us, and that He may not desert us in future, let us appoint a day of thanksgiving to the Almighty and the blessed Virgin, and celebrate high mass, and I will preach a sermon to these Indians." Alvarado and the other officers immediately fell in with this idea, and after an altar had been erected the whole of the men made the communion, and high mass was performed with every solemnity. A great number of Indians were present on the occasion, to whom father Olmedo preached so many excellent things, and gave so many convincing proofs of the truth of our holy religion, that above thirty of them became converts to Christianity. In the course of the two following days they were baptized, and several others expressed a similar wish, when they found that the Spaniards made more of the converts than of the others. Upon the whole, there was nothing but rejoicing and happiness between the troops of Alvarado and the inhabitants of this place.

I must now relate that the caziques of Guatimala drew Alvarado's attention to some townships which lay at no great distance in front of a lake. The inhabitants of these places were at enmity with Guatimala, and their stronghold was a rock of great height, which they had further strengthened by various outworks. Of these townships, Atatlan was the principal one, and it was very evident the inhabitants bore the Spaniards very little good will, since, notwithstanding their near vicinity, they had not thought proper to send them any messengers of peace. Alvarado, therefore, sent them a most polite invitation to come and make a friendly alliance with him; but all the answer they returned was to ill-use the messengers. This invitation Alvarado renewed three several times, and as they still refused to despatch any ambassadors to him, he determined to march thither in person, with 140 foot, 40 horse, and 2000 auxiliaries of Guatimala. When he had approached within a short distance of the township he again sent a friendly message to the inhabitants, who replied by a flight of arrows; upon which he advanced up to the water's edge. At this moment a vast body of Indians fell suddenly upon him, under the sound of their wild music, the whole of them accoutred in their full war costume, with lances of uncommon length. This was a very severe conflict which lasted for some time, and a good number of the Spaniards were wounded; but the Indians at last fled precipitately and strove to regain the fortified rock, but Alvarado followed so close at their heels that he carried the rock before they could rally themselves, and he would have slaughtered a great number of them if they had not leaped into the water and made for a small island on the lake. He then permitted his troops to plunder the houses which lay on the banks, and encamped on a plain which was covered with maise plantations. The day following he marched to Atatlan, which he found quite deserted by its inhabitants; from this place he sent out small detachments to forage the country, and particularly the cacao-plantations, which abounded in this neighbourhood. One of these detachments succeeded in capturing two chiefs of the township, whom Alvarado despatched with some others that had been taken prisoners on the previous day, to the caziques, desiring them to come and sue for peace; if they complied, he would liberate all the prisoners he had taken, and they themselves should receive the most honorable treatment; but if they still obstinately refused to submit, he would punish them as he had the inhabitants of Quetzaltenanco and Utatlan, by cutting down all their cacao trees, and otherwise damaging their property in every possible manner. These threats had the desired effect, they sent messengers with a present in gold, and submitted as vassals to our emperor; when Alvarado again returned to Guatimala.

Father Olmedo, in the meantime, was doing all in his power to convert the Indians to Christianity; he ordered an altar with a cross to be erected, in front of which he regularly performed mass, and the inhabitants, on these occasions, imitated the Spaniards in all their religious ceremonies. Father Olmedo also placed on the altar an image of the Virgin Mary, which had been presented to him by Garay in his dying moments. This image was of such extreme beauty that the Indians became quite enamoured of it, and father Olmedo explained what was meant by such an image, and how Christians prayed before it.

Nothing now happened for several days worthy of mention, excepting that by degrees every township of the surrounding neighbourhood sent ambassadors to Alvarado, and declared themselves vassals of our emperor; even the Pipiles, a tribe inhabiting the sea-coast along the southern ocean. As most of the ambassadors complained that the inhabitants of a township, named Izcuintepec, who were a very ill-disposed people, would not allow them to pass through their territory; besides that they committed all manner of depredations on their neighbours; Alvarado determined that they also should sue for peace and submit to his power. But as they showed no inclination to do either, and sent an insolent answer to his message, he marched out one morning with the greatest part of his troops, accompanied by a strong body of auxiliaries, and fell suddenly upon this township before the inhabitants in the least suspected his approach. But it would have been better if Alvarado had never visited this ill-fated town, for he treated the inhabitants in a manner that was neither conformable with justice nor with the wishes of our emperor.

What I have related of this campaign in the province of Guatimala is more minutely described in a memorial written by Gonzalo de Alvarado, a brother of Pedro, and an inhabitant of Guatimala; by perusing which the reader may gain further particulars, and will be enabled to correct any errors I may have committed. I consider myself bound to make this observation, as I was not present in this campaign, for I did not arrive in Guatimala until the year 1524, when the inhabitants had again revolted, just as we were about returning to Mexico from our expedition to the Higueras and Honduras, under the captain Luis Marin. On that occasion we had several engagements with the enemy, who had everywhere dug deep holes and barricaded the narrow passes along the line of our march. We were detained two whole days in the township of Juanagazapa, or Petapa, the neighbourhood of which was full of deep hollows, and we had several battles with the enemy, who strove to prevent our march through a very dangerous mountain pass. Here I was slightly wounded by an arrow, and it cost us much hard fighting before we could force this passage. I could say a good deal of the battle we fought on this spot, and it is with difficulty I restrain myself at present, in order to relate all the circumstances more fully in the proper place. It was about this time also that a rumour was spread of Cortes' death. With respect to the inhabitants of Guatimala, I have merely further to remark that they were not a very warlike people, nor did they ever bid any stout resistance unless they were strongly posted in the hollows of the mountains, and then even their arrows did us very little harm.

CHAPTER CLXV

How Cortes despatches an armament, under Christobal de Oli, to the Higueras and Honduras, to subject these provinces; and what further took place during this expedition.