The pleasant historie of the conquest of the VVeast India, now called new Spayne

The Iland of Acusamil

The Indians naturall of that countrey do cal their Ilande Acusamil, & corruptlye Cosumel. Iohn de Grijalua was y^e first Spaniard that apported there, and named it the holy Roode, bycause hee fell in sighte therof on holy roade daye. It cōtayneth ten leagues in length & thrée leagues in breadth, although some say more, some lesse: it standeth twentye degrées on this side the equator, and fiue leagues from the womēs cape: it hath thrée villages, in y^e which liueth nere 3 thousand mē. The houses are of stone and brick, and couered with straw & bowes, & some with tile. Their temples and towers are made of lime & stone very wel built: thei haue no other fresh water but out of welles and raine water. Calachuni is their chiefe Lord: they are browne people & goe naked: & if any weare cloth, it is made of cotten wool only to couer their priuie mēbers: they vse lōg hear platted & bound about their foreheads: they are great fishermē, so y^t fish is their chiefest foode & sustenance, they haue also Maiz which is for bread: also good fruites: & hony, but somewhat soure: and plots for bées, which contayn .1000 hiues. They knew not to what vse wax serued, but whē they saw our mē make cādels therof, they wōdred therat. Their dogges haue Foxe faces and barke not, these they gelde and fatten to eate. This Iland is ful of high moūtaines, & at the feete of them, good pastures, many Deare, and wilde Boares, Connyes and Hares, but they are not great. The Spaniardes with their handguns and crossebowes prouide them of that victual, fresh salt and dried. The people of this Iland are Idolaters, they doe sacrifice children, but not manye. And many times in stead of children they sacrifice dogges. They are poore people, but very charitable and louing in their false religion and beliefe.

The religion of the people of Acusamil

A straunge Idol

The God of rayne

The temple is like vnto a square Toure broad at the foote, & steps round about it, & from y^e middest vpward very straight: the top is hollow & couered with straw: it hath foure windowes with frontals and galleries. In y^t holow place is their chappel, wheras their Idols do stand. The temple that stoode by the sea side was such a one, in the which was a maruellous straunge Idol, and differed muche from all the rest, although they haue manye and of diuerse fashions. The body of this Idol was great and hollow, and was fastened in that wall with lime: hee was of earth. And behinde this Idols backe was the Vesterie, where was kept ornaments & other things of seruice for y^e temple. The priests had a little secret dore hard adioyning to y^e Idol, by which dore they crept into y^e hollow Idol, and answered the people y^t came with prayers & peticiōs. And w^t this deceit y^e simple soules beleued al y^t the Idol spake, & honored y^e god more thā al the rest w^t many perfumes & swéete smelles, and offered bread and fruite, with sacrifice of Quayles bloud, and other birds, and dogges, and sometime mans bloud. And through the fame of this Idoll and Oracle, many Pilgrimes came to Acusamil from many places. At the foote of this Temple was a plotte like a Churchyard, well walled and garnished with proper pinnacles, in the middest whereof stoode a Crosse of ten foote long, the which they adored for God of the rayne, for at all times whē they wanted rayne, they would goe thither on Procession deuoutely, and offered to the Crosse Quayles sacrificed, for to appease the wrath that the God séemed to haue agaynste them: and none was so acceptable a sacrifice, as the bloud of that little birde. They vsed to burne certaine swéete gūme, to perfume that God withall, and to besprinckle it with water, and this done, they beléeued assuredly to haue rayne. Suche is the Religiō of those Indians of Acusamil. They could neuer know the original how that God of Crosse came amōgst them, for in all those parties of India, there is no memorie of anye Preaching of the Gospell that had bin at any time, as shall be shewed in another place.

The Battell and vvinning of Potonchan

Policie

Cortez procéeded with his Fléete very ioyfull, bycause he had found one of his Ships which hée thought had bin lost, & aported at the riuer de Grijalua, whiche in the Indian tong is called Tauasco, and anckred at the riuers mouth, fearing to enter in with the bigger vessels ouer the barre: and incontinente came manye Indians to gaze at them and theyr Shippes, who were armed with feathers, and suche lyke armour as they vse, séeming a farre off trimme fellowes. They wondered not muche to sée oure Shyppes and menne, bycause they hadde séene before Iohn de Grijalua in the same Riuer. The behauiour of that people, and scituation of the Countrey, liked Cortez verye well, so that leauyng sufficiente garde in hys Shyppes, he manned hys Vergantynes and Boates, and carried with hym certayne pieces of Ordinance, and with force of oares he entred the Riuer agaynste the streame, whiche was verye greate, and hauyng rowen little more than halfe a league, they espyed a greate Towne walled wyth Timber, and the houses made of mudwall, couered with strawe. The Towne wall was verye strong, with loope holes to offende withall. And before oure menne came néere the Towne, they mette with manye little Boates, whiche the Indians call Tahucup, full of armed menne, shewyng themselues desirous of battayle. Cortez procéeded forwardes, and made vnto them signes of peace, declaring vnto them by his interpreter, that hys commyng thither was not to molest or disquiet them, but onely to take freshe water, and to buy victuals, as menne that trauelled by Sea, and stoode in néede thereof, promising good paymente for anye thing that they shoulde take. The Indians hearyng theyr request, promised to shewe theyr message to the Townesmen, and woulde also returne with theyr aunswere and vittayles, and so departed. In shorte space they returned againe, and broughte bread and fruite, and eyght Turkie Cockes, and presented it franckely vnto them. Cortez gaue them thankes, but (quoth he) the prouision that ye haue brought, is very little, for the néede that I and so manye persons which I haue within yonder greate vessels locked and shutte vp, therefore I pray you to bryng me more vittayles, or else to permitte and suffer mée and my folkes to come vnto youre Towne to séeke oure remedie.

Diligence of a good Captayne

The Indians demaunded one nyghtes space to doe the one and the other, and departed towarde the towne. Cortez also went to a little Iland that standeth in the riuer, to abide their aunswere, so that eache pretended to deceyue the other, for the Indians demaunded that time, to the intent to carrie that night away theyr goodes, and to put in safetie their wiues and children in the Mountaynes, and likewise to gather their men of warre to defende theyr Towne. Cortez also commaunded his Hargabushiers and Crossebowmen to goe a lande vppon the Ilande, and caused the Riuer vpwardes to bée soughte for way, to wade ouer, so that these thyngs were done that nyghte without anye knowledge to the contrarye syde. And all those whyche abode aboorde the Shyppes, came vnto Cortez, and those who wente to séeke the passage, founde within lesse than halfe a league vpwardes, a place that was of depth to the girdle of a manne. And likewise founde suche couerte of wooddes, that they myghte come néere vnto the Towne, and not to bée séene.

Thys newes lyked well Cortez, wherevppon he appoynted two Captaynes, whose names were Alonso de Auila, and Peter de Aluarado, and to eache of them fiftie menne. The same nyghte hée sente certayne Souldyers wyth a sea compasse, to lye in ambushe in the woodde whyche stoode betwéene the riuer and the towne, for two considerations. The one, bycause the Indians shoulde sée, that there were no moe Spanyardes in the Ilande, than were the daye before. And the other was, that hys menne hearing their watchword, shoulde assaulte the towne on the land side. And as soone as the day appeared, came eight boates of Indians armed, wheras oure Campe was pitched, who broughte a little victuall, saying they could get no more, bycause that the inhabitantes of the Towne were fledde, with feare of them, and their deformed vessels, desiring them to returne aboorde their Shippes, and not to disquiet the people of that Countrey. The interpreter aunswered, that it was against humanitie to suffer them to perishe wyth hunger, yea and if they woulde heare the cause of theyr comming, they should shortly sée what profite would rebound vnto them. The Indians replyed, that they woulde take no counsell of straungers and menne whome they knewe not. Lykewise, they thoughte not good to lodge suche guestes in their houses, for they séemed terrible, and such as would be commaunders. But if they woulde néedes haue water, they mighte take riuer water, or else make welles on the shore, for so dyd they at theyr néede.

Then Cortez séeyng that wordes preuayled not, hée signifyed vnto them that he woulde enter their Towne by force, to sée it and their Countrey, for to giue thereof relation to the greatest Prince in the worlde, who hadde sent them thither: requesting them to be therewith contented, considering he meante not to disquiet them: and if they would not permitte the same, he would commend himselfe to his God, and to the strength and force of hys men. The Indians aunswered agayne, that they shoulde depart, and not thus bragge in other mens land, for in no wise they woulde permitte them to enter their Towne. And if with this warning they would not departe, they meante to kyl both him and as many as were with him. Yet Cortez ceassed not to vse all humanitie with those barbarous people, according to the commaundemente and instructions giuen vnto him by the King of Castill, whiche was, to require those people oftentimes with peace, before the attempting of warre, or entring perforce into their Townes and Countrey, so that yet agayne he conuited them with peace, promising them libertie with good entertainement, assuring them of things profitable both for body and soule, and that they myghte accompt themselues happie with the knowledge thereof: but if now they would refuse his offer, he did then warne them to make them ready for the euening, for before the going downe of the Sunne, he did hope with the help of his God, to rest and take vp his lodging in the Towne, in despite of all the inhabitants thereof, who had refused his offer.

The Indians laughed at his talke, and skorning at him, they returned to the Towne, to enforme their fellowes of the pride and madnesse that they thought they hadde hearde. Then the Spanyardes wente to dinner, and hauing well refreshed themselues, they putte on their Armour, and went aboorde their Boates and Vergantines, looking for some aunswere from the Indians, and séeyng the Sunne decline apace, and no aunswere, Cortez aduised the Spanyardes that lay in ambushe in the woodde, to giue assault, and he embarqued himselfe with his rapier and Targette, gyuyng likewise assaulte with néere two hundred men, who comming néere the Towne walles, discharged his Ordinance, and lept into the water to the knées, and began valiantly to assault the walles and bulwarkes. The Indians séeyng their enimies so nigh vnto them, beganne to fighte with courage, shooting arrowes, throwing of dartes and stones, wherewith they hurte about twenty Spanyardes: yea, and though the fearefull noyse of the Ordinance did many times so annoy them, being things so straunge, and neuer before séene of them, yet they fledde not from the walles, but resisted the Christians valiantlye, and suffered them not to enter the Towne that way, if they had not bin assaulted in another place. But when the Company that lay in ambush hearde the shooting of their fellowes, they began likewyse theyr onsette. The Indians knowyng nothyng what was prepared behynde theyr backes, and hauing also theyr handes full in defending the entrance by the Riuer: and the Christians fyndyng that parte of the Towne without resistance, entred in wyth a terrible noyse, killing as many as they mette. Then the Townesmen vnderstoode theyr oversyghte, and woulde haue remedyed it, and fledde from the place where Cortez was gyuing combat, whereby Cortez and hys Company entred the Towne at ease, without contradiction, so that hée and the other Companye of his Souldyers mette togither at the Markette place, and expulsed all the Indians out of the Towne, excepte those that were taken prisoners, and the carkases of the deade. Then the Chrystians soughte the spoyle, and founde nothyng but Turkie Hennes, and some thyngs wrought of Cotten wooll, but verye little Golde.

There was that daye aboue foure thousande Indians in fyghte and defence of the Towne: There was much Indian bloud shedde, bycause they fought naked, manye were wounded, and fewe Captiue. Cortez lodged himselfe wyth hys armie in the chiefest Temple of the Idolles, where was roome sufficiente. They kepte that nyghte good watche, as in a house of enimies, but the poore Indians durst not once interrupte them. After thys forte was Potonchan taken, béeyng the fyrste Cytie that Cortez wanne by force in all hys Conquest.

The Battell of Cintla

Care of a good Captayne

Fortye thousande Indians

Perill of the Christians

A miracle

Al y^t nighte Cortez slept not, but rather occupyed himselfe in carrying the wounded men, & other stuffe aboord y^e Shyps, & also to disenbarke thirtéene Horses, & the residue of his mē y^t he had left aboord, y^t which he brought to passe before the sunne rising, although the Tauascans had notice thereof. Whē the sunne was risen, he had with his company made vnto God their prayers, and mustered his men, where were at that time in Campe néere fiue hundred Spanyardes, thirtéene Horses, and sixe péeces of ordinance: These Horses were the fyrste that euer came into that Countrey, whych now is called new Spayne. He planted his men and munition in good order, and thus marched forwardes toward Cintla. The Indians séeyng this preparation, began also to make readie, and to place in good order fortie thousand men in fyue cōpanies: their méeting was in ploughed lande among manye déepe lakes and pondes, very daungerous to passe, so that our men by reason thereof were brought out of order. And Hernando Cortez with his horsemen wente to séeke a better passage, and to enclose himselfe among certayne trées on their left hand, for to set vpon the enimies when time should serue. The footemen procéeded on, and passed many marishe groundes, vntill they came to the tilled land. The Indians were expert in those places wher they beganne the battayle, shooting with their bowes and slings, and throwing of dartes. And although our mē did some hurt among them with their Crossebowes, hādgunnes, and Ordinance, whē they were in place to shoote, yet the Indians pursued our men so thicke, that they could not put them off, for by pollicie, the Indians of Potonchan hadde soughte out that place: and it is to bée thoughte that they were not barbarous, nor of small vnderstanding in warres, yet notwithstanding wyth muche payne, oure men gate out of that place, and obtayned another somewhat better, and more playner grounde, whereas they myghte vse their Ordinance, and fyghte with their weapons bodye to body. But the Indians béeyng so greate a number, draue our men to so narrowe a place, that they were fayne to ioyne backe to backe for theyr owne defence, yea & for all that were in maruellous greate daunger, for they hadde no roome to vse their Ordinance, nor yet Horsemen to make them waye. They béeyng in thys perplexitie, and readie to flye, suddaynely appeared a Horseman with a speckled Horse, whome they iudged to be Captayne Morla, whych Horsemanne sette vppon the Indians, and made them retyre: and hauyng more space than before, they sette afreshe vppon the enimies, and slewe some of them. In thys meane tyme the Horsemanne vaded away, and was not séene, and wyth hys absence the Indians beganne afreshe, and enclosed the Chrystians in the same daunger that they were in before: then the Horsemanne appeared agayne néere oure menne, and made maruellous way among the enimies, wherevpon our menne séeyng this succoure, gaue the onset agayne with great courage, and slewe and hurt many Indians, but at the best season, the Horseman vanished away cleane out of sighte, and when the Indians sawe not the Horseman, with feare of whome they fledde, thinkyng that he hadde bin a Centaure, and that the Horse and man was all one incorporate, they returned agayne with liueley courage, and vsed our Christians worse than they hadde done before. Then the Horseman returned the third time, and putte the Indians to flight with great hurte, whom our footemē pursued with great slaughter.

Now at this instant came Cortez with al his company of horsemen, being wearied with the trauaile in passing such strange lakes and wildernesse, wherof the countrey is replenished. Our men being ioyful of his comming, they began to enforme him what wonders they had sene a horseman do, which came to succour them, demanding of him which of their company it was. Cortez answered and faithfully assured them, that it was none of their cōpany, bicause it was not possible for any of them to come any sooner: Then they al gaue God praise, belieuing that it was a helpe sent from heauen. Cortez said (my deare fellows) forwards, for god is with vs. Then the horsemē set vpon the Indians, and with force of lance droue them out of the marish ground, and brake their mayne battel. The Indians incontinent left the fielde, and fled into the thicke wooddes, the footemen followed them, and slue aboue thrée hundred Indians, besides many other that were hurt. There wer aboue seauenty Spaniardes wounded with arrowes and stones.

A sodaine disease

And whether it were with labour of the battel, or with excessiue heate, or with drinking the water of that place, there fel such a stitch in their loynes, that about a hūdred of them fel flat vpon the groūd, not able to go nor stand, their fellowes being forced to carry thē on their backes. But it pleased god that the same night the payne wente frō them, being in the morning wel againe. Who séeyng themselues deliuered from so manye perils, gaue moste humble thankes to the almightye god that had miraculously deliuered them. They all agréed that thrée times they had séene the straunge horseman, with the speckled horse, fight in their fauour, as is aforesaid, beléeuing generally it was a miracle, as certainely it did appeare, for the Christians did not alone sée this thing, but also the Indians dyd muche note it, for the maruelous fiercenesse wherwith he came vppon them, with such great murder, that they were amased, and almoste blynde with hys bryghtnesse, being so trodden vnder hys féete. The captiue Indians after the battayle declared the circumstance therof.

The Lord Tauasco submitteth himselfe to the Christians

The Cazike enbassadours

Cortez released some of hys prisoners and sent them to their Lorde, saying that it grieued him the hurt done on both parties, but the fault was theirs. And that god was witnesse of hys innocencie and also of hys curtesie offered vnto thē. But notwithstanding all that was paste, he pardoned their errour with suche condition, That if in continent or within two dayes, theyr Lorde woulde come vnto him, to yéelde satisfaction of their malice and stubbornesse, and to treate of peace and friendship, warning and aduising them, that if they came not wythin the time appointed, hee woulde enter into his countrey, burning and spoyling with slaughter both great & smal, armed and vnarmed: with which message the messengers departed, and Cortez returned to the towne to cure his wounded men. The next day came fiftie auncient Indians to craue pardon for their offence, and also licence to bury the dead, with likewise safeconduct that their rulers and principal persons myght safely come vnto the towne. Cortez graunted their request, warning them to make any lyes or yet to conspire againe: and also if their lords came not personally, he would not heare any more embassadors: with this rigorous cōmaūdemēt & protestation they departed. These Indians féeling their strength woulde not preuaile, thinking the christians to be inuincible, their Lords and chiefest persons did determine to goe and visite the christians and their captaine. And according to the time appointed, the Lorde of that town and other foure Lords his neyghbours came vnto Cortez with a good trayne of their vessals and seruitours, and presented vnto him, bread, turkie hennes, & fruites, with other like prouision for his host, with four hundred pieces of gold of y^e value of 400. double duckets, w^t other small iewels, and certaine turkie stones of small value. And twentie women slaues, to serue to make breade and dresse meate for y^e whole army. He craued and beseeched Cortez to pardon his former offence. And to accept and receiue them into hys friendshippe. And in token of his obedience, hee and his fellowes dyd willinglye deliuer their bodies, landes and goods into his handes and power. Cortez did louingly receiue them, and gaue vnto them certaine trifles of his wares, whiche they estéemed much. And those Indians hearing the horses and mares ney, they maruelled at their neying, thinking that the horses could speake, & demaunded of the Christians what they sayd, (mary quoth they) these horses are sore offended with you bycause ye fought with them, & wold haue you corrected and chastened for your so doing. The simple Indiās hearing this, presented roses and Gynea Hens vnto the horses, desiring them to eate and to pardon thē.