That Unfortunate Soldier
Was The Only One Who Had Escaped Unwounded From Pontonchan.
The boat now returned to the ship with the water which they had procured;
and many of the people
On board were so eager to drink, that one of the
soldiers leaped into the boat immediately on its getting along-side, and
drank so greedily that he swelled and died in two days after. Leaving this
place, they came in two days sail to the Martyres, where the greatest
depth of water is only two fathoms, interspersed with many rocks, on one
of which the ships touched and became very leaky. Yet it pleased God,
after so many sufferings, that they arrived at the port of Carenas, now
called the Havanna; whence Hernandez de Cordova sent an account of his
voyage to James Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, and died in ten days
after. Three of his soldiers died also at the Havanna, making fifty-six in
all lost during the expedition out of an hundred and ten men. The rest of
the soldiers dispersed themselves over the island of Cuba, and the ships
returned to the city of St Jago, by which the fame of this voyage spread
over the whole island.
[1] We shall afterwards have occasion to give an account of this and other
Spanish Expeditions of Discovery and Conquest, written by Bernal Diaz
del Castillo, who was actually engaged in all those which he
described. - E.
SECTION XII.
Farther Discoveries on the Continent by Juan Grijalva, under the orders
of Velasquez, by which a way is opened to Mexico or New Spain.
However unfortunate Cordova had been in his expedition, yet Velasquez
considered the intelligence he had transmitted concerning his discoveries
as of high importance, and he determined to pursue these discoveries on
the first opportunity, chiefly because the people among whom Hernandez had
been so roughly bandied seemed much more civilized than any Indians
hitherto met with, and consequently were likely to prove proportionally
richer. These sentiments were no sooner made public, than several of the
principal inhabitants of the island offered their assistance, so that he
was soon in a condition to send out a small squadron of three ships and a
brigantine, having 250 men on board. These were commanded by the captains
Alvaredo, Montejo, and de Avila, and under chief command of Juan Grijalva,
who was ordered by Velasquez to make what discoveries he could, but to
form no settlement. They sailed from Cuba on the 8th of May 1518; and
having visited the coast of Florida, they doubled Cape St Anthony, and
discovered the island of Cozumel, to which Grijalva gave the name of
Santa Cruz, because discovered on the day of the invention of the Holy
Cross, yet it has always retained its Indian name of Cozumel, by which it
is still known. Grijalva landed with a competent number of soldiers, yet
no person could be found; for the natives had fled on the first appearance
of the ships.
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