When The Two Prisoners
Whom We Brought From Thence Were Shewn This Plant In Cuba, They
Immediately Recognized It, Saying Yucu-Tal, Which Was Supposed To
Signify Their Country, And Has Ever Since Been Applied By The Spaniards To
That Part Of America, But Pronounced Yucutan.
They alleged likewise that
their country produced gold, or at least they were so understood, but this
has since been found not to be the case.
All that we soldiers got by this
discovery, was to come back poor and wounded, and thankful that we had
saved our lives, having lost seventy out of our small number during the
expedition. Diego Velasquez wrote an account to his patron, the bishop of
Burgos, of all the particulars of this discovery, and the expences he had
incurred, by which he obtained fame and credit from his majesty; but
nothing was said in favour of us poor soldiers, who had expended our
property, and risked our lives in the expedition.
As soon as our wounds were healed, I and two other soldiers, desiring to
go to the town of Trinidad, agreed for our passage with an inhabitant of
the Havanna, who was going there in a canoe to sell a cargo of cotton, for
which he was to be paid ten crowns in gold. We accordingly embarked with
him, and after coasting along for eleven days, we were driven on shore in
a violent gale of wind, near an Indian town named Canarreon, the canoe
being dashed to pieces, while we reached the shore with much difficulty
naked, bruised, and wounded. We were forced to adopt the clothing of our
first parents, and tied sandals to our feet made of bark which we cut from
the trees with sharp stones, fixing them on by means of the tough flexible
roots of a plant called bejucos. Travelling in this sorry plight, we
came in two days to the village of Yaguarrama, where Fray Bartholome de
las Casas was then parish priest, who was afterwards bishop of Chiapa.
I went next day to the town of Chipiona, belonging to Alonso de Avila,
where I got myself decently clothed at the house of a friend named
Antonio de Medina. I then continued my journey to St Jago, where the
governor, Velasquez, was preparing to fit out another expedition of
discovery. Being my relation, as well as governor, I went to wait upon him,
when he asked if I was willing to undertake another expedition to Yucutan.
I answered, that it ought rather to be called the land of wounds and
disasters. He replied, he knew that we suffered much in the last voyage,
but such was often the fate of those who sought fame and honour by new
discoveries, and that he would take care to inform the king of our
services, that we might be rewarded according to our merits. "And now,"
said he, "my son, if you will try your fortune once more, I will place you
in a station where you may reap honour."
[1] The present voyage of Cordova was in 1517:
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