After Remaining Six Days At This Place, We Proceeded Along The Coast,
Passing A Low Island About Three Leagues From The Main Which We Named
Isla Blanca, Or The White Island.
About a league and a half farther on,
we came to a larger island, where Grijalva landed with a
Party of soldiers.
On this island there were two well constructed buildings of stone and lime,
having each steps to ascend to the top, on each of which there was an
altar placed before certain hideous idols, where were also the bodies of
five miserable persons who had been sacrificed the night before, having
their hearts cut out, their limbs separated from their bodies, and their
blood sprinkled on the walls and altars. We named this Isla de los
Sacrificios, or Sacrifice Island. We landed on the coast opposite to this
island, where we built huts for ourselves and remained for some days,
expecting the natives to trade with us for gold. Many of them came to
visit us, but they brought very little of that metal, and seemed very shy
and timid, on which account we reimbarked and continued our voyage.
When we arrived at that part of the coast which is opposite the island of
St Juan de Ulua, where Vera Cruz now stands, we lodged ourselves in
huts on the sand hills, having discovered good anchorage at this place,
defended from the north winds. Grijalva, with about thirty of us, went
over to examine the island, where we found a temple containing a large and
hideous image of a god called Tezcatepuca[4]. We found at this place
four Indian priests in long black mantles, like Dominicans, who had that
day sacrificed two boys, offering up their hearts to that accursed idol.
They offered to perfume us with their incense pots, but we were completely
disgusted at the horrible cruelty of their sacrifices, and rejected their
proferred compliment with horror.
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