Our General Here Ordered Escobar
To Examine The Boca De Terminos, And, As The Fleet Was At This Time
Separated,
To leave beacons or directions on the coast for the direction
of the other ships, or to cruize off that
Inlet till the missing ships
should arrive; for he was led to believe this a favourable place for the
settlement of a colony, from the description of the harbour, and the
abundance of game which was reported to be in its neighbourhood. On
Escobar landing at this place, he found the greyhound left by Grijalva on
the shore, which was accordingly taken on board; but when the rest of the
fleet arrived, as Escobars ship had been forced out to sea by a strong
gale from the south, she was not to be found. We found, however, a letter
on shore, in which Escobar gave a minute account of the state of this
harbour, representing the country in a favourable point of view; and we
had the good fortune to rejoin his ship next day. We were now off the
point of Pontonchan, the natives of which place Cortes and many of us
were much inclined to punish for their conduct in the two former
expeditions. But this was strongly objected to by the pilots, because the
coast was extremely shallow, insomuch that our vessels could not come
nearer the land than two leagues, on which account we continued our voyage
to the river of Grijalva, or Tabasco[6], where we arrived on the 13th of
March 1519.
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