During The Expedition To Higueras In Honduras, In
The Year 1524, In Which She Accompanied Cortes, She Had Occasion To
See
her mother and brother; as Cortes summoned all the neighbouring caciques
to meet him at Coatzacualco, among whom they
Came, as they now governed
their territory conjunctly, the second husband being dead. On seeing Donna
Marina, the old lady and her son cried bitterly, being afraid of being put
to death; but Marina assured them of her forgiveness, saying that she
thanked GOD their intended injury had been the means of drawing her from
the worship of idols to the true faith, and was happier in having a son by
her lord and master Cortes, and in the husband she then possessed, than if
she had been sovereign of all New Spain, and gave them at parting a
handsome present of gold. I was personally acquainted with her mother and
half brother, who were both afterwards baptized, the mother by the name of
Martha, and the brother by that of Lazarus. Donna Marina perfectly
understood her native language of Coatzacualco, which is the same with
that of Mexico; and as she could likewise converse with Aguilar in the
Maja language, which is spoken in Yucutan and Tabasco, we thus acquired
a medium of intercourse with the Mexicans, Tlascalans, and other nations
of Anahuac or New Spain, which was of infinite importance to us in the
sequel. In a little time she learnt the Spanish, by which the circuitous
means of double interpretation was avoided.
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