And Having Thus Satisfied Himself, When He Had Taken All That We Had,
He Caused Us To Be Put Into
A little house, much like a hog sty, where
we were almost smothered; and before we were thus shut up
Into that
little cote, they gave us some of the country wheat called maize
sodden, which they feed their hogs withal. But many of our men which
had been hurt by the Indians at our first coming on land, whose wounds
were very sore and grievous, desired to have the help of their surgeons
to cure their wounds. The governor, and most of them all, answered,
that we should have none other surgeon but the hangman, which should
sufficiently heal us of all our griefs; and they, thus reviling us, and
calling us English dogs and Lutheran heretics, we remained the space of
three days in this miserable state, not knowing what should become of
us, waiting every hour to be bereaved of our lives.
THE FOURTH CHAPTER.
WHEREIN IS SHOWED HOW WE WERE USED IN PANUCO, AND IN WHAT FEAR OF DEATH
WE WERE THERE, AND HOW WE WERE CARRIED TO MEXICO TO THE VICEROY, AND OF
OUR IMPRISONMENT THERE AND AT TESCUCO, WITH THE COURTESIES AND
CRUELTIES WE RECEIVED DURING THAT TIME, AND HOW IN THE END WE WERE BY
PROCLAMATION GIVEN TO SERVE AS SLAVES TO SUNDRY GENTLEMEN SPANIARDS.
Upon the fourth day after our coming thither, and there remaining in a
perplexity, looking every hour when we should suffer death, there came
a great number of Indians and Spaniards armed to fetch us out of the
house, and amongst them we espied one that brought a great many new
halters, at the sight whereof we were greatly amazed, and made no other
account but that we should presently have suffered death; and so,
crying and calling to God for mercy and for forgiveness of our sins, we
prepared ourselves to die; yet in the end, as the sequel showed, their
meaning was not so; for when we were come out of the house, with those
halters they bound our arms behind us, and so coupling us two and two
together, they commanded us to march on through the town, and so along
the country from place to place toward the city of Mexico, which is
distant from Panuco west and by south the space of threescore leagues,
having only but two Spaniards to conduct us, they being accompanied
with a great number of Indians, warding on either side with bows and
arrows, lest we should escape from them. And travelling in this order,
upon the second day, at night, we came unto a town which the Indians
call Nohele, and the Spaniards call it Santa Maria, in which town there
is a house of White Friars, which did very courteously use us, and gave
us hot meat, as mutton and broth, and garments also to cover ourselves
withal, made of white baize. We fed very greedily of the meat and of
the Indian fruit, called nochole, which fruit is long and small, much
like in fashion to a little cucumber. Our greedy feeding caused us to
fall sick of hot burning agues; and here at this place one Thomas
Baker, one of our men, died of a hurt, for he had been before shot with
an arrow into the throat at the first encounter.
The next morrow, about ten of the clock, we departed from thence, bound
two and two together, and guarded as before, and so travelled on our
way toward Mexico, till we came to a town within forty leagues of
Mexico named Mesticlan, where is a house of Black Friars, and in this
town there are about the number of three hundred Spaniards, both men,
women, and children. The friars sent us meat from the house ready
dressed, and the friars and men and women used us very courteously, and
gave us some shirts and other such things as we lacked. Here our men
were very sick of their agues, and with eating of another fruit, called
in the Indian tongue, Guiaccos, which fruit did bind us sore. The next
morning we departed from thence with our two Spaniards and Indian guard
as aforesaid. Of these two Spaniards the one was an aged man, who all
the way did very courteously entreat us, and would carefully go before
to provide for us both meat and things necessary to the uttermost of
his power. The other was a young man, who all the way travelled with
us, and never departed from us, who was a very cruel caitiff, and he
carried a javelin in his hand, and sometimes when as our men with very
feebleness and faintness were not able to go so fast as he required
them, he would take his javelin in both his hands and strike them with
the same between the neck and the shoulders so violently that he would
strike them down, then would he cry and say: "Marches, marches,
Engleses perros, Luterianos, enemicos de Dios;" which is as much to say
in English, "March, march on you English dogs, Lutherans, enemies to
God." And the next day we came to a town called Pachuca, and there are
two places of that name, as this town of Pachuca, and the mines of
Pachuca, which are mines of silver, and are about six leagues distant
from this town of Pachuca towards the north-west.
Here at this town the good old man our governor suffered us to stay two
days and two nights, having compassion of our sick and weak men, full
sore against the mind of the young man his companion. From thence we
took our journey, and travelled four or five days by little villages
and Stantias, which are farms or dairy houses of the Spaniards, and
ever as we had need the good old man would still provide us sufficient
of meats, fruits, and water to sustain us.
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