Alvarado Was Sent To See These Men Safely
Shipped Off, And He Sent At This Time Diego De Ordas And
Alonzo de Mendoza
to Spain, with instructions of which we were ignorant, except that they
were meant to counteract the
Malice of the bishop of Burgos, who had
declared us all traitors. De Ordas executed his commission to good purpose,
and got the order of St Jago for himself, and the volcano of Popocatepetl
added to his arms. Cortes sent also Alonzo de Avila, contador of New Spain,
and Francisco Alvarez, to Hispaniola, to make a report to the court of
royal audience, and the brothers of the order of Jeronymites, of all that
had taken place, particularly in regard to Narvaez, and supplicating them
to represent our faithful services to the emperor, and to support our
interests against the enmity and misrepresentations of Velasquez and the
bishop of Burgos. He sent likewise De Solis to Jamaica to purchase horses.
It may be asked how Cortes was able to send agents to Spain, Hispaniola,
and Jamaica, without money. But, although many of our soldiers were slain
in our flight from Mexico, and much treasure lost in the ditches and
canals of Mexico, yet a considerable quantity of gold was saved, as the
eighty loaded Tlascalans were among the first who passed the bridge, and
afterwards delivered all their gold to Cortes[3]. But we poor soldiers had
enough ado to preserve our lives, all badly wounded, and did not trouble
ourselves to inquire what became of the gold, or how much was brought off.
It was even rumoured among us, that the share belonging to the garrison of
Villa Rica, the carriers of which had been robbed and murdered, went after
all to Spain, Jamaica, and other places; but as Cortes lined the pockets
of our captains with plenty of gold, all inquiry on this head was stopped.
It may be wondered how Cortes should send away so valiant a captain as
Alonzo de Avila on an affair of negociation, when he had several men of
business in his army who could have been better spared, such as Alonzo de
Grado, Juan Carceres _the rich_, and several others. The true reason was,
that Avila was too ready to speak out on all occasions to obtain justice
for the soldiers, and therefore Cortes sent him away that he might no
longer be opposed and thwarted in his proceedings; and that he might give
his company to Andres de Tapia, and his office of contador to Alonzo de
Grado.
Having now determined to undertake the siege of Mexico, Cortes left a
garrison of twenty men, mostly sick and invalids in Frontera, under the
command of Juan de Orozco, and marched with the rest of the army into the
country of Tlascala, where he gave orders to cut down a quantity of timber,
with which to construct a number of vessels to command the lake of Mexico.
These ships were to be built under the direction of Martin Lopez, an
excellent shipwright, and a valiant soldier, in which he was assisted by
Andres Nunez, and old Ramirez, who was lame from a wound. Lopez conducted
matters with great spirit, insomuch that in a very short time he had all
the timber cut down, shaped, and marked out for the vessels, ready to be
put together. The iron work, anchors, cables, sails, cordage, and all
other necessaries for the vessels were procured from Villa Rica, whence
all the smiths were sent up to the army to give their assistance. As pitch
was unknown among the natives, four sailors were sent to the pine forests
of Huetzotzinco, to obtain a supply of that article, in which they
succeeded.
On our arrival at Tlascala, we learnt that our good friend and faithful
ally Maxicatzin had fallen a sacrifice to the small-pox. Cortes lamented
the death of this good man as that of a father, and put on mourning out of
respect to his memory, in which he was imitated by many of our officers
and soldiers. As there was some difficulty in regard to the succession,
Cortes conferred the vacant dignity on the legitimate son of the deceased
chief, as he had desired a short time before his death, on which occasion
he had strictly enjoined all his family and dependents to persevere in
their alliance with us, as we were undoubtedly destined to rule their
country according to their ancient traditions. The other chiefs of the
Tlascalans offered their best services, in providing timber for our
vessels, and engaged to aid us with all their military force in
prosecuting the war against Mexico. Cortes accepted their offer with every
mark of gratitude and respect; and even prevailed on the elder Xicotencatl,
one of their principal caciques, to become a Christian, who was
accordingly baptised with great ceremony, by the name of Don Lorenzo de
Vargas.
Just as we were about to begin our march, intelligence came from Villa
Rica of the arrival of a vessel from Spain and the Canaries, loaded with
military stores, horses, and merchandize, and having thirteen soldiers on
board. The owner, who was likewise on board, was one Juan de Burgos, but
the vessel was commanded by Francisco Medel. Cortes sent immediate orders
to purchase the whole cargo, and all the people came up to join us to our
great satisfaction. Among these were one Juan del Espinar, afterwards a
very rich man, and two others named Sagredo, and Monjaraz a Biscayan, who
had two nephews of the same name in our army. Monjaraz never went upon any
expedition or engagement along with us, always feigning to be sick, though
he omitted no opportunity to boast of his courage. Once, while we were
besieging Mexico, he went up to the top of a high temple, as he said to
see how the natives fought; and by some means which we could never find
out, he was killed that day by some of the Indians.
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