The Greatest Deposit Of These Hitherto Known, Is At A
Place Called _Big-Bone-Swamp_, Near The Mississippi, In The Modern
State Of Kentucky.
- E.
SECTION XV.
_Expeditions of Gonzalo de Sandoval, Pedro de Alvarado, and others, for
reducing the Mexican Provinces_.
After the settlement with Christoval de Tapia, the Captains Sandoval and
Alvarado resumed the expeditions with which they had been before entrusted,
and on this occasion I went along with Sandoval. On our arrival at
Tustepeque[1], I took my lodgings on the summit of a very high tower of a
temple, for the sake of fresh air, and to avoid the musquitoes, which were
very troublesome below. At this place, seventy-two of the soldiers who
came with Narvaez and six Spanish women were put to death. The whole
province submitted immediately to Sandoval, except the Mexican chief who
had been the principal instrument of the destruction of our soldiers, who
was soon afterwards made prisoner and burnt alive. Many others had been
equally guilty, but this example of severity was deemed sufficient.
Sandoval, in the next place, sent a message to the Tzapotecas, who inhabit
a mountainous district about ten leagues from Tustepeque or Tututepec,
ordering them to submit to his authority; and on their refusal, an
expedition was sent against them under Captain Briones, who according to
his own account had served with reputation in the wars of Italy. His
detachment consisted of 100 Spanish infantry, and about an equal number of
Indian allies; but the enemy were prepared for him, and so completely
surprised him in a difficult pass of the mountains, that they drove him
and his men over the rocks, rolling them down to the bottom, by which
above a third of them were wounded, of whom one afterwards died. The
district inhabited by the Tzapotecas is of very difficult access among
rocky mountains, where the troops can only pass in single file, and the
climate is very moist and rainy. The inhabitants are armed with long
lances, having stone heads about an ell long, which have two edges as
sharp as razors, and they are defended by pliable shields which cover
their whole bodies. They are extremely nimble, and give signals to each
other by loud whistlings, which echo among the rocks with inconceivable
shrillness. Their province is named Tiltepeque[2]; which, after its
submission, was confided to the charge of a soldier named Ojeda. On his
return to quarters, Sandoval ridiculed Briones on the bad success of his
expedition, asking him if he had ever seen the like in Italy; for Briones
was always boasting of his exploits there, as how he had severed men in
two, and the like. Briones was sore displeased with these sarcasms, and
swore he would rather fight against the Turks or Moors than the Tzapotecas.
There was another district of the Tzapotecas called Xaltepec, which was
then at war with a neighbouring tribe, and who immediately, on being
summoned by Sandoval, sent a deputation of their chiefs to wait upon him
with handsome presents; among which was a considerable quantity of gold,
partly made into toys, and partly in ten little tubes. Their chiefs were
dressed in long cotton robes, richly embroidered, and reaching to their
feet, like the upper garments worn by the Moors. They requested to be
assisted by some of our soldiers against their enemies, whom they named
the Minxes. The state of our force at this time did not permit him to
comply with this request, but he promised to transmit their request to our
general at Mexico, with an application for an auxiliary force to be sent
them, and said he could only now send a small number of his men along with
them, to observe the nature of the passes, but his real object was to
examine their mines. With this answer he dismissed them all except three,
sending eight of us along with them to explore the country and its mines.
There was another soldier of the same name with myself in this party, for
indeed there were three of us in the army named Castillo. At that time I
prided myself on my dress, and was called _Castillo the beau_. My namesake
who went on the present expedition was named _Castillo the thoughtful_, as
he was of slow speech, never replying to a question for a long while, and
then answering by some absurdity. The third was called _Castillo the
prompt_, as he was always very ready and smart in all his words. On our
arrival at the district of Xaltepec, the Indians turned over the soil in
three different rivers, in each of which they found gold, and soon filled
three tubes with it as large as a mans middle finger, with which we
returned to Sandoval, who now thought that all our fortunes would be made.
He took a district to himself, from which he very soon procured gold to
the value of 15,000 crowns. He gave the district of Xaltepec, whence we
had obtained the gold, to Captain Luis Marin, but it turned out very
indifferently. He gave me a very profitable district, which I wish to God
I had kept; it consisted of three places, named Matalan, Oztoequipa, and
Oriaca, where the _ingenio_ of the viceroy is now situated; but I thought
it more consistent with my character as a soldier to accompany Sandoval in
his military expeditions. Sandoval called his town Medellin, after the
birth-place of Cortes; and the Rio de las Vanderas, from which he procured
the 15,000 crowns, was for some time the port where the merchandise from
Spain was discharged, until Vera Cruz became the emporium.
We now marched into the province of Coatzacualco, through the district of
Citla[3], which is about twelve leagues in length and breadth, and is very
populous, having a fine climate and abounding in provisions. The chiefs
immediately submitted. On our arrival at the river of Coatzacualco, which
is the governing district of all the neighbouring tribes, the chiefs did
not make their appearance on being summoned, which we considered as an
indication of hostility, which was in fact their first intention; but
after five days, they came in and made their submissions, presenting some
trinkets of fine gold to Sandoval.
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