As The
District Of Cimatan Was Particularly Refractory, And Captain Luis Marin
Could Not Conveniently Send A Body Of Troops To That Place, I And Three
Other Spaniards Were Sent There To Endeavour To Prevail On The People To
Submit.
On approaching the principal town, we were attacked by a large
body of Indians, who killed two of my companions, and wounded me
desperately in the throat.
My surviving companion made off to some canoes
on the banks of the river Macapa, leaving me alone and in great jeopardy;
but I crept under cover of some bushes where I lay some time almost
exhausted, and recovering my strength after some time, I forced my way
through the natives, and escaped to where my companion was in the canoes,
with four Indians whom we had brought with us to carry our baggage, which
they had thrown away, and for the sake of which the natives quitted us, so
that we got across the river, which is broad and deep and full of
alligators. To avoid the Indians, we concealed ourselves for eight days in
the woods, so that we were concluded to be lost, and our property in lands
and Indians was divided among the other Spaniards, such being then the
custom in New Spain. We returned to the town, however, at the end of
twenty-three days, to the great joy of our friends, and the disappointment
of those who had succeeded to our property.
Our captain, Luis Marin, thought proper to wait upon Cortes, to represent
the necessity of a reinforcement; and accordingly got thirty soldiers,
commanded by Alonzo de Grado, with orders for all the Spaniards at
Coatzacualco to march for the province of Chiapa, which was then in a
state of rebellion, and directions to build a town there to keep the
natives in order. In the first place, we had to make roads through the
woods, and the country being very marshy, we were under the necessity of
constructing causeways in many places to enable the horses to pass. The
first place we came to was Tezputzlan, and thence to Cachula, beyond which
there had been no passage before our expedition, all the other natives
being in great fear of the inhabitants of Chiapa, who were then the
bravest warriors in all America, and had never been subdued by the
Mexicans; but they were extremely barbarous, being in use to rob all
passengers, and to carry away the natives of other districts to till their
ground. The present expedition was during Lent, and as well as I can now
remember, in the year 1524, our little army consisting of 27 cavalry, 23
musqueteers, 72 foot soldiers armed with sword and target, and one
field-piece under the direction of a cowardly fellow of a gunner, who
pretended to have served in Italy. Besides these, we had 50 Mexican
warriors, and the cacique of Cachula with some of his principal people,
who were all terribly afraid. On approaching Chiapa, an advanced guard of
four of our most active soldiers, of whom I was one, always preceded the
army to reconnoitre, and as the ground was not fit for a horse, I left
mine behind. We were usually about half a league in front of the army, but
on our approach to Estapa, their first settlement, some of the hunters of
Chiapa perceived us at a distance, and gave the alarm by means of smoke.
The road was now wide and convenient, between well cultivated fields of
corn and other vegetables; and on coming to Estapa we found it abandoned
by the inhabitants, on which we posted our guards and patroles, and took
up our quarters for the night. We were soon disturbed by information from
our out-guards, that the natives were collecting on every side to attack
us; and, going out of town to meet them we had a severe action, in which
they killed two of our soldiers and four horses, wounding our reverend
father Fra Juan, and thirteen soldiers, including our captain Luis Marin,
who was wounded in two places; besides which many of our allies were slain.
This action lasted till dark night, when the enemy were forced to retire,
leaving fifteen slain and many wounded in the field. From two of the
wounded, who seemed chiefs, we learnt that a general attack was intended
against us next day. These people were clothed in good defensive armour of
quilted cotton, using darts hardened in the fire, war clubs, and lances
longer than ours, and they fought with unusual bravery; insomuch that,
when one of our horsemen halted to make a thrust, the Indians seized the
horse, and either wrested the lance from the horseman or pulled him to the
ground.
Next day we pursued our march to Chiapa, a place with very regular streets,
and containing not less than four thousand families, besides the dependent
towns and villages around. We had not proceeded above a quarter of a
league from Estapa, where we had passed the night, when we found the whole
warriors of the district drawn up to oppose us, well armed, dressed up in
plumes of feathers, and making the hills resound with their warlike shouts.
They attacked us with the utmost fury, and our black gunner was so
stupified with fear, that he stood long trembling before he durst put the
match to the gun, and when he fired the piece all the good he did was
wounding three of our own men. After a severe conflict, we at length
forced them to fly; but they rallied in some broken ground, reinforced by
some fresh bodies of Indians, and attacked us again by surprize, while we
were giving God thanks for our victory. In these new troops, many were
provided with long thongs to twist round our horses, and some carried the
nets they used in hunting for the same purpose. In this second battle the
enemy were so desperate that they killed two of our soldiers and five
horses, and scarce one of us escaped without a wound.
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