When all these festivities were ended, Cortes ordered the necessary preparations to be made for his departure, and he invited me to accompany him, promising to obtain for me from the council of the Indies a grant of more lucrative townships than would be conferred upon me by the royal court of audience in Mexico. I accordingly embarked for Spain, and arrived there a couple of months before Cortes, who said he had been detained by a bad leg, and because he had not so soon been able to collect the quantity of gold he was desirous of taking with him on this voyage. It was in the year 1540 that Cortes thus, for the second time, arrived in Spain; and as the empress Isabella, of glorious memory, died in the month of May of the preceding year, the whole of Spain was still in deep mourning for her; and I, in my capacity of regidor of the town of Guacasualco, and as the oldest of the Conquistadores, had likewise put on deep mourning on arriving at the imperial court.
At this same time Hernando Pizarro, with his suite, consisting of above forty persons, all in deep mourning, likewise arrived in Madrid, where the court was then staying. Cortes and his suite arrived in the city almost at the same moment, was splendidly received by order of the council of the Indies, and took up his abode with the comendador Juan de Castilla. Upon the whole he was treated with the utmost respect, for whenever he went to attend the sittings of the council of the Indies, one of the auditors was sent to meet him at the door, and a seat was given him on the same bench with the president and the auditors.
Cortes never afterwards visited New Spain, for notwithstanding the admiral of Castile, the duke of Bejar, the comendador-mayor of Leon, and Doña Maria de Mendoza used all their influence with his majesty, he never could obtain leave to repair thither again. Each time these distinguished personages solicited the emperor, his majesty answered, "That all the investigations against Cortes must first be brought to an issue before he could grant him permission to return." Yet no one seemed to stir in the matter, and the council of the Indies would not say anything until his majesty should have returned from Flanders, whither he was gone to punish the town of Ghent. Neither was Nuño de Guzman allowed to return to New Spain, and though he was condemned in a heavy fine, he was allowed to retain possession of his commendaries in the province of Xalisco; and he likewise, with his suite, went about the town of Madrid clad in deep mourning. And as Cortes, Pizarro, Guzman, and several other personages of New Spain and Peru, were continually before the eyes of the public, we were derisively dubbed the mourning Indians of Peru. It was no joke, however, for Pizarro, for he was shortly after imprisoned in the Mota of Medina.
I myself returned to New Spain, and the first thing I heard on my arrival there was, that an insurrection had broken out among the mountain tribes of Cochitlan, in the province of Xalisco, to quell which the viceroy had despatched thither several officers, among whom was a certain Christobal Oñate. The Indians, however, defended themselves so courageously that the civic authorities of Mexico applied for assistance to Alvarado, who was at that time busily occupied in fitting out an extensive armament in Guatimala, destined for China; yet Alvarado readily consented to render the assistance required, and set out by forced marches for Cochitlan with a large body of troops. In this campaign he met with a fatal accident, which I will relate in a following chapter. I have now to speak of two armaments which left New Spain, one fitted out by the viceroy, the other by Alvarado.
CHAPTER CCII.
How the viceroy sends out a squadron of three vessels into the South sea to the assistance of Francisco Vasquez Coronado, in the conquest of Cibola.[54]
I have already mentioned in a former chapter that the viceroy and the royal auditors had sent out an armament for the discovery of the seven towns, which are also termed the towns of Cibola. A certain cavalier of Salamanca, called Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who was governor of the province of Xalisco, and was married to the beautiful and virtuous daughter of the treasurer Estrada, had marched out as captain-general with a strong body of horse and foot, in order further to explore the country. Having appointed a certain Oñate to govern in his absence, he took his route overland, and arrived, in the space of a few months, among the so-termed seven towns. Whether he had despatched thither the Franciscan monk, father Marcos de Nizza, in advance, or whether both arrived there at the same time, I am unable to say; however, when they came into the country of Cibola they found to their surprise the meadows abounding with cows and bulls, though different in shape to ours in Spain; the houses of the towns were several stories high, and were ascended by regular steps. The father seeing all this considered it well worth his while to return to Mexico and inform the viceroy of the country they had discovered, that he might send thither an armament of some extent. This the viceroy accordingly did, and he sent out three vessels under the chief command of Hernando Alcaron, one of the officers of his household, who was accompanied by Marcos Ruiz de Rojas, of Madrid, and a certain Maldonado, as second in command. I ought to mention that all I have related respecting the discovery of this country I have from hearsay.