Here I must not forget to mention the very brave soldier Christobal de Olea, a native of Medina del Campo. He was twenty-six years of age when he joined our ranks. He was of middling stature; his limbs were strong and beautifully proportioned; his chest and shoulders broad; his face was full and cheerful; his hair and beard curly, his voice strong and clear.
Neither must I forget to mention Gonzalo Dominiguez and Larez, who were considered equal in courage to Olea. Both were strong of limb, well proportioned, had agreeable countenances, and were men of excellent dispositions; in short, they may be considered among the bravest soldiers Spain ever possessed.
Andreas de Tapia was also a courageous officer, and was about twenty-four years of age when he joined us. He had rather an unpleasant expression of countenance, which was of a leaden colour; his beard was thin, but his figure was stately. He was both a capital horse and foot soldier.
I should be going too much into detail if I were to describe the countenances and figures of all the officers and soldiers who fought with Cortes. We were all men of courage and distinction, and we have deserved that our names should be written in letters of gold. I must also pass by in silence many brave officers of Narvaez's corps; for I intended from the beginning to confine myself to the heroic deeds of the small army which first set out for New Spain with Cortes. I must, however, make an exception in the person of Pamfilo Narvaez.
This officer may have been about forty-two years of age when he arrived in New Spain with an army of 1300 men, which was totally defeated by our small body of 266 men. He was tall of stature, strong of limb; his beard was red; his face large but cheerful. His voice was amazingly powerful, and sounded as if it proceeded from a vault. He was a capital horseman, and was said to be an officer of great courage. He was a native of Tudela or Valladolid, on the Duero, and was married to a lady of rank named Maria de Valenzuela. He had settled in Cuba; was considered very rich, but miserly. He was an excellent spokesman, and obtained for himself the government of Florida, where, however, he lost both his life and his property.
Several curious cavaliers who had read the minute description I have here given respecting the persons and the characters of the officers and soldiers of the courageous and fortunate Don Hernando Cortes, marquis del Valle Oaxaca, inquired of me in astonishment how I could remember all these little particulars after so many years had rolled by. I told them it was no great wonder at all when they reflected that we were only 550 men altogether, who daily came in contact with each other in the numerous campaigns, battles, skirmishes, and at the outposts. We were constantly in conversation with each other, and in this way it soon became known what happened to every individual, in what battles he fell, or whether he was captured by the Indians and sacrificed to their idols: besides which, a list of the killed was taken after every engagement. Nor can I see anything so very wonderful in all this; for we read in ancient times of generals who knew every soldier personally, his name and birthplace, though these armies were generally composed of 30,000 men. Historians have mentioned as instances of this, Mithridates, king of Pontus, of one of the kings of Epirus, and of Alexander of Macedonia. The renowned Carthaginian general Hannibal is also said to have known every one of his soldiers personally. In our times we know this of Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordoba, called the "great captain." Besides these there are many other generals who possessed the same powerful memory. But I go further than this, for I perfectly retain in my memory the outward person and peculiar habits of every one of my companions in arms, so that I should be able to sculpture or draw the very form of their bodies, their manner of holding themselves, and the exact expression of their countenances, as well as is mentioned of Apelles, the celebrated painter of old, or in later times of Berruguete, Michael Angelo, or the far-famed Burgales, who is termed the second Apelles. Indeed I should very much like to paint each of them according to life, with the full expression of courage which sat on their countenances the moment they rushed into battle!
Thanks be to God and the blessed Virgin who saved me from being sacrificed to the idols, and from so many perils, and thereby rendered it possible for me to write this history!
CHAPTER CCVII.
Of the great merit which is due to us, the true Conquistadores.