On our further march we came up to a river, which we crossed by means of canoes, and soon after we arrived in a township which was entirely deserted by its inhabitants. However, in searching for provisions in some houses lying in the neighbourhood, we discovered eight Indian papas, who, after a little persuasion, followed us to the township, where they were brought into the presence of Cortes, who, by means of Doña Marina, spoke very kindly to them, telling them to banish all fear from their minds, and to go and call their countrymen. The papas said they were very willing to fulfil his commands, but they must beg of him not to allow any one to touch the idols which stood in a building adjoining Cortes' quarters. Our general promised them faithfully that no harm should be done the idols, but observed, that they were mere lumps of clay and wood, wicked things, which were unworthy of the veneration they paid them, and that the whole of their idolatrous worship was the work of Satan. The Franciscan monks also put several questions to the papas respecting their idol worship, to which they returned very intelligent answers, promising for the future to abolish it altogether.
Thirty loads of maise and some fowls were now soon brought us, and Cortes inquired of the papas how many suns (that is to say days' journey) it was from this place to the people with the beards and horses. They replied, that it was seven suns to the township of Nito, where the men with the horses had settled, and they would themselves show us the way to the next township, but that on our road thither we should have to pass one night in an uninhabited village.
Near to the building in which the idols were placed there stood a ceiba tree of an immense size, in the bark of which Cortes ordered a large cross to be cut. Our general had for some time appeared in low spirits, and very pensive. The thoughts of our fatiguing march, the number of Spaniards who had fallen ill, the still greater number of our Mexican troops that died away, and perhaps also the regret he felt for having put Quauhtemoctzin and the king of Tlacupa to death without any trial, constantly preyed upon his mind, and left him no peace either night or day; so that he would rise up from his bed in the depth of night to stroll about, which also happened to be the case in this township. He got up in the dark from his bed, in order to pass into an adjoining large apartment, where a number of idols stood, and where the Indians were accustomed to hold their meetings. It seems that he forgot the two steps which led down into it, so that he fell rather heavily, and bruised his head severely. This wound he had secretly dressed, nor did he himself ever mention the accident to any one.
The next morning, very early, we again broke up our quarters, and our guides led us exactly in the direction they had previously described, and we arrived, without anything happening to us worthy of mention, in front of a morass, which lay at the foot of very high mountains, where we encamped for the night. With break of day we again continued our march, and arrived about the hour of high mass, at a township which lay in the midst of this extensive morass. This town had every appearance of having been recently built, and indeed we found that the houses had only been erected a few days before our arrival. It was surrounded by a double entrenchment, formed of the trunks of large trees, encircled by other huge poles stuck in perpendicularly, The approaches were secured by a deep fosse, and they were protected by a double inclosure of a circular form: one of which was supplied with a regular battlement, small towers and loop-holes; the other was very high and strongly built of large stones, and was likewise provided with a battlement. As the other side was covered by the morass this place might, in every sense of the word, be called a fortress.
When we entered the town we did not meet with a single inhabitant, but were surprised to find in the houses quantities of boiled turkeys and other fowls, dressed according to Indian fashion, with hot peppers and maise cakes, which they call tamales. We were perfectly astonished at this great abundance, and we made all manner of speculations on so extraordinary a sight. Another large building we found filled with bows and arrows and small darts. We now carefully searched the surrounding neighbourhood, but we could nowhere see any maise plantations.
While we were thus looking about us we observed fifteen Indians approaching from the side of the morass, who, on coming up, touched the ground with their hands and kissed it. These were the chiefs of the township, and they begged of Cortes, in a half-crying tone of voice, not to set fire to their buildings. They had, they said, but recently settled in this spot, and had been compelled to fortify themselves thus strongly from fear of their enemies; whom, if I do not mistake, they termed Lacandones. These people had burnt down their two former towns which lay on the plain, had plundered them of all they possessed, and had killed numbers of their countrymen. On our further march we should pass over the ashes and ruins of their former habitations. These chiefs then related the cause of their enmity, and described their mode of warfare. Upon this Cortes inquired of them what had induced them to dress so large a quantity of turkeys and other fowls? To which the chiefs replied, that they again expected an attack from the Lacandones, who would be sure, if victorious, to carry off all their property and fowls; they had therefore determined to eat up all their provisions before the enemy arrived; but if they themselves proved victorious, they would march into the enemy's towns, plunder them in their turn, and so make up for their recent losses.
Cortes told them he was extremely sorry to hear of their wars, but that it was not in his power to render them any assistance at present, as he was obliged to continue his march. This tribe, to whom the two other large townships also belonged, through which we passed on the following day, were termed the Mazotecs, a name which, in their language, denotes the land or the nation of the wild deer, and this was indeed a most appropriate appellation, as the reader will presently see.
From this place we took two guides with us, who led us over the ruins of the two townships above mentioned, and gave us some further account of the Spaniards whom we should find at a considerable distance further on.