[XIII‑45] For the incidents that occurred before the capture of the town of Chiapas the account of Bernal Diaz has been accepted as the base of this narrative, but the version of Diego de Godoy, an 'escribano del rey,' who accompanied the expedition, is also worthy of credit. The latter furnished Cortés with two reports of the proceedings, though his first one, which was written from Cinacantlan, has not yet appeared in print, and is perhaps no longer extant. The second despatch was written from Espíritu Santo, and was first published at Toledo by Caspa de Ávila on the 20th of October 1525, together with the fourth letter of Cortés to the king of Spain, and again in Valencia by George Costilla on the 12th of July 1526. In 1749 Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia reproduced it in Madrid, in his collection of the works of the chroniclers. Godoy's account and that of Bernal Diaz, though agreeing in the main features of the campaign, are strangely contradictory in many particulars. In weighing the credibility of their statements it should be borne in mind that the former wrote his despatch immediately after the conclusion of the campaign, while the latter wrote from memory many years afterward. It is beyond dispute that Marin commanded this expedition, as appears from his own despatch and the statements of Bernal Diaz; yet in Gomara, Hist. Mex., 233; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. viii., and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 573, it is stated that Godoy was in charge, Marin being second in command.
[XIV‑1] Benzoni spells the word Achla and states that the town was situated at a distance of about two bow-shots from the shore. Mondo Nuovo, 77. For a description of its site see [Hist. Cent. Am., i. 418], this series. Girolamo Benzoni, in 1541, joined the Spaniards in their forays for gold and slaves, and traversed the Central American provinces. Regarded doubtless as an interloper he does not appear to have met with the success he expected, and in 1556 returned to Italy determined to vent his spite by an exposé of Spanish greed and cruelty. In 1565 he published the work entitled La Historia del Mondo Nuovo, dedicated to Pius IV., and containing 18 wood-cuts, with his own portrait on the frontispiece. The second edition, somewhat amplified, appeared in 1572, followed by quite a number of reprints and translations, particularly in German and Latin. The well known version by Chauveton, doctor and protestant preacher at Geneva, the Novæ Novi Orbis Historiæ, Geneva, 1578, was frequently reissued. The dedication praises Benzoni for exactitude and impartiality, and notes by other writers are added to confirm and explain the text. De Bry gave further value to this version by means of maps and fancy plates. Purchas, among others, treated it with less respect in offering merely 'Briefe extracts translated out of Ierom Benzo.' Amends were made for this slight in 1857, when the only full English version was issued by Admiral Smyth, under the auspices of the Hakluyt Society. The rendering is somewhat faulty, however, and the corrections of Benzoni's uncultured style and misspelled names not always an improvement.
Benzoni had evidently the intention of writing a more imposing general history of the New World, though it dwindled into a short narrative. There is an apparent effort at moderation, particularly with regard to himself, yet the disposition to exaggerate, or to lie, as Thevet intimates, crops out even in his sarcasms, and yielding to credulity he allows a great part of the narrative, on events or phenomena, to become merely the record of jangling and weird rumors current among gossips. This he partly admits by saying: 'In molte cose ho trouato che vna parte non conforma con l'altra, à causa che ogn'uno fauorisce il suo capitano, et più dico, che in questi paesi si trattano poche verità.' lib. iii. fol. 128. 'Lo mas de su narracion sacó de los autores precedentes con bastante fidelidad, pero comunmente sin juicio ni examen. En los principios está lleno de errores.' Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, tom. i. xxi.-ii. Robertson refers to him as a discontented detractor. He does not feel well affected toward Las Casas, despite their common aim, but calls him a vain man, incapable of carrying out his reform promises. Whatever may be said against the work, much of the material is valuable, as it embraces facts glossed over by the chroniclers, and gives the personal observations of a man not imbued with Castilian partiality. Indeed, Pinelo calls him an 'Autor poco afecto à los Españoles,' Epitome, tom. ii. 589, and they very naturally have returned the compliment by neglecting him.
A contemporary of Benzoni as traveller and author is the Frenchman André Thevet, who claims to have travelled for 17 years round the world, to acquire a proper knowledge of men and things, and who is credited with having mastered 28 languages. The result of his observations was issued at Paris in 1558 as, Les singularitez de la France Antarctique, autrement nommée Amerique, containing philosophic dissertations on natural and moral history in the Levant, Africa, and America, and remarkable chiefly for credulity and want of critique. It attained several editions which are now sought for their rarity, among them, Historia dell'India America, di Andrea Tevet. Venice, 1561. He also wrote the Cosmographie universelle, Paris, 1575, 2 vols. folio, which is even more valueless, and admired only for its wood-cuts; the Cosmographie du Levant. Lyon, 1556; and the Cosmographie moscovite, published only in Paris 1858; and he left several other pieces in manuscript. De Thou refers to him rather severely as follows: 'Fuit patriâ engolimensis, professione primó Franciscanus, dein, cum vix litteras scìret, abjecto cucullo ex monacho celeberrimus planus religiosis et aliis peregrinationibus primam ætatem contrivit, ex quibus famâ contractâ, animum ad libros seribendos ineptâ ambitione applicavit, quos alieno calamo plerumque exacatos et ex itinerariis vulgaribus atque hujusmodi de plebe Scripturis consarcinatos miseris librariis pro suis venditabat: nam alioqui litterarum, antiquitatis atque omnis temporum rationis supra omnem fidem fuit imperitus, ut fere incerta pro certis, falsa pro veris et absurda semper sciberet.' Hist., lib. xi.
[XIV‑2] This epithet they applied to all Christians.
[XIV‑3] For the condition of the native settlements in Honduras, see Montejo, Cartas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 223-4, 228, 240-1; and Squier's MSS., xxii. 24-6.
[XIV‑4] By cédula, dated July 20, 1532, they were exempted from other than a nominal tribute of two reals, Juarros, Guat., i. 74; ii. 343; but this order was unheeded. In 1547 the survivors drew up a memorial to the emperor representing their past services and sufferings, and petitioning for their rights. The document was written by a friar and referred to the licentiate Cerrato, who was instructed to see that justice was done to them. Memorial, 1547, MS., in Centro América, Extractos Sueltos, 41-2. An attempt was made at a later date to impose tribute upon their descendants; but the Mexican government confirmed them in their rights in 1564: 'Fueron amparados en posesion de su libertad, y se libró en Tenuctitlan á 6 de noviembre de 1564 real provision, que conservan los naturales de Almolonga en fólios de pergamino encuadernados en forma de libro, empastado con tablas finas, y forrado en terciopelo carmesi,' etc. Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 167.
[XIV‑5] In the time of Alvarado the tribute of cacao was 1,400 xiquipiles, and this was paid until 1542. Requête d'Atitlan, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 420-2. A xiquipil was 8,000, and the number of chocolate-beans contributed was therefore 11,200,000.
[XIV‑6] Regio, Ind. Devastat., 38-40. How populous the country was may be imagined from the fact that Alvarado represented it as exceeding Mexico in the number of its inhabitants. 'Et ipsemet tyrannus scripsit majorem esse in hac provincia populi frequentiam, quám in Regno Mexico, quod & verum est.' Id. Las Casas also states that, when the Spaniards first entered the country, the towns and villages were so many and large and so densely populated that those who marched in advance not infrequently returned to the captain demanding a reward for having discovered another city equal in size to Mexico. Hist. Apolog., MS., 28.
[XIV‑7] It will be remembered, however, that Alvarado procured relays of Indians from Guatemala to pack his material and supplies from Trujillo to Iztapa. Enough were left, remarks Remesal, upon whom to wreak his vengeance, and the Cakchiquel and Quiché princes, who appeared before him to do him homage, became the first victims. They were reproached with the reforms brought about in their favor, during his absence, as of crimes worthy of capital punishment; for daring to complain to the governor they were accused of rebellion. Nameless adventurers, who had been unable to extort enough gold from them, or take from them their vassals to work in their fields and houses, pretended that the ill-will of these chiefs had caused their ruin, and loudly demanded that the adelantado should grant new repartimientos according to their services. Alvarado, who was wounded to the quick by the appointment of Maldonado, listened to all these complaints, and now displayed his usual brutality. Prince Cook, Ahtzib of the Cakchiquel crown, he ran through with a sword. Tepepul, king of Gumarcaah, or Utatlan, and the Ahpozotzil Cahi Imox, together with a large number of lords, were cast into a prison on some frivolous pretext. When on the point of sailing from Iztapa, Alvarado being requested by the municipal council to determine their fate, settled the matter by hanging the latter and putting the former together with a number of the leading caciques on board his fleet. All of them perished miserably on the coast of Jalisco. Among his other victims was a lord called Chuwi-Tziquinu and 17 other Cakchiquel princes, whom he took with him from Santiago under pretence of conducting them to Mexico. When a short distance from the city he caused them all to be strangled. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, lib. iv. cap. iv. v. xx.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 797-801; Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 77.