Embarking, and proceeding westward, the Spaniards arrived a fortnight later at Campeche,[9] where their amazement was increased on beholding the number and beauty of the edifices, while the blood and other evidences of human sacrifice discovered about the altars of the temples filled their souls with horror. And as they were viewing these monuments of a superior culture, the troops of armed natives increased, and the priests of the temples, producing a bundle of reeds, set fire to it, signifying to the visitors that unless they took their departure before the reeds were consumed every one of them would be killed. Remembering their wounds at Catoche, the Spaniards took the hint and departed.
They were soon caught in a storm and severely shaken; after which they began to look about for water, which had by this time become as precious to them as the Tyrian mures tincture, of which each shell-fish gave but a single drop. They accordingly came to anchor near a village called Potonchan, but owing to a sanguinary battle in which they were driven back, Córdoba named the place Bahía de Mala Pelea.[10] In this engagement the natives did not shrink from fighting hand to hand with the foe. Fifty-seven Spaniards were killed on the spot, two were carried off alive, and five died subsequently on shipboard. Those whom the natives could not kill they followed to the shore, in their disappointed rage, wading out into the sea after them, like the bloodthirsty Cyclops who pursued the Trojan Æneas and his crew. But one man escaped unharmed, and he of all the rest was selected for slaughter by the natives of Florida. Córdoba received twelve wounds; Bernal Diaz three. The survivors underwent much suffering before reaching Cuba, for the continued hostilities of the natives prevented their obtaining the needful supply of water.
There being no one else to curse except themselves, they cursed the pilot, Alaminos, for his discovery, and for still persisting in calling the country an island. Then they left Mala Pelea Bay and returned along the coast, north-eastwardly, for three days, when they entered an opening in the shore to which they gave the name of Estero de los Lagartos,[11] from the multitude of caimans found there. After burning one of the ships which had become unseaworthy, Córdoba crossed from this point to Florida, and thence proceeded to Cuba, where he died from his wounds, ten days after reaching his home at Santi Espíritu.
Diego Velazquez was much interested in the details of this discovery. He closely questioned the two captives about their country, its gold, its great buildings, and the plants which grew there. When shown the yucca root they assured the governor that they were familiar with it, and that it was called by them tale, though in Cuba the ground in which the yucca grew bore that name. From these two words, according to Bernal Diaz, comes the name Yucatan; for while the governor was speaking to the Indians of yucca and tale, some Spaniards standing by exclaimed, “You see, sir, they call their country Yucatan.”[12]
The people of this coast seemed to have heard of the Spaniards, for at several places they shouted ‘Castilians!’ and asked the strangers by signs if they did not come from toward the rising sun. Yet, neither the glimpse caught of Yucatan by Pinzon and Solis in 1506 while in search of a strait north of Guanaja Island where Columbus had been, nor the piratical expedition of Córdoba, in 1517, can properly be called the discovery of Mexico.[13] Meanwhile Mexico can well afford to wait, being in no haste for European civilization, and the attendant boons which Europe seems so desirous of conferring.
FOOTNOTES
[1] In the memorial of Antonio Velazquez, successor of the adelantado, Diego Velazquez, Memorial del negocio de D. Antonio Velazquez de Bazan, in Mendoza, Col. Doc. Inéd., x. 80-6, taken from the archives of the Indies, the credit of this expedition is claimed wholly for the governor. Indeed, Velazquez himself repeatedly asserts, as well as others, that the expedition was made at his cost. But knowing the man as we do, and considering the claims of others, it is safe enough to say that the governor did not invest much money in it. The burden doubtless fell on Córdoba, who was aided, as some think, by his associates, Cristóbal Morante and Lope Ochoa de Caicedo, in making up what the men of Darien lacked, Torquemada, i. 349, notwithstanding the claims for his fraternity of Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., i. Ogilby, Hist. Am., 76, says the three associates were all Cuban planters; that they equipped three ships, Velazquez adding one. This Hernandez de Córdoba was not he who served as lieutenant under Pedrarias, though of the same name.
[2] Opinion has been divided as to the original purpose of the expedition. As it turned out, it was thought best on all sides to say nothing of the inhuman and unlawful intention of capturing Indians for slaves. Hence, in the public documents, particularly in the petitions for recompense which invariably followed discoveries, pains is taken to state that it was a voyage of discovery, and prompted by the governor of Cuba. As in the Décadas Abreviadas de los Descubrimientos, Mendoza, Col. Doc. Inéd., viii. 5-54, we find that ‘El adelantado Diego Velazquez de Cuéllar es autor del descubrimiento de la Nueva España,’ so, in effect, it is recorded everywhere. Indeed, Bernal Diaz solemnly asserts that Velazquez at first stipulated that he should have three cargoes of slaves from the Guanaja Islands, and that the virtuous one hundred indignantly refused so to disobey God and the king as to turn free people into slaves. ‘Y desque vimos los soldados, que aquello que pedia el Diego Velazquez no era justo, le respondimos, que lo que dezia, no lo mandaua Dios, ni el Rey; que hiziessemos á los libres esclavos.’ Hist. Verdad., i. On the strength of which fiction, Zamacois, Hist. Méj., ii. 224, launches into laudation of the Spanish character. The honest soldier, however, finds difficulty in making the world believe his statement. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 348, does not hesitate to say very plainly that the expedition was sent out to capture Indians, ‘ir é enviar á saltear indios para traer á ella,’ for which purpose there were always men with money ready; and that on this occasion Córdoba, Morante, and Caicedo subscribed 1,500 or 2,000 castellanos each, to go and catch Indians, either at the Lucayas Islands or elsewhere. Torquemada, i. 349, writes more mildly, yet plainly enough; ‘para ir à buscar Indios, à las Islas Convecinas, y hacer Rescates, como hasta entonces lo acostumbraban.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 1-6, follows Bernal Diaz almost literally. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 60, is non-committal, stating first ‘para descubrir y rescatar,’ and afterward, ‘Otros dizen que para traer esclauos de las yslas Guanaxos a sus minas y granjerias.’ Oviedo and Herrera pass by the question. Landa, Rel. de Yucatan, 16, ‘a rescatar esclavos para las minas, que ya en Cuba se yva la gente apocando y que otros dizen que salio a descubrir tierra.’ Says the unknown author of De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 338, ‘In has igitur insulas ad grassandum et prædandum, ut ita dicam, ire hi de quibus suprà dictum est, constituerant; non in Iucatanam.’ It is clear to my mind that slaves were the first object, and that discovery was secondary, and an after-thought.
[3] Bernal Diaz holds persistently to 110. It was 110 who came from Tierra Firme, and after divers recruits and additions the number was still 110.
[4] Authorities vary, from four days given by Las Casas, and six by Oviedo, to 21 by Bernal Diaz and Herrera. The date of departure is also disputed, but the differences are unimportant. Compare Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. vi.; Dufey, Résumé Hist. Am., i. 93; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 3; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 348-63; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 3-8; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 60-1; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 1-2; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.; Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 22-4; Vida de Cortés, or De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 331-41; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 463-8; Robertson’s Hist. Am., i. 237-40; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., 5-8.