[46] It was in May, 1519, according to Oviedo, that Benito Martin—some call him Martinez—sailed for Spain, Grijalva having arrived at Santiago late in the October previous. By reference to a Velazquez memorial, in iv. 233-4, Col. Doc. Inéd., we find that before this, upon the strength of Córdoba’s discovery, the king, on the 13th of November, 1518, at Saragossa, made Velazquez adelantado of what he had discovered, or might discover. Thus far he claimed as having found, at his own cost, Cozumel and Yucatan, the Santa María de los Remedios of the Spaniards, which was not true. Indeed, these memorials of the descendants of conquerors are, as a rule, widely different from the facts; instance this one again, which gives Olid seventy men instead of seven. As a matter of course, the honor of the discovery is claimed wholly for the governor of Cuba, to the prejudice of others who ventured more than he. See Carta del Ayunt. de Vera Cruz, in Col. Doc. Inéd., i. 418-9. Instance further a Memorial del negocio de D. Antonio Velazquez de Basan, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., x. 80-6, in which Grijalva is given five ships and a year and a half, and Olid three ships and seventy men. In the Instruccion que dió el adelantado Diego Velazquez á Hernan Cortés, in Col. Doc. Inéd., xii. 226-46, the little boat of Olid has grown into a caravel with 80 or 90 men.
[47] Las Casas saw him at Santo Domingo in 1523. He was reduced to penury. Proceeding thence to Panamá, he was sent by Pedrarias to Nicaragua, where he was killed. So perished the best and morally bravest of cavaliers, while unscrupulous tricksters flourished. Prior to his departure from Cuba, however, and notwithstanding the vile treatment of the governor, at Velazquez’ request, Grijalva wrote a narrative of his expedition, which was lost by Oviedo in its transmission to the king. It is embodied, however, in substance, in Oviedo, i. 502-37. One of the most original and complete accounts of Grijalva’s expedition extant is that by the priest Juan Diaz, Itinerario de Larmata del Re Catholico in India verso la Isola de Iuchathan del anno M. D. XVIII, alla qual fu Presidente & Capitan Generale Ioan de Grisalva; el qual e facto per el capellano maggior de dicta Armata a sua Altezza, published in Italian, at Venice, in 1520, in French by Ternaux-Compans, in 1838, the former being copied and quoted in manuscript by Prescott. The issue at Venice was as the second part of the Itinerario de Ludovico de varthema Bolognese nello Egitto, nella Soria, etc., and was there begun, Qui comincia lo Itinerario de Lisola de Iuchatan nouamente ritrouata per il signor Gioan de Grisalue, etc. By far the best edition is that given with a Spanish translation by Icazbalceta, in his Col. Doc., i. 281-308, printed in Mexico in 1858. Next is the account by Bernal Diaz, who, like the chaplain, accompanied the expedition, thus giving us narratives by eye-witnesses at once from ecclesiastical and secular stand-points. The statements of Gomara, Hist. Ind., 56-8, and Hist. Mex., 9-11, must be taken with allowance. Worse still are the memorials of the relatives of Velazquez to sovereign majesty, such as that found in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., x. 80-6, which are little better than tissues of misstatements and exaggerations. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 24-40, gives a fair, full, and graphic statement of particulars. The Instruccion que dió el adelantado Diego Velazquez á Hernan Cortés, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 226-51, also important, as furnishing original collateral light. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 16, 421-4, though full, is specially inaccurate and weak, not only in his facts, but in his deductions. Nor is Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. iii., any stronger. Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 4-6, De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 341-6, and Landa, Rel. de Yuc., 21, are mediocre; and Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. and ix., is quite full and very valuable. Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 8-16, gives a fair résumé, but a far better one is Torquemada’s, i. 351-7. Prescott’s account, Mex., i. 224-9, is meagre and imperfect, though his deductions are much more sound than those of Robertson’s Hist. Am., i. 240-3. One of the most superficial of the modern narratives of this expedition is given by Zamacois, Hist. Méj., ii. 236-52. Those by Morelet, Voy. dans l’Am. Cent., i. 179-85, and Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., 9-18, are valuable. A collection of extracts from several letters to Charles V., referring to Yucatan, and forming ‘an account of a recently discovered island, describing its locality, the customs and habits of its inhabitants,’ was printed at Nuremberg, by Frederick Peypus, in 1520, under title beginning Ein auszug ettlicher sendbrieff dem aller durchleüchtigisten. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., i. 51-65, ii. 21, and Ramirez, in his Mexican edition of Prescott, i. 132 and 135, beside narratives, give portraits of Velazquez, Córdoba, and Grijalva. Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 9-13, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 27-50, are most valuable from an aboriginal stand-point. Alaman, in his Disert., i. 49-91, treats of both Córdoba’s and Grijalva’s voyages. Among the many allusions to these two expeditions of no special significance are those found in Ogilby’s Am., 76-8; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, v. 858; Oveido, Sommario, in Ramusio, Viaggi, iii. 182-9; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, iii. 242-3; Robertson’s Visit Mex., i. 143; Voy., Cur. and Ent., 471-9; World Displayed, i. 166-79; Voy., A New Col., i. 189-98; Sammlung aller Reisebesch., xiii. 254-64; Laharpe, Abrégé, ix. 219-31; Kerr’s Voy., ii. 70-1, and iii. 416-53; Klemm, Allgemeine Cultur-Geschichte, 219; Cordua, Scheeps-Togt, 3-18, and 35-89, in Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 72-5; Gottfried, Reysen, iii.; Folsom, in Cortés’ Despatches, 6-8; Howitt’s Hist. U. S., i. 8-9; Lardner’s Hist. Discov., ii. 43-4; Span. Conq. in Am., ii. 3-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii., 106-9; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., 53-4; Calle, Mem. y Not., 81-2; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, i. 14-15; Hassel, Mex. Guat., 6; Holmes’ An. Am., i. 35-7; Galvano’s Discov., 130-2; Corradi, Descub. de la Am., ii. 7-19; Dalton’s Conq. Mex. and Peru, 47-9; Span. Emp. in Am., 27-8; Snowden’s Am., 77-9; Raynal, Hist. Phil., iii. 246-7; Descripcion de Am., MS., 112-13; Gordon’s Hist. Am., 112-13; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, 23-4; Wilson’s Conq. Mex., 291; Castellanos, Varones ilustres de Indias, 71; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., cap. i.-v., Dufey, Résumé, i. 97-103; Mavor’s Hist., xxiv. 65-6; Gregory’s Hist. Mex., 19-20; Norman’s Rambles, 95; Wilson’s Mex. and Reg., 18; Colton’s Jour. Geog., No. vi. 84; Newe Zeittung von Jucatan, 1, etc.; Monglave, Résumé, 41-6; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 463-4; Cortesii, von dem Newen Hisp., pt. ii. 2-5; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 16; Armin, Alte Mex., 77-8; Touron, Hist. Gen. Am., iii. 58-78; Bussierre, l’Empire Mex., 193-9; Sandoval, Hist. Carlos V., i. 161-2; Cortés, Hist. Mex., 30-110; Campe, Hist. Descub. Am., ii. 7-19; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., 12-13; Stephens’ Incid. of Travel in Yuc., ii. 366-9; Drake’s Voy., 161-3; Hart’s Tabasco, 4-5; La Cruz, v. 541-4; Nouvelles An. des Voy., xcvii. 30-1, and clxiv. 101; and Manzi, Conq. di Mess., 1-3.
[48] Called Borrego, says Torquemada, i. 361. Bernal Diaz gives Borrego as the second surname.
[49] Bernal Diaz says Augustin Bermudez.
[50] Las Casas regarded him as a schemer, and often warned Velazquez against ‘Veintidos años de Italia.’ Hist. Ind., iv. 447. He calls him likewise ‘Burgalés’ and ‘hombre astutísimo.’
[51] ‘Que partirian,’ says Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 13, ‘entre todos tres la ganancia del oro, y plata, y joyas, de la parte que le cupiesse á Cortés,’ and also, growls Las Casas, ubi supra—knowledge of the facts as yet being but rumor—what Cortés could steal from the king and the governor was subject to division, beside what he would rob from the natives.
[52] Hernan, Hernando, Fernan, Fernando, Ferdinando. The names are one. With no special preference, I employ the first, used by the best writers. Among the early authorities, Solis, the Spanish translator of De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, and many others, write Hernan; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, Fernan; Bernal Diaz and Oviedo, Hernando; Gomara, Fernando. In accordance with the Spanish usage of adding the mother’s surname, he is sometimes, though rarely, called Cortés y Pizarro. For portrait and signature I refer the reader to Alaman, Disert., i. app. i. 15-16; portrait as an old man; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 6-8; Prescott’s Mex., iii. 1; Id., (ed. Mex., 1846, iii. 210-11); Armin, Alte Mex., 82, plate from the painting in the Concepcion Hospital at Mexico; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 466.
[53] In making out the commission Duero stretched every point in favor of his friend, naming him captain-general of lands discovered and to be discovered, as well as of the fleet. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 47; for the greater the share of Cortés, the greater Duero’s share. Gomara says, Hist. Mex., 12, ‘Hablo a Fernâdo Cortés para q̄ armassen ambos a medias, porq̄ tenia dos mil Castellanos de oro,’ etc.; but 2000 castellanos alone would not purchase a half interest in this undertaking. Las Casas, loc. cit., states that Velazquez, for reasons that will appear in the next chapter, was very cautious in intercourse with Cortés until his scruples were overcome by advisers.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HERO OF THE CONQUEST.
Birthplace of Hernan Cortés—His Coming Compensatory for the Devil-sent Luther—Parentage—Hernan a Sickly Child—Saint Peter his Patron—He is Sent to Salamanca—Returns Home—Thinks of Córdoba and Italy—And of Ovando and the Indies—Chooses the Latter—Narrow Escape during a Love Intrigue—Ovando Sails without Him—Cortés Goes to Valencia—Is there Ill—Returns Home—Finally Sails for the Indies—His Reception at Santo Domingo—He Fights Indians under Velazquez, and is Given an Encomienda—Goes to Cuba with Velazquez—Makes Love to Catalina Suarez—But Declines to Marry—Velazquez Insists—Cortés Rebels—Seizures, Imprisonments, Escapes, and Reconciliation.