[111] Also written Ordás. ‘Natural de tierra de Campos.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 246. Portrait in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., ii. 192.
[112] ‘Saucedo, natural de Medina de Rioseco; y porque era muy pulído, le llamavamos, el galan.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 240. This captain joins later.
[113] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 240-7, gives a long list of notices of members of the expedition, many of whom will receive attention during the course of the narrative.
[114] San Juan, Ante Portam Latinam. See also Carta del Ayunt. de Vera Cruz, in Cortés, Cartas, 9. Several authors, following Gomara, it seems, refer to one vessel as missing, but as this is identified with Escobar’s, sent, according to Bernal Diaz, on a special exploring expedition to Laguna de Términos, the view of the latter author is probably more correct. It is not likely that a captain would have sailed so far beyond the rendezvous, and there waited for weeks the chance arrival of the fleet. In Tapia, Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 557, are references yet more vague to a missing vessel. During the gale Morla’s vessel was struck by a wave, which unshipped her rudder. His signal of distress caused the flag-ship to heave to till daybreak. The rudder was then discovered floating close by, and tying a rope to his body, Morla leaped into the sea to aid in replacing it. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 16; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 458.
[115] The letter, as given in Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 17, and Gomara, Hist. Mex., 19, differs somewhat in tenor, and the former assigns eight days, the latter six, as the time Ordaz was to wait. Gomara writes further that the Indians were at first afraid to venture on such an errand into the interior, but the large reward overcame their fears, and they were carried to the cape in Escalante’s vessel, escorted by Ordaz in two other craft manned by fifty men. Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 20, thinks there could be no danger for messengers. ‘Escondieron [the letter] a vno entre los cabellos, que trahian largos y trenzados, rebueltos, a la cabeça: y embiò los dos nauios de menos porte ... con veynte ballesteros, y escopeteros ... y que el menor boluiesse a dar cuenta de lo que auian hecho.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. vi.; Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. vi. ‘Envió un bergantin é cuatro bateles ... que esperarian cinco dias, é no mas.’ Tapia, Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 556. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 459, states that the cacique of Cozumel, eager to communicate freely with Cortés, sent messengers to the lord owning one of the captives, and asked him to sell or lend the man. Cortés at first proposed to rescue the captive with an armed force, but the cacique suggested a ransom as more effective. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 76; Landa, Rel. de Yuc., 24-6.
[116] Two carpenters, Alonso Yañez and Álvaro Lopez, claim the honor of having raised the first cross for the church in New Spain. To this the natives made no great objection, the cross having already with them a religious significance; and surely the sanctified effigy of the benign Mary was a more beautiful object to look upon than their idols. See Native Races, iii. 468-70. In one of the temples ‘auia vna cruz de cal tan alta como diez palmos.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 24. Las Casas objects to the compulsory mode of conversion used by Cortés and his holy company, and devotes a long paragraph to depicting the folly and evil thereof. Hist. Ind., iv. 460-2, 470. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 18, describes the idolatrous rite, and Prescott, Mex., i. 269-71, speaks of Cortés as a reformer.
[117] This is the substance of Tapia’s own account. Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 556-7. Others differ somewhat in the number of Indians who arrive in the canoe, in the mode of addressing Tapia, and other points. According to Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 19, some soldiers out hunting report the approach of the canoe, whereupon Cortés sends Tapia to ascertain its object. Seven Indians of Cozumel land, and, on seeing the Spaniards advance, are about to flee in alarm, but one of them reassures the rest, and calls out, ‘Dios, y Santa María, y Sevilla.’ While he is embraced by Tapia, a soldier rushes to announce the news to Cortés. According to Gomara, Hist. Mex., 20, it is meal-time and first Sunday in Lent when the news of a canoe with four Indians is brought. The fleet had been prevented by a storm from sailing on the previous day.
[118] This was a common form of Maya hair-dress. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 19, and some others describe him as shorn like a slave; but this man appears to have risen from that condition. He gives him an extra pair of sandals, hanging at the waist, a dilapidated mantle or cloth—called a net by Herrera—wherein is tied a thumbed prayer-book, and upon the shoulder he places an oar. This oar is brought into camp by almost every writer, regardless of the fact that it did not belong to him and could no longer be of use. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 20, gives him bow and arrows. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 461, remarks that in the prayer-book was kept an account of time, which marked this day as a Wednesday, while it really was Sunday.
[119] See Hist. Cent. Am., i. 350, this series.
[120] Aguilar intimated another reason why Guerrero remained, that he had taken part in the fights against Córdoba and Grijalva at Potonchan, which is very doubtful. Then it is said that his face was tattooed and his lips turned down, and when Aguilar besought him to go the children clung to him, and the wife first begged, and then threatened, to make Aguilar desist. Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 23; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 18-19; Torquemada, i. 370.