THE EXPEDITION TO HONDURAS.
The natives reduced to slavery.--Laws and institutions.--Colony
at Honduras.--Olid wrecked and taken prisoner.--Cortez starts for
Honduras.--Diaz's account.--The two captives.--Difficulties to
be encountered.--Marina married to Xamarillo.--Don Martin Cortez.
--Demonstrations of homage.--Complaints of Diaz.--Scarcity of
provisions.--Energy and forethought.--Construction of canoes.--The
slough.--Foraging parties.--The tangled wilderness.--The Indian
path.--The cannibal chiefs.--Their punishment.--Hostile attitude.
--The soldiers ravenous.--Influence of the priests.--Care for the
officers.--Plot against two chiefs.--The chiefs executed.--Their
heroism.--Opinions of the Spaniards.--Night wanderings.--Plenty and
want.--The terrible march.--New embarrassments.--Famine.--They reach
Taica.--Humility of Diaz.--Cortez finds there is no insurrection to
be quelled.--Exploring tour.--The brigantines.--Submission.--Present
to the king.--Disappointment of Cortez.--The dispatches.--Bad news.
--Reports of the death of Cortez.--Troubles in Spain.--The attempted
voyage.--Fruitless endeavors to recall his friends.--Commissions.--The
usurpers imprisoned.--Poor health of Cortez.--His return to Mexico.
The great object of the Spanish adventurers was to extort gold from
the natives. The proud cavaliers would not work, and the natives
were not willing to surrender the fruits of their toil to support
their haughty conquerors in splendor. Cortez consequently, though
reluctantly, doomed them to slavery. They were driven by the lash
to unpaid toil. It was an outrage defended only by the despotic
assumptions of avarice. The Tlascalans, however, in acknowledgment
of their services as allies of the Spaniards, were exempt from this
degradation. In all other parts the wretched natives toiled under
their task-masters, in the fields and in the mines, urged by the
sole stimulus of the lash. The country thus became impoverished
and beggared, and masters and slaves sank together.
Cortez had now reduced, in subjection to the crown of Spain, an extent
of country reaching along the Atlantic coast twelve hundred miles,
and extending fifteen hundred miles on the Pacific shore. With
energetic genius which has rarely been surpassed, the conqueror
established laws and institutions, many of them eminently wise, for
this vast realm.
Cortez had sent one of his captains, Christoval de Olid, to Honduras,
to found a Spanish colony there. This intrepid man, giddy with the
possession of vast power, and encouraged by the success with which
Cortez had thrown off his dependence upon Velasquez, determined to
imitate his example, and assert independence of all authority save
that of the Spanish crown. But Cortez was the last man to allow _his_
authority to be thus trifled with. He immediately sent an expedition
under Francisco Las Casas, with five ships and a hundred veteran
Spanish soldiers, to arrest the disobedient officer. With pennants
flying, Las Casas sailed from Vera Cruz, and was rapidly borne by
prosperous gales around the immense promontory of Yucatan, a voyage of
nearly two thousand miles, to the bay in Honduras named the Triumph
of the Cross, where Olid had established his post. Olid opposed his
landing, but, as many of his soldiers chanced to be absent in the
interior he could present no effectual resistance.
After a short battle, Olid, hoping for the speedy return of his absent
forces, applied for a truce. Las Casas weakly consented; but that same
night a tempest arose which wrecked all his ships, and thirty of the
crew perished in the waves. Las Casas and all of the remainder of his
party, drenched and exhausted, were taken prisoners. Olid exulted
greatly in this unanticipated good fortune; and, considering his foe
utterly powerless, released the men upon their taking the oath of
allegiance to him, and retained Las Casas surrounded with the
courtesies of friendly and hospitable captivity. After a time,
however, Las Casas succeeded in forming a conspiracy, and Olid was
seized and beheaded.
Cortez had heard of the wreck of the ships. No other tidings reached
him. But disaster ever added strength to his energies. Vigorously he
fitted out another expedition, and headed it himself. Leaving a strong
garrison to guard the city of Mexico, and appointing two confidential
officers to act as deputies during his absence, he prepared to march
across the country, a perilous journey of five hundred leagues,
through a wilderness of mountains, rivers, lakes, and forests. Unknown
and doubtless hostile tribes peopled the whole region. It was one of
the boldest of the many bold adventures of this extraordinary man. He
has given a minute narrative of the march in a dispatch to Charles V.
Bernal Diaz also, who accompanied the expedition, has given an
interesting yet gossiping recital of all its wild adventures.
It was on the 12th of October, 1524, that Cortez commenced his march
almost due south from the city of Mexico. His force consisted, when he
started from Mexico, of about one hundred Spanish horsemen and fifty
infantry, together with about three thousand Mexican soldiers.
Apprehending that Guatemozin and the cacique of Tacuba, from their
strong influence over the natives, might excite disturbance during his
absence, he took them as captives with him. Several Catholic priests
were taken to conduct the services of religion, and to convert the
heathen tribes. The imperial retinue, for Cortez now moved with the
pomp of an emperor, was conducted on the grandest scale the time and
the occasion would admit. A large herd of swine followed the army a
day's journey in the rear. Most of the food, however, was to be
collected by the way.
By the aid of a rude map and Indian guides, Cortez designed to direct
his steps across the neck of the broad peninsula of Yucatan to the
head of the Bay of Honduras. For many days their path conducted along
a low and marshy country intersected by innumerable streams. Some
they were able to ford; over others their ingenious architects would
speedily throw a bridge. Occasionally they would arrive upon the banks
of a stream so wide and deep that many days would be employed in
rearing a structure over which they could pass. Cortez, in his letter
to Charles V., enumerating the difficulties encountered, states that
in a distance of one hundred miles he found it necessary to construct
no less than fifty bridges.
The amiable Marina accompanied Cortez on this expedition, since her
services were very essential as interpreter. But Cortez now, having
buried his lawful wife, and probably looking forward to some more
illustrious Spanish alliance which might strengthen his influence at
court, regarded Marina as an embarrassment. He therefore secured her
marriage with a Castilian knight, Don Juan Xamarillo. A handsome
estate was assigned to the newly-married couple in the native province
of Marina, through which the expedition passed on its way to Honduras.
We hear of Marina no more. Her son, Don Martin Cortez, aided by the
patronage of his powerful father, became one of the most prominent of
the grandees of his native land. He filled many posts of opulence
and honor. At last he was suspected of treason against the home
government, and was shamefully put to the torture in the Mexican
capital.
As Cortez and his army advanced day after day through provinces where
his renown was known, and where Spanish adventurers were established,
he was received with every possible demonstration of homage. Triumphal
arches crossed his path. Processions advanced to greet him. Provisions
were brought to him in abundance. Bonfires, with their brilliant
blaze, cheered the night, and festivities, arranged with all the
possible accompaniments of barbaric pomp, amused him by day. He
arrived at the banks of a wide, deep, and rapid river. To his great
gratification, he found that the natives had collected three hundred
canoes, fastened two and two, to ferry his army across. At this place
Bernal Diaz joined the expedition. Weary of the hardships of war, he
complains bitterly that he was compelled again to undergo the fatigues
of an arduous campaign.
"The general ordered," he says, "all the settlers of
Guacacualco who were fit for service to join his expedition.
I have already mentioned how this colony was formed out of
the most respectable hidalgos and ancient conquerors of the
country, and now that we had reason to expect to be left in
quiet possession of our hard-earned properties, our houses
and farms, we were obliged to undertake a hostile expedition
to the distance of fifteen hundred miles, and which took up
the time of two and a half years; but we dared not say no,
neither would it avail us. We therefore armed ourselves,
and, mounting our horses, joined the expedition, making, in
the whole, above two hundred and fifty veterans, of whom one
hundred and thirty were cavalry, besides many Spaniards
newly arrived from Europe."
But as they marched resolutely along, week after week, over mountains,
through morasses, and across rivers, the country became more wild and
savage, the natives more shy, and provisions less abundant. Several
days were often occupied in constructing a bridge to cross a river.
Scouts were sent out upon either wing of the army foraging for food.
The natives fled often from their villages, carrying their food with
them. Famine began to stare them in the face. Sickness diminished the
ranks, and emaciate men, haggard and way-worn, tottered painfully
along the rugged ways.
But the indefatigable energy and wonderful foresight of Cortez saved
the army. He seemed to have provided for every emergency which mortal
sagacity could anticipate. One day the starving army, almost in
despair, came to the banks of a large river. The broad current rolled
many leagues through a pathless wilderness, and emptied into the Gulf
of Mexico. The army, to its great surprise, found fifty large canoes
in a little sheltered bay, laden with provisions, and awaiting its
arrival. The river was the Tabasco. At its mouth there was an
important Spanish colony. Cortez had foreseen the want at that point,
and provided the timely supply.
After resting here for a few days to recruit, the army continued its
march, and soon came to a river so wide and deep that they could not
bridge it. Here they remained four days, while every skillful hand was
employed constructing canoes. It then required four days more for the
immense host to be paddled across in these frail barks. The horses
swam after the boats, led by halters. Upon the other side of the
river they entered upon a vast swamp, extending for many leagues,
and tangled by the dense growth of the tropics. They were three days
floundering through this dismal slough, the horses being most of the
time up to their girths in the morass.
From this gloomy region of reptiles, tormenting insects, and mire,
they emerged upon a fertile country, where they found an abundance of
Indian corn or maize. But the terrified inhabitants fled at their
approach. Foraging parties were, however, sent out to plunder the
villages of their stores. They did this efficiently, and the
encampment was again filled with plenty. After a halt of three days,
the soldiers, having replenished their knapsacks with parched corn,
again took up their line of march. Each man carried food for three
days. Some of the native chiefs, who had been enticed into the camp,
deceived them with the assurance that in three days they would arrive
at a large city, where they would find every needful supply. They soon
reached the banks of a broad river, deep and rapid. It required three
days to construct a bridge to cross it. The knapsacks were now empty.
They were hungry and faint, and there was no food to be obtained.
Painfully the famishing men toiled along another day, eating the
leaves of the trees, and digging up roots for food. Some poisonous
quality in this innutritious diet parched their lips and blistered
their tongues. To add to their despair, there was no longer any path,
and the dense underbrush, with tough vines and sharp thorns, impeded
their march and lacerated their flesh. The trees towered above them
with foliage impenetrable by the rays of the sun. They were wandering
through a dark and dismal wilderness, from which there was no apparent
outlet, compelled with sword and hatchet to cut every step of their
way through tangled shrubs.
Cortez, guided only by the compass and a rude Indian map, now
manifested for the first time deep concern. He could not conceal from
his companions the anxiety which oppressed him, for his army was
literally starving. He was overheard to say, "If we are left to
struggle another day through this wilderness, I know not what will
become of us."
Suddenly, to their great joy, they came upon an Indian path. This
soon conducted them to a village. The inhabitants had fled, but the
Spaniards found some granaries well supplied with corn. During this
terrible march of seven days, many perished by fatigue and hunger.
It was also discovered that some of the Mexican chiefs, in their
extremity, had seized some of the natives whom they encountered, and
had killed and eaten them. The bodies were baked, in accordance with
their cannibal customs, in ovens of heated stones under the ground.
"Cortez," says Bernal Diaz, "severely reprehended all those
concerned, and one of the reverend father Franciscans
preached a holy and wise sermon on the occasion; after
which, by way of example, the general caused one to be
burned. Though all were equally guilty, yet, in the present
circumstances, one example was judged sufficient."
After a few days' rest the army again resumed its march, but pioneers
were sent in advance to mark out the way. Their course now lay for
many leagues through a low country, abounding in lakes, and miasmatic
marshes, and sluggish rivers. The bayous and lagoons were so numerous
that most of the communication from city to city was by canoes. The
people at first assumed a hostile attitude, but soon, overawed by the
magnitude of the force of Cortez, they with great obsequiousness
furnished him with all required supplies. Still, it was an exceedingly
difficult region for the army to traverse. Many days were laboriously
employed in bridging the innumerable streams. One wide one delayed
them four days, and their provisions were entirely exhausted. Diaz, a
man of tact and energy, was sent with a strong party to forage for the
famished camp. He returned in the night with a hundred and thirty _men
of burden_ heavily laden with corn and fruit. The starving soldiers,
watching their return, rushed upon them like wolves; in a few moments,
every particle of food which they had brought was devoured. Cortez and
his officers came eagerly from their tents, but there was nothing left
for them.
But even in this strait, when the soldiers forgot entirely their
generals, and even refused to save any for them, they did not forget
their spiritual guides. Every soldier was anxious to share his portion
with the reverend fathers. It speaks well for these holy men that they
had secured such a hold upon the affections of these wild adventurers.
Though superstition doubtless had its influence, there must also have
been, on the part of the priests, much self-denial and devotion to
their duties. Diaz, apprehensive of the scene of plunder, had
concealed at a short distance in the rear a few loads for the
officers, which, he says, they went and got, with great gratitude,
when the soldiers were all asleep.
For eight weary days the army now toiled along, struggling against
hardships and hunger. Many were sick, many died, and not a few, in
despair, deserted their ranks, and endeavored to find their way back
to Mexico. Cortez, knowing full well the heroism of his two captives,
Guatemozin and the cacique of Tacuba, was now very apprehensive that
they might take advantage of his weakness, incite the natives to
revolt, and thus secure his destruction. The peril was so obvious
that it must have occurred to every mind. The Mexicans knew that the
Spaniards were now in their power, and the Spaniards could not deny
it.
Under these circumstances, Guatemozin was accused of having entered
into a plot to assassinate the Spaniards, and then to return to Mexico
and rouse the whole native population to arms, and drive the invaders
from the country. There seems to have been but little proof to
substantiate the charge; but the undeniable fact that Guatemozin
could now do this, excited to the highest degree the anxiety of the
ever-wary Cortez. The stern conqueror, acting upon the principle that
the end justifies the means, resolved to escape from this peril by the
death of his imperial captive and the Tacuban lord. Cortez accused
them of the crime, and, notwithstanding their protestations of
innocence, ordered them both to be hung. A scaffold was immediately
erected, and the victims, attended by priests, were led out to their
execution. Both of these heroic men met their fate with dignity. As
the monarch stood upon the scaffold, at the moment of his doom he
turned to Cortez and said,
"I now find in what your false promises have ended. It would have been
better that I had fallen by my own hands than to have intrusted myself
in your power. Why do you thus unjustly take my life? May God demand
of you this innocent blood."
The Prince of Tacuba simply said, "I am happy to die by the side of my
lawful sovereign."
They were then both swung into the air, suspended from the branches of
a lofty tree by the road-side. There are many stains resting upon the
character of Cortez, and this is not among the least. Diaz records,
"Thus ended the lives of these two great men; and I also declare that
they suffered their deaths most undeservingly; and so it appeared to
us all, among whom there was but one opinion upon the subject, that it
was a most unjust and cruel sentence."
The march was now continued, but the gloom which ever accompanies
crime weighed heavily upon all minds. The Mexicans were indignant and
morose at the ignominious execution of their chiefs. The Spaniards
were in constant fear that they would rise against them. Even Cortez
looked haggard and wretched, and his companions thought that he was
tortured by the self-accusation that he was a murderer. Difficulties
were multiplied in his path. Famine stared his murmuring army in the
face. Sleep forsook his pillow. One night, bewildered and distracted,
he rose, and wandering in one of the heathen temples, fell over a
wall, a distance of twelve feet, bruising himself severely, and
cutting a deep gash in his head. Still they toiled along, occasionally
coming to towns where there were granaries and abundance, and again,
in a few days, as they could carry but few provisions with them,
finding themselves in a starving condition. Every variety of suffering
seemed to be allotted them. At one time they arrived upon a vast
plain, spreading out for leagues, as far as the eye could extend,
without a bush or shrub to intercept the sight. A tropical sun blazed
down upon the panting troops with blistering heat. Many deer, quite
tame, ranged these immense prairies. At another time they approached a
large lake of shallow water, and upon an island in its centre found a
populous town. The soldiers waded to the island through the clear
waters of the lake. They found fishes very abundant, and again had a
plentiful supply of food.
Thus far the weather had been fair; but now it changed, and a season
of drenching rains commenced. Still, the band, impelled by their
indomitable leader, pressed on. They now entered upon a very
extraordinary region, where for leagues they toiled through dismal
ravines, frowned upon by barren and craggy rocks. The ground was
covered with innumerable flint-stones, peculiarly hard and sharp,
which, like knives, pierced the feet of the men and the horses. In
this frightful march nearly every horse was wounded and lamed,
and eight perished. Many of the men also suffered severely. The
difficulty and suffering were so great, that upon emerging from this
rocky desert the army was assembled to return solemn thanks to God
for their escape.
But now they encountered new embarrassments. The streams, swollen
by the rains, came roaring in impetuous torrents from the mountains,
and the intervales and the wide-spreading meadows were flooded. One
stream, foaming through enormous precipices, emitted a roar which was
heard at the distance of six miles. It required three days to throw a
bridge across this raging mountain torrent. The natives took advantage
of this delay to flee from their homes, carrying with them all their
provisions. Again famine threatened the camp. This was, perhaps,
the darkest hour of the march. The horses were lame. The men were
bleeding, and way-worn, and gaunt. Death by starvation seemed
inevitable. "I own," says Diaz, "I never in my life felt my heart so
depressed as when I found nothing to be had for myself or my people."
Cortez, however, sent out some very efficient foraging parties in all
directions. Impelled by the energies of despair, the detachment
succeeded in obtaining food. This strengthened them until they
reached a large town called Taica, where they again rejoiced in
abundance. The rain still continued to fall in torrents, and the
soldiers, drenched by night and by day, toiled along through the mire.
Even Cortez lost his habitual placidity of temper and began to
complain. The vain and gossiping Diaz would not have his readers
unmindful of the eminent services he rendered in these emergencies.
With much affected humility he narrates his exploits.
"Cortez," says he, "returned me thanks for my conduct. But I
will drop this subject; for what is praise but emptiness and
unprofitableness, and what advantage is it to me that people
in Mexico should tell me what we endured, or that Cortez
should say, when he wanted me to go on this last expedition,
that, next to God, it was me on whom he placed his
reliance?"
They now arrived upon the banks of a river which led to the sea-coast.
At the mouth of this river Olid had established one of his important
settlements. A march of four days was required to reach the coast.
Cortez, who was entirely ignorant of the death of Olid, and of the
overthrow of his power, sent forward scouts to ascertain the state
of things, as it was his intention to fall upon Olid by surprise at
night. The army moved slowly down the stream, feeding miserably upon
nuts and roots. The scouts returned with the intelligence that there
were no enemies to be met; that the insurrection was entirely quelled,
and the colony, consisting of several scattered settlements, was in
perfect subjection to the authority of Cortez. It is difficult to
imagine the feelings with which this intelligence was received. Cortez
must have felt, at least for a few moments, exceedingly foolish. The
Herculean enterprise of a march of eighteen hundred miles through a
pathless wilderness, peopled with savage foes, where many hundreds of
his army had perished from fatigue and famine, and all had endured
inconceivable hardships, had been utterly fruitless. It had been what
is sometimes called a wild-goose chase, upon a scale of grandeur
rarely paralleled.
They soon arrived at a half-starved colony at the mouth of the river,
consisting of forty men and six women. The energies of Cortez were,
however, unabated. Foraging parties were sent out to plunder the
natives, which was done pitilessly, without any apparent compunctions
of conscience, as the hunters of wild honey destroy the bees and rob
the hives. Cortez himself set out with a strong party on an exploring
tour, and returned after an absence of twenty-six days, sorely wounded
in the face from a conflict which he had with the natives. If the
natives assumed any attitude of resistance, they were shot like
panthers and bears.
Here Cortez built two brigantines, and sailed along the coast some
three hundred miles to Truxillo. He established on the way, at Port
Cavallo, a colony, to which place he ordered a division of his army to
march. Others of the troops were to assemble at Naco, quite an
important town, where Olid had been executed. Cortez, upon his arrival
at Truxillo, which was the principal establishment of the colony in
Honduras, was received by the colonists with great distinction. The
Indians in the neighborhood were immediately assembled, and were urged
to acknowledge submission to the King of Spain, and to adopt the
Christian religion. With wonderful pliancy, they acceded to both
propositions. "The reverend fathers," says Diaz, "also preached to the
Indians many holy things very edifying to hear." From this place
Cortez sent a dispatch to the King of Spain, and also a valuable
present of gold, "taken," says Diaz, "in reality from his sideboard,
but in such a manner that it should appear to be the produce of this
settlement."
Cortez, to his extreme disappointment, found the country poor. There
was no gold, and but little food. Worn down by anxiety and fatigue, he
was emaciated in the extreme, and was so exceedingly feeble that his
friends despaired of his life. Indeed, to Cortez, death seemed so
near, that, with forethought characteristic of this enthusiast, he had
made preparations for his burial.
One day, as Cortez, in the deepest dejection, was conversing with his
friends, a vessel was discerned in the distant horizon of the sea. The
ship had sailed from Havana, and brought to Cortez dispatches from
Mexico. He retired to his apartment to read them. As he intently
perused the documents, his friends in the antechamber heard him groan
aloud in anguish. The tidings were indeed appalling, and sufficient to
crush even the spirit of Cortez. For a whole day his distress was so
great that he did not leave his room. The next morning he called for
an ecclesiastic, confessed his sins, and ordered a mass. He then,
somewhat calmed by devotion, read to his friends the intelligence he
had received.
It was reported in Mexico that the whole party which had entered upon
the expedition to Honduras had perished. Consequently, all the
property of the adventurers had been sold at public auction. The
funeral service of Cortez had been celebrated with great pomp, a
large part of his immense property having been devoted to defray
the expenses. The deputies whom Cortez had left in charge of the
government had quarreled among themselves, and two strong parties
rising up, the colony had been distracted by civil war and bloodshed.
Every day there was fighting. The natives, encouraged by these
disorders, had revolted in three provinces. A force which had been
sent to quell the insurrection had been attacked and defeated.
The same dispatches also contained a letter from the father of Cortez,
informing him that his enemies were busy, and successful in their
intrigues in the court at Madrid, and that two very important colonies
in Mexico had been wrested from his command, and placed, by order of
the king, under the government of others.
Cortez decided to return immediately, but privately, to Mexico. His
enemies, who had usurped the government, had given out that he was
dead. Cortez was apprehensive that, were his return anticipated, he
would be waylaid and assassinated. He therefore made arrangements for
his friends to return by land, while he privately embarked for Vera
Cruz. A violent storm arose, with head winds, and the vessel, after
struggling a few days against the gale, was compelled, with shattered
rigging, to return to Truxillo. Again, after a few days, the vessel
weighed anchor, and again it was compelled to return. Cortez now,
in extreme debility of body and dejection of mind, was exceedingly
perplexed respecting his duty. "He ordered a solemn mass," says Diaz,
"and prayed fervently to the Holy Ghost to enlighten him as to his
future proceedings."
He now decided to remain in Truxillo, and to unite Honduras and
Nicaragua into a colony which, in extent and resources, would be
worthy of him. He dispatched messengers with all speed to overtake his
friends, who had undertaken to return by land, and recall them to
Truxillo. They, however, refused to return. Again another messenger
was dispatched to them by Cortez, with still more urgent entreaties.
To this they replied by a letter, stating very firmly that they had
suffered misfortunes enough already in following him, and that they
were determined to go back to Mexico. Sandoval, with a small retinue
on horseback, took this answer to Cortez. He was also commissioned to
do every thing in his power to persuade Cortez also to embark again
for Mexico.
Though thus forsaken, he still refused to leave Honduras. Weakened by
bodily sickness, which plunged him into the deepest melancholy, his
usual energies were dormant. He, however, sent a confidential servant,
named Orantes, with a commission to Generals Alvarado and Las Casas,
who had returned from Honduras to Mexico, to take charge of the
government and punish the usurpers. Orantes performed his mission
successfully. The people, hearing with joy that Cortez was safe,
rallied around the newly-appointed deputies, and the prominent
usurpers were seized and imprisoned in a timber cage. Cortez remained
in Honduras until he received intelligence that the disturbances in
Mexico were quelled. He now decided to leave the government of
Honduras in the hands of a lieutenant, and to return to Mexico. His
health, however, was so very feeble that he hardly expected to
survive the voyage. He therefore, before embarking, confessed his
sins, partook of the sacrament, and settled all his worldly affairs.
It was on the 25th of April, 1526, that the pale and emaciate
adventurer, accompanied by a few followers, embarked on board a
brigantine in the anchorage at Truxillo. The morning was serene and
cloudless, and a fresh breeze filled the unfurled sails. Rapidly the
low line of the shores of Honduras sank below the horizon, and Cortez
bade them adieu forever.