JUAN DE GRIJALVA EXPLORES THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE MEXICAN GULF.
1518.
VELAZQUEZ PLANS A NEW EXPEDITION—GIVES THE COMMAND TO
HIS NEPHEW, JUAN DE GRIJALVA—WHO EMBARKS AT SANTIAGO AND
STRIKES THE CONTINENT AT COZUMEL ISLAND—COASTS SOUTHWARD TO
ASCENSION BAY—THEN TURNS AND DOUBLES CAPE CATOCHE—NAMING
OF NEW SPAIN—FIGHT AT CHAMPOTON—ARRIVAL AT LAGUNA DE
TÉRMINOS—ALAMINOS, THE PILOT, IS SATISFIED THAT YUCATAN IS
AN ISLAND—THEY COAST WESTWARD AND DISCOVER THE RIVERS SAN
PEDRO Y SAN PABLO AND TABASCO—NOTABLE INTERVIEW AT THIS
PLACE BETWEEN THE EUROPEANS AND THE AMERICANS—THE CULHUA
COUNTRY—THEY PASS LA RAMBLA, TONALÁ, THE RIO GOAZACOALCO, THE
MOUNTAIN OF SAN MARTIN, THE RIVERS OF ALVARADO AND BANDERAS,
AND COME TO THE ISLANDS OF SACRIFICIOS AND SAN JUAN DE ULUA.
As Diego Velazquez talked with Córdoba’s men, and with the captives,
Melchor and Julian, and examined the articles obtained from the
natives, their superior kind and workmanship, and the gold and
images taken from the temple at Catoche by Father Gonzalez, all grew
significant of yet greater things beyond. The hardships attending
the expedition were light to him who did not share them, and the late
commander being now dead, the governor found himself free to act as
best suited him.
He determined at once on a new expedition. There was a young man who
seemed admirably fitted for the purpose, Juan de Grijalva, a gentleman
of the governor’s own town of Cuéllar, nephew of Velazquez, though
some deny the fact; he was twenty-eight years of age, handsome,
chivalrous, courteous, and as honest as he was brave. He had been
with the governor for some time, and the wonder was how so bad a
master should have so good a man. There was no lack of volunteers,
two hundred and forty[14] coming forward at once; among them several
who afterward became famous. Two caravels were added to the two
brought back by Córdoba, making in all, refitted and equipped, four
vessels, the _San Sebastian_, the _Trinidad_, the _Santiago_, and the
_Santa María de los Remedios_. The pilots and many of the men from
the former expedition were engaged, and some natives of Cuba were
taken as servants. Grijalva, as commander of the armada, directed
one vessel, and Pedro de Alvarado, Alonso Dávila, and Francisco
de Montejo,[15] were appointed captains of the others. Grijalva’s
instructions were not to settle, but only to discover and trade.[16]
License was obtained from the Jeronimite Fathers, who stipulated that
Francisco de Peñalosa should accompany the expedition as veedor. As
priest, attended one Juan Diaz,[17] and Diego de Godoy went as notary.
Embarking from Santiago de Cuba the 8th of April, 1518, and leaving
Cape San Antonio on Saturday,[18] the first of May, they fell to the
south of their intended course, and on Monday sighted the island of
Cozumel,[19] which they named Santa Cruz,[20] “because,” says Galvano,
“they came to it the third of May.” After passing round the northern
point on the sixth[21] in search of anchorage, the commander landed
with a hundred men, and ascending a high tower took possession of the
country; after which, mass was said. And Las Casas questions if it
was quite right for Juan Diaz to hold this solemn service in a place
where sacrifices were wont to be made to Satan; for even between the
two great and formal exercises of the Spaniards, an old Indian priest
with his attendants had entered and had blown incense before the
idols, as if to rouse his gods to vindicate their might before these
opposing worshippers. To the point was given the name San Felipe y
Santiago, and to a town standing near, that of San Juan ante Portam
Latinam. Then they entered the town, and found there houses of stone,
and paved streets, in the eyes of Juan Diaz not unlike the towns of
Spanish construction. Meanwhile, a small party penetrated one or two
leagues into the interior, and observed other towns and cultivated
lands.
[Illustration]
While crossing to the Yucatan coast the following day, they descried
in the distance three towns, and, as they descended toward the south,
a city “so large that Seville could not show to better advantage.”
Next they came to a great opening in the shore, to which, after
Alaminos had examined it in a boat, they gave the name of Bahía de la
Ascension, from the day of discovery. Unable to find a pass in this
direction round the supposed island of Yucatan, they turned back,
passed Cozumel, and, rounding the peninsula, arrived at Campeche the
25th, rescuing on their way a woman from Jamaica.
* * * * *
Everywhere they beheld the same evidences of high culture seen by
Córdoba, the tower-temples and crosses of the Mayas rising from
gracefully outlined promontories, and glistening white from behind
legended hills, leading them every moment to anticipate the discovery
of some magnificent city, such as in our day has been revealed to an
admiring posterity; for while the East buries her ancient cities in
dust, the West none the less effectually hides hers in foliage. And
of the monuments to the greatness of the past, and of the profitless
millions here engendered, who shall speak? And why do men call
nature considerate or kind? Does she not create only to destroy, and
bestow blessings and cursings with the same merciless indifference?
Surpassingly lovely, she is at once siren, nurse, and sanguinary
beldam. This barren border of the peninsula rested under a canopy of
clear or curtained sky, and glared in mingled gloom and brightness
beside the fickle gulf; and from the irregular plains of the interior
came the heated, perfumed air, telling here of treeless table-lands,
of languid vegetation, and there of forests and evergreen groves.
“It is like Spain,” cried one. And so they called the country Nueva
España,[22] which name, at first applied only to the peninsula of
Yucatan, finally spread over the whole of the territory afterward
known as Mexico.
* * * * *
At Campeche, or more probably at Champoton,[23] occurred a notable
affray. The fleet anchored toward sunset, half a league from shore.
The natives immediately put on a warlike front, bent on terrible
intimidations, which they continued in the form of shouts and
drum-beating during the entire night. So great was their necessity for
water that the Spaniards did not wait for the morning, but amidst the
arrows, stones, and spears of the natives, they landed the artillery
and one hundred men before daybreak, another hundred quickly following.
But for their cotton armor the invaders would have suffered severely
during this operation. Having reached the shore, however, the guns
were planted, and the natives charged and driven back with the loss
of three Spaniards slain and sixty wounded, the commander-in-chief,
ever foremost in the fight, being three times struck and losing two
teeth. Two hundred were killed and wounded among the natives. The town
was found deserted. Presently three ancient Americans appeared, who
were kindly entreated, and despatched with presents to the fugitives,
but they never returned. Two nights were spent ashore, the tower and
sacred edifices adjacent being used as barracks.
Embarking, soon a large opening in the coast was discovered, and
entered by Grijalva, the chaplain says, the last day of May. Puerto
Deseado[24] the commander called his anchorage, being the desired
spot in which might be repaired the leaky ships. The Spaniards
thought themselves at first at the mouth of a river, but on further
examination, it appeared to them more like a sea. Whereupon the
pilot Alaminos, who, notwithstanding evidence to the contrary,
notwithstanding three days’ explorings, left this salt-sheet still
landlocked, never ceased insisting that Yucatan was an island, and
he now gravely assured his commander that the great opening opposite
Amatique Bay and Golfo Dulce, or if that were too far, then opposite
Chetumal or Ascension, confirmed his suppositions, and settled the
matter in his mind that this was the termination of the islands;
hence the names Boca de Términos, and Laguna de Términos,[25] which
followed. The temples here seen were supposed by the Spaniards to be
places where merchants and hunters made their sacrifices. A greyhound,
eager in the pursuit of game, neglected to return in time and was
left behind; when the Spaniards came with Cortés they found the animal
well-fed and happy, but excessively glad to see them. Before departing,
Grijalva again declared for Spain, “as if,” growls Las Casas, “the
thousand possessions already taken were not enough.” Indeed, this
fierce charging on a continent, so often repeated, hurling upon the
inhabitants a new religion and a new king, was about as effective
as Caligula’s advance on Britain, when, preparatory to crossing, he
drew up his troops in battle array, on the seaboard, and gave orders
to collect shells, the spoils of conquered ocean.
Proceeding the 8th of June, and creeping stealthily along the
coast,[26] dropping anchor at night and weighing it with the dawn,
they came to a river which they called San Pedro y San Pablo, and
then to a larger one, the native name of which was Tabasco,[27] after
the cacique of the city, but which the Spaniards called Grijalva, in
honor of their commander.
The face of nature here changed. The low, gray hills of the peninsula
gave place to elevations of enlivening green, made lustrous by large
and frequent streams. Boldly in the front stood the heights at present
known as San Gabriel; beyond continued the flat, monotonous foreground
of a gorgeous picture, as yet but dimly visible save in the ardent
imaginings of the discoverers.
The two smaller vessels only could enter this river of Tabasco,
which, though broad, was shallow-mouthed; and this they did very
cautiously, advancing a short distance up the stream, and landing at
a grove of palm-trees, half a league from the chief town. Upon the
six thousand[28] natives who here threatened them, they made ready
to fire; but by peaceful overtures the sylvan multitude were brought
to hear of Spain’s great king, of his mighty pretensions, and of the
Spaniards’ inordinate love of gold. The green beads the natives thought
to be stone made of their chalchiuite, which they prized so highly,
and for which they eagerly exchanged food. Having a lord of their
own they knew not why these rovers should wish to impose upon them a
new master; for the rest they were fully prepared, if necessary, to
defend themselves. During this interview, at which the interpreters,
Melchor and Julian, assisted, the word Culhua,[29] meaning Mexico,
was often mentioned in answer to demands for gold, from which the
Spaniards inferred that toward the west they would find their hearts’
desire. Then they returned to their ships.
In great state, unarmed, and without sign of fear, Tabasco next day
visited Grijalva on board his vessel. He had already sent roasted fish,
fowl, maize bread, and fruit, and now he brought gold and feather-work.
Out of a chest borne by his attendants was taken a suit of armor, of
wood overlaid with gold, which Tabasco placed upon Grijalva, and on
his head a golden helmet, giving him likewise masks and breast-plates
of gold and mosaic, and targets, collars, bracelets, and beads, all of
beaten gold, three thousand pesos in value. With the generous grace
and courtesy innate in him, Grijalva took off a crimson velvet coat
and cap which he had on when Tabasco entered, also a pair of new red
shoes, and in these brilliant habiliments arrayed the chieftain, to
his infinite delight.
The Spaniards departed from Tabasco with further assurances of
friendship, and two days later sighted the town of Ahualulco, which
they named La Rambla, because the natives with tortoise-shell shields
were observed hurrying hither and thither upon the shore. Afterward
they discovered the river Tonalá, which was subsequently examined
and named San Antonio;[30] then the Goazacoalco,[31] which they could
not enter owing to unfavorable winds; and presently the great snowy
mountains of New Spain, and a nearer range, to which they gave the name
San Martin,[32] in justice to the soldier who first saw it. Overcome
by his ardor, Pedro de Alvarado pressed forward his faster-sailing
ship, and entered before the others a river called by the natives
Papaloapan, but named by his soldiers after the discoverer;[33]
for which breach of discipline the captain received the censure of
his commander. The next stream to which they came was called Rio de
Banderas,[34] because the natives appeared in large numbers, carrying
white flags on their lances.
With these white flags the natives beckoned the strangers to land;
whereupon twenty soldiers were sent ashore under Francisco de
Montejo, and a favorable reception being accorded them, the commander
approached with his ships and landed. The utmost deference was paid the
guests, for, as will hereafter more fully appear, the king of kings,
Lord Montezuma, having in his capital intelligence of the strange
visitors upon his eastern seaboard, ordered them to be reverentially
entertained. In the cool shade was spread on mats an abundance of
provisions, while fumes of burning incense consecrated the spot and
made redolent the air. The governor of this province was present with
two subordinate rulers, and learning what best the Spaniards loved,
he sent out and gathered them gold trinkets to the value of fifteen
thousand pesos. So valuable an acquisition impelled Grijalva to claim
once more for Charles, one of the natives, subsequently christened
Francisco, acting as interpreter. After a stay of six days the fleet
sailed, passing a small island, white with sand, which Grijalva called
Isla Blanca, and then the Isla Verde, gleaming green with foliage
amidst the green waters, four leagues from the continent; coming
presently to a third island, a league and a half from the mainland,
which afforded good anchorage. This, according to Oviedo, was on the
18th of June. On landing the Spaniards found two stone temples, within
which lay five human bodies, with bowels opened and limbs cut off;
and all about were human heads on poles, while at the top of one of
the edifices, ascended by stone steps, was the likeness of a lion in
marble, with a hollow head, showing the tongue cut out, and opposite
to it a stone idol and blood-fount. Here was evidently a sacrifice
to some pagan deity; and touching it is to witness the horror with
which these men of Spain regarded such shocking spectacles, while
viewing complacently their own atrocious cruelties.
Crossing from Isla de Sacrificios, as they called this blood-bespattered
place, the Spaniards landed on the adjoining mainland, and making for
themselves shelter with boughs and sails began trading for gold; but
the natives being timid and returns inconsiderable, Grijalva proceeded
to another island, less than a league from the mainland and provided
with water. Here was a harbor sheltered from the dread yet grateful
north winds, which in winter rush in with passionate energy, driving
away the dreadful summer vómito and tumbling huge surges on the strand,
though now they formed but a wanton breeze by day, which slept on
waves burnished by the radiant sun or silvered by the moon. Here they
landed and erected huts upon the sand.[35] To the Spaniards all nature
along this seaboard seemed dyed with the blood of human sacrifices.
And here, beside evidences of heathen abominations in the forms of a
great temple, idols, priests, and the bodies of two recently sacrificed
boys, they had gnats and mosquitoes to annoy them, all which led them
to consider the terror of their voyage and the advisability of return.
Of the Indian, Francisco, Grijalva asked the significance of the
detestable rite of ripping open living human bodies and offering bloody
hearts to hungry gods; and the heathen answered, because the people of
Culhua, or Ulua, as he pronounced the name, would have it so. From this
circumstance, together with the facts that the name of the commander
was Juan, and that it was now about the time of the anniversary of the
feast of John the Baptist, the island was named San Juan de Ulua,[36]
while the continent in that vicinity was called Santa María de las
Nieves.
FOOTNOTES
[14] Solis and Herrera say 250; Gomara and Galvano, 200; Peter
Martyr, 300, etc.
[15] Torquemada, i. 358, asserts that Montejo furnished
his own vessel, and that Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero,
Alonso Dávila, Diego de Ordaz, and others, went at their
own cost.
[16] As upon this point, that is to say, the orders and their
fulfilment, turned the destiny, not only of Grijalva, but
of the conquest, there has been much controversy over it.
‘Si Iuan de Grijalua supiera conocer aquella buena vẽtura,
y poblara alli como los de su compañia le rogauan, fuera
otro Cortes, mas no era para el tanto bien, ni lleuaua
comission de poblar.’ _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 57-8. Partisans
of Cortés regard Grijalva with disdain, while no one seems
greatly to care for Velazquez. Bernal Diaz was of opinion
that the matter of founding a colony was left to Grijalva’s
discretion; but Las Casas, who had much better opportunities
for knowing, being intimate with the governor, and at special
pains to ascertain the truth of the matter, states clearly
that Grijalva’s instructions were positive, that he should
not settle but only trade. ‘Bartolome de las Casas, autor
de mucha fe, y que con particular cuydado lo quiso saber, y
era gran amigo, y muy intimo de Diego Velazquez, dize que
fue la instruccion que espressamente no poblasse, sino q̄
solamente rescatasse.’ _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap.
i. So hold Torquemada, Solis, and all careful writers on
the subject.
[17] Or as he calls himself, ‘capellano maggior’ of the
armada. Long before the soldier, Bernal Diaz, published
his ‘True History,’ Juan Diaz had given to the world an
account of the voyage, _Itinerario de la isola de Iuchatan_,
following the _Itinerario de Ludovico de Varthema Bolognese
nella Egitto_, etc., in a volume printed at Venice in 1520.
Juan Diaz disputes the honor with Bartolomé de Olmedo of
having first said mass in the city of Mexico.
[18] Here again Prescott falls into error in attempting to
follow a manuscript copy of Juan Diaz, without due heed to
the standard chroniclers. Mr Prescott writes, _Mex._, i.
224, ‘The fleet left the port of St Jago de Cuba, May 1,
1518,’ and refers to the _Itinerario_ of Juan Diaz in proof
of his statement. But Juan Diaz makes no such statement.
‘Sabbato il primo giorno del mese de Marzo,’ he says,
_Itinerario_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 281, ‘de
questo sopradito anno parti il dicto capitaneo de larmata
de lisola Fernandina.’ Saturday, the 1st day of May, the
armada left the island of Fernandina, or Cuba. The writer
does not intimate that they left the port of Santiago on
that day, which, as a matter of fact, they did not, but the
extreme western point of the island, Cape San Antonio. This
Prescott might further have learned from Herrera, dec. ii.
lib. iii. cap. i., ‘Despachado pues Iuan de Grijalua de todo
punto, salio del puerto de Sãtiago de Cuba, a ocho de Abril
deste año de 1518;’ from Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._, 6,
who states that all met and attended mass at Matanzas, the
5th of April, just prior to sailing; ‘Y despues de auer oîdo
Missa con gran deuocion, en cinco dias del mes de Abril de
mil y quinientos y diez y ocho años dimos vela;’ from Solis,
_Conq. Mex._, 25, ‘tardaron finalmente en hacerse á la mar
hasta los ocho de Abril;’ from Robertson, _Hist. Am._, i.
241, ‘He sailed from St Jago de Cuba on the 8th of April,’
etc. Ternaux-Compans perpetrates two gross blunders in the
first four lines of his translation of this _Itinerario_ of
Juan Diaz. First he writes March for May, ‘equivocando,’
as Icazbalceta says, ‘la palabra _mazo_ del original con
_marzo_.’ and, secondly, he brings the fleet to Cozumel
Island on the 4th, when his author writes the 3d, which is
enough, without the palpable absurdity of making Monday the
4th day of a month wherein the previous Saturday was the
1st. Oviedo states, i. 503, that ‘salieron del puerto de
la cibdad de Sanctiago á los veynte é çinco dias del mes de
enero;’ that they were at Matanzas the 12th of February, at
Habana the 7th of April; that they left Matanzas finally
the 20th of April, and San Antonio the 1st of May, in all
which, except the last statement, he is somewhat confused.
[19] Like a good soldier, Bernal Diaz makes the time fit
the occasion. ‘A este pueblo,’ he says, _Hist. Verdad._, 7,
‘pusimos por nombre Santa Cruz; porq̄ quatro, ò cinco diaz
antes de Santa Cruz le vimos.’ The native name of the island
was _Acusamil_—Landa, _Rel. de Yuc._, 20, writes it _Cuzmil_;
Cogolludo, _Hist. Yucathan_, 10, _Cuzamil_—Swallow’s
Island, which was finally corrupted into the Cozumel of
the Spaniards. Mercator, indeed, writes _Acusamil_, in
1569, although Colon, Ribero, and Hood had previously given
_coçumel_, _cozumel_, and _Cosumel_, respectively. Vaz
Dourado comes out, in 1571, with _quoqumell_, since which
time the name has been generally written as at present.
[20] Some of the authorities apply the name Santa Cruz to a
port; others to a town found there; but it was unquestionably
the island to which they gave this name. ‘A questa isola
de Coçumel che ahora se adimanda Santa Croce.’ _Diaz_,
_Itinerario_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 287. ‘Se
le puso nombre á esta ĩsla _Sancta Cruz_, á la qual los
indios llaman _Coçumel_.’ _Oviedo_, i. 504.
[21] This, according to Diaz; Oviedo says they landed on
Wednesday, the 5th, and again on the 6th; and Bernal Diaz
affirms that the landing took place on the south side of
the island.
[22] It was the crosses, which the Spaniards here regarded
of miraculous origin, more than any physical feature which
after all gave the name to these shores. Cortés established
it for all the region under Aztec sway, and under the
viceroys it was applied to all the Spanish possessions
north of Guatemala, including the undefined territories
of California and New Mexico. _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, i.
6-7, and others, have even shown an inclination to embrace
thereunder Central America, but for this there is not
sufficient authority. See _Medina_, _Chron. de San Diego de
Mex._, 227; _Lopez Vaz_, in _Purchas, His Pilgrimes_, iv.
1432, and _Gottfriedt_, _Newe Welt_, 74; also Torquemada,
from Herrera, and several standard authors. New Spain was
for a long time divided into the three kingdoms of New
Spain, New Galicia, and New Leon, each composed of several
provinces. Under the administration of Galvez, this division
gave way to intendencias, among them Mexico and a few
provinces, and New Spain came to be limited in the north
by the Provincias Internas, though including for a time at
least the Californias. With the independence the name New
Spain was replaced by Mexico, less because this term applied
to the leading province and to the capital, than because
the name was hallowed by association with the traditions
of the people, whose blood as well as sympathies contained
far more of the aboriginal element than of the imported.
On Colon’s map the name is given in capital letters, _Nova
Spaña_. Under _Nveva España_ Ribero writes _dixose asì por
que ay aquy muchas cosas que ay en españa ay ya mucho trigo
q̄ an lleuado de aca entanta cantidad q̄ lo pueden encargar
para otras partes ay aquy mucho oro de nacimiento_. Robert
Thorne, in _Hakluyt’s Voy._, carries _Hispania Noua_ east
and west through Central America, while Ramusio, _Viaggi_,
iii. 455, places _La Nova Spagna_ in large letters across
the continent.
[23] It is remarkable, as I have often observed, how two
eye-witnesses can sometimes tell such diametrically opposite
stories; not only in regard to time and minor incidents,
but to place and prominent events. In this instance Diaz
the priest is no less positive and minute in placing the
affair at Campeche, than is Diaz the soldier, at Champoton.
The second-rate authorities, following these two writers
who were present, are divided, by far the greater number,
Herrera among the rest, accepting the statement of Bernal
Diaz. Oviedo, who was a resident of the Indies at the time,
describes the battle as occurring at Campeche. Perhaps
one reason why the soldier-scribe has more adherents than
the priest, is because the existence of the narrative
of the latter was not so well known. Las Casas affirms,
_Hist. Ind._, iv. 425, that the pilot unintentionally
passed Lázaro’s port, or Campeche, and landed and fought
at Champoton. ‘Llegaron, pues, al dicho pueblo (que, como
dije, creo que fué Champoton, y no el de Lázaro).’
[24] Puerto Escondido. On the maps of Colon and Hood it
is placed as one of the eastern entrances of the Laguna de
Términos, the former writing _p. deseado_, and the latter
_P. desiado_; Gomara places the _Laguna de Términos_ between
Puerto Deseado and Rio Grijalva. On Ribero’s map, north
of Escondido, _isla ger_, Vaz Dourado marking in the same
locality _p:. seqº amgratriste_, Dampier gives _Boca
Eschondido_, and Jefferys, _Boca Escondida_.
[25] Velazquez had instructed his captain to sail round
the island of Yucatan. Cortés, in 1519, ordered Escobar to
survey this sheet, which was found to be a bay and shallow.
Still the pilots and chart-makers wrote it down an island.
It is worthy of remark that in the earliest drawings, like
Colon’s, in 1527, the maker appears undecided, but Ribero,
two years later, boldly severs the peninsula from the
continent with a strait. See _Goldschmidt’s Cartog. Pac.
Coast_, MS., i. 412-14. The earliest cartographers all
write _terminos_, Ribero marking a small stream flowing
into the lagoon, _R:. de x p̅ianos_. Here also is the
town and point of Jicalango. Ogilby calls the lagoon _Lago
de Xicalango_, east of which is the name _N^{ra} S^{ra} de
la Vitoria_; Dampier places south of _Laguna Termina_ the
town _Chukabul_; Jefferys writes in large letters, a little
south of _Laguna de Xicalango_ or _Terminos_, the words
_Quehaches Indios Bravos_. Kohl thinks Puerto Escondido
may be the Puerto Deseado of Grijalva mentioned by Gomara.
[26] Of ‘la isola riccha chiamata Ualor,’ as the chaplain
calls it, _Diaz_, _Itinerario_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col.
Doc._, i. 295, ‘descoprir una altra terra che se dice Mulua.’
Alaminos believed New Spain to be another island distinct
from Yucatan. The natives called it Coluá, says Las Casas,
_Hist. Ind._, iv. 428.
[27] On the chart of Cortés, 1520, it is called _R:. de
Guzalua_, and placed west instead of east of Rio Santa
Ana. Ribero writes, _R:. de grisalua_; Vaz Dourado, _Rº.
de grigalua_; Hood, _R. de Grisalua_; _Mercator’s Atlas_,
1574, has a town, _Tausco_; Ogilby, Dampier, and Jefferys
employ the name _Tabasco_. Kohl ascribes the name of the
river _San Pedro y San Pablo_ to Grijalva. Colon has _R:. de
s. pablo_; Ribero, _R. de s:. Pabº_; _Munich Atlas_, No.
iv., _rio de s. p._; Baptista Agnese, _rio de S. paulo_;
Hood, _R. de S. Pablo_; Ogilby, _S. Paulo_: Dampier, _St.
Peter_, _St. Paul_, etc. As there are plenty of streams
in that vicinity Herrera gives one to Grijalva and still
leaves the chieftain, Tabasco, his own.
[28] It is Las Casas who testifies to 6,000; Bernal Diaz
enumerates 50 canoes; Herrera speaks of three _Xiquipiles_
of 8,000 men each, standing ready in that vicinity to oppose
the Spaniards, waiting only for the word to be given.
[29] Not ‘Culba, Culba, Mexico, Mexico,’ as Bernal Diaz has
it. The natives pronounced the word Culhua only; but this
author, finding that Culhua referred to Mexico, puts the
word Mexico into the mouth of Tabasco and his followers.
Long before the Aztecs, a Toltec tribe called the Acolhuas,
or Culhuas, had settled in the valley of Mexico. The
name is more ancient than that of Toltec, and the Mexican
civilization might perhaps as appropriately be called Culhua
as Nahua. The name is interpreted ‘crooked’ from coloa, bend;
also ‘grandfather’ from _colli_. Colhuacan might therefore
signify Land of our Ancestors. Under Toltec dominion a
tripartite confederacy had existed in the valley of Anáhuac,
and when the Aztecs became the ruling nation, this alliance
was reëstablished. It was composed of the Acolhua, Aztec,
and Tepanec kingdoms, the Aztec king assuming the title
Culhua Tecuhtli, chief of the Culhuas. It is evident that
the Culhuas had become known throughout this region by
their conquests, and by their culture, superior as it was
to that of neighboring tribes. The upstart Aztecs were only
too proud to identify themselves with so renowned a people.
The name Culhua was retained among the surrounding tribes,
and applied before Grijalva to the Mexican country, where
gold was indeed abundant.
[30] ‘Das grosse Fest des heiligen Antonius von Padua fällt
auf den 13 Juni, und dies giebt uns also eine Gelegenheit
eines der Daten der Reise des Grijalva, deren uns die
Berichterstatter, wie immer, nur wenige geben, genau
festzusetzen.’ _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 105. Cortés,
in his chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, calls it _Santo
Anton_; Fernando Colon, 1527, _R. de la Balsa_, with the
name _G. de s. anton_ to the gulf; Ribero, 1529, _r: de
Sãton_; Globe of Orontius, 1531, _C. S. ãto_; Vaz Dourado,
1571, _rio de S. ana_; Hood, 1592, _R. de S. Antonio_, etc.
For _Santa Ana_ Dampier in 1699 lays down _St. Anns_, and
Jefferys in 1776, _B. St. Ann_.
[31] Cortés calls it _Rio de totuqualquo_; Colon, _R. de
gasacalcos_; Ribero, _R. de guasacalco_; Orontius, _R.
de qualqº_; Vaz Dourado, _R.º de de guaqaqa_; Hood, _R.
de Guaca_; Mercator, _Quacaqualco_; De Laet, Ogilby, _R.
de Guazacoalco_; Jefferys, _R. Guazacalo_; Dampier, _R.
Guazacoalco_ or _Guashigwalp_.
[32] Colon gives it, _Sierras de San mrtí_; Vaz Dourado,
_seras de S. martin_; Hood, _Sierras de Sᵗ. min_; Ogilby,
_Sierras de S. Martin_; Dampier, _St. Martin’s High Land_,
and _St. Martin’s Point_. This soldier, San Martin, was a
native of Habana.
[33] Herrera makes the Indian name Papaloava; Bernal Diaz,
Papalohuna, Cortés, 1520, and Orontius, 1531, give _R.
d alvarado_; Colon, 1527, _R: del comendador aluarado_;
Ribero, 1529, _R:. de Aluarado_; Vaz Dourado, 1571, _Rº.
de Alluorado_, etc. ‘Die Karte von 1527 hat den _Rio del
comendador Alvarado_ etwas weiter westlich, jenseits des
Rio de banderas, welches keineswegs mit den Berichten des
Bernal Diaz übereinstimmt.’ _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten_,
106.
[34] Some of the early maps place this stream incorrectly
east of the Papaloapan; where Ribero writes _P. delgada_,
first east from _R: de uanderas_, Vaz Dourado writes _p:.
de hiqada_.
[35] The Chaplain Diaz affirms that ten days were passed
on the mainland, where Indians dressed in mantles brought
them food, and where they melted their gold into bars;
and that on the San Juan Island they appointed one of the
natives cacique, christening him Ovando. ‘El capitaneo li
disse che non volevano se non oro et loro resposseno che lo
portariano laltro giorno portorono oro fondido in verghe
et lo capitaneo li disse che portasseno molto d quello.’
_Itinerario_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. 299.
[36] To distinguish it, Herrera says, from San Juan de Puerto
Rico. On the chart of Cortés, 1520, the _B:. de Sant Juan_
is laid down, but no other names are given except that of
_Sacrificios Island_, which is placed some distance out and
called _Yˢ della creficio_. On Orontius’ globe, 1531, three
islands are called _Insula Sacrifici_. Colon lays down _R:
de s. Juhan_; _R. salado_; _R: de s. x pouae_ (christobal);
_villa rica_, and _y^{eo}: de sacreficios_. Ribero designates
_R:. de s. Jua_; _R:. de cãpual_; _uilla rica_, and _y:.ª
de saćficios_. Vaz Dourado writes _R.º de Säo_ (santo)
_Joáo_ (_Juan_); _llaueracrus_ (la vera cruz), and _uilla
riqua_ (villa rica). Hood gives _R. de medelin_; _S. Jon
delua_; _Laueracruz_; _Sen Jual_; _Villa Rica_; and marks
the point south of Vera Cruz _P. de antonisardo_. Mercator
gives _Villa Rica_; Ogilby, _S. Juan de Luz_, and north
of it _Villarica_. On another of his maps we find _S. Juan
de Lua_; _P^{ta} de Antº Sardo_, _I. y Fuerca de la vera
Cruz nueva_, _La Vera Cruz_, _R. Medelin_, and _Y^{as} de
Sacrificios_. See further _Cartography North Am._, MS., i.
531. Las Casas confounds the islands Sacrificios and Ulua,
calling them one. The Spaniards supposed the continent
thereabout, far into the interior, was known to the natives
as Culhua; hence we find Velazquez, in his instructions to
Cortés, _Mendoza_, _Col. Doc._, xii. 227, speaking of ‘una
tierra grande, que parte della se llama Ulúa, que puso por
nombre Santa María de las Nieves.’ See also _Oviedo_, i. 539.