_How Cortes entered the town founded by Gil Gonsalez de Avila; the
great joy of the inhabitants at his arrival, and what he further did
there._
The town of Buena Vista, which Avila had founded in this neighbourhood,
lay about eight miles from the broad river of the Golfo Dulce, near to
the sea shore, whither Cortes immediately repaired with his small body
of men, after crossing the river. When he entered the town, the arrival
of strangers on horseback and others on foot, in the first moments,
spread a great consternation among the inhabitants, but as soon as they
learnt that it was the man whose fame was spread through the whole of
these provinces and New Spain, they were almost overcome with joy. All
the inhabitants instantly assembled to wait upon him and to congratulate
him upon his safe arrival. Our general received them in the kindest
manner possible, and then ordered the commandant Nieto to load the two
boats belonging to the town, and all the canoes he could get with
cassave bread, and despatch them to Sandoval. The commandant immediately
set about to fulfil these commands, but was unable to collect more than
fifty pounds of this bread, as the colonists had had no other food than
the fruits which they gathered from the trees, some vegetables, and what
fish they could catch. Even this small quantity of cassave bread had
been set apart for their voyage to Cuba.
With these provisions the two boats, manned with eight sailors, left for
the place where Sandoval was encamped with our troops. Cortes, in a
letter to the latter officer, desired that he, with Luis Marin, should
cross the last over the broad river, and was particularly cautioned not
to allow more than a certain number of the men to be ferried across at a
time on account of the rapidity of the stream. No horses were to be
taken across by the canoes, and even the boats were not to take more
than two at a time.
When these vessels arrived there immediately rose a dispute as to whom
should be ferried across first, and Saavedra, with his brother Avalos,
pretended to have a prior claim, because they happened to be related to
Cortes, but Sandoval maintained that this honour was unquestionably due
to the three reverend monks. Saavedra persisted, however, that as a
relation of Cortes the precedence was due to him, and answered Sandoval
in very unbecoming terms, whose blood now also began to boil, and the
dispute rose to so high a pitch that Saavedra drew his dagger.
Sandoval, who was standing up to his knees in the water to prevent the
boats being overloaded, rushed upon his antagonist, and, seizing him by
the hand in which he held the dagger, he dragged him headlong into the
water. If the rest of us had not hastened up and parted them, Saavedra
would most likely have ended his life in this affray, for the troops,
almost to a man, were on Sandoval's side.
Four whole days were consumed before all our men had crossed over,
during which time we had nothing to eat but the nuts we gathered from
some low palm-trees, which we roasted on the fire and ate the kernels.
One of our soldiers, named Tarifa, ventured across the river with his
horse in a canoe, was upset, and both were most likely drowned, for no
traces could be found of either. Two other horses met with a similar
fate, one of which was the property of Solis Casquete, who behaved like
a madman when he found his horse was lost, and wished our general, with
the whole expedition, in the infernal regions.
The excessive hunger we endured during the time we were occupied in
ferrying across, created altogether great discontent among the troops,
and they murmured loudly against Cortes, and this dreadful march. When
we arrived in the town we found our condition very little bettered, for
there was neither any bread in the storehouses nor in the dwellings of
the colonists; who, in the bargain, were even unacquainted with the
surrounding neighbourhood, and only knew the way to two townships, which
had long ago been deserted by the inhabitants. Cortes' first care was to
adopt some means for obtaining provisions; he, therefore, instantly
despatched Luis Marin, with the soldiers of Guacasualco into the
country, in search of maise. How far we succeeded in this I will relate
in the following chapter.