_How after the death of Ponce de Leon, Marcos de Aguilar assumes the
government; the disputes which arose in consequence, and of other
matters._
Those of the Conquistadores who were ill inclined towards Cortes,
desired that the commission of inquiry might be continued,
notwithstanding that Ponce de Leon had died, but our general declared
that this could not take place according to the wording of Leon's last
will; yet, if Aguilar was willing to proceed with the inquiry, he had no
objections.
But now the town-council of Mexico threw in their objections, and
maintained that Leon was not empowered to leave Marcos de Aguilar sole
governor. An important office of this kind required a very different
kind of person to Aguilar, who, besides being far advanced in years, was
quite infirm, eaten up with sores, and a man of no authority. (I must
say his outward appearance was anything but prepossessing, and bespoke
deficiency in every way; besides which he knew nothing of the country
nor of the persons who had proved themselves meritorious.) In short, the
town-council declared him to be a man for whom no one entertained any
respect, and it was necessary for a person who held the staff of justice
to be looked up to. They were therefore of opinion that the only thing
he could do would be to share the government equally with Cortes until
his majesty's further pleasure was known.
Marcos de Aguilar, however, was determined to act strictly up to the
contents of Leon's last will, by which he was appointed sole governor,
and added, that he would not submit, unless, in direct violation of his
majesty's commands, they chose to appoint another governor.
The procuradores of all the towns of New Spain urged Cortes, in every
possible manner, to take the government into his own hands; and they
assured him they would persuade Aguilar, by fair words, to agree to it,
particularly as he was always suffering from ill health, and it was
perfectly evident the service of God and the true interests of his
majesty must suffer in his hands. But whatever they might say to Cortes,
he would not enter into their schemes, and always repeated that old
Aguilar must govern alone.
Aguilar, indeed, was in a rapid decline, and so feeble, that to keep him
alive he was obliged to be suckled by a Spanish woman; besides that, he
drank quantities of goats' milk. He likewise about this time lost one of
his sons, whom he had brought with him, of the same pestilential fever
which hurried Ponce de Leon into the grave.
I must now go back in my history a little, and relate what befel the
captain Luis Marin, who, with the troops under his command, had remained
behind in Naco, where he was waiting to hear from Sandoval whether
Cortes had embarked for Mexico or not; but we never received any tidings
from him, as Saavedra, from sheer malice, had omitted to forward us the
letters of Sandoval and Cortes, in which they sent us information of
their intended departure for Mexico, with orders for us to march thither
overland. As we had thus waited in vain for a length of time for some
tidings from Truxillo, Luis Marin determined, with our unanimous
consent, to despatch a few horse thither, to ascertain how matters
stood. There were ten of us that left Naco on this occasion, under the
command of Francisco Marmolejo. We had already fought our way through
various hostile tribes up to Olancho, which at present is called
Guayape, abounding in lucrative gold mines, when we happened to meet two
Spanish invalids and a negro, who assured us that Cortes had set sail
several days ago for Mexico, with Sandoval and all the other
Conquistadores who were with him. They then added, that he had been
induced to embark from the universal solicitations of the citizens of
Mexico, who had despatched one of the Franciscan monks to Truxillo, to
hasten his departure. Saavedra had been left behind in this latter town
as commandant, and was further to subdue the surrounding country.
This intelligence filled all our hearts with joy, and we immediately
despatched a letter by some of the inhabitants of Olancho to Saavedra
for further information, and in the space of four days we received an
answer from him, confirming the account of the two Spaniards. We offered
up thanks to God for this good news, and instantly set out on our march
for the place where Luis Marin was encamped. We found him in the
township of Acalteca, and he was not a little rejoiced at the good news
we brought him.
We now, without any further delay, broke up our camp, and commenced our
march towards Mexico. We took our route over the township of Mariani,
where we came up with six men of the troops under Alvarado, who was on
his road in search of us. One of these men was Diego de Villanueva, an
excellent soldier, and one of the veteran Conquistadores, who had
assisted in the founding of the town of Guatimala: he was a native of
Villanueva de la Serena, in the territory of the grand master of the
military order of Alcantara. As we were old friends, we gave each other
a hearty embrace, and he then told us that Alvarado was marching hither,
in company of several cavaliers, in search of Cortes, to hasten his
return to Mexico. He likewise gave us full particulars of everything
that had taken place in this town during our absence, and how the
government of New Spain had been offered to Alvarado, who had not dared
to accept of it, from fear of the factor.
After two days' further march, we came up with Alvarado himself, who was
encamped, with his men, in a township, called Choluteca Malalaca. It
would, indeed, be a difficult task for me to describe the delight he
experienced when we told him of Cortes' departure for Mexico, which was
the more excessive, as he was now spared the further fatigues of a long
march, on which his troops had already suffered many hardships. In this
township we likewise met several of Pedro Arias' officers, one of whom
was named Garavito, and another Campannon, who said they were despatched
by Arias to discover new countries, and to settle about some boundaries
with Alvarado. The whole of our troops, and the two officers of Arias,
remained three days in Choluteca, from which place Alvarado despatched a
certain Gaspar Arias de Avila, who had settled in Guatimala, to the
governor Arias, as we understood, respecting the preliminaries of a
marriage, which is indeed most likely, as Gaspar Arias was a great
adherer to Alvarado.
On the fourth day we left Choluteca, and continued our march to the
province of Guatimala, but before we could reach the territory of
Cuzcatlan, through which our route immediately lay, the rainy season set
in, and we found the river Lempa so greatly swollen, that it seemed an
impossibility for us ever to cross it. The only resource we had left was
to fell a ceiba tree of very large dimensions, of which we hollowed out
a canoe of such magnitude, that nothing was ever seen equal to it in
this country before. Even then it took us five whole days before we had
all passed across, during which time we suffered dreadfully from hunger,
as we had not a grain of maise left.
After we had passed the river, we came to the townships of Chapanastec,
where the inhabitants killed one of our men, named Nicuesa, and wounded
three others. These men had gone out in search of provisions, and were
attacked before we could come up to their assistance. As we did not wish
to be detained any longer, we would not give ourselves the trouble of
chastising the inhabitants for their murderous attack. This took place
in that province where at present the town of San Miguel is built. From
this place we came into the territory of Cuzcatlan, the inhabitants of
which we found very hostilely inclined towards us; nevertheless, we had
plenty of provisions; and we now came into some townships in the
neighbourhood of Petapa, where the Guatimaltecs were lying in wait for
us, in deep hollows, between steep rocks. It took us three days before
we could succeed in forcing this passage. Here I was slightly wounded by
an arrow.
In this way we at length reached Petapa, and the day following we
arrived in a valley, to which we gave the name of Fuerto, and in which
at present the town of Guatimala stands. At that time the whole of
Guatimala was up in arms against us, so that we had to fight our way
through the country. I shall never forget the dreadful earthquake we
felt here. We were marching steadily along the slope of a rising ground,
when the earth began to tremble so strongly, that several of our
soldiers were no longer able to stand on their legs, and fell down; and
this fearful shaking continued for a considerable length of time. From
this place we had a good road to Old Guatimala, where the two caziques
Sacachul and Cinacan generally resided. However, the whole armed force
of Guatimala lay in wait for us, in a deep hollow, near the town, to
prevent our entry; but we soon dispersed them with considerable loss,
and we took up our quarters for the night in the town, which contained
many large and beautiful buildings, owing to the circumstance of all the
caziques, who governed the neighbouring provinces, residing there. The
next morning we again quitted the town, and encamped on the plain, where
we constructed ourselves huts. Here we lay for the space of ten days, as
Alvarado had twice summoned the inhabitants of Guatimala, and other
townships of the surrounding neighbourhood, to submit, and was desirous
of knowing what answer they would return; but as they neither sent any
message nor ambassadors to him, we again broke up our camp, and
continued to move forward by forced marches. We did not, however, pass
any way near to the district where Alvarado had left his brother Gonzalo
in command of the great body of his troops, for the whole country had
risen up in arms. The township we next came to was Olintepec, where we
halted for several days, to rest from our fatigues. From this place we
marched to Soconusco and Teguantepec, where two of our countrymen, and
the Mexican cazique Juan Velasquez, who had been commander-in-chief
under Quauhtemoctzin, died on the road. Here it was that we received the
first intelligence of the death of the licentiate Leon, which was the
more to be regretted, since so much good was expected from him, and the
excellent choice which his majesty had made in his person.
We now marched forward with the utmost expedition, so impatient were we
to see Mexico again. As, altogether, we were eighty in number, and that
under the command of Alvarado, we immediately sent Cortes notice, when
we had arrived in Chalco, that on the following day we intended making
our entry into Mexico, and we begged that quarters might be got in
readiness for us, as, during an absence of above two years and three
months, we should almost be strangers there. As soon as it was known in
Mexico that we had arrived in Iztapalapan, Cortes, accompanied by
several cavaliers, came out to meet us along the causeway. The first
building we visited in the town was the principal church, whither we
instantly repaired, to offer up our thanks to the Almighty for our safe
return. From the church we were conducted by Cortes to his palace,
where a sumptuous repast had been prepared for us. Alvarado took up his
quarters in his official dwelling, belonging to the fortifications, of
which he was alcalde at that time. Sandoval gave Luis Marin a lodging in
his house, and I, and one of my friends, the captain Luis Sanchez, were
invited by Andreas de Tapia to take up our abode with him, and we were
treated with every mark of respect. I now very soon received from
Sandoval, Cortes, and other of my old friends of this town, different
articles of wearing apparel, some gold, and a quantity of cacao, all of
which were sent as presents to me. The next day after our arrival, I and
my friend Luis Sanchez, having first attended mass, walked out together
in the town, first of all to pay our respects to the governor Marcos de
Aguilar. We requested Sandoval and Tapia to accompany us on this
occasion, to interest themselves for us with the governor; to which they
readily consented, and they explained to him who we were, what important
services we had rendered to the crown, and then begged of him to bestow
on us Indian commendaries in the neighbourhood of Mexico, as those we
possessed in the province of Guacasualco were of very little value.
Marcos de Aguilar, in reply, promised very kindly to do all he could for
us, but at the same time assured us that it was totally out of his power
either to grant or take away any commendary, as Ponce de Leon, in his
last will, had particularly ordered that all the lawsuits and the
unoccupied commendaries should remain as they were until his majesty had
otherwise disposed; and concluded by saying, that as soon as he should
receive full powers to distribute the Indians, he would present us with
the most lucrative commendaries in the whole country.
About this time, also, Diego de Ordas arrived from Cuba in Mexico, and
as it was said he had written the letters which the factor sent to
Spain, respecting the certainty of our all having perished with Cortes
in the late expedition, the latter, Sandoval, and several other
cavaliers, reproached him most bitterly for having written things of
which he had no certainty, and that by his letters he had brought New
Spain to the brink of destruction; but Ordas swore most solemnly that he
had never written any letter to that effect. He certainly had been, he
said, in a township called Xicalango, and had learnt that two Spanish
vessels had lain there for some time; that a dispute had arisen among
the men on board, who came to blows, and many on both sides were killed;
and that the few who remained were massacred by the Indians. It was
respecting this unfortunate affair that he had written to New Spain, and
this might, indeed, have caused the rumours to be set afloat of our
total destruction. Moreover, the letter he had written might still be
found among the factor's papers, by which they would best be able to
convince themselves of the truth of what he had said, and what bad use
the factor must have made of it, to serve his own ends.
As the factor and veedor were still kept in close confinement, and
Cortes, according to the arrangements made by Leon in his will, could
not at present continue the criminal suits against those two persons,
besides that he had many other unpleasant matters to attend to just
then, he determined to leave the case as it was until his majesty's
further pleasure should be known with regard to the government of New
Spain. The whole of his time was occupied for the present in reclaiming
a great part of his possessions which had been sold to raise a fund that
prayers might be offered up in the churches for his departed soul; but
this was done with an evil design, that people might think he was really
dead. All this property, besides that which had been set apart for the
masses for the repose of his soul, was purchased by an inhabitant of
Mexico named Juan Caceres the wealthy.
Diego de Ordas finding that Cortes, since the arrival of Leon, had lost
his former authority, and that many persons had even the shamelessness
to neglect and make him feel the little estimation in which they held
him, he, with his usual dexterity of mind, profited by this circumstance
to regain the good graces of our general, and advised him to assume all
the outward splendour of a grandee, to receive his visitors seated on a
canopied throne, and not to allow himself to be called merely Cortes,
but to be addressed as Don Hernando Cortes. He at the same time
particularly reminded him that the factor was a creature of the
comendador-mayor Don Francisco de los Cobos, whose influence in Spain
was immense. The protection of such a man, he said, might perhaps be of
the utmost importance to him, as his majesty and the council of the
Indies were much prejudiced against him; it would be altogether
injurious to his interests to act more severely against the factor than
the law permitted. This counsel Ordas thought proper to give Cortes, as
it was generally suspected in Mexico that he intended putting the factor
to death in his prison.
Before I proceed with my narrative I must inform the reader why, when
speaking of Cortes, I never call him Don Hernando Cortes, or marquis, or
by any other title, but plainly Cortes. The reason is, that he himself
was best pleased when he was simply addressed as Cortes; besides that,
he was not created marquis until some time after, and that the name of
Cortes stood in equal renown throughout the whole of Spain at that time
as in the Roman period the names of Julius Caesar and of Pompey; and in
the Carthaginian as that of Hannibal; or, in the earlier part of our
history, the name of the valiant and invincible knight Diego Garcia de
Paredes; or, in more recent times, the name of Gonzalo Hernandez,
surnamed the Great Captain.
I must also not forget to mention that, about this time, the treasurer
Alonso de Estrada married one of his two daughters to Jorge de Alvarado,
and the other to Don Luis de Guzman, son of Don Juan de Saavedra, earl
of Castellar. During the preliminaries of the marriage it was likewise
settled that Pedro de Alvarado should repair in person to Spain in order
to obtain from his majesty the appointment of governor of Guatimala for
himself, and that, during his absence, his brother Jorge was to take the
chief command of this province, and to continue to subdue the hostile
tribes. The latter officer, indeed, immediately made preparations for
this purpose, and took along with him two hundred Indian auxiliaries
from Tlascalla, Mexico, and other provinces.
Marcos de Aguilar at the same time despatched a cavalier named Don Juan
Enriquez de Guzman, a near relation of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, into
the province of Chiapa to found a colony there. A similar expedition
Aguilar sent out under the command of Baltasar Osorio, a nobleman of
Seville, to the province of Tabasco. A third expedition he sent out
under the command of Alonso Herrera, one of Cortes' soldiers, to subdue
the Zapotecs, who inhabit almost inaccessible mountains. I will relate
how far these several officers succeeded, in a subsequent page. I must
now speak of the speedy termination of Aguilar's government.