hey belonged to a squadron fitted out by Francisco de Garay, who had
landed on the Florida coast a year before, and had obtained from Spain
authority over the countries he might discover in its neighbourhood.
Cortes saw he had nothing to fear from them, but he did wish he could
have induced the crews of the ships to join his expedition. The three
men he easily persuaded, but those who remained on board feared
treachery, and refused to send a boat ashore. Finally, by a stratagem,
Cortes succeeded in capturing three or four more, out of a boat's crew
who came to fetch their comrades, and with this small party of recruits
he returned to Cempoalla. On August 16, 1519, Cortes bade farewell to
his hospitable Indian friends, and set out for Mexico. His force
consisted of about four hundred foot and fifteen horse, with seven
pieces of artillery, and in addition to these he had obtained from the
cacique of Cempoalla thirteen hundred warriors, and a thousand porters
to carry the baggage and drag the guns. During the first day the army
marched through the 'tierra caliente,' or hot region. All around them
fruit and flowers grew in the wildest profusion, as indeed they did all
the year round in that wonderful climate; the air was heavy with
perfume, and bright birds and insects abounded. But after some leagues'
travel, over roads made nearly impassable by the summer rains, they
began to ascend gradually, and at the close of the second day they
reached Xalapa, from which they looked out over one of the grandest
prospects that could be seen anywhere. Down below them lay the hot
region with its gay confusion of meadows, streams, and flowering
forests, sprinkled over with shining Indian villages, while a faint line
of light upon the horizon told them that there was the ocean they had so
lately crossed, beyond which lay their country, which many of them would
never see again. To the south rose the mighty mountain called 'Orizaba,'
in his mantle of snow, and in another direction the Sierra Madre, with
its dark belt of pine-trees, stretched its long lines of shadowy hills
away into the distance. Onward and upward they went, and on the fourth
day they arrived at the strong town of Naulinco. Here the inhabitants
entertained them hospitably, for they were friendly with the Totonacs,
and Cortes endeavoured, through Father Olmedo, to teach them something
about Christianity. They seem to have listened willingly, and allowed
the Spaniards to erect