landing, Cortez pursued a
pacific course towards the natives, but endeavored to substitute the
Roman Catholic religion for the idolatrous rites which prevailed in the
several temples of that sacred Island. He found it easier to induce the
natives to accept new images than to give up those which they had
hitherto worshipped. After charging the Indians to observe the religious
ceremonies which he had prescribed, and receiving a promise of
compliance with his wishes, Cortez again sailed and doubled cape
Catoche, following the contour of the gulf as far south as the river
Tobasco. Here, disembarking, notwithstanding the objections of the
Indians, he took possession of Centla, a town remarkable for its extent
and population, and a centre of trade with the neighboring empire of
Mexico, whence were obtained much tribute and riches. After remaining
there long enough to engage in a sanguinary battle, which ended in a
decisive victory for the Spaniards, Cortez reembarked and went forward
to his famous conquest of Mexico.

From the time when Cortez left the river Tobasco, his mind was fixed
upon the attractions of the more distant land of Mexico, and not upon
the prosecution of further discoveries upon the Western shores of
Yucatan; and until 1524, for a period of more than five years, this
peninsula remained unnoticed by the Spaniards. Then Cortez left Mexico,
which he had already subjugated, for a journey of discovery to Honduras,
and for the purpose of calling to account, for insubordination and
usurpation of authority, Cristoval de Olid, whom he had previously sent
to that region from Vera Cruz. He received from the princes of Xicalanco
and Tobasco maps and charts, giving the natural features of the country,
and the limits of the various States. His march lay through the Southern
boundaries of the great Mayan empire. Great were the privations of this
overland march, which passed through a desolate and uninhabited region,
and near the ruins of Palenque, but none of the historians of the
expedition take notice of the remains. When Cortez finally arrived at
Nito, a town on the border of Honduras, he received tidings of the death
of Cristoval de Olid, and that his coming would be hailed with joy by
the Spanish troops stationed there, who were now without a leader. From
the arrival of Cortez at Nito, the association of his name with the
province of Yucatan is at an end, and the further history of that
peninsula was developed by tho