dispositions; in short, they may be considered among the bravest
soldiers Spain ever possessed.

Andreas de Tapia was also a courageous officer, and was about
twenty-four years of age when he joined us. He had rather an unpleasant
expression of countenance, which was of a leaden colour; his beard was
thin, but his figure was stately. He was both a capital horse and foot
soldier.

I should be going too much into detail if I were to describe the
countenances and figures of all the officers and soldiers who fought
with Cortes. We were all men of courage and distinction, and we have
deserved that our names should be written in letters of gold. I must
also pass by in silence many brave officers of Narvaez's corps; for I
intended from the beginning to confine myself to the heroic deeds of the
small army which first set out for New Spain with Cortes. I must,
however, make an exception in the person of Pamfilo Narvaez.

This officer may have been about forty-two years of age when he arrived
in New Spain with an army of 1300 men, which was totally defeated by our
small body of 266 men. He was tall of stature, strong of limb; his beard
was red; his face large but cheerful. His voice was amazingly powerful,
and sounded as if it proceeded from a vault. He was a capital horseman,
and was said to be an officer of great courage. He was a native of
Tudela or Valladolid, on the Duero, and was married to a lady of rank
named Maria de Valenzuela. He had settled in Cuba; was considered very
rich, but miserly. He was an excellent spokesman, and obtained for
himself the government of Florida, where, however, he lost both his life
and his property.

Several curious cavaliers who had read the minute description I have
here given respecting the persons and the characters of the officers and
soldiers of the courageous and fortunate Don Hernando Cortes, marquis
del Valle Oaxaca, inquired of me in astonishment how I could remember
all these little particulars after so many years had rolled by. I told
them it was no great wonder at all when they reflected that we were only
550 men altogether, who daily came in contact with each other in the
numerous campaigns, battles, skirmishes, and at the outposts. We were
constantly in conversation with each other, and in this way it soon
became known what happened to every individual, in what battles he fell,
or whether he was captured by the Indians and sacrificed to their idols:
besides which, a list of