ned the victory over Narvaez, although he had an army of 1300 men,
besides eighteen heavy guns, he began to fear the good fortune of our
general. His apprehensions were further augmented by what he heard from
several distinguished personages of Cuba, who had come to pay their
respects to him at Xagua; among these was also the licentiate Zuazo,
whom the royal court of audience at St. Domingo had expressly sent to
Cuba, to reside near Diego Velasquez. From the different interviews
which Garay had with Zuazo, he soon foresaw that, if he proceeded to
Panuco, he would have to dispute its possession with Cortes; he
therefore proposed to Zuazo that he should accompany him thither, and
act as a mediator between himself and Cortes. To this Zuazo replied,
that he was not at liberty to leave his present abode without permission
from his superiors, but that he would follow him as soon as possible.

Garay then weighed anchor and sailed in the direction of Panuco. He
encountered very boisterous weather at sea, so that he was driven too
far north off the mouth of the river Palmas, which he entered with his
fleet on the day of Santiago de Compostella. Here he sent several of his
officers, with a small detachment of his troops, on shore, who returned
with so bad an account of the country that Garay determined to leave
this place and go in search of the river Panuco, and to repair to the
town Cortes had founded, where, at the same time, he would be nearer to
Mexico. Upon this, Garay again required the whole of the officers and
soldiers to take the oath of fidelity, and to promise implicit obedience
to him as captain-general. He likewise appointed the alcaldes, the
regidors, with all the chief authorities of a town he intended to found,
and to which he said he would give the name of Garayana. He now
disembarked the whole of his men and horses, and gave the command of the
fleet to an officer named Grijalva, whom he ordered to sail as close as
possible to the shore, while he marched with his troops along the coast.
The first two days he passed over a desolate and boggy country; he then
crossed a river, which took its source in the mountains, lying about
twenty miles inland, and arrived in a township which was quite deserted
by its inhabitants, but where he found abundance of maise and fowls,
besides the delicious fruit of the guayaba tree. The soldiers likewise
brought in a few of the inhabitants prisoners, who understood the
Mexican languag