e; and Garay, after making them handsome presents, sent
them to the neighbouring townships to incline the inhabitants peaceably
towards him. He then marched round a large morass, and visited several
townships, everywhere meeting with the kindest reception from the
inhabitants, who brought him quantities of fowls, and a species of geese
which they catch among the swamps. Many of his men had by this time
become wearied of marching up and down the country; and having got it
into their heads that the officers withheld from them some kinds of the
provisions which the inhabitants brought in, a part of the troops
rebelled, and plundered these townships for three days successively. On
the fourth day, the whole of the troops again marched forward, with some
Indian guides, and arrived at a very broad river, which they had no
other means of crossing but by canoes which were furnished them by the
friendly townships just mentioned. The horses were obliged to swim
across, each rider in a canoe leading his horse by the bridle; but as
there were a considerable number of horses, it was a very tedious
business, and five were unfortunately drowned. At length the whole of
the troops had passed across, but they had to encounter another
formidable morass, through which they found their way after undergoing
many fatigues, and so reached the province of Panuco. Here Garay
expected to have found provisions in abundance; but the whole of the
townships had scarcely any food left for themselves, while the
inhabitants were still in a very excited state, owing to the recent
incursion which Cortes had made into this neighbourhood; and wherever
there were any provisions left, the Indians took care to hide them as
soon as they received information of the approach of so large a body of
troops and horses; indeed they even totally deserted their towns, so
that in the very place where Garay had thought to rest and refresh his
troops, he only encountered greater difficulties and fatigues. In the
deserted houses his men found nothing but mice, moschitoes, and lice,
which made an unmerciful attack upon the new comers. To all this misery
was added, that the fleet, which should have sailed close into the
shore, and on board of which there was abundance of food, had not
arrived in the harbour, nor had any tidings of it been received. The
information with respect to the non-arrival of the vessels was given
them by a Spaniard, who, on account of some misdemeanour or