and to be petitioned to confer upon them the government of all
their conquests.

With respect to Christobal de Oli, I must observe that he was a man of
uncommon bravery, and excelled both as a cavalry and foot soldier; but
he certainly did not possess sufficient talent for a commander-in-chief,
but was second to no man under command. About this time he may have been
in his forty-sixth year, and was either a native of Baeza or of Lunares.
His outward appearance was extremely handsome; high of stature,
carrying with it the very expression of muscular power; his limbs were
beautifully proportioned, and his shoulders broad, while a ruddy hue,
most pleasing to the eye, was constantly upon his cheek. There was only
one fault to be found with his features, which was a deep cut in his
under lip. In language he was rather imperious and coarse, but in other
respects very agreeable in conversation; he had, upon the whole, many
good qualities, particularly a noble frankness of disposition, which
gained him the confidence of every person. As long as he staid in Mexico
he was quite devoted to Cortes, but subsequently his ambitious desire
for command, and not to be commanded, with the bad advice of evil-minded
persons, completely blinded him. It must also be remembered that in his
early youth he had served under Velasquez, and he could not forget the
bread which, as a boy, he had eaten in his house. In this way it
happened that he quite forgot he was vastly more indebted to Cortes than
to Diego Velasquez.

After he had thus come to a secret understanding with the governor of
Cuba, he was visited by many of the inhabitants of this place, who all
strongly advised him to throw off the yoke of Cortes, thereby
strengthening him in his evil designs. The armament being now fully
equipped, he set sail from the Havannah, and arrived on the 3d of May,
after a very prosperous voyage, about sixty miles on the other side of
Puerto Caballo, and disembarked his men in a small bay, where he
immediately began to lay the foundations of a town, to which he gave the
name of Triunfo de la Cruz, and, according to the instructions he had
received from Cortes, he selected the alcaldes and regidors from among
the veteran Conquistadores above mentioned. He likewise took possession
of the country for his majesty in the name of Cortes, and otherwise
punctually obeyed the orders he had received, that the latter's friends
might not discover what his real intenti