inguishing the man, by conferring
this command upon him. But as Mazariegos had very little experience in
the manners and customs of these countries, Cortes desired him in
confidence to request me to accompany him, and advised him to act upon
my advice in all matters. This hint was not lost upon Mazariegos, who
did not neglect to follow our general's counsel. I have not mentioned
this in praise of myself, for it was well known to the whole of the
troops, and Cortes himself, in his despatches to the emperor respecting
the expedition to the Honduras, and which I read myself, also detailed
this circumstance.

The caziques readily furnished us with the necessary canoes, in which
eighty of us, with Mazariegos, set out. We arrived safely in the
townships above mentioned, met with the most friendly reception, and the
inhabitants gave us as large a quantity of provisions as they could
possibly spare. We therefore loaded one hundred canoes with maise,
fowls, honey, and salt, taking along with us besides ten female slaves,
who had been presented to us, and the caziques accompanied us themselves
on our return, to pay their respects to Cortes. After the lapse of three
days, however, most of the caziques suddenly left, and we had only three
guides remaining, with whom we continued our march. We had two rivers to
pass, one of which we crossed by means of a bridge, that broke down
before we had all stepped on land; the other we ferried over in canoes,
and in this way we reached another of the Acallan townships, which was
quite deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions,
which they had concealed among the hills on our approach.

I have now to relate a circumstance of a very different nature, which
occasioned much grief to us all. Quauhtemoctzin and other Mexican chiefs
who accompanied our army had, it would appear, spoken among themselves,
or secretly determined to put the whole of us to death, then march back
to Mexico, and assemble the whole armed power of the country against the
few remaining Spaniards, and raise an insurrection throughout the whole
of New Spain. This circumstance was discovered to Cortes by two
distinguished Mexican chiefs, one of whom was named Tapia, and the other
Juan Velasquez. This latter personage had been Quauhtemoctzin's
captain-general during our war with Mexico, and his testimony was borne
out by the investigation which Cortes made into the matter, and by the
confession of several o