shorn like that of an
Indian slave: he carried a paddle across his shoulder, had one of his
legs covered with an old tattered stocking; the other, which was not
much better, being tied around his waist. An old ragged cloak hung over
his shoulders, his maltatas was in a much worse condition. His
prayerbook, which was very much torn, he had folded in the corner of his
cloak.

When Cortes beheld the man in this attire, he, as all the rest of us had
done, asked Tapia where the Spaniard was? When Geronimo heard this, he
cowered down after the Indian fashion, and said: "I am he." Upon this
Cortes gave him a shirt, a coat, a pair of trousers, a cap and shoes,
from our stores. He then desired him to give us an account of the
adventures of his life, and explain how he had got into this country.

He said, though still in broken Spanish, that his name was Geronimo
d'Aguilar, and was a native of Ecija. About eight years ago he had been
shipwrecked with fifteen men and two women, on a voyage between Darien
and the island of St. Domingo, which they had undertaken on account of a
lawsuit between a certain Enciso and a certain Valdivia. They had 10,000
pesos on board, and papers relating to the lawsuit. The ship struck
against a rock, and they had not been able to get her off again. The
whole of the crew then got into the boat, in the hopes of making the
island of Cuba or Jamaica, but were driven on shore by the strong
currents, where the Calachionies had taken them prisoners and
distributed them among themselves. The most of his unfortunate
companions had been sacrificed to their gods, and some had died of
grief, of which also both the women pined away; being soon worn out by
the hard labour of grinding, to which they had been forced by the
Indians. He himself had also been doomed as a sacrifice to their idols,
but made his escape during the night, and fled to the cazique, with whom
he had last been staying, whose name, however, I cannot now remember. Of
all his companions, he himself and a certain Gonzalo Guerrero, were only
living. He had tried his best to induce him to leave, but in vain.

When Cortes heard this, he returned thanks to the Almighty, and told the
Spaniard that he hoped, with the blessing of God, he would never find
reason to regret the determination he had taken. He then put some
questions to him about the country and its inhabitants. Aguilar said he
was not able to give him much information about either, as he had