had arrived in the midst of the stream, they
upset their canoes and drowned them all, save three of the men and one
of the females. The men were allotted to the other Indians, but the
female, a very beautiful woman, was given to the most powerful of the
caziques, the person who had concocted this piece of treachery. From
this circumstance it was that the harbour got the name of Matanza.

I was personally acquainted with the female whose misfortune I have just
related. After the total conquest of Cuba, she left the cazique in whose
power she then was, and married a citizen of Trinidad, by name Pedro
Sanchez Farsan.

I was also acquainted with the three Spaniards whose lives had been
spared. One was Gonzalo Mexia, an old man, and native of Xeres; the
other, Juan de Santiste-ban, from Madrigal; and the third was Cascorro,
a sailor and fisherman, of Huelva. The cazique in whose power he was,
had given him his daughter in marriage, and bored holes through his ears
and nose, after the Indian fashion.

Having thus detained the reader for a while with these old stories, it
is time I return to the thread of my narrative.

On the 5th of April, 1518, all of us having met together, the officers
and soldiers, the pilots made acquainted with the signals, and the hour
of departure fixed, we attended mass with fervent devotion, and weighed
anchor. After ten days' sail, we passed the cape of Guaniguanico, called
by the sailors San Anton. Eight days after, we came in sight of the
island of Cozumel; it happened to be the feast of the Holy Cross. This
time our ships were carried further off by the currents than the time
before under Cordoba; the consequence was that we now landed on the
south coast of the island. We here espied a village, and found a
good anchorage near it, perfectly free from all rocks. Our
commander-in-chief, therefore, went on shore here with a good body of
soldiers. The inhabitants, who had never witnessed such a sight before,
immediately took to flight when they saw our vessels approaching, so
that not a single one of them had remained in the village. At length we
discovered two Indians among the recently cut maise plants, who had not
been able to get off quick enough. We brought them into the presence of
our captain, who spoke to them with the help of Julianillo and
Melchorejo, whom we had captured at the Punta de Cotoche, and who
understood their language. The distance between their countries was only
four hours