In this same year, 1524, Cortes sent a fleet under the command of Christopher de Olid, to Cuba, to transport provisions and ammunition to Mexico, which had been purchased there by Alonso de Contreras; and Olid had orders to discover and colonize the country about Cape Higueras, and the Coast of Honduras, and likewise to send Diego Hartado de Mendoça by sea, in search of a strait towards Darien, which was reported to pass that way into the South Sea, which object of research had been commanded by the emperor to be attended to. He sent also two ships from Panuco, to explore the coast from thence to Florida; and he commanded other vessels to examine the coast of the South Sea, between Zacatullan and Panama. On the arrival of Olid at Cuba, he entered into a league with Diego Velasquez against Cortes: and, instead of prosecuting the orders he had received, he set sail for Puerto de Cavallos, in lat. 10° N. 54, near which he built a town, which he named _Triumpho de la Cruz_. He made Gil Gonzales de Avila prisoner, and killed his nephew, and all the Spaniards who were with him, except one child; thus acting in direct opposition to Cortes, who had expended, in fitting out the present expedition, the sum of 80,000 castellans of gold, entirely to gratify Olid[55]. On learning this treachery, Cortes went by land from Mexico in the month of October 1524, to take revenge on Olid, carrying with him a force of 300 Spaniards, part foot, and part horse, and accompanied by Quahutimoc, king of Mexico, and many of the chief Mexican nobles. On coming to the town of Spiritu Santo, he procured ten guides from the caciques of Tavasco and Xicalanco, who likewise gave him a map painted on cotton cloth, delineating the situation of the whole country, from Xicalanco to Naco and Nito, and even as far as Nicaragua, with their mountains, hills, fields, meadows, rivers, cities, and towns; and Cortes ordered three ships from the harbour of Medellin to follow him along the coast[56]. When he had reached the city of Izancanac, Cortes learned that King Quahutimoc and his Mexicans had conspired to betray or destroy him and his Spaniards; wherefore he hanged the king and two of his principal nobles. Cortes then proceeded to Mazatlan; and from thence to Piaca, which stands in the middle of a lake, and is the chief city of a province of the same name, and hereabout he began to learn tidings of the Spaniards under Olid, of whom he was in search. From thence he proceeded to Zuzullin, and came at length to Nito; from whence he went to a bay on the coast, called St Andre, where, finding a good haven, he built a town called Natividad de nuestra Sennora. He went thence to Truxillo, on the coast of Honduras, where he was well received by the Spanish settlers. While here, a ship brought intelligence of an insurrection having broke out in Mexico during his absence; on which, he ordered Gonsalo de Sandoval to march with his company by land,