RETURN OF GRIJALVA. A NEW EXPEDITION ORGANIZED. 1518. REFUSAL OF GRIJALVA TO SETTLE—ALVARADO SENT BACK TO CUBA—GRIJALVA CONTINUES HIS DISCOVERY—AFTER REACHING THE PROVINCE OF PÁNUCO HE TURNS BACK—TOUCHING AT THE RIO GOAZACOALCO, TONALÁ, THE LAGUNA DE TÉRMINOS, AND CHAMPOTON, THE EXPEDITION RETURNS TO CUBA—GRIJALVA TRADUCED AND DISCHARGED—A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED—VELAZQUEZ SENDS TO SANTO DOMINGO AND SPAIN—CHARACTERS OF VELAZQUEZ AND GRIJALVA CONTRASTED—CANDIDATES FOR THE CAPTAINCY OF THE NEW EXPEDITION—THE ALCALDE OF SANTIAGO SUCCESSFUL—HIS STANDING AT THAT TIME. At various places during this expedition, notably where is now Vera Cruz, and at the River Tabasco, both in coming and returning, Grijalva’s men begged permission to settle and subdue the country. In their desire to remain they pictured to themselves all the pleasures of the abandoned crew of Ulysses, in a land as happy as that of which Horace sang, where Ceres decked untilled fields with sheaves and Bacchus revelled under purple-clustered vines. And they were angry with their commander for not breaking the instructions which forbade his colonizing. Pedro de Alvarado was particularly chafed by the restraint, though he kept his temper until he obtained permission to return to Cuba with one of the vessels[37] which had become unseaworthy, so as to report to the governor the progress of the discovery, and obtain recruits and fresh supplies, with permission to found a colony. Beside some fifty sick persons, all the gold, cotton, and other articles obtained from the natives thus far were placed in Alvarado’s ship, which sailed the 24th of June. The remainder of the expedition continued its now north-westward course past Nautla,[38] which the Spaniards called Almería, and with the mountains of Tuxpan[39] in full view, advanced as far as Cabo Rojo, some say as far as the Rio de Pánuco.[40] The entrance to the large lagoon now known as the Bahía de Tanguijo, was mistaken for a river and named Rio de Canoas. On anchoring here the ships of the Spaniards were fiercely attacked by the occupants of twelve canoes,[41] which came out from a large city compared by the worthy chaplain to Seville in size and magnificence, in common with other towns along this seaboard; and as if this were not strange enough, the same authority goes on to relate a miracle which happened here because Grijalva refused the soldiers leave to sack the place; how a star, poised above the fleet after sunset, shot toward the town and hung over it invitingly, as if Jehovah signified his pleasure that the Christians should seize the city.[42]