Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol. 1 of 2: A Historical, Geographical, Political, Statistical and Social Account of That Country From the Period of the Invasion by the Spaniards to the Present Time.Mayer, Brantz
History
Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol. 1 of 2: A Historical, Geographical, Political, Statistical and Social Account of That Country From the Period of the Invasion by the Spaniards to the Present Time.
Nevertheless, the seeming cordiality between the magistrates of the
capital and the partly exiled Captain General, did not long continue.
Occasions arose for difference of opinion and for disputes of even a
more bitter character, until, at length, he turned his back on the
glorious valley,--the scene of his noblest exploits,--forever, and took
up his abode in his town of Cuernavaca, which, it will be recollected,
he captured from the Aztecs before the capital fell into his hands. This
was a place lying in the lap of a beautiful valley, sheltered from the
north winds and fronting the genial sun of the south, and here he once
more returned to the cares of agriculture,--introducing the sugar cane
from Cuba, encouraging the cultivation of flax and hemp, and teaching
the people the value of lands, cattle and husbandry which they had never
known or fully appreciated. Gold and silver he drew from Zacatecas and
Tehuantepec; but he seems to have wisely thought that the permanent
wealth and revenue of himself and his heirs would best be found in
tillage.
Our limits will not permit us to dwell upon the agricultural, mineral
and commercial speculations of Cortéz, nor upon his various adventures
in Mexico. It is sufficient to say that he planned several
expeditions, the most important of which, was unsuccessful in
consequence of his necessary absence in Spain, whither he had been
driven, as we have seen, to defend himself against the attacks of his
enemies. Immediately, however, upon his return to Mexico, he not only
sent forth various navigators, to make further discoveries, but
departed himself for the coast of Jalisco, which he visited in 1534
and 1535. He recovered a ship, which had been seized by Nuño de
Guzman; and having assembled the vessels he had commanded to be built
in Tehuantepec, he embarked every thing needful to found a colony. The
sufferings he experienced in this expedition were extraordinarily
great; his little fleet was assailed by famine and tempests, and, so
long was he unheard of, in Mexico, that, at the earnest instance of
his wife, the viceroy Mendoza sent two vessels to search for him. He
returned, at length, to Acapulco; but not content with his luckless
efforts, he made arrangements for a new examination of the coasts, by
Francisco de Ulloa, which resulted in the discovery of California, as
far as the Isle de Cedros, and of all that gulf, to which geographers
have given the name of the "Sea of Cortéz."
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