The Island of Cozumel was again visited by Fernando Cortez shortly afterwards, in his expedition to Mexico; he reviewed his troops here on shore, and found them to amount to 508, besides 109 seamen. The 508 soldiers were now divided into eleven companies, with ten brass field-pieces, four falconets, thirteen musketeers, thirty-two cross bowmen, and sixteen horses. Cozumel had at that time several temples, one of which was in the shape of a square tower, hollow at top, with four large windows or openings and galleries, in which were many idols; at the foot was a wall with a sort of battlements, and on this was a cross three yards high, drawn with white lime. From these high buildings, and on account of the resemblance of this white mark to a cross, Grijalva named the Island and adjoining coast New Spain. It was here they first saw the pecari or sus tajassu, a sort of hog, with its navel on the back, or rather an open glandular orifice, discharging an oily fetid liquor, which is cut out when the animal is killed, otherwise it would taint the whole carcase. The Spaniards having heard the word Castellano, repeated by the Indians in the former voyages, Cortez enquired of the Caciques, if any whites existed among them, and learning that there were, he gave large presents to some of them and dispatched them to the neighbouring continent to search for and bring any European who might be there to him; he also sent two ships to Cape Catoche, where the word Castellano had been most frequently heard; in consequence of these exertions, which he doubtless made to gain a knowledge of the interior from the captives, Jeronimo de Aguilar gained his liberty, and went to another Spaniard, Alonzo Guerrero, to obtain his freedom, and to solicit him to accompany him; but Alonzo having married an Indian woman, by whom he had several children, would not return to his countrymen; and Aguilar lost so much time in endeavouring to persuade him, that the ships had already sailed, the appointed time for their stay being only eight days; but one of the ships having sprung a leak, the whole fleet returned to Cozumel a few hours after they had left it. Aguilar now crossed to the island in a canoe, and presented himself to Cortez. He had nearly forgotten his native language, was so dark from the burning climate, and almost naked, that it was with difficulty he was recognised as a Spaniard; he carried a paddle in his hand, and had an old prayer-book in a tattered bundle on his back; on coming before Cortez, he squatted down on his hams after the Indian fashion, and no one discovered that he was the Spaniard they were seeking for. He said at last, that he was a native of Ecija, and had been brought up for the church; but had been wrecked eight years before, in a voyage from Hispaniola to Darien. He and his companions in misfortune tried to reach Cuba in the shipʼs boat, but were drifted by the currents on this coast, where the Indians made them all slaves.