The Battle and the Ruins of CintlaBrinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
History
The Battle and the Ruins of Cintla
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Mexico -- History -- Conquest, 1519-1540; Tabasco (Mexico : State) -- History, Military
The arguments on which he founds this contention may be briefly stated.
They are that the accounts refer to two entrances to the river (_dos
bocas_) while the Tabasco has but one; that the bar of Tabasco now
admits vessels of 300 tons, whereas Cortes speaks of it as too shallow
for his caravels; that Herrera says Cortes retired to a small island,
whereas there is none in the Rio de Tabasco; that Herrera further speaks
of a ford by which the soldiers of Cortes "crossed the river," which
would have been impossible in the Tabasco; and finally that the same
writer mentions cacao plantations, though at present none exist near
Frontera. For these reasons he thinks both Grijalva and Cortes entered
the embouchure now known as the Barra de Dos Bocas, some twenty-five
miles west of the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco.
A slight examination dissipates these objections. Both Grijalva and
Cortes note the powerful current of the Rio de Tabasco, carrying fresh
water six miles out to sea, as is observed to-day,[7-1] and this is not
in the least applicable to the insignificant stream flowing out of the
Dos Bocas. M. Charnay was misinformed when he stated there is no island
at the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco. There are in fact two, one, long and
narrow, known as the Isla de Grijalva, the other quite small, close to
the plantation of Dolores (see the map). The latter was probably that to
which Cortes retired. None of the accounts say that the soldiers "forded
the river," but only the short distance between the island and the
mainland. These islands give to the entrance of the river the appearance
of two embouchures or mouths. The depth of the bar varies of course with
the seasons and with the tides.
But what is conclusive is that in 1525 the Spaniards founded the city
Nuestra Senora de la Victoria, on the site of Potonchan. In 1646, it had
a cura and a vicar, and counted 2000 parishioners, and the abundance of
its cacao harvest is especially noted.[7-2] At some later day it was
attacked and destroyed by filibusters; but the remains of the church and
the cemetery are still visible at Dolores, and pilgrimages are yet made
to them on certain holy days by the faithful of the parish of Frontera,
on the opposite shore. This record places the scene of the conflict
beyond all doubt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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