It is further related that the explorers set sail in 1519, toward “the peninsula of Florida, in twenty-five degrees of north latitude, for Florida appeared to them to be a very attractive island, and they thought that it was better to settle on islands than on the main-land, because they could more easily conquer the natives and keep them in subjection. They landed, but the people of Florida killed so many of them that they did not dare to settle there. They then sailed along the coast and came to the river of Panuco, five hundred leagues from the peninsula of Florida, measured on a course along the coast. The natives attacked them at every place. Many of them were killed at Chila [near the mouth of the river Panuco], where the natives flayed and eat those who fell into their hands, and hung up the skins in their temples to commemorate their valor.”[334] Diaz further observes: “While we were lying at Villa Segura, Cortes was informed by letters that one of the vessels which Garay had fitted out for the purpose of forming settlements on the river Panuco had arrived at Vera Cruz. This vessel was commanded by a certain Comargo, and had on board more than sixty soldiers, who were all in bad health, with their bodies greatly swelled. This Comargo gave the particulars of the unfortunate termination of Garay’s expedition to the river Panuco. “The Indians had massacred the commander-in-chief, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, and all his soldiers and horses, and then had set fire to his vessels. Comargo alone had been fortunate enough to escape with his men on board of one of the vessels, and had steered for Vera Cruz, where the explorers arrived half famished, for they had not been able to procure any provisions from the enemy. This Comargo, it was said, had taken the vows of the order of the Dominicans. “Comargo and his men, by moderate advances, at last arrived at Villa Segura, for they were so weakened that they could scarcely move along. When Cortes saw in what a terrible condition they were, he commended them to our care, and showed Comargo and all his men every possible kindness. If I remember rightly, Comargo died soon after, and also several of his men.”[335] The fields of the explorations of Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, Juan de Grijalva, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, and Juan Ponce de Leon are represented on a traced map of the coast of the continent and of the new lands (_traza de las costas de tierra-firme y de las tierras nuevas_), made in 1521, to define the limits of the jurisdictions of Juan Ponce Leon, Francisco de Garay, and Diego Velasquez.[336]