The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2): Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
History
The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2): Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.
Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
Mexico -- History -- Conquest, 1519-1540
But to continue my narrative. Very early the morning following, our
cazique again called upon us: this time he brought with him twelve large
canoes and a number of rowers. He made known to our captain, by signs,
that we were good friends and might come to his town: he would give us
plenty to eat with everything we wanted, and could go on shore in his
twelve canoes. I shall never forget how he said, in his language, _con
escotoch_, _con escotoch_, which means, come with me to my houses yonder.
We therefore called the spot Punta de Cotoche, under which name it
stands on the sea charts.
In consideration of all these friendly invitations from the cazique to
accompany him to his village, our captain held a short consultation with
us, when we came to the resolution to lower our boats, take the smallest
of our vessels with us, and so proceed together with the twelve canoes
all at once on shore, as the coast was crowded with Indians from the
above-mentioned village. This was accordingly done, and we all arrived
there at the same time. The cazique seeing us now landed, but that we
made no signs of going to his village, again gave our captain to
understand, by signs, that we should follow him to his habitation,
making at the same time so many demonstrations of friendship, that a
second consultation was held as to whether we should accompany him or
not. This was carried in the affirmative, but we took every precaution
to be upon our guard, marching in close order with our arms ready for
action. We took fifteen crossbows with a like number of matchlocks, and
followed the cazique, who was accompanied by a great number of Indians.
As we were thus marching along, and had arrived in the vicinity of
several rocky mountains, the cazique all at once raised his voice,
calling aloud to his warriors, who it seemed were lying wait in ambush,
to fall upon us and destroy us all. The cazique had no sooner given the
signal, than out rushed with terrible fury great numbers of armed
warriors, greeting us with such a shower of arrows, that fifteen of our
men were immediately wounded. These Indians were clad in a kind of
cuirass made of cotton, and armed with lances, shields, bows, and
slings; with each a tuft of feathers stuck on his head. As soon as they
had let fly their arrows, they rushed forward and attacked us man to
man, setting furiously to with their lances, which they held in both
hands. When, however, they began to feel the sharp edge of our swords,
and saw what destruction our crossbows and matchlocks made among them,
they speedily began to give way. Fifteen of their number lay dead on the
field.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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