At sunset we arrived at a place called Jonuta, near the junction of the river Palisada with the river Usamacinta, and the canoe was hauled up on the bank. We could not have been far from the spot where Cortes crossed over on his march to Honduras, one of the most extraordinary military expeditions, through an absolutely unknown country and amongst unknown men, that has ever been successfully accomplished. This part of the march through the forest and across the numerous streams of the estuary of the Usamacinta was especially difficult and laborious, and at one time, the forces were driven to great straits for want of provisions. The events that occurred here are described by Bernal Diaz, who accompanied the troops, and by Cortes in his despatch to the Emperor Charles V. One of these events was so remarkable that it at once arrests the attention. The Spaniards and their Indian allies had been for several days suffering from famine, and the state of affairs in the camp was becoming serious. It was then discovered that several acts of cannibalism had taken place. “It appeared,” states Bernal Diaz, “that certain Caciques from Mexico had captured two or three of the Indians belonging to the villages that we had passed through, and had brought them hidden amongst their baggage, and on account of the hunger on the road they killed them and roasted them in ovens which were made under the ground with stones, as was their custom in Mexico, and they devoured them, and in the same way they had also secreted the two guides that we had with us who had run away, and they ate them. When Cortes knew what had happened he ordered the Mexican Caciques to be called together and spoke angrily to them, and told them that if such things occurred again he would punish them. The Franciscan friar, who accompanied us, also preached to them many holy and good sayings and after he had concluded his sermon Cortes, as a matter of justice, ordered a Mexican Indian to be burnt on account of the murder of the Indians that they had eaten.” Cortes in reporting this punishment to the Emperor says,—“I ordered him to be burnt, giving the said Señor to understand the reason for this act of justice. That it was because he had killed an Indian and eaten him; which act was forbidden by your Majesty and that I, in your Royal name, had notified and ordered that it should not be done, and that therefore for having killed and eaten him I ordered him to be burnt.”[86]