|
|
|
A Glimpse Within
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A GLIMPSE WITHIN
[28] UNDER Diego Velasquez the conquered isle of Cuba became one of the most prosperous of Spanish colonies,
and the young adventurer, Hernando Cortés, shared at first in the general good fortune. Wild and
wayward, he soon, however, lost the Governor's favour. Velasquez was greatly
interested in a family named Xuarez, and Cortés had promised to marry one of the daughters, the
beautiful Catalina. The Governor's attempt to force the inconstant youth to hold to his word led to
a most violent quarrel, and Cortés threw in his lot with some "malcontents" who were hatching a plot
against Velasquez. Secret meetings led to a timely arrest, and the intriguer soon found himself in
irons under the hatches of a ship which was to carry him to the court of justice in Hispaniola. It
was night-time, and Cortés, abetted surely by his guards, actually managed to loosen his fetters,
gain the deck, and escape in a small boat ere the ship sailed. Once on shore he sought sanctuary in
a church. Taught by grim experience, he hastened to make his peace with the Governor, and consented
to an early marriage with the fair Catalina. The story
[29] runs that the reconciliation was effected in a most daring way. It is said that Cortés one night
left his sanctuary and suddenly appeared before the astonished Governor. His glib tongue must have
served him well, for a messenger, sent to announce the prisoner's escape, found the enemies
peaceably sleeping together in the same bed!
Wide estates and many slaves were bestowed on the repentant hidalgo, who now sunned himself
in the Governor's favour, and soon grew rich and influential. By cultivating his lands and working
his gold mines he gained in a few years a fortune of two or three thousand castellanos.
"God," says Las Casas in his History of the Indies, "who alone knows at what cost of Indian lives it
was obtained, will take account of it!"
Tame prosperity soon palled on Cortés. Restless still he longed for fresh adventure, as every year
brought news to Cuba of the discovery of hitherto unknown shores and seas. Ponce de Leon, an
unworldly-minded old knight, searching for the fabled fountain of youth, reached in his wanderings
the glowing coasts of Florida. Alas, for his cherished dream! Many a silver spring he found, but
none which could give back to him the long-lost vigour of his youth. Balboa from a mountain top
beheld the mighty Pacific, and Cortés, as he heard on every tongue the glorious story, burned with
impatience to think that others were gathering the laurels which he had hoped to wear. But Fortune
the fickle is not always forgetful, and she was soon to bring to him a chance more splendid far than
even his wildest dreams.
[30] To Cuba there returned one day a battered ship with a well-nigh exhausted crew. Sore wounded though
he was and near to death, the captain, a gallant hidalgo named Cordova, was carried at
once to Velasquez. Strange was the story which this man with his dying breath poured into the
Governor's hungry ears. Cruising among the islands to the north of Cuba in search of slaves, he had
been driven by a furious gale far to the south, and had reached at last an unknown coast. Here,
instead of huts of reeds and rushes, houses of stone rose before his astonished eyes. Landing, he
was met by natives dressed in the finest cotton, and decorated with ornaments of wrought gold, who
greeted him with cold, unfriendly looks. "What is this country?" he asked in the Indian dialect of
Cuba. The reply came in a strange tongue. "Tectetan," "I do not understand you." But to the
Spaniards the country became forthwith Yucatan. Hostility did not stop at looks. So fierce an attack
was made on the unwelcome visitors that it was only with great difficulty and loss they regained
their ships.
Yet curiosity drove the undaunted Spaniards to persist in their efforts to obtain some nearer
knowledge of this race so superior in civilisation and spirit to the ignorant and nerveless
inhabitants of the isles. Coasting westwards from Cape Catoche, the eastern point of the large
peninsula, they made several attempts to explore the country, but every landing cost them dear. Of
the crew, half left their bones on that inhospitable shore, and but one man returned scatheless.
[31] With absorbing interest Velasquez and his friends listened to the words of the dying captain, and
when they saw the curiously wrought gold ornaments exhibited as proof of the romantic story, their
eyes gleamed with the light of desire. It was at once determined to explore this new country which
lay beyond the islands, and four ships were fitted out under the command of Juan de Grijalva, the
Governor's nephew.
Leaving the port of St. Jago de Cuba on the first of May 1518, Grijalva, taking a more southerly
course than Cordova, reached the isle of Cozumel, which nestles close to the eastern shores of
Yucatan.
Here and on the adjoining mainland the Spaniards were amazed to find great stone crosses. Had the
saints already vouchsafed to these heathen peoples some glimmering of the Christian faith? Could
this be the blessed Island of the Seven Cities? In great excitement sailors recalled the ancient
legend. It was said that a pilot, old and bewildered, reached one day in a battered ship the harbour
of Lisbon. He had been driven by storms he "knew not whither," until he came to an isle in the midst
of the ocean where were seven noble cities peopled by Christians who spoke the ancient Castilian
tongue. They told him that they were the descendants of a band of Spaniards who had escaped from
Spain at the time of the Moslem conquest. Led by seven bishops the exiles had embarked on the stormy
ocean whither the infidels dared not follow, and they had made at last this beauteous island where
each bishop had founded a Christian city. The old pilot, on his return to his
[32] ship, was swept out to sea by a sudden storm, and saw no more of the mysterious island. But the
legend of his strange discovery had never been forgotten, and now as Grijalva's men, following
Cordova's track, coasted the peninsula of Yucatan, they watched out eagerly for traces of their
long-lost countrymen. And Grijalva, as he caught glimpses here and there of white-walled villages,
in his enthusiasm christened this fair peninsula, with its signs of the handiwork of civilised man,
"New Spain."
On the southern shores of the great Mexican Gulf the explorers left their ships, and taking to the
boats penetrated a considerable way up one of the rivers which the natives called Tabasco. Rounding
a wooded headland they came suddenly on a large body of Indians glittering in warlike array. Their
cacique, however, proved not hostile, but intensely curious as to his strange visitors whom he was
evidently anxious to impress. He accepted their presents of glass and beads, and offered in return a
rich treasure of golden armour. Continuing their westerly course the Spaniards had, to their great
joy, many other opportunities for this lucrative trade. They explored several noble rivers, one of
which they dubbed the Rio de Alvarado, after their most popular captain. On the banks of another
stream farther to the north they were greeted by the cacique of a still more imposing native host,
who informed them by signs that he was the subject of a mighty emperor whose people were called
Aztecs or Mexicans. "The golden empire of Columbus!" thought Grijalva, resolving to despatch the
thrilling news forthwith to
[33] Velasquez. Alvarado, to whom he entrusted the message and all the treasure, sailed accordingly in
the swiftest ship for Cuba.
Grijalva himself explored the coast still further, sailing as far as the river called Panuco. Many
an unwonted sight the Spaniards saw in this new land. In one bright isle they entered a white stone
temple and found on the altar the mangled limbs of a human being. In horror they made haste to sail
away from this unhallowed Isle of Sacrifice. What, they questioned, can be the religion of this race
who perform such horrid rites, and yet worship the sacred Cross? In a neighbouring island, which he
named St. Juan de Ulua, Grijalva was tempted to plant a settlement, but, short as he was of both
provisions and men, he realised that it would be a foolhardy experiment. Velasquez, moreover, who
was a captious master, had only authorised him to explore and to trade.
Alvarado meanwhile, with his burden of treasure and his great news, set Cuba aflame with excitement
and desire. The exultant Governor despatched his chaplain to Spain with a bounteous share of the
gold, and a request that he might be empowered to conquer and colonise this rich country he had
caused to be discovered. Without waiting for an answer, or even for Grijalva's return, he began at
once to prepare a large armament. Intensely jealous in nature, he was resolved not to entrust this
new expedition to his nephew, who had, he feared, already gained too much glory by the first.
When Grijalva returned to St. Jago de Cuba, after six eventful months, he met, therefore, to his
[34] surprise and dismay, with but a cold reception. Bitter was his disappointment to find that another
was to command the armament already equipped to open out the alluring land he had himself
discovered. His services were calmly ignored, and he was reproached, most unjustly, for not having
attempted more.
No conquest, indeed, had Grijalva made, no settlement effected, yet to him must ever belong the
honour of being the first European to set foot on the soil of Mexico. Misguided was Velasquez to set
aside so honest and faithful an envoy. Blind he was to choose as his new commander a man bold and
resourceful, but possessed with an overweening ambition—Hernando Cortés! The longed-for chance
had come!
Velasquez aimed at the impossible. He sought to make, by deputy, a great conquest, and yet to keep
all the glory to himself. To secure this end he had chosen for his captain-general a man, as yet
undistinguished, of no rank, and quite without political influence in the home-country. Cortés, he
fondly hoped, would prove a useful tool and no rival, for did he not owe his present prosperous
position entirely to the Governor's favour? He was, moreover, a man of enterprise and resolution,
well fitted to lead an expedition.
On the twenty-third of October 1518, a few days before Grijalva's return, Cortés formally received
his commission. He was solemnly charged to treat the natives with humanity, and to make their
conversion his chief object. He was to inform them of the
[35] "grandeur and goodness" of the monarch of Spain, and to invite them "to give in their allegiance to
him, and to manifest it by regaling him with such comfortable presents of gold, pearls, and precious
stones as, showing their own goodwill, would secure his favour and protection." He was instructed to
make a survey of the coast, to send back to Velasquez full reports of the products and people of the
new country, with any treasure he might acquire. Finally, he was to take "the most careful care to
omit nothing that might redound to the service of God or his sovereign."
![[Illustration]](http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/thumbnails/morley_mitchell.jpg) |
Hundreds of additional titles available for
online reading when you join Gateway to the Classics
|
![[Illustration]](http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/thumbnails/nesbit_railway.jpg) |
|
|