two days for her return, but she came back next day,
saying that none of them could be prevailed upon to
come. At this place, named
Santa Cruz,
we found a great deal of honey in hives, several kinds
of vegetables, such as boniatos and potatoes, and many
hogs of the country, having their navel on their backs.
There are two smaller towns on this island, which
we did not visit, being unwilling to lose time.
Following the course of Cordova, we arrived in eight
days at
Champoton[1], where we cast anchor
a league from the shore, on account of the water being
very shoal at low ebbs. We disembarked with half
of our soldiers close to the town, and the natives
remembering their former success against us, attacked
us immediately with much military parade. From
our former experience, we took care to be well prepared
on this occasion, and accordingly had our boats armed
with falconets[2]. Half of our men were wounded
before we could reach the shore: But having formed
on the beach, and being reinforced by a second disembarkation,
we soon defeated them, on which they fled to the marshes;
yet we lost three of our men, our captain receiving
three arrows, and having two of his teeth knocked
out. On entering the town after the defeat of
the natives, we found it entirely deserted, the inhabitants
having likewise removed all their effects. We
took three prisoners, whom we endeavoured to reconcile
by kind usage, and sent them with a message to bring
back their countrymen; but they never returned, and
we suspected our interpreters of dealing treacherously
so as to counteract our wishes. The field in which
we fought with these Indians was very stony, and swarmed
prodigiously with locusts, and these animals sprung
up in such numbers during the action, striking us
in the face, that we hardly knew when to raise our
shields in our defence, or whether it was locusts
or arrows which flew about us, they were so mixed
together.
After staying four days in Champoton, we pursued
our voyage to what appeared the entrance of a large
river; but Alaminos insisted that it was the termination
of a large island, on which account this inlet was
called Boca de Terminos. Grijalva went
on shore with several officers and a party of soldiers,
to examine the bay and the adjacent country, where
they found several temples containing idols of clay
and wood, some like women, and others like serpents.
As the country was quite uninhabited, and we found
many horns of deer at the temples, it was concluded
they had been built for the accommodation of hunters,
when they frequented this part of the country, which
abounded in deer and rabbits. We killed ten of
the former, and many rabbits, by means of a dog we
had with us, which we left behind us by accident when
we reimbarked; but we found him afterwards on the
shore, fat and sleek, when we returned on the expedition
with Cortes. Continuing along the coast to the
westwards from Boca de Terminos, we arrived