Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/50

Rh taken prisoner Gil Gonzalez de Avila. When all this was learned by Don Fernando Cortes he sent Francisco de las Casas with two ships and some soldiers against the rebel. Him also did Christoval de Olid take prisoner. Afterwards occurred the great revolts, quarrels and murders which the historians relate, but which I will not repeat.

Cortes Starts for Honduras. “Don Fernando Cortes was greatly enraged that Christoval de Olid, his old friend, should thus have risen up against him, causing so much ruin. So he determined to go in person to punish Olid. Nor did the thought of the great loss his absence would be to Mexico suffice to dissuade him....

“No arguments in the least changed his decision. He assembled all the Spaniards he could; there were more than four hundred infantry and cavalry, besides much artillery and baggage. In addition, there were between three and four thousand Indian warriors from Mexico, among whom were King Quatemoz, the successor of the great Motezuma,... and the Lords of Tacuba and Tezcuco, cities on the Lake of Mexico, and other Mexican Lords. With these, Cortes took his march by land, and through regions so rough and impenetrable that they had never been pressed by human feet. They forced their way through the forests, opening paths and building very large bridges of wood so disproportionately thick that some of them are still standing today and are called 'Bridges of Cortes.' Cortes and his followers suffered hunger, bruises, illnesses, hard roads, worse lodgings, and other insupportable trials, so that to tell them all entire books would be needed.

Cortes Arrives at Izancanac. “Don Fernando Cortes and those who were with him arrived at the city of Izancanac in the Province of Acalan. There was discovered the plot which King Quatemoz, the Lord of Tacuba, and other Mexican chiefs had made between themselves to attack the Spaniards while they