Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/286

 have no other lord save this Apaspolon, whom I have mentioned above to Your Majesty, and he is the richest trader and has the greatest shipping traffic of anybody. His commerce is very extensive, and at Nito, a town of which I will hereafter speak, and where I met the Spaniards of Gil Gonzales de Avila's party, there is an entire quarter peopled with his agents under command of one of his brothers. The chief articles of merchandise in those provinces are cacao, cotton cloth, colours for dyeing, and a kind of stain with which they smear their bodies to protect them against heat and cold; tar for lighting purposes, resine from pines for the incensing of their idols, slaves, and certain red beads of shells which they greatly esteem for ornamenting their persons in their feasts and festivities; they trade in some gold, which is mixed with copper and other alloys.

To this Apaspolon, as well as to other notable persons of the province who came to see me, I spoke as I had to all the others on the road respecting their idols and what they ought to do to save their souls, and to what they were bound in Your Majesty's service. They appeared to accept what I said with satisfaction, and they burned many of their idols in my presence, saying that henceforth they would no longer honour them, and promising that they would obey everything commanded of them in Your Majesty's name; upon which I took my leave of them and departed as I have said above.

Three days before leaving this province of Acalan, I sent ahead four Spaniards, with two guides whom the chief had given me, to explore the road to the province of Mazatlan, which in their language is called Quiacho. They had told me that for four days I would have to cross the deserted country, sleeping in the forest, so I ordered the men to inspect the country well, and see if there were any rivers or swamps to cross; and at the same time I directed that my people should take supplies