Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/297

 accompanied by the guides, and, about a half a league from our camping place, I came upon a small plain where there were some huts, beyond which  Departure from Peten-itza was a small forest extending for about a league and a half; after which we again reached some beautiful plains, covered with grass, from which point I sent ahead some horsemen and foot soldiers with orders to stop and seize any natives they might find on their way, for the guides had told us we would arrive near a village that same night. We found these I plains abounding in deer, so we hunted all that day on horseback, and speared eighteen of them, though, owing to the heat and the fact that our horses were in bad condition from the previous journey through mountainous and swampy districts, two of them died, and many others were in great danger. Our hunting finished, we continued our route, and, after a little while, I met some of the scouts ahead who had captured four Indian hunters, these latter having just killed a lion and some iguanas, a species of large lizard which are common in the island [lucerta eguana]. I learned from the hunters that their townsmen knew nothing about me, and they then pointed out to me the plantations from which they came, which were visible about one league and a half from where we were. I hastened thither, thinking I might arrive without difficulty, but, just as I thought I was about to enter the village, and could see the people moving about in it, we came upon a large lagoon which seemed to me very deep, and so I was delayed. I called to the Indians, and two of them came in a canoe, bringing about a dozen chickens, and approaching very near to where I was on horseback, standing in water up to the girths; but, although I remained talking with them quite a while, and trying to persuade them to approach the shore, they were afraid to do this, but rather retreated, and began to withdraw in their canoes to their town. The Spaniard