Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/313

 navigated to the extreme end of them, a distance altogether of fourteen leagues up the river, the stream became so narrow and so impetuous that, in six days, they had not made more than four leagues, although the waters were still very deep. They had not been able to discover much about it, but he believed that we would there find sufficient provisions of maize. He thought I had too few people to go thither, for eighty of his party had landed, and, although they had succeeded in surprising the town, the Indians gathered afterwards and fought with them, wounding several people and forcing them to re-embark.

Seeing, however, the extremity in which we were, and that it was more dangerous to go to sea without provisions than to hunt for them on land, I determined to ascend that river; for, besides having no alternative, it might be that God, our Lord, would grant that I should there discover some secret profitable to Your Majesty. So I immediately counted the people capable of accompanying me, and found some forty Spaniards who, though not all fit for service, were still able to guard the ships while I landed. With these forty Spaniards and about fifty Indians who still remained of those whom I brought from Mexico, and everything being ready for sea, I set out, in two other boats and four canoes, in the direction of that river we were to ascend, leaving all my sick people in that town with a steward of mine to take charge of them. At first, we had great difficulty in navigating against the strong current of the river, but after two nights and a day we reached the first of the two rivers above mentioned, some three leagues distant from our starting place; the gulf may measure about twelve leagues around, its shores being completely deserted, very low, and swampy. I sailed an entire day about this gulf, until I came to another narrowing which the river makes; and, entering it, I reached the