Page:The Coronado expedition, 1540-1542.djvu/351

 men who remained to defend the city, and many of them came out, about a crossbow shot, uttering loud threats. The general himself went forward with two priests and the army-master, to urge them to surrender, as is the custom in new countries. The reply that he received was from many arrows which the; let fly, and they wounded Hernando Bermejo's horse and pierced the loose flap of the frock of father Friar Luis, the former companion of the Lord Bishop of Mexico. When this was seen, taking as their advocate the Holy Saint James, he rushed upon them with all his force, which he had kept in very good order, and although the Indians turned their backs and tried to reach the city, they were overtaken and many of them killed before they could reach it. They killed three horses and wounded seven or eight.

When my lord the general reached the city, he saw that it was surrounded by stone walls, and the houses very high, four and five and even six stories apiece, with their flat roofs and balconies. As the Indians had made themselves secure within it, and would not let anyone come near without shooting arrows at him, and as we could not obtain anything to eat nnless we captured it, his grace decided to enter the city on foot and to surround it by men on horseback, so that the Indians who were inside could not get away. As he was distinguished among them all by his gilt arms and a plume on his headpiece, all the Indians aimed at him, because he was noticeable among all, and they knocked him down to the ground twice by chance stones thrown from the flat roofs, and stunned him in spite of his headpiece, and if this had not been so good, I doubt if he would have come out alive from that enterprise, and besides all this-praised be Our Lord that he came out on his own feet — they hit him many times with stones on his head and shoulders and legs, and he received two small wounds on his face and an arrow wound in the right foot; but despite all this his grace is as sound and well as the day he left that city. And you may assure my lord of all this, and also that on the 19th of July last he went 4 leagues from this city to see a rock where they told him that the Indians of this province had fortified themselves, and he returned the same day, so that he went 8 leagues in going and returning. I think I have given you an account of everything, for it is right that I should be the authority for you and his lordship, to assure you that everything is going well with the general my lord, and without any hesitation I can assure you that he is as well and sound as the day he left the city. He is located within the city, for when the Indians saw that his grace was determined to enter the city, then they abandoned it, since they let them go with their lives. We found in it what we needed more than gold and silver, and that was much corn and beans and fowls, better than those of New Spain, and salt, the best and whitest that I have seen in all my life.