Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/28

2. He received us kindly and promised us the first Indians available. For months we waited and idled with this promise in mind. But finally one hundred and ten of us, those who had come to Cuba together, and also others, sought to gain employment fitting for ourselves, and so we met and chose for our captain, Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, a rich man and one owning numbers of Indians in Cuba. He was to lead us on voyages of discovery.

To this purpose we bought two ships of good size. The third was a bark, a gift of Diego Velasquez—if we would go to the Guanajes Islands off the coast of Honduras, make war on the people there, and bring him three cargoes of Indians to pay him for his bark. We knew, however, that what Diego Velasquez asked of us was an act of injustice, and gave answer that neither the law of God nor of the king bid us to turn free people into slaves. When he learned our will, he confessed that our plan to go for the discovery of new countries was more praiseworthy, and he helped us find provision for the voyage.

We now had three ships and a supply of bread, called cassava, made from the yucca root. We also bought some pigs, which cost us three dollars apiece; for at that time there were neither cows nor sheep in Cuba. Then we had also a scant supply of other provisions, while every soldier took some green glass