Cortes informed us after the battle, that his march had been much retarded by bad ground, and by the attacks of some detached bodies of the enemy, who had wounded five of his men and eight horses. Being thus victorious, the cavalry dismounted, and we assembled under a grove of trees, where we gave thanks to GOD and his blessed mother for our victory. A town was afterwards founded on the field of battle, named Santa Maria della Vittoria220, in memory of this victory. After binding up our wounds and those of the horses, which we dressed with the fat of dead Indians, we examined the field of battle, where we found upwards of 800 of the enemy dead or dying of their wounds, the slain being particularly numerous where the cavalry had charged. After burying two of our soldiers, one of whom was killed by a wound in the ear, and the other by one in the throat, we retired to our quarters at Tabasco towards evening, where we eat our suppers, and having placed sufficient guards, we went to sleep.
Gomara relates that in this battle, previous to the arrival of Cortes with the cavalry, one of the holy apostles, either St Jago or Peter, appeared on a dapple-grey horse under the semblance of Francisco de Morla. All our victories were assuredly guided by the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ; but if this were the case, I, a poor sinner, was not worthy to be permitted to see it, neither was it seen by any of our army, above 400 in number. I certainly saw Francisco de Morla along with Cortes, but he rode a chesnut horse that day. We certainly were bad Christians indeed, if, according to the account of Gomara, GOD sent one of his holy apostles to fight at our head, and we ungratefully neglected to give thanks for so great a mercy: But, till I read the chronicle of Gomara, I never heard of this miracle, neither was it ever mentioned by any of the conquerors who were present in the battle.
In the battle we took only five prisoners, two of whom appeared to be chiefs. These were kindly treated by Cortes, who exhorted them by means of Aguilar to induce their countrymen to enter into terms of peace and friendship with us; and having given them a number of beads and artificial diamonds, he set them at liberty. These Indians faithfully executed the commission with which they were entrusted; insomuch that the chiefs immediately sent fifteen Indians, in wretched habits, and with their faces blackened in token of contrition, and bearing a present of fowls, roasted fish, and maize, Cortes received them with kindness; but Aguilar spoke to them sharply, saying that we were disposed to treat with the chiefs, and not with slaves. Next day thirty natives of rank came in good dresses with another present, and begged permission to bury their dead, that they might not be eaten by lions and tigers221. This was immediately granted, and they proceeded to bury and inter the slain. On the following day, ten chiefs arrived in great ceremony in rich dresses, who respectfully saluted Cortes and the rest of us, fumigating us with fragrant gums; after which they asked pardon for their hostilities, and promised to behave well for the future. Cortes told them with a severe countenance, that they deserved death for having rejected our former offers of peace; but that Don Carlos, our great sovereign, had ordered us to favour them in all things if they would now deserve it by peace and submission, and they might be sure to feel the effects of our vengeance if they again revolted. He then ordered a cannon to be fired off, the noise of which, and the effects of its ball among the adjoining woods, filled them with terror, as they believed it to be some terrible living creature. The most spirited of our horses was then brought before them, so managed as to display his fierceness and action to the best advantage, which impressed the natives with astonishment and awe. Shortly after twenty Indians arrived, who were loaded with provisions for our use; and after a long conference, the chiefs took leave of Cortes and withdrew, much satisfied with their visit. We were visited on the following day by many chiefs of the neighbouring districts, who brought with them presents of golden toys in various shapes; some like human faces, and others in the shape of various animals, as lizards, dogs, and ducks. They presented at the same time three diadems or coronets, and two pieces of gold resembling the sole of a shoe or sandal, with some other articles of small value, as also some very large mantles. But the present which we considered as most valuable, was twenty women; among whom was the excellent Donna Marina, so called after her baptism. Cortes thanked the chiefs for the presents, but told them that the most certain sign of peace would be the return of the inhabitants to the town, which he desired might be in two days; and this was done accordingly. He likewise exhorted them to renounce their idolatry, explaining the mysteries of our holy faith, especially those parts of it which are represented by the cross, and the image of the holy virgin. They gave a ready assent to this, the caciques declaring their admiration of the Tecleciquata, which signifies the great princess in their language.
The chiefs excused their late hostilities, alleging that they had been instigated to attack us by the cacique of Champoton, and by our interpreter Melchoreja who had deserted. Cortes was anxious to have this man delivered up to him, but was told that he had fled; we learned afterwards that he had been sacrificed. On being questioned whence they procured their gold, they answered that it came from the west, frequently repeating Culchua and Mexico, words we did not then understand; but an interpreter, named Franciso, who had been along with Grijalva, though he did not understand the language of Tabasco, said that he knew Culchua, which he alleged lay far inland. On the day following, having erected a crucifix and built an altar, the name of Tabasco was changed to that of Santa Maria de la Vittoria; and on this occasion, the twenty Indian women who had been presented to Cortes by the chiefs were baptized by our chaplain, Olmedo, who preached to them many good things of our holy faith, Aguilar serving as interpreter. Cortes gave one of these women to each of his captains. These were the first Christian women in New Spain.
The young native who was baptised by the name of Donna Marina was a woman of high rank, which she shewed in her and appearance, of a beautiful person and countenance, a quick genius and high spirit, and rendered very essential services in the sequel of our expedition. She was a native of the village of Painalla, in the province of Guacacualca, or Coatzacualco222. Her father was prince or cacique of Painalla and several other districts, under subjection to the empire of Mexico; but dying while she was an infant, her mother married another cacique, by whom she had a son, to whom they wished to give the succession which ought to have belonged to Marina. For this purpose they gave her away privately to some merchants of Xicallanco, a place on the borders of Tabasco in Yucutan, giving out that she was dead, and going into mourning for the daughter of one of their slaves who died at this time, and was much of the same age. These merchants sold her to some chief in Tabasco, by whom she was afterwards presented to Cortes, who presented her to Puertocarrero; and when that cavalier returned to Spain, Cortes took her to himself, and had a son by her, named Don Martin Cortes, who became a knight of St Jago. She afterwards married, during our expedition to Higueras, a cavalier named Juan Xaramillo. During the expedition to Higueras in Honduras, in the year 1524, in which she accompanied Cortes, she had occasion to see her mother and brother; as Cortes summoned all the neighbouring caciques to meet him at Coatzacualco, among whom they came, as they now governed their territory conjunctly, the second husband being dead. On seeing Donna Marina, the old lady and her son cried bitterly, being afraid of being put to death; but Marina assured them of her forgiveness, saying that she thanked GOD their intended injury had been the means of drawing her from the worship of idols to the true faith, and was happier in having a son by her lord and master Cortes, and in the husband she then possessed, than if she had been sovereign of all New Spain, and gave them at parting a handsome present of gold. I was personally acquainted with her mother and half brother, who were both afterwards baptized, the mother by the name of Martha, and the brother by that of Lazarus. Donna Marina perfectly understood her native language of Coatzacualco, which is the same with that of Mexico; and as she could likewise converse with Aguilar in the Maja language, which is spoken in Yucutan and Tabasco, we thus acquired a medium of intercourse with the Mexicans, Tlascalans, and other nations of Anahuac or New Spain, which was of infinite importance to us in the sequel. In a little time she learnt the Spanish, by which the circuitous means of double interpretation was avoided. She was always faithful to the Spaniards, to whom her services were of the very highest importance; as she not only was the instrument of their negotiations with the various nations of Anahuac, but often saved their lives by giving them notice of dangers, and suggesting the means of avoiding them. Don Martin Cortes, her son, was afterwards most unjustly put to the torture at Mexico in 1568, on some unfounded suspicion of intended rebellion, his iniquitous and barbarous judges, paying no regard to the memory of the unequalled services rendered by his parents to the Catholic king and the Spanish nation.
220
According to Clavigero, this place was named
221
There are no lions or tigers in America, but Europeans have loosely given these names to other species of the same genus, such as the felis onca, or jaguar; F. discolor or jaguarate; and F. concolor, or puma; which last is often called the American lion, and the jaguar is the Mexican tiger. –E.
222
In this account of Donna Marina, the information given by Clavigero, II. 9. is here combined with that of Bernal Diaz, and the orthography of the Mexican names of places has been corrected throughout from the former writer, a native of New Spain, and intimately acquainted with its language. As the Mexicans do not pronounce the letter