58 Death of Cristoval de Olid. It was not until Cortez approached the sea-coast that he heard that Cristoval de Olid had been assassinated by Francisco de Las Casas, one of the captains who had been sent to subdue the rebel. The first object of the expedition was, therefore, in great measure attained. Cortez, however, proceeded to visit the new settlement. Indeed, it would have been useless for him to attempt to return by the way he had come; and it was while he was staying in Truxillo, and busying himself with his colony there, that intelligence reached him of the lamentable proceedings which had taken place in Mexico during his absence. He had come all this way to punish the rebellion state of preservation. We ascended by large stone steps, in some places perfect, and in others thrown down by trees which had grown up between the crevices, and reached a terrace, the form of which it was impossible to make out, from the density of the forest in which it was enveloped. Our guide cleared a way with his machete..... Diverging from the base, and working our way through the thick woods, we came upon a square stone column, about fourteen feet high and three feet on each side, sculptured in very bold relief, and on all four of the sides, from the base to the top. The front was the figure of a man curiously and richly dressed, and the face, evidently a portrait, solemn, stern, and well fitted to excite terror. The back was of a different design, unlike any thing we had ever seen before, and the sides were covered with hieroglyphics...... With an interest perhaps stronger than we had ever felt in wandering over the ruins of Egypt, we followed our guide, who, sometimes missing his way, with a constant and vigorous use of his machete, conducted us through the thick forest, among half-buried fragments, to fourteen monuments of the same character and appearance, some with more elegant designs, and some in workmanship equal to the finest monuments of the Egyptians; one displaced from its pedestal by enormous roots; another locked in the close embrace of branches of trees, and almost lifted out of the earth; another hurled to the ground, and bound down by huge vines and creepers; and one standing, with its altar before it, in a grove of trees which grew around it, seemingly to shade and shroud it as a sacred thing; in the solemn stillness of the woods, it seemed a divinity mourning over a fallen people.”—STEPHENS, Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. i., chap. v., p. 101-103. of one of his captains, and had left behind him the seeds of the most deplorable sedition among the principal men of his chief city. In commenting upon this state of things to his master the Emperor, he uses a very striking expression, condemnatory of the folly and unfaithfulness which was manifested for the most part by those official persons in the colonies who were intrusted with delegated authority. They think," he says, "that unless they make themselves ridiculous, they hardly seem to themselves to be in power"—(literally, "unless they commit folly, they think they do not wear the plume"*)—a proverbial expression which probably came from the East, and which embodies the 66 Porque ya por acá todos piensan en viéndose ausentes con un cargo, que sino hacen befa no portan penacho."-Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 131. 60 His Conduct on the Occasion. deep sense of misgovernment that had been felt by subject millions whose only protest against the folly and caprice of their rulers was some dire proverb of this kind. The conduct of Cortez on this occasion gives great insight into his character. He was much urged by his followers to go at once by sea to Mexico. His presence there was greatly needed. No one was more aware of this than he was himself. Still, he hesitated to go; for it was a great peculiarity of this remarkable man, that his attention was not always directed to what seemed most pressing, but often to some duty based upon general rules of action, and a large foresight of what would in the end be politic. His conduct at the siege of Mexico, sending to succor the Indian allies when he himself had just suffered defeat, was an instance of this largeness of view. And, on the present occasion, the state of the king's affairs in Honduras, and the opportunity for enlarging the conquest, formed a powerful attraction to keep him in the spot where he then was.* In this perplexity he sought inspiration from above, and, after solemn prayers and processions, the course of returning to Mexico seemed to him the better way. Accordingly, arranging his * "Por otra parte doliame en el ánima dejar esta tierra en el estado y coyuntura que la dejaba, porque era perderse totalmente, y tengo por muy cierto que en ella V. M. ha de ser servido y que ha de ser otra Culua, porque tengo noticia de muy grandes y ricas provincias y de grandes señores en ellas de mucha manera y servicio."-Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 131. + "Y estando en esta perplejidad consideré que ninguna cosa puede ser bien hecha ni guiada sino es por mano del Hacedor y Movedor de todas, y hice decir misas y hacer procesiones y otros sacrificios suplicando á Dios me encaminase en aquello de que él mas se sirviese, y despues de hecho esto por algunos dias parecióme que todavía debia posponer todas las cosas y ir á remediar aquellos daños."-Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 131. : Cortez sets sail for New Spain. 61 affairs in Honduras, he prepared to set sail for New Spain. Thrice, however, he was compelled to return to land once on account of a sudden calm, and also from hearing that the people he had left on shore were inclined to be seditious; a second time, because the main-yard (la entena mayor) snapped asunder; and the third time, because of a violent north wind, which drove his vessel back after he had made fifty leagues from the coast.* Thinking that these were signs that God did not approve of the course he had adopted, Cortez again sought for Divine guidance;† and this time, after renewed prayers and processions, he resolved to stay where he was, and to dispatch a trusty messenger to his followers in Mexico, telling them that *This would have been the time for Cortez to have consulted the stars, but his clear and pious mind abjured all such vain attempts at knowledge; and amid his numerous retinue no such attendant as an astrologer was to be found. He believed profoundly in the immediate action of a superintending Providence, but was not likely to seek for hope or guidance from any created things. It is remarkable that the science, if it may so be called, of astrology, which had great hold upon shrewd persons, such as Louis the Eleventh, Pope Paul the Third, Catharine de Medicis, Wallenstein, the Earl of Leicester, and many other historical personages, both in that age and in those which preceded and followed it, had no influence whatever upon the Spanish monarchs -Ferdinand, Charles the Fifth, and Philip the Second. Nor does astrology seem to have had any effect on the minor personages connected with the conquest of America. The hard, distinct faith of the Spaniard, and perhaps his hatred of the Moor, made him averse from wizardry, or any thing that resembled it. "Y torné de nuevo á encomendarlo á Dios y hacer procesiones y decir misas."-Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 133. This account is confirmed by BERNAL DIAZ in the following words: "Y desembarcado en Truxillo, mandó á Fray Juan, que se avia embarcado con Cortés, que dixesse Missas al Espirítu Santo, é hiziesse procession, y rogativas á Nuestro Señor Dios, y á Santa María Nuestra Señora la Vírgen, que le encaminasse lo que mas fuesse para su santo servicio y pareció ser, el Espíritu Santo le alumbró de no ir por entonces aquel viaje, sino que conquistasse, y poblasse aquellas tierras."-BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 187. : : 62 Return of Cortez to Mexico. he was alive, and informing them of what had happened to him. They had fled for refuge to the Franciscan convent in that city. On hearing this good news. they took heart, sallied forth, and deposed the factor and the veedor. Meanwhile, the vessel in which Cortez had sent his messenger returned to him at Truxillo, and in it came a cousin of his, a Franciscan friar named Diego Altamirano. From this monk, and from the letters which he brought, Cortez learned to the full extent the scandals and the tumults which had taken place during his absence in Mexico, and the necessity there seemed to be for his immediate return to the seat of his government. He had intended to return by Nicaragua and Guatemala, being well aware of the disastrous state of those provinces (of which some account will hereafter be given), and of the services which his presence might render. But the troubles of Mexico summoned him with a louder voice, and he resolved to return forthwith to that city. Accordingly, on the 25th of April, 1526, he set sail for New Spain. A violent storm drove him out of his way to Cuba, and he landed at the port of Havana, where in a few days he learned that his party had been successful, and had deposed the factor and the veedor. On the 16th of May he set sail again for New Spain, landed near the town of Medellin, and made a triumphal entry into Mexico on the 19th of June, 1526, amid the acclamations of his own people and of the natives. Cortez was much changed. Certainly at Medellin, where his presence was unexpected, and probably at Mexico, there were many persons who failed at first to recognize in his haggard, sickly countenance, imprinted with the sufferings and dangers he had undergone during his journey to Hon |