not far from the capital of the Nonohualcas, a large town of adobe and stone buildings on the opposite mainland, protected by a heavy stockade.[1]
In answer to a demand for water, the natives thereabout pointed to the river; as for food, they would bring some on the morrow. Cortés did not like the appearance of things; and when, during the night, they began to remove their women and children from the town, he saw that his work must begin here. More men and arms were landed on the island, and Ávila was ordered to proceed to the mainland with one hundred men, gain the rear of the town, and attack at a given signal.[2] In the morning a few canoes arrived at the island with scanty provisions, all that could be obtained, the natives said; and further than this, the Spaniards must leave: if they attempted to penetrate the interior, they would be cut off to a man. Cortés answered that his duty to the great king he served required him to examine the country and barter for supplies. Entering the vessels, he ordered them to advance toward the town; and in the presence of the royal notary, Diego de Godoy, he made a final appeal for peace, as required by Spanish law, casting upon the natives the blame for the consequences of their refusal. The reply came in
- ↑ Mille quingentorum passuum, ait Alaminus nauclerus, et domorum quinque ac viginti millium . . . . egregie lapidibus et calce fabrefectæ.' Peter Martyr, De Insvlis, 14. 'A poco mas de media legua que subian por el, (river) vieron vn gran pueblo con las casas de adoues y los tejados de paja, el qual estaua cercado de madera, con bien gruessa pared y almenas, y troneras para flechar.' Halls and temples are also referred to: Mas no tiene vegente y cinco mil casas.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 26-37. 'Punta de los Palmares [where Grijalva also camped], que estava del pueblo de Tabasco otro media logua.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 20. Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 77, follows Gomara and Martyr, in calling the pueblo Potonchan; so does Helps, Span. Con., ii. 260-4, who frequently reveals the superficiality of his researches. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls it Centla. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 58. The stockade defences are described in detail in Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 93-4.
- ↑ 'Mandò poner en cada vn batel tres tiros.' Ávila received one hundred soldiers, including ten cross-bowmen, and took a route leading across creeks and marshes to the rear of the pueblo. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 20. "Señalo Cortés dos capitanes con cada cienticinquento Españoles. Que fueron Alonso di Auila, y Pedro de Aluarado.' A ford was found half a league above the camp. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 27; Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. vii., sends onc hundred and fifty men by different routes. The testimony favors the supposition that Ávila forded the river.
