where bright waters commingling with soft round hills and rugged promontories were lifted into ethereal heights by the misted sunshine, the whole scene falling on the senses like a vision, and not like tame reality, there they chose a site for the Villa Rica,[1] and drew a plan of the town, distributed lots, laid the foundations for forts and batteries, granary, church, town hall, and other buildings, which were constructed chiefly of adobe, the whole being inclosed by a strong stockade. To encourage alike men and officers to push the work, Cortés himself set the example in preparing for the structures, and in carrying earth and stones. The natives also lent their aid, and in a few weeks the town stood ready, furnishing a good shipping depot, a fortress for the control of the interior, a starting-point for operations, an asylum for the sick and wounded, and a refuge for the army in case of need.
Great was the excitement in Anáhuac and the regions round about over the revolt of the Totonacs and the attitude assumed by the Spaniards; and
- ↑ Villa Rica is the name appearing in the first royal charter of 1523, but with later foundations Vera Cruz became the title. Panes, Extension Veracruz, MS., 1 et seq. The municipal council, however, distinctly calls it la Rica Villa de la Veracruz and ought to be the proper authority for the form of name first applied. Carta del Ayunt., in Cortés, Cartas, 1 et seq. 'Y luego ordenamos de hazer, y fundar, è poblar vna Villa, que se nombró la Villa Rica de la Vera-Cruz; porque llegamos Jueves de la Cena, y desembarcamos en Uiernes Santo de la Cruz, é rica por aquel Cauallero que . . . . dixo que mirasse las tierras ricas.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 29. 'Llamola Villa Rica a la nueua poblaciō, y de la Veracruz, por auer desembarcado el Viernes Săto, y Rica, por la riqueza que se descubierto.' Herrera, dcc. ii. lib. v. cap. vii. Although nominally founded adjacent to San Juan de Ulua, there was no intention to build the town on that unhealthy and dreary spot. The first actual foundation took place at the harbor of Bernal. Nearly five years later the town rose anew on the present Rio de la Antigua, where it became known alone as Vera Cruz. In 1599 the actual or new Vera Cruz found itself finally planted on the very site of the first nominal foundation. The chief reason for this change was probably the need for the better protection against filibusters afforded by the island of San Juan de Ulua, whose batteries commanded the harbor. See Albornoz, Carta al Emperador, Dec., 1525, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 495. The charter for la Nueva Ciudad de la Vera-Cruz was granted July 19, 1615. Calle, Mem. y Not., 68; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 30; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 27; Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 276-7. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, i. 149-50, has some excellent remarks hereon. Few authors, however, are free from blunders with regard to the different sites, even Lorenzana committing more than one. Cortés, Hist. N. España, 381.
