easily killed for food. Fire was obtained by the primitive method of rubbing together two pieces of wood. Finding no vessel at Pánuco, Cortés had sent instructions to Villa Rica to despatch the above craft in search of it, and so the three sailors were rescued. The vessel and a small boat were left with the settlers to maintain communication.[1]
The expedition was most disappointing, for hardly any spoils were secured to satisfy the inordinate hopes entertained, while the expenses amounted to quite a large sum, nails and horseshoes costing their weight in gold.[2] Yet the outlay was not in vain, so far as Spanish interests in general were concerned, for a crew wrecked on that coast not long after escaped the slaughter to which they would undoubtedly have been exposed had the province not been subjugated, and later colonists were saved the cost and danger of conquering.[3]
There seems to have been good reason for the claim that the influence of Cortés was necessary to maintain the conquests he had effected, and that his simple presence answered better than armies to control the natives. Of this an illustration was offered at this time. His absence in Pánuco gave rise to the report in some quarters that he had departed for Spain, and
- ↑ 'Un barco y un chinchorro.' Cortés, Cartas, 286. Bernal Diaz adds that when Cortés was about to leave, a conspiracy was revealed among the three leading villages, to lead in a general revolt against the settlers as soon as the general should have left. The villages were burned as a warning. Hist. Verdad., 162. Gomara insinuates that this burning occurred during the campaign, it seems, in punishment for the attack on Garay's men. Hist. Mex., 222-3.
- ↑ 'Valian los clauos a peso de oro, de quinze quilates, y cada quatro herraduras, y cien clauos, costãua cincuenta y quatro Castellanos de buen oro,' and the horses cost 1,500 to 2,000 castellanos. Herrera, dec. iit. lib. ii. cap. xvii. 'The cost to me alone was 30,000 pesos de oro,' says Cortés, 'and as much more to my companions for outfits and supplies.' Cartas, 286. Bernal Diaz raises the amount to 70,000. When the general afterward claimed reimbursement from the crown, the treasury officials objected on the ground that he had incurred the expense merely to forestall the legally appointed governor. Hist. Verdad., 161, 163.
- ↑ This applies to Garay's expedition, and Cortés himself points out the gain to the emperor.
