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had been shorn like that of an
Indian slave: he carried a paddle across his shoulder, had one of his
legs covered with an old tattered stocking; the other, which was not
much better, being tied around his waist. An old ragged cloak hung over
his shoulders, his maltatas was in a much worse condition. His
prayerbook, which was very much torn, he had folded in the corner of his
cloak.

When Cortes beheld the man in this attire, he, as all the rest of us had
done, asked Tapia where the Spaniard was? When Geronimo heard this, he
cowered down after the Indian fashion, and said: "I am he." Upon this
Cortes gave him a shirt, a coat, a pair of trousers, a cap and shoes,
from our stores. He then desired him to give us an account of the
adventures of his life, and explain how he had got into this country.

He said, though still in broken Spanish, that his name was Geronimo
d'Aguilar, and was a native of Ecija. About eight years ago he had been
shipwrecked with fifteen men and two women, on a voyage between Darien
and the island of St. Domingo, which they had undertaken on account of a
lawsuit between a certain Enciso and a certain Valdivia. They had 10,000
pesos on board, and papers relating to the lawsuit. The ship struck
against a rock, and they had not been able to get her off again. The
whole of the crew then got into the boat, in the hopes of making the
island of Cuba or Jamaica, but were driven on shore by the strong
currents, where the Calachionies had taken them prisoners and
distributed them among themselves. The most of his unfortunate
companions had been sacrificed to their gods, and some had died of
grief, of which also both the women pined away; being soon worn out by
the hard labour of grinding, to which they had been forced by the
Indians. He himself had also been doomed as a sacrifice to their idols,
but made his escape during the night, and fled to the cazique, with whom
he had last been staying, whose name, however, I cannot now remember. Of
all his companions, he himself and a certain Gonzalo Guerrero, were only
living. He had tried his best to induce him to leave, but in vain.

When Cortes heard this, he returned thanks to the Almighty, and told the
Spaniard that he hoped, with the blessing of God, he would never find
reason to regret the determination he had taken. He then put some
questions to him about the country and its inhabitants. Aguilar said he
was not able to give him much information about either, as he had been
treated like a slave, having been merely employed to fetch wood, water,
and to work in the maise-plantations. It was only upon one occasion he
was sent on some business to a distance of about twelve miles from his
village, but, owing to a heavy burden he had to carry and the weak state
of his body, he had not even been able to reach that distance; for the
rest, he had been given to understand that the country was very thickly
populated. With regard to his companion Alonso Guerrero, he had married
an Indian woman, and was become the father of three children. He had in
every respect adopted the Indian customs,--his cheeks were tattooed, his
ears pierced, and his lips turned down. He was a sailor by profession,
native of Palos, and was considered by the Indians to be a man of great
strength. It might have been about a year ago that a squadron,
consisting of three vessels, had touched at the promontory of Cotoche,
(probably the expedition under Hernandez de Cordoba,) when Guerrero
advised the inhabitants to commence hostilities, who, in common with the
caziques of a large district, commanded on that occasion. Cortes here
remarked, that he very much wished to get the man into his power, for
his staying among the Indians would do us no good.

The caziques of Cozumel showed Aguilar every possible friendship when
they heard him speak in their language. Aguilar advised them always to
do honour to the image of the holy Virgin and cross we had set up, as
they would prove a blessing to them. It was also upon his advice they
begged of Cortes to give them letters of recommendation to other
Spaniards who might run into this harbour, in order that they might not
be molested by them. Cortes readily complied with this request; and,
after mutual protestations of friendship had passed between us, we
weighed anchor, and set sail for the river Grijalva.

For the rest, I can assure the reader that what I have related of
Aguilar is all the man told us himself, although the historian Gomara
gives a very different account; which, however, should not excite our
surprise, as he merely thereby intended to divert his readers with some
strange story.

CHAPTER XXX.

 _How we re-embark and sail for the river Grijalva, and what happened
 to us on our voyage there._

On the 4th of March, 1519, the day after we had had the good fortune to
obtain such an excellent and trustworthy interpreter, Cortes gave orders
for re-embarking. This took place in the same way as before, and similar
instructions were issued with regard to the night signals with the
lanterns. For some time we had the most favorable weather imaginable;
when, towards evening, it suddenly changed, the wind blowing most
violently against us, so that all our vessels were in danger of being
cast on shore. Towards midnight, it pleased God the wind should abate,
and, when daylight broke forth, our vessels again joined each other; one
only was missing, that namely of Velasquez de Leon, which occasioned a
good deal of anxiety, for we concluded she had been wrecked off some of
the shallows. We did not discover her loss until midday; and as night
was now fast approaching, and the vessel still nowhere to be seen,
Cortes told our principal pilot Alaminos that we ought not to continue
our course without gaining some certain knowledge as to her fate:
signals were, therefore, made for all the vessels to drop anchor, to
give the missing ship time to come up with us, on the supposition it had
been driven into some harbour and there retained by contrary winds.
Alaminos, still finding she did not make her appearance, said to Cortes,
"You may be sure, sir, that she has run into some harbour or inlet along
this coast, where she is now wind-bound; for her pilot Manquillo has
twice before visited these seas, once with Hernandez de Cordoba, the
second time under Grijalva, and is acquainted with this bay." Upon this
it was resolved that the whole squadron should return to the bay which
Alaminos was speaking of, in search of the vessel: to our great joy we
indeed found her riding there at anchor, and we all remained here for
one day. During this time, Alaminos, with one of our principal officers
named Francisco de Lugo, went on shore in two boats; they found the
country inhabited, and saw several regular maise-plantations: they
likewise met with places where salt was manufactured, and saw four cues,
or large temples, with numerous figures, mostly in the shape of women,
and of considerable height; whence this promontory was called _la punt

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