was a chequered one. They gave a sorrowful account of themselves, and of the distress to which they had been reduced from want of food; but their information concerning Cristoval de Olid proved most satisfactory to Cortes, for he learnt the news of that captain's death, and received the assurance that, instead of meeting with rebellious opposition, he would be hailed as a friend and deliverer. Accompanied by six soldiers, he was the first to cross the Rio Dulce in order to reach the new town; and great at first was the consternation of the inhabitants on his entrance, but greater still their joy, when they learnt that he who came was the man whose fame was spread throughout the whole of the countries which had been conquered for the Crown of Spain.

With the arrival of Cortes at Nito, the association of his adventures with the Province of Yucatan is at an end; and to trace the further history of that peninsula, we must turn to those who addressed themselves more immediately to its civilization.

ated a short distance to the southeast of the Rio Dulce, within the territory of the present Belgian settlement of St. Thomas, though not occupying the site of that town. Remesal states that the

port of St. Thomas was discovered on the 7th of March, 1604a.

a

Historia de la Provincia de Chiapa y Guatemala, lib. xi. cap. 20. (Madrid, 1619.)

CHAPTER VI.

SOME ACCOUNT OF FRANCISCO DE MONTEJO. HE IS SENT BY CORTES TO SPAIN. ARRIVES AT SEVILLE, AND IS BADLY RECEIVED BY ARCHBISHOP FONSECA.-HE ADDRESSES THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. DIRECT. -THE CHARGES AGAINST CORTES DISMISSED. MONTEJO SOLICITS AND OBTAINS THE GOVERNMENT OF YUCATAN. -THE CAPITULACION THAT WAS ENTERED INTO.-MONTEJO PREPARES AN EXPEDITION, AND ARRIVES AT COZUMEL. HE TAKES FORMAL POSSESSION OF YUCATAN IN THE NAME OF THE KING.-APPARENT FRIENDLINESS OF THE INDIANS. ATTEMPT TO MURDER MONTEJO.-MONTEJO'S FIRST MARCH. -AMBUSCADE OF THE INDIANS.-FIERCE BATTLE. THE INDIANS DEFEATED. MONTEJO RESOLVES ON PACIFIC MEASURES.--EXPEDITION OF DAVILA.-NUMEROUS SKIRMISHES.-SIEGE OF CHICHEN-ITZA.— ARTIFICE OF THE SPANIARDS.-WITHDRAWAL OF MONTEJO.

AMONGST those men "of courage and energy," as Bernal Diaz calls them, who accompanied the expedition of Juan de Grijalva in 1518, not the least conspicuous was Francisco de Montejo, who had been amongst the earliest to adventure into the then "far west," and had obtained a "hacienda" in Cuba, under the government of Diego Velasquez. Montejo was a cavalier of Old Castile, a native of Salamanca, of fair property and noble descent, and possessed in a remarkable degree those enterprising qualities which more or less distinguished the Spaniards of that adventurous period: he had shared in all the dangers that befell Grijalva at Champoton, and

when the first interview took place between the Mexicans and the Spaniards at the river of Banderas, it was to Montejo that the command was entrusted, in the expectation of a hostile termination to the meeting; his conduct and advice were moreover essentially serviceable in all the vicissitudes of a voyage which is notable for having been the first that explored the coast of Mexico.

When the expedition under Cortes took place, in the following year, it was not likely that a man of so much enterprise as Montejo would remain behind; and accordingly we find that he joined Cortes at the Havana, when the latter arrived there after escaping from the detention prepared for him at Trinidad by Diego Velasquez. Montejo was, as we have already seen, the commander of one of the eleven vessels which were mustered at Cozumel, previous to the departure of the vessel for its ultimate destination, and his career may be traced at intervals, in all the proceedings of Cortes up to the period of his arrival at Vera Cruz. Being one of the most influential of the partisans of Diego Velasquez, it was the policy of Cortes to attach Montejo to his own cause, and it was with this view that when the town of Vera Cruz was founded', Montejo was appointed one of the Chief Alcaldes, in conjunction with Alonso Puertocarrero, his colleague in the mission to the Emperor Charles V., when the first present was transmitted from Mexico, and the first of that series of celebrated letters was written by Cortes.

Montejo and his companion sailed from San Juan de Ulloa on the 26th of July, 1519, having promised to proceed direct to Spain, and "not to touch at the Havana under any pretext whatever?," in order that Velasquez 1 Bernal Diaz, cap. xlii. 2 Ibid., cap. liv.

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MONTEJO ARRIVES AT SEVILLE.

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CHAP. VI.

might learn nothing of what had taken place after the expedition had left Cuba. But Montejo did not keep his promise, though, from his subsequent conduct, it is probable that, in departing from his instructions, he was guided more by his own interests (having a settlement of his own on the coast of Cuba, called El Marien), than incited by wilful treachery towards Cortes. Bernal Diaz says, 'He left our chief pilot Alaminos, persuading him to sail along the coast in the direction of his settlement (El Marien), where he pretended he would take in a fresh supply of cassava, bread, and bacon. Puertocarrero was greatly displeased with this conduct ; however, the landing was effected. The night following a sailor swam secretly on shore, and forwarded Diego Velasquez letters from his adherents, giving an account of all that had passed. We afterwards learnt that Montejo himself had sent the man, who, besides this, spread the news everywhere along the route he journeyed." Bernal Diaz adds, that the letters to Velasquez were said to be in Montejo's handwriting. If this were really the case, it was done at great personal risk, for when Velasquez became aware of the valuable present, and who were the agents selected to bear it, his rage was excessive, and he immediately ordered two very swiftsailing vessels to be fitted out, with as great a number of men and fire-arms as could be got together at the moment, and sent them in pursuit of Montejo's vessel, with instructions to capture her and bring her into Santiago. But Velasquez, who seems to have been born for disappointments and annoyances, was unsuccessful in his object, and the agents of Cortes, escaping the pursuit, had a most favourable voyage to Spain. They arrived at Seville, "where they hired a carriage, and posted to the

Imperial court residence, at that time at Valladolid." Here the Archbishop Fonseca, the President of the Council of the Indies, who governed during the Emperor's absence in Flanders, received them very ill; and, being entirely in the interests of Velasquez, whose chaplain, Benito Martin, had arrived with heavy complaints against Cortes, suppressed the despatches of the latter, and forwarded his own account of the Mexican expedition to Charles V., “in which," says Bernal Diaz, "he extolled the merits of his creature Velasquez to the very skies, saying everything that was bad of Cortes and all of us."

Upon this," continues Bernal Diaz, “Puertocarrero, Montejo, Martin Cortes, the father of our General, the Licentiate Nuñez, who was reported to the Royal Council, and a near relation of Cortes, determined to despatch a courier of their own to the Emperor in Flanders. They fortunately possessed duplicates of all our despatches and letters, as also a list of all the presents we had destined for his Majesty."

From the share which Montejo had in this transaction, which eventually terminated in the disgrace of Fonseca, it appears tolerably certain that the charge of unfaithfulness to Cortes, with which he has been taxed, had very little, if any foundation. It was indeed his own cause, as well as that of Cortes, of which Montejo was the strenuous advocate, and by the issue of the inquiry bcfore the Privy Council he was doomed to stand or fall. The Royal Commissioners, whose deliberations were not terminated till the 17th of May, 1523, dismissed the majority of the charges against Cortes, "and," observes Bernal Diaz, “Francisco de Montejo did not forget to profit by his stay at the Imperial Court." But what profit he derived from his exertions was certainly not immediate,