h he so called from his
native place of Truxillo in Estremadura; and Avila despatched a small
body of troops to the town which he had previously founded, called Buena
Vista, in order to see what condition the colony was in. The command of
this small detachment he gave to an officer named Armenta, with orders
not to make any changes there, if at least he found everything in the
same condition as when he left it; but to await his return from New
Spain, whither he would immediately repair to beg Cortes for a fresh
supply of troops. Las Casas likewise determined to proceed with Avila to
Mexico, in order that they might jointly give Cortes an account of every
circumstance that had transpired.

I must, however, close this chapter here, for I shall have to return to
these occurrences in the proper part of my history; I have merely to
observe, that Cortes did not receive intelligence of what I have just
related till some considerable time after.

CHAPTER CLXXIV.

_How Cortes himself marches at the head of his troops to the
Honduras in search of Christobal de Oli; of the officers and men he
selected on this occasion, and of other matters._

Several months having now elapsed since the departure of Las Casas with
the armament, and Cortes still without any tidings from him, he began to
fear that some misfortune had befallen him. The more he thought of the
many dangers to which vessels are exposed, and the various changes of
good and bad fortune which are inseparable from an expedition of this
nature, the more he regretted, notwithstanding all the confidence he
placed in Las Casas, that he had not gone in person at the head of the
armament. All this, added to the assurances he had received of there
being lucrative gold mines along the coast of the Honduras, determined
Cortes to march thither in person at the head of his troops.

His first care was to have the fortifications of Mexico well mounted
with cannon, and a good supply of ammunition to be laid by in the
arsenals for the protection of the city. The government of New Spain he
intrusted in his absence to the treasurer Alonso de Estrada and to the
accountant Albornoz. How he could make choice of the latter is quite
beyond my speculation; but he certainly would not have done so if he had
been aware of the infamous manner in which Albornoz had slandered him to
the emperor.

The licentiate Zuazo, who has so often been mentioned in the course of
this histo