bring him an accurate account of the state of the rivers and
the marshes, and inform him what would be the easiest method of crossing
them. The two soldiers who received these commands were, Pedro de Ribera
and Martin Garcia, of Valencia, who was alguacil of our army, and in
whom our general placed the greatest confidence. They set out on their
march, explored the rivers in small canoes, and were of opinion that the
only way to pass the former would be by throwing bridges across; but as
for the marshes, which lay four miles further on, they had never even
given them a thought, and they only brought word about the difficulty of
throwing bridges across the water. Cortes then sent for myself and
Gonsalo Mexia, and commissioned us to go in company of some of the
chiefs of Ciguatepec to the Acallan townships, and do all in our power
to gain the friendship of the inhabitants, that they might not run away
as our army approached.

These Acallan townships were above twenty in number, some built on the
mainland, some on the small islands which lay in the river and at the
head of the estuary, so that they could only communicate with each other
by means of canoes. We accordingly set out with our Indian friends, who,
however, deserted us on the first night, because they were at enmity
with these townships, as we subsequently learnt. We were, therefore,
obliged to continue our route in the best way we could without the help
of guides, and it was only with the greatest difficulty we found our way
through the morasses to the first of the Acallan townships. Although on
our approach the inhabitants immediately took up arms, we sought to gain
their friendship by kind words and presents of glass beads, begging of
them to accompany us to Malinche and take him something to eat. These
people were then not aware that Cortes was advancing with so large a
body of foot and horse, and showed little inclination to return with us.
It was not until the following day, when they learnt from some Indian
merchants what a large army Malinche had with him, that they evinced
greater willingness to supply him with provisions. Though, at the same
time, they told us he must wait for these until he arrived in person,
when they would gladly supply him with everything that lay in their
power. They could not think, they added, of entering upon the territory
of Ciguatepec, where their enemies lived. While we were thus holding a
conference with these people, two Spa