ne
hundred and ten sailors, and carried five hundred and fifty-three
soldiers, of whom thirty-two were crossbowmen and thirteen arquebusiers.
There were also about two hundred Indians. Sixteen horses accompanied
the expedition, and it had ten heavy cannon, four light field-guns,
called falconets, and a good supply of ammunition. The horses cost
almost more than the ships that carried them, for they had been brought
from Spain; but their value in such an undertaking was great.

Hernando Cortes had come out to Cuba when he was nineteen, and that was
fifteen years ago. Much had been reported concerning an emperor in a
country to the west, who ruled over a vast territory inhabited by
copper-colored people rich in gold, who worshiped idols. Cortes had
observed that Indian tribes, like schoolboys, were apt to divide into
little cliques and quarreling factions. If the subject tribes did not
like the Emperor, and were jealous of him and of each other, a foreign
conqueror had one tool ready to his hand, and it was a tool that Cortes
had used many times before.

The people of this coast, however, were not at all like the gentle and
childlike natives Colon had found. From the rescued captive Aguilar, the
commander learned much of their nature and customs. On his first attempt
to land, his troops encountered troops of warriors in brilliant
feathered head-bands and body armor of quilted white cotton. They used
as weapons the lance, bow and arrows, club, and a curious staff about
three and a half feet long set with crosswise knife-blades of obsidian.
Against poisoned arrows, such as the invaders had more than once met,
neither arquebus nor cannon was of much use, and body armor was no great
protection, since a scratch on hand or leg would kill a man in a few
hours. After some skirmishing and more diplomacy, at various points
along the coast, Cortes landed his force on the island which Grijalva
had named San Juan de Ulloa, from a mistaken notion that Oloa, the
native salutation, was the name of the place. The natives had watched
the "water-houses," as they called them, sailing over the serene blue
waters, and this tribe, being peaceable folk, sent a pirogue over to the
island with gifts. There were not only fruits and flowers, but little
golden ornaments, and the Spanish commander sent some trinkets in
return. In endeavoring to talk with them Cortes became aware of an
unusual piece of luck. Aguilar did not understand the language of