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. T