Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- EXTRACTS FROM INTRODUCTION BY SEÑOR DON GENARO GARCÍA
- BERNAL DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO: HIS LIFE
- INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR
- NOTE ON SPELLING, ETC.
- ITINERARY—FEBRUARY 8, 1517, TO APRIL 21, 1519
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
- PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
- BOOK I THE DISCOVERY: THE EXPEDITION UNDER FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- THE EXPEDITION UNDER JUAN DE GRIJALVA
- BOOK II THE EXPEDITION UNDER HERNANDO CORTÉS. THE VOYAGE
- BOOK III THE MARCH INLAND
- BOOK IV THE WAR IN TLAXCALA
- APPENDIX
- GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN, SPANISH, AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS
- PLACE-NAMES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER III
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- EXTRACTS FROM INTRODUCTION BY SEÑOR DON GENARO GARCÍA
- BERNAL DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO: HIS LIFE
- INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR
- NOTE ON SPELLING, ETC.
- ITINERARY—FEBRUARY 8, 1517, TO APRIL 21, 1519
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
- PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
- BOOK I THE DISCOVERY: THE EXPEDITION UNDER FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- THE EXPEDITION UNDER JUAN DE GRIJALVA
- BOOK II THE EXPEDITION UNDER HERNANDO CORTÉS. THE VOYAGE
- BOOK III THE MARCH INLAND
- BOOK IV THE WAR IN TLAXCALA
- APPENDIX
- GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN, SPANISH, AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS
- PLACE-NAMES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
How we coasted along towards the west, discovering capes and deep water, roadsteads and reefs.
Believing this land to be an Island, as the Pilot, Anton de Alaminos, had assured us that it was, we travelled with the greatest caution, sailing only by day and anchoring by night. After voyaging in this manner for fifteen days, we descried from the ship, what appeared to be a large town near to a great bay or creek, and we thought that there might be a river or stream there, where we could provide ourselves with water of which we had great need, because the casks and other vessels which we had brought with us, were not watertight. It was because our fleet was manned by poor men who had not money enough to purchase good casks and cables, that the water ran short. We had to land near the town, and as it was Sunday, the day of San Lazaro, we gave the town that name, and so it is marked on the charts, but its proper Indian name is Campeche.
In order that we could all of us land at the same time, we agreed to approach the shore in the smallest of the vessels, and in the three boats, with all our arms ready, so as not to be caught as we had been at Cape Catoche.
In these roadsteads and bays, the water shallows very considerably at low tide, so that we had to leave our ships anchored more than a league from the shore.
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- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , pp. 18 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1908