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 VI
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 twenty of us soldiers went ashore in the Bay of Florida, in company with the Pilot Alaminos, to look for water, and the attack that the natives of the land made upon us, and what else happened before we returned to Havana.
When we reached Florida it was arranged that twenty of the soldiers, those whose wounds were best healed, should go ashore. I went with them, and also the Pilot, Anton de Alaminos, and we carried with us such vessels as we still possessed, and hoes, and our crossbows and guns. As the Captain was very badly wounded, and much weakened by the great thirst he had endured, he prayed us on no account to fail in bringing back fresh water as he was parching and dying of thirst, for, as I have already said, the water we had on board was salt and not fit to drink.
We landed near a creek which opened towards the sea, and the Pilot Alaminos carefully examined the coast and said that he had been at this very spot when he came on a voyage of discovery with Juan Ponce de Leon and that the Indians of the country had attacked them and had killed many soldiers, and that it behoved us to keep a very sharp look out. We at once posted two soldiers as sentinels while we dug deep holes on a broad beach where we thought we should find fresh water, for at that hour the tide had ebbed. It pleased God that we should come on very good water, and so overjoyed were we that what with satiating our thirst, and washing out cloths with which to bind up wounds, we must have stayed there an hour.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , pp. 28 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1908