While the cacique and his leaders were with Cortes they chanced to hear the Spanish horses neigh. Thereupon the terrified Indians anxiously inquired what was the matter with these frightful beings, meaning the horses. They were told that they were angry because the cacique and his people had not been punished more severely for their audacity in attacking the Christians. The instant they heard this they hurried off and brought various kinds of game to appease them. They meekly implored forgiveness and promised they would faithfully submit to the Christians in the future.
Their confidence was soon displayed. Spanish knick-knacks were exchanged for the raw products of the country, such as food of all kinds, woollen goods, and golden ornaments. When the natives were asked where the precious metal came from, they pointed westward and replied, “Kulhua,” “Mexico.” It was at once decided to leave the country and proceed to the land of gold. Before they left, Cortes displayed his solicitude for their conversion. He called their attention to the great doctrines of Christianity, and sought to persuade them to abandon heathenish practices. As the Indians offered but little objection, the conversion ceremony began on Palm Sunday. The whole army, with a priest at its head, moved in solemn procession through the blooming fields, surrounded by thousands of Indians, to the principal temple, in which the image of the heathen divinity had been removed from the altar and displaced by the image of Christ. The priest conducted the mass, the soldiers sang, the natives listened in deep silence and were moved to tears. Their hearts were filled with reverence for the divinity of those beings who seemed to control the thunder and lightning with their hands.
After the ceremony was concluded the soldiers bade farewell to their Indian friends, and a few hours afterward the little fleet was on its way to the gold coast of Mexico.
Chapter IV Cortes Reaches San Juan de Ulloa—His Negotiations for an Understanding with Montezuma, Emperor of Mexico—Disquiet in the Army
Cortes, satisfied with the fortunate outcome of a struggle which might have had most disastrous consequences, and full of hope for similar good fortune in his future undertakings, left Tabasco. A favoring east wind filled the swelling sails, and the course was westward. On this voyage Cortes visited all those places where Grijalva had been before him. At last he reached the island of San Juan de Ulloa, which Grijalva had visited, and came to anchor between the island and mainland. They had not been there long before they saw two large and long canoes approaching them from shore. The Indians in them seemed to be of some importance and were apparently apprehensive of danger, but Cortes received them on board in a friendly manner. They began to speak, and Cortes awaited an explanation of their visit, but they spoke a language which Aguilar, his interpreter, did not understand. They talked in Mexican, but he had learned only Yucatanish—an entirely different tongue.