Ironically the Catholic obsession with divine blood and the record of biblical sacrifice going back to Abraham through Jesus enabled the Spaniards to easily understand the bloody sacrificial rites of the Central American and Mexican priesthoods they were to encounter, even as they recoiled from the practice.
“So that we could disembark at once and not be caught as we had been at Cape Catoche, we decided to go in the smallest ship and the three boats, and to carry all arms.
“In these bays and inlets the water drops very considerably at low tide. So we had to leave our ships anchored more than three miles off shore. We disembarked near the town, where there was a pool, of good water, at which the inhabitants were accustomed to drink. [1] For as far as we could see, there were no rivers in this country. We landed the casks, intending to fill them and re-embark. But when we were ready to go a company of about fifty Indians dressed in good cotton cloaks, looking like caciques, came peacefully out of the town, and asked us by signs what we were looking for. We gave them to understand that we had come for water, and were going straight back to our ships. They asked us by gesture whether we came from the east, and repeated the word ‘Castilan, Castilan’. [2] But we did not understand what they meant. Then they invited us to go with them to their town, and after some discussion among ourselves we decided to go, but in good formation and very cautiously.
"They led us to some very large buildings of fine masonry which were the prayer-houses of their idols, the walls of which were painted with the figures of great serpents and evil-looking gods. In the middle was something like an altar, covered with clotted blood, and on the other side of the idols were symbols like crosses, and all were coloured. We stood astonished, never having seen or heard of such a thing before.
"It appears that they had just sacrificed some Indians to their idols, so as to ensure victory over us. However, many Indian women were strolling about most peacefully, as it seemed, laughing and amusing themselves. But as the men were gathered in such numbers, we were afraid that there might be another ambush, like that at Catoche. At this point many more Indians came up, wearing very ragged cloaks, and carrying dried reeds, which they put down on the ground. These were followed by two bands of Indian archers in cotton armor, carrying lances, shields, slings, stones, and each of these bands was drawn up by its captain at a short distance from us. At that moment there came from another house, which was the temple of their idols, ten Indians wearing long white cotton cloaks which fell to their feet. Their hair was very long, and so clotted with blood that it would have needed cutting before it could be combed or parted. These were the priests of their gods, who in New Spain are generally called papas. They brought us incense of a sort of resin which they call copal, and began to burn it over us in earthenware braziers full of live coals. By means of signs they gave us to understand that we must leave their land before the firewood that they had piled there burnt out. Otherwise they would attack and kill us. The papas then ordered the reeds to be set alight, and departed without more words, and the warriors who were drawn up to attack us began to whistle and sound their trumpets and drums.
“When we saw these great bands of Indians threatening us so boldly we were afraid. For we had not yet recovered from the wounds received at Cape Catoche, and had just thrown overboard the bodies of two soldiers who had died. So we decided to retire to the coast in good order, and began to march along the shore towards a large rock which rose out of the sea, while the boats and the small ship laden with the water-casks coasted along close to the shore. We had not dared embark near the town where we had landed, since a great number of Indians were waiting for us there, and we were sure they would attack as we did so. [3]
"Once we had embarked and got the casks on board, we sailed on for six days and nights in good weather. Then we were struck by a norther, which is a cross-wind on that coast. It lasted four days and nights, and was so strong that it almost drove us ashore, and forced us to anchor. In doing so we broke two cables, and one ship began to drag. Our danger was very great, for if the last cable had broken we should have been driven ashore and destroyed. But, thank God, we were able to ease the strain by lashing it with ropes and hawsers. [4]
"When the weather improved, we continued to follow the coast, going ashore as often as we could, to take fresh water. For, as I have said, our casks were not watertight. They gaped and we could not repair them. But as we were following the coast we trusted that we should find water wherever we landed, either in jagueyes [1] or by digging for it."
1. These were holy pools that were envisioned by the natives as portals to the underworld, a very real underworld that is currently explored by cave divers. In Jared Diamond’s book Collapse, he details how the porous limestone surface of the Yucatan cursed the Mayan farmers to suffer from catastrophic water runoff. Jagueyes were centers of religious observances as well as practical wells.
2. The Spanish—even though many of the boldest leaders were from the province of Extremadura—generally identified themselves as men of Castile, or Castilians. It is amazing that the conquistadors did not expect the natives to communicate information about them with other towns.
3. Amphibious operations have always been the most hazardous, with age of sail ships being notoriously bad platforms for such operations. Magellan was slain in the Philippines a decade or so later trying to re-embark on a ships’ boat, only to be speared in the surf. So would Captain James Cook be slain by Stone Age warriors attempting to re-embark in Hawaii over 250 years later.
4. Hawsers are plaited nautical ropes.
