“In the year of Our Lord 1518 the Governor of Cuba decided to send out another fleet to the lands which we had discovered and are called Yucatan. He looked for four ships to compose it. Two of these had taken part in Francisco Hernandez’ expedition and the other two he bought with his own money.

“At the time when he was fitting out the fleet, there was, in Santiago de Cuba, where [Governor] Velazquez resided, Juan de Grijalva, Alonso de Avila, Francisco de Monetjo, and Pedro de Alvarado, all of whom had come to see the Governor on business, for they held rights to the labor and produce of Indian towns and villages on the islands. Juan de Grijalva, a relative of the Governor, was appointed Expedition Commander, and the other three gentlemen each received command of a vessel. The captains contributed the provisions and stores of cassava bread and salt pork [from their fiefs], and Diego Velazquez provided the four ships, a supply of beads and small articles of little value for barter, and some vegetables. He then ordered me [Bernal Diaz] to go with these captains as ensign.*

“As the report had spread that these lands were very rich, and the Indian Julian said there was gold there, these settlers and soldiers of the island who possessed no Indians were eager and greedy to go. So we quickly collected two hundred and forty companions. Then each of us, at his own expense, added supplies, weapons and other necessities he could. It appears that the Governor’s instructions to the expedition [leaders] were that they should obtain all the gold and silver they could through trade, and, if they dared, and the land was suitable, settle there, but otherwise return to Cuba.

“When all were assembled, and the pilots—three of whom had served on Hernandez’ expedition—had received their instructions, and lantern signals had been arranged to be used by night, we set sail, after hearing mass, on 8 April 1518.

“In ten days we doubled Guaniguanico or St, Anton’s Point, and after another ten days’ sailing discovered the Island of Cozumel, which we had not sighted before, for with the current that was running we were driven much further to the leeward than when we sailed with Francisco Hernandez. We followed the southern shore of this island, and sighted a village with a few houses and a good anchorage beside it, which was free from reefs. The Captain and a number of us soldiers went ashore. But the inhabitants of the village had fled when they saw our ships under sail, for they had never seen such a thing before.

“We soldiers who landed found two old men not fit to run hiding in some maize-fields, and led them back to the Captain. Julian and Melchior, whom he had brought back from Francisco Hernandez’ expedition, understood their language perfectly, since it was the same as their own, the island being only some twelve miles off the coast. Through these interpreters, the Captain spoke kindly to the old men. He gave them some beads and sent them to summon the Caciques of the town. They went off, but never came back.

While we were waiting for them, a good-looking Indian girl appeared, and began to talk in the Jamaican language. She told us that all the men and women of the village had fled to the woods in fear. As I and many or the soldiers understood this language very well, since it is the same as that spoken in Cuba, we asked the girl in some surprise how she came to be there. She answered that two years earlier she had come out from Jamaica with ten men of the island in a large canoe, intending to fish from some near-by islets. But the current had carried them this land, where they had been cast ashore. The inhabitants had slain her husband and his men, and had sacrificed them to their idols. Thinking that this woman would make a good messenger, our Captain** sent her to summon the Indians and the Caciques of the village, and allowed her two days to go and return. For we were afraid that if we let Melchior and Julian go off, that they would return to their own country, which was close by.

“But, to return to the woman from Jamaica, the reply she brought back was that none of the Indians could be convinced to come, no matter what she said. We called the village Santa Cruz in honor of the day on which we discovered it.”

*Bernal’s assignment as ensign would be similar to a platoon sergeant or sergeant major in a company of mercenary marines.

**Grijalva comes off as a much more decisive and forceful leader than Hernandez.