Excerpt from Mexico: Before and After the Conquest Cortez and his companions were under the necessity of distinguishing themselves, by daring exploits. They had committed an offence which could be expiated only by the achievement of fame or the gibbet, for the leaders, and imprisonment for the companions of this enter prise. In flagrant rebellion against orders of the Governor, they had sailed from Cuba. Oh the faith of the reports of Grijalva, who at different points of the Mexican coast had exchanged beads and other trifies of European mannfacture for the beautiful jewelry of the country, Velasquez had organized a formidable exped1tion, when we consider the colony he governed and the age in which he lived, and had assigned to Cortez the command of it. In this armament Cortez had invested all that he possessed. At sunrise, on the 18th of No vember, Cortez, who had been informed that Velasquez, from feelings of jealousy, purposed to supersede him, after conference with his lieutenants, sailed without further leave from St. Jago de Cuba. Velasquez, informed of his intention, arrived thither only in time to see Cortez give the signal, and to hear him ask in bitter; irony for his instructions. Thence, to recruit his forces, the bold adventurer had proceeded to other ports of Cuba: Macaca, Trinidad and Havana, followed by the powerless anathemas and useless orders of Velasquez to remain. Everywhere he made additions to the personel and materiel of his force, and became a rebel, a traitor, and a brigand. He did this with the full knowledge of all of his companions, who consequently became his accomplices. They were brave: many of them were experienced soldiers, having served against the French in Italy, and the Turks on the shores of the Levantf They determined to immortalize themselves, which was not very difficult for Castilians of that age to do; they determined, by their daring exploits, to win pardon for their offences. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.