Cortés Hernando - Five letters, 1519-1526

FIVE LETTERS

THE BROADWAY TRAVELLERS

THE BROADWAY TRAVELLERS
In 26 Volumes

FIVE LETTERS

1519-1526

HERNANDO CORTS

First published in 1928 by

RoutledgeCurzon

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Five Letters

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-34479-1 (hbk)

The Broadway Travellers

THE BROAD WAY TRAVELLERS

EDITED BY SIR E. DENISON ROSS AND EILEEN POWER

HERNANDO CORTS

FIVE LETTERS

1519-1526

Translated by J. Bayard Morris with an Introduction

Published by

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD.
BROADWAY HOUSE, CARTER LANE, LONDON

Or like stout Cortz

First published in 1928

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BILLING AND SONS LTD., GUILDFORD AND ESHER

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

(NOTE.The drawings facing are not contemporary with Corts. They were made by an eighteenth-century draughtsman for Lorenzanas Historia de Mjico: the first two give a very fair idea of the manner of Mexican picture writing.)

PREFACE

THE five Letters which follow deal with the conquest and subjugation of Mexico between the years 1519 and 1526. I have translated them from the edition originally published by Rivadeneyra and now by Hernando Sucesores.

A word as to the spelling of proper and place names: they will be found to differ in certain instances from accepted usage. I have adopted the shorter Mexican form wherever possible, in preference to the longer and honorific one. The place-names are mostly as Corts wrote them. I have forborne to substitute their modern equivalent. It is worth remarking that there can be no absolute standard of accuracy in spelling, since the Conquistadores had to translate the native sounds (which they probably heard imperfectly) into terms of Castilian vowels and consonants. Sixteenth-century Castilian, moreover, differed in pronunciation from that of today. It resembled far more Spanish as it is now spoken in South America. The z and c (before e and i) were not yet lisped: the sound of x approximated to that of ch in modern French. Thus z and s were (in proper names) almost interchangeable, also f and h.

I have adopted the modern rule of accentuation throughouti.e., words ending in a consonant (other than n or s) are accented on the final syllable; words ending in a vowel (or n or s) are accented on the penultimate syllable. Any accent departing from this rule is marked accordingly. Passages which have been abridged (either as lacking interest or being incidental to the main account) are set in italic. The rest of the matter is in Cortss own words.

In writing the Introduction I consulted principally the following works:

Gomara, Historia de la Conquista de Mjico (Segunda Parte de la Historia de las Indias).

Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Verdadera Historia de la Conquista de Ultra Mar.

Fray Bartolom de Las Casas, Breve Historia de la Destruccin de las Indias and Historia de las Indias.

Relacin hecha por el Seor Andrs de Tapia.

Various documentos inditos containing other letters of Corts, his will, etc.

The notes I have purposely kept as scanty as possible, since I am of the opinion that the best translation of this kind should need almost none.

For the frontispiece I am indebted to the kindness of F. A. Macnutt, Esq., and Messrs. G. P. Putnams Sons. The reproduction originally appeared in Mr. Macnutts very complete edition of the Letters.

For the map showing Cortss route to Honduras my thanks are due to A. P. Maudsley, Esq. (and the Hakluyt Society) for permission to combine two maps which appeared in his edition.