THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO 63
completed negotiations with the emperor Charles
for an agreement authorizing the conquest and
settlement of the mainland, Cortés’s instructions
permitted him to only trade and explore.
Cortés’s fl eet fi rst touched land at the island of
Cozumel, where they rescued a Spanish castaway,
Jerónimo de Aguilar, who had lived among the
Maya for eight years. In March 1519, Cortés landed
on the coast of Tabasco, defeated local natives in a
sharp skirmish, and secured from them, along with
pledges of friendship, the Mexican girl Malinche,^3
who was to serve him as interpreter, adviser, and
mistress. In April, Cortés dropped anchor near the
site of modern Veracruz. He had contrived a way
to free himself from Velázquez’s irksome authority.
In apparent deference to the wishes of a majority
of his followers, who claimed that conquest and
settlement would serve the royal interest better
than mere trade, Cortés founded the town of Villa
Rica de la Vera Cruz and appointed its fi rst offi cials,
into whose hands he surrendered the authority he
had received from Velázquez. These offi cials then
conferred on Cortés the title of captain general
with authority to conquer and colonize the newly
discovered lands. Cortés thus drew on Spanish me-
dieval traditions of municipal autonomy to vest his
disobedience in a cloak of legality.
Some days later, Moctezuma’s ambassa-
dors appeared in the Spanish camp. The envoys
brought precious gifts, the fi nery of the great gods
Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcóatl. Reverently,
they arrayed Cortés in the fi nery of Quetzalcóatl.
(^3) After the achievement of Mexican independence, her
conspicuous services to Cortés and the Conquest made her
name a byword, a synonym for selling out to foreigners,
and for many Mexicans, it continues to have that meaning
today. In fairness to Malinche, however, it should be under-
stood that no Mexican nationality or sense of unity among
the various ethnic groups that inhabited Mesoamerica ex-
isted at the time. A talented young woman who apparently
possessed extraordinary linguistic skills, Malinche found
herself thrown against her will into a very dangerous situ-
ation. Her best hope of survival, writes Frances Karttunen,
was to serve Cortés, and she “served him unwaveringly.
Rather than the embodiment of treachery, her consistency
could be viewed as an exercise in total loyalty.”
On his face they placed a serpent mask inlaid with
turquoise, with a crossband of quetzal feathers and
a golden earring hanging down on either side. On
his breast they fastened a vest decorated with quet-
zal feathers; about his neck they hung a collar of
precious stones with a gold disc in the center. In his
hand they placed a shield with ornaments of gold
and mother-of-pearl and a fringe and pendant of
quetzal feathers. They also set before him sandals
of fi ne, soft rubber, black as obsidian.
The Aztec account relates that the god was not
satisfi ed. “Is this all?” Cortés is said to have asked.
“Is this your gift of welcome? Is this how you greet
people?” The stricken envoys departed and returned
with gifts more to the god’s liking, including a gold
disc in the shape of the sun, as big as a cartwheel,
an even larger silver pendant in the shape of the
moon, and a helmet full of gold nuggets.
The envoys reported to Moctezuma what they
had heard and seen, supplementing their accounts
with painted pictures of the gods and their posses-
sions. They described the fi ring of a cannon, done
on Cortés’s order to impress the Aztec emissaries:
A thing like a ball of stone comes out of its
entrails; it comes out shooting sparks and rain-
ing fi re. The smoke that comes out with it has
a pestilent odor, like that of rotten mud.... If
the cannon is aimed against a mountain, the
mountain splits and cracks open. If it is aimed
against a tree, it shatters the tree into splinters.
Vividly, they described other weapons, the armor,
and the mounts of the Spaniards.
Of the terrible war dogs of the Spaniards, the
envoys said:
Their dogs are enormous, with fl at ears and
long dangling tongues. The color of their eyes
is burning yellow; their eyes fl ash fi re and
shoot off sparks. Their bellies are hollow, their
fl anks long and narrow. They are tireless and
very powerful. They bound here and there,
panting, with their tongues hanging out. And
they are spotted like an ocelot.
Moctezuma’s envoys assured Cortés that they
would serve him in every way during his stay on
the coast but pleaded with him not to seek a meeting