20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



centers, the one in Panama under Pedrarias, the other in Mexico 

 under Hernando Cortez. Not content with the rich spoil of the Aztec 

 Empire, Cortez had already cast covetous eyes to the south where 

 rumor painted the golden glories of Hibueras or Honduras. For 

 this reason he despatched a trusted lieutenant with a fleet to conquer 

 the province. Having already reached an agreement with Velasquez, 

 Governor of Cuba and the rival of Cortez, Olid, in 1524, established 

 the settlement of Triunfo de la Cruz east of Puerto Caballos and 

 withdrew his allegiance from Cortez. The latter countered by dis- 

 patching another fleet under Las Casas, which proceeded from 

 Mexico to the Bay of Honduras. Olid promptly attacked Las Casas. 

 As Bancroft says, " it was an original spectacle in these parts, Span- 

 iards fighting Spaniards, in regular naval engagement ; and as the 

 hissing projectiles flew out from the smoke over the still waters, 

 followed now and then by a crash, the noise reverberating over the 

 forest-clad hills, the dusky spectators should have been exceedingly 

 grateful for this free exhibition of the wisdom and power of Euro- 

 pean civilization that had come so far to instruct them in such a 

 fashion." 



Although the honors of battle, if any, went to Las Casas, a tropical 

 storm wrecked his fleet and he was forced to surrender. Along with 

 Gil Gonzales, who had also been captured by Olid, Las Casas was 

 taken inland to Olid's headquarters newly established in the large 

 Indian town of Naco (see maps, figs, i, 2). Here, although they 

 were treated as guests by their captor, the two captives plotted against 

 Olid, and eventually cut his throat with a table knife. Crawling away 

 into hiding, Olid sent for a priest. The latter being followed. Olid 

 was dragged into the plaza at Naco and publicly beheaded. Las Casas 

 returned to Mexico by an overland route through Guatemala. Even 

 today, over 400 years later, a tradition still persists among the un- 

 lettered inhabitants of present-day Naco that here " the king was 

 killed " after being dragged in from his hiding place at El Salto, the 

 falls of the beautiful little Naco river. Here, as elsewhere in the 

 New World, European civilization was ushered in with blood and 

 treachery. 



Meanwhile Cortez had had no word from his latest Honduras 

 venture. Despite the advice of his other lieutenants, he decided to 

 leave Mexico and proceed overland to Honduras.* 



^ The best sources on this amazing expedition are given in Maudslay's trans- 

 lation of Bernal Diaz, " The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, vol. 5 ", 

 1916. The pertinent letters of Cortez to the Emperor Charles V are also included 

 in this volume. 



