ACCOUNT OP BERNAL DIAZ. 



445 



in a canoe, they went ashore, and set out to march to 

 the town, but on their way were surprised by the na- 

 tives, whom, however, they repulsed, killing fifteen. 

 " Near the place of this ambuscade," he says, " were 

 three buildings of lime and stone, wherein were idols of 

 clay with diabolical countenances" &c. " The build- 

 ings of lime and stone, and the gold, gave us a high idea 

 of the country we had discovered.' ' 



In fifteen days' farther sailing, they discovered from 

 the ships a large town, with an inlet, and went ashore 

 for water. While filling their casks they were accost- 

 ed by fifty Indians, " dressed in cotton mantles," who 

 " by signs invited us to their town." Proceeding thith- 

 er, they " arrived at some large and very well-construct- 

 ed buildings of lime and stone, with figures of serpents 

 and of idols painted upon the walls." 



In the second expedition, sailing along the coast, they 

 passed a low island, about three leagues from the main, 

 where, on going ashore, they found " two buildings of 

 lime and stone, well constructed, each with steps, and 

 an altar placed before certain hideous figures, the rep- 

 resentations of the gods of these Indians." 



His third expedition was under Cortez, and in this 

 his regard for truth and the reliance that may be placed 

 upon him are happily shown in the struggle between 

 deep religious feeling and belief in the evidence of his 

 senses, which appears in his comment upon Gomara's 

 account of their first battle. " In his account of this 

 action, Gomara says that, previous to the arrival of the 

 main body under Cortez, Francisco de Morla appeared 

 in the field upon a gray dappled horse, and that it was 

 one of the holy apostles, St. Peter or St. Jago, disguised 

 under his person. I say that all our works and victo- 

 ries are guided by the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ, 



