intended injury had been the means of drawing her from the worship of idols to the true faith, and was happier in having a son by her lord and master Cortes, and in the husband she then possessed, than if she had been sovereign of all New Spain, and gave them at parting a handsome present of gold.  I was personally acquainted with her mother and half brother, who were both afterwards baptized, the mother by the name of Martha, and the brother by that of Lazarus.  Donna Marina perfectly understood her native language of Coatzacualco, which is the same with that of Mexico; and as she could likewise converse with Aguilar in the Maja language, which is spoken in Yucutan and Tabasco, we thus acquired a medium of intercourse with the Mexicans, Tlascalans, and other nations of Anahuac or New Spain, which was of infinite importance to us in the sequel.  In a little time she learnt the Spanish, by which the circuitous means of double interpretation was avoided.  She was always faithful to the Spaniards, to whom her services were of the very highest importance; as she not only was the instrument of their negotiations with the various nations of Anahuac, but often saved their lives by giving them notice of dangers, and suggesting the means of avoiding them.  Don Martin Cortes, her son, was afterwards most unjustly put to the torture at Mexico in 1568, on some unfounded suspicion of intended rebellion, his iniquitous and barbarous judges, paying no regard to the memory of the unequalled services rendered by his parents to the Catholic king and the Spanish nation.

We remained five days longer in Tabasco, taking care of our sick and wounded, during, which time Cortes used his endeavours to conciliate the natives, whom he enjoined to preserve their allegiance to his Catholic majesty, by which they would secure his protection.  They promised faithfully to perform all that he had enjoined, and thus became the first native vassals of the Spanish monarchy in New Spain.  On Palm Sunday, with the assistance of the natives, we erected a cross made of a large cieba tree, on the field where the late battle was fought, as a lasting memorial of our victory, as this tree has the power of reproducing its bark.  The natives attended us in our procession to adore the holy image of the cross, and they likewise assisted us in our preparations to reimbark, our pilots wishing to get away from this part of the coast, the anchorage being unsafe for the ships, as the wind blew strongly on the shore.  Every thing being in readiness, and Cortes having taken leave of the natives, we all embarked on the evening of Palm Sunday, and set sail next morning for St Juan de Ulua.  While we proceeded along the coast, such of us as had been there before along with Grijalva, pointed out to Cortes the different places which we recollected; saying here is la Rambla, there Tonala, or St Antonio, there the river of Coatzacualco, the Sierra Nevada, or