I write to you from New Spain and all of its wonder. I enjoyed reading your last letter, though it did take awhile to get to me. This new world is both marvelous and horrifying at the same time. It appears to have no affect on Don Cortes. Though it is believed he has his mind only on the gold of the people nearby known as the Aztecs with their leader Montezuma.
There were rumors that went about before we left that Cortez had only been named Captain because of his position with Diego Velazquez’s secretaries, Andres de Duero and Amador declares. The three had agreed to split the shares of the Captain. This is only words spoken and not actions scene.
However, with all of the rumors afloat our journey to New Spain was not an easy one. We left
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Don Cortez put pilot Camacho in irons for not following orders to stay at sea until his arrival. We spent awhile at Cozumel and attempted to save some Spaniards taken prisoner by the Cacique, but the prisoner did not wish to return to Spain because he had made a life for himself there with his capturers. Later on in our stay there was another man, Jeronimo de Aguilar who was another prisoner by the Cacique who did make himself known and briefly told of his story to New Spain and the death of his traveling partners. The entire situation was very strange to me. This Gonzalo Guerrero had made his home in this place. He had taken an Indian wife and had three children with her. How can a Christian man take a non-Christian wife and still claim that he is a good Christian man. Plus, hearing the tale that Jeronimo de Aguilar told of being taken captive and worked nearly to death was just terrifying to my ears. This land is so strange and new to me that this man chose to stay here with the savages and not convert them. It made me wonder if he was also worshipping their false gods. I was surprised Don Cortez took pity on Aguilar, especially knowing his actions to come, but instead he took the man as an interpreter to help with the