Chapter II: Of the first (Spanish) ships which arrived at this land

said to have been those of Juan de Grijalva._

The first time that ships appeared on the coast of New Spain, the captains of Montezuma, who were called calpixques, who were near the coast, at once went to see what it was that had come, never having seen ships; one of whom was the calpixque of Cuextecatl, named Pinotl: other calpixques went with him, one of whom, named Yaotzin, lived in the town of Mictlanquauhtla, another named Teozinzocatl resided in the town of Teociniocan, another named Cuitlalpitoc was not a calpixque but the servant of one of these calpixques, and principalejos, and another principalejo named Tentlil. These went to see what the thing was, and carried some things to sell under pretence, so as to see what the thing was: they carried some rich mantles which only Montezuma, and no other (person), wore, nor had permission to wear: they entered canoes and went to the ships, saying amongst themselves, “We are here to guard this coast; it is right that we should know for a certainty what this is, in order to carry accurate news to Montezuma.” They entered at once the canoes and commenced to paddle to the ships, and when they arrived near the vessels and saw the Spaniards, all kissed the prows of the ships, in sign of adoration, thinking that it was the god Quetzalcoatl that had returned, which god, as appears in the history, was already expected. Then the Spaniards spoke and said: “Who are you? Whence have you come? From where are you?” Those who came in the canoes responded, “We have come from Mexico.” The Spaniards said, “If it is true that you are Mexicans, tell us what is the name of the Lord of Mexico.” They replied, “Our Lord, he is called Montezuma,” and then they presented all of those rich mantles which they had brought to him who went as general of those ships, who was, as is said, Grijalva, and the Spaniards gave to the Indians some glass beads, some green and others yellow, and the Indians when they saw them were very much astonished and esteemed them greatly, and then they (the Spaniards) dismissed the Indians, saying, “Now we return to Castile, and will soon return and will (then) go to Mexico.” The Indians returned to land and soon departed for Mexico, where they arrived in a day and a night, to give the news of what they had seen to Montezuma, and they brought to him the beads which had been given them by the Spaniards, and spoke to him (Montezuma) as follows: “Our Lord, we are deserving of death; hear what we have seen, and what we have done. Thou hast placed us on guard at the seashore; we have seen some gods on the sea, and went to receive them, and give them various rich mantles; look at these beads that they gave us, saying to us, ‘Is it true that you are Mexicans? Look at these beads, give them to Montezuma, that he may know of us.’” And they told him all that had happened when they were with those (people) on the sea in the ships. Montezuma responded: “You have come tired and worn out; go and rest. I have received this (news) in secret, and command you not to say anything whatever about what has happened.”