Transcriber’s Note
A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version ofthis book. They are marked and the corrected text is shown in the popup.A description of the errors is found in the list at the end of the text.Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been maintained.A list of inconsistently spelled, hyphenated, and capitalized words is foundin a list at the end of the text.
BY
DANIEL G. BRINTON, M. D., LL. D., D. Sc.
PROFESSOR OF
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA
[REPRINTED FROM THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN, SEPTEMBER, 1896]
CHICAGO
1896
By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D.
The first battle on the American continent in which horses were used wasthat of Cintla in Tabasco, March, 1519, the European troops being underthe leadership of Hernando Cortes.
This fact attaches something more than an ordinary historic interest tothe engagement, at least enough to make it desirable to ascertain itsprecise locality and its proper name. Both of these are in doubt, aswell as the ethnic stock to which the native tribe belonged whichopposed the Spanish soldiery on the occasion. I propose to submit thesequestions to a re-examination, and also to describe from unpublishedmaterial the ruins which,—as I believe—, mark the spot of this firstimportant encounter of the two races on American soil.
The engagement itself has been described by all the historians ofCortes’ famous conquest of Mexico, as it was the first brilliantincident of that adventure. We have at least four accounts of it fromparticipants. One prepared under the eye of Cortes himself, one by theanonymous historian of his expedition, a third by Cortes’companion-in-arms, the redoubtable Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and afourth by Andres de Tapia.3-1
The most satisfactory narrative, however, is given by the chaplain ofCortes, Francisco de Gomara, and I shall briefly rehearse his story,adding a few points from other contemporary writers.3-2
Cortes with his armada cast anchor at the mouth of the River Grijalva inMarch, 1519. The current being strong and the bar shallow, he with abouteighty men proceeded in boats up the river for about two miles, whenthey descried on the bank a large Indian village. It was surrounded witha wooden palisade, having turrets and loopholes from which to hurlstones [4]and darts. The houses within were built of tiles laid in mortar,or of sun-dried brick (adobes), and were roofed with straw or splittrees. The chief temple had spacious rooms, and its dependencessurrounded a court yard.
The interpreter Aguilar, a Spaniard who had lived with the Mayas inYucatan, could readily speak the tongue of the village, which wastherefore a Mayan dialect. The natives told him that the town was namedPotonch