De Oli Was A Brave Man, And Endowed With Many Good Qualities,
Yet Unfit For His Present Employment, Having Been
Brought up in the house
of Velasquez, so that he was the more readily influenced by bad advisers
to desert
The interest of Cortes to whom he lay under great obligations.
On the third of May, de Oli arrived at his station, which he named _El
Triumpho de la Cruz_, where he appointed to the civil administration of
the new colony, such alcaldes and regidors as had been recommended by
Cortes, and even took possession of the country for his majesty in the
name of Cortes, as he wished to conceal his secession from our general
till he saw whether the country was sufficiently rich to be worth while to
set up an independent government; as, if it turned out otherwise, he could
return to his possessions in Mexico, and gloss over his negociations with
Velasquez, under pretence of having done so in order to procure the
necessary supplies. In this manner was the new colony of El Triumpho
established, from whence Cortes had no intelligence for more than eight
months.
There were a considerable number of veterans and Spaniards of rank,
established in the town of Coatzacuaclo, otherwise called Del Espiritu
Santo, who were entrusted with the government of that province, together
with the districts of Citla, Tabasco, Cimatan, Choutalpa, Cachula, Zoque,
the Quilenes, Cinacatan, Chamuela, Chiapa, Papanahausta, Pinula, Xaltepec,
Huaxaltepec, Chinantla, Tepeque, and others; but through all New Spain,
the demand for tribute was the signal of insurrection, and all who
attempted to levy it were killed, as were all Spaniards who fell into the
hands of the natives; so that we were continually obliged to go from one
town to another with a company of soldiers to preserve peace.
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