province in one of the vessels, lest they should create trouble.[1]
On reaching Mexico, Garay received an impressive welcome from his rival, who, having nothing to fear from him, was quite prepared to play the magnanimous part, and to entertain him as an old friend. He even thought seriously of aiding him, and in token of his good-will agreed to the betrothal of his natural daughter, Catalina,[2] with Garay's eldest son, then acting as his father's lieutenant in Pánuco, the defect in the bride's birth being covered with a large dowry in lands and gold. The latter was to be expended in the proposed expedition to the Rio de las Palmas region, for which Cortés promised his assistance in men and means, with a view of sharing in the profits.[3] While the project was maturing the two leaders maintained the most intimate relations, and on Christmas eve, about six weeks after his arrival in Mexico, Garay accompanied the governor to midnight mass and then to breakfast. That same day he was laid low with pain and fever, aggravated by previous indisposition. The doctors declared his case hopeless, and a few days later he expired, leaving Cortés his executor.[4] The funeral was conducted with great
14 Cortés names Gonzalo de Figueroa, Alonso de Mendoza, Cerda, Juan de Ávila, Ulloa, Taborda, Medina, and Grijalva, as the leading exiles. Cartas, 297. Permission was nevertheless given to one or two to proceed under supervision to Mexico, and Figueroa figures there as witness. It was permitted to Cortés by royal orders to exile persons supposed to be dangerous to the peace. Garay exchanged letters with Cortés on the way, for his march was comparatively slow, and received assurances of welcome. See Provision, ubi sup., 131-2.
- ↑ Surnamed Pizarro, and wrongly supposed by Lorenzana to have been the child of his first wife. Cortés, Hist. N. Esp., 361. Chimalpain assumes her to be the offspring of Elvira, descendant of Montezuma, and consequently still an infant. Hist. Conq., ii. 98. The marriage evidently did not take place, for in the bull of 1529, making Cortés' natural children legitimate, she is mentioned as a maiden, and in Cortés' will of 1547 she is said to be in the convent at Coyuhuacan. Yet, in a Memorial of Cortés to the sovereign, not long after, he writes: 'Chinanta, que señale á una hija por dote suyo, y con esto la casé con el hijo mayoradgo del adelantado . . . Garay.' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 279. This may be in anticipation of the actual marriage, with a view also to strengthen his claim to the town thus bestowed as dowry.
- ↑ 15
- ↑ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 227. Enemies have declared the promises illusive, Cortés, Residencia, i. 283, but without good reason, for Cortés himself regarded an expedition to that region with favor years after.
- ↑ Bernal Diaz adds Father Olmedo.
