Note 6 — Chapter VII · THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO.
Reading edition
Clavigero gives a curious account of the mode in which Cortez took possession of the province of Tabasco, on the plains of Coutla, where he killed eight hundred of the natives, and founded a small city in memory thereof, calling it Madonna della Victoria! Here he put on his shield, unsheathed his sword, and gave three stabs with it to a large tree which was in the principal village, declaring that if any person durst oppose his possession, he would defend it with that sword.