Note XIII‑45 — Chapter XIII · THE CONQUEST OF CHIAPAS. 1520-1529.

For the incidents that occurred before the capture of the town of Chiapas the account of Bernal Diaz has been accepted as the base of this narrative, but the version of Diego de Godoy, an 'escribano del rey,' who accompanied the expedition, is also worthy of credit. The latter furnished Cortés with two reports of the proceedings, though his first one, which was written from Cinacantlan, has not yet appeared in print, and is perhaps no longer extant. The second despatch was written from Espíritu Santo, and was first published at Toledo by Caspa de Ávila on the 20th of October 1525, together with the fourth letter of Cortés to the king of Spain, and again in Valencia by George Costilla on the 12th of July 1526. In 1749 Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia reproduced it in Madrid, in his collection of the works of the chroniclers. Godoy's account and that of Bernal Diaz, though agreeing in the main features of the campaign, are strangely contradictory in many particulars. In weighing the credibility of their statements it should be borne in mind that the former wrote his despatch immediately after the conclusion of the campaign, while the latter wrote from memory many years afterward. It is beyond dispute that Marin commanded this expedition, as appears from his own despatch and the statements of Bernal Diaz; yet in Gomara, Hist. Mex., 233; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. viii., and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 573, it is stated that Godoy was in charge, Marin being second in command.