Note 43 — Chapter III · RETURN OF GRIJALVA. A NEW EXPEDITION ORGANIZED. 1518.

Bernal Diaz claims to have planted here the first orange-seeds sown in New Spain. It was at the base of a temple, on whose summit he had enjoyed a refreshing sleep, above the clouds of mosquitoes, and through gratitude he sowed these seed, which he had brought from Cuba. He tells, likewise, of obtaining here by barter 4,000 pesos, which, with the 16,000 pesos Alvarado carried home, made 20,000 pesos secured during the voyage. Among the treasures were some copper hatchets, which the Spaniards took to be an inferior kind of gold. Las Casas gives a detailed description of the treasures obtained by this expedition, among which was an emerald worth 2,000 ducats, from the mainland opposite Isla de Sacrificios.