Note 91 — Chapter V · SAILING OF THE EXPEDITION. 1518-1519.

Bernal Diaz asserts that Duero and Láres were present at the parting, and that Velazquez and Cortés several times embraced each other and vowed eternal friendship. ‘Habuit Cortesius cùm e Sancti Jacobi urbe et portu solvit, naves sex; aliâ, nam septem habuit, in portu, ut sarciretur reficereturque, relictâ.’ De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 348. This authority believes that one of the reasons for Cortés’ hurried departure was a fear that Grijalva’s vessels might turn up; but they had already arrived, as we have seen. The seventh vessel, a caravel, joined Cortés at Trinidad, with nine horses and eighty volunteers, under Francisco de Salcedo. Id., 354. ‘Partiose de Santiago Barucoa ... en seys nauios.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 13.