The Fifth Letter of Hernan Cortes

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Excerpt from The Fifth Letter of Hernan Cortes: To the Emperor Charles V Containing an Account of His Expedition to Honduras The causes that brought on and determined Cortes' expedition are well known. It was a common belief among Spaniards of that time - and principally among those who, impelled by a spirit of adventure, left their country for the New World - that the Pacific was no other than the far-famed Indian Ocean, studded with golden isles, and teeming with the rich treasures of the East. Cortes, like most Spaniards of his day, firmly believed in a strait which should connect the two seas, and his letters to the Em peror are filled with this favourite idea, which he seems to have cherished to the last day of his life. Most of all, does he say in one of his letters to the Emperor, do I exult in the tidings lately brought me of the Great Ocean, for in it, as cosmographers and those learned men who know most about the Indies inform me, are scattered innumerable isles teeming with gold and pearls, abounding in precious stones, as well as in spices, and where, I feel confi dent, many wonderful secrets and admirable things may be discovered.1' Again, in 152 4, he wrote Your Majesty may be assured that knowing, as I do, how much you have at heart the discovery of this great mystery of the seas, I shall postpone all interests and projects of my own - some of them of the highest moment - for the fulfilment of this great obj ect, Accordingly, no sooner had he entered Mexico for the second time, than he fitted out two expeditions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.