CHAPTER CLXVIII.

so many banditti, plundered and burned the townships, and forcibly carried off the females, until the natives rose up against them in a body. Cortes' only reason for despatching several of his officers to Garay was that they might assist him with their advice and authority; to peruse his papers, and see how far they interfered with the powers which Cortes had obtained from his majesty. When Garay found that the whole of his men had deserted, and that the greater number of his vessels were lost, he repaired in person to Mexico, to beg assistance from Cortes. On his road thither he everywhere met with the heartiest reception; in Tezcuco a splendid banquet took place in his honour, and when he had approached within a short distance of Mexico, Cortes himself came out to meet him, and quartered him in one of his own palaces. They became so friendly with each other, that the preliminaries of a marriage were settled between a daughter of Cortes and the eldest son of Garay, and in consideration of this union it was particularly stipulated that Cortes was to assist Garay in an expedition to the river Palmas. But because Garay soon after fell suddenly ill, and it pleased the Almighty in his wisdom to call