From this quarter Grijalva soon
passed over to the continent and coasted the peninsula, touching at
the same places as his predecessor. Everywhere he was struck, like
him, with the evidences of a higher civilisation, especially in the
architecture. He was astonished, also, at the sight of large stone
crosses, evidently objects of worship, which he met with in various
places. Reminded by these circumstances of his own country, he gave
the peninsula the name "New Spain," a name since appropriated to a
much wider extent of territory.
Wherever Grijalva landed, he experienced the same unfriendly
reception as Cordova, though he suffered less, being better prepared
to meet it. In the Rio de Tabasco or Grijalva, as it is often called
after him, he held an amicable conference with a chief, who gave him a
number of gold plates fashioned into a sort of armour. As he wound
round the Mexican coast, one of his captains, Pedro de Alvarado,
afterwards famous in the Conquest, entered a river, to which he also
left his own name. In a neighbouring stream, called the Rio de
Vanderas, or "River of Banners," from the ensigns displayed by the
natives on its borders, Grijalva had the first communication with
the Mexicans themselves.
The cacique who ruled over this province had received notice of
the approach of the Europeans, and of their extraordinary
appearance. He was anxious to collect all the information he could
respecting them, and the motives of their visit, that he might
transmit them to his master, the Aztec emperor.
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