Reading for October 2, 2026

I read 13 pages of The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo in 35 minutes across two sessions. In the second session, I read seven pages in 20 minutes and finished Chapter 1, “The Expedition of Francisco Hernández.”

This first expedition seemed terrifying. They sailed west from Cuba and followed the coast, discovering land unfamiliar to them. The poor, leaking containers aboard their ships could not hold enough water, so they repeatedly had to go ashore in search of fresh water. During these stops, native groups would invite them back to their villages and then attack them.

The expedition also brought the Spaniards their first encounters with human sacrifice. One group led them into a large, well-built stone structure containing an altar freshly stained with the blood of a sacrificed native. They were told that the sacrifice had been made to the gods to support the natives in battle against them.

The Spaniards were attacked repeatedly and lost so many men that, on the return voyage, too few able-bodied sailors remained to crew every vessel. They abandoned and burned one of their ships. After running completely out of water, several men died of thirst before the survivors finally found water in Florida, 200 miles across the Gulf. From there, they completed their return to Cuba.

Two details especially stood out. At one mainland river where they stopped, the water was not fresh, but it contained many large alligators. The Spaniards also carried away idols from a native temple that contained gold, leading some among them to speculate that the people might be a lost Jewish tribe.

Tonight, I read nine pages of Little Men aloud in 16 minutes, covering the short chapter “Little Goldilocks.”

I also read 12 more pages of The Conquest of New Spain in 26 minutes, continuing into Chapter 2 on the expedition of Juan de Grijalva.