As soon as the messengers had been sent off to Mexico, Cortés despatched two ships to go and explore the coast further along, and placed Francisco de Montejo in command of them and ordered him to follow the course we had taken with Grijalva (for Montejo had accompanied us during Grijalva's expedition) and to seek out a safe harbour, and search for lands where we could settle, for it was clear that we could not settle on those sand dunes, both on account of the mosquitoes and the distance from other towns. Cortés ordered Alaminos and Juan Álvarez el Manquillo to go as pilots as they knew the route, and told them to sail as far along the coast as was possible in ten days. They did as they were told and arrived at the Rio Grande, which is close to Panuco, which we had reached during the expedition under the Captain Juan de Grijalva. They were not able to proceed any further on account of the strong currents.