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Rh look upon the year 1545 as marking the completion of the conquest of northern Yucatan, we may say that a century and a half elapsed before the subjection of the Itzas was consummated. To gain an idea of the events of the time we can do nothing better than to give Villagutierre's account. (Lib. ii, cap. 1.)

Increased Power of the Itzas. “It is now many years that the Barbarous Itzaex, more than any other Nation of Infidels, have been terrifying all those Provinces. For, since the time when D. Fernando Cortes passed through their land and those events which have already been told happened to them, no further attempts had been made to bring about their Reduction or to make war upon them in order to subjugate them, and this was on account of the prohibition given by the King in Cedulas and orders.

“They had increased greatly in numbers, pride, cruelty and Power, making war upon and capturing and eating others of the Gentile Nations who dwelt in those Mountains and Forests, and also infesting, by their Raids, the Reduced and quiet Villages on the Confines of their Lands, and especially those of the Province of Yucatan, destroying them, and causing the Indians and Spaniards great agitation.

“They trusted in the great Fortress and the great security they had in their Lake, and especially at the City or Great Village of Tayassal which was situated on the Peten or Island in the Lake; because of which nothing molested them nor was it possible even to pass near their Confines. And although the Governors of the Province of Yucatan regretted this extremely, yet they did not venture to make war upon them because the King had prohibited it by his orders and Royal Cedulas, as has been said elsewhere.

The Mock Embassy from Tayasal. “ln the year 1614, while Don Antonio de Figueroa was governing those Provinces of Yucatan, some of the Itzaex came to the City of Merida, feigning an embassy (?) in order to cover other and more private ends. Or perhaps because it seemed to them that they


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56 could thereby make derision or sport of the Spaniards, they gave out that they had come voluntarily to render obedience to His Majesty, and in his Name to the Governor of those Provinces, saying that their King and Lord, Canek, and all his Vassals, were desirous of the Friendship of the Spaniards and were coming to ask for Peace.

“As nothing was to be lost thereby the Governor believed them, and received their obedience which they gave. He appointed Justices from among themselves, and gave them the usual Staffs of Alcaldes; and having shown them all sorts of kindness he let them go, well pleased. And the Governor was well-satisfied, judging that now they would voluntarily be his subjects and that they would be Christians. But later it was seen that all this was a fantastic make-believe, poured out in the Mould of their mendacious evilness, which they frequently indulged in, as we shall see further on.

“The Governor, considering it as an insult to His Majesty and to himself, or else being zealous or piqued by the sly treatment given by those Barbarous Infidels, in order to convert them and knowing that he could not make war upon them, he appealed to the Council of the Indies, asking that the Authority be granted to him to overcome and subject them by force of arms. And he pointed out the continuousness of their wickedness, the perfidy of their idolatry, the wariness of their tricks, the terror and fear in which they held those Provinces, and what was necessary in order to punish and subject them by force.

The Mock Embassy Considered to be a Rebellion. “Especially, since they had now given their obedience (though pretendingly) and since they had departed from it, the prohibition to make War on them was at an end. For, if His Majesty had indeed so prohibited War, these Indians were now Vassals of the King, and failure in vassalage was a species of Rebellion and Uprising. And if they had given their obedience feigningly and craftily or with any improper end, it was a piece of rudeness worthy of not being left without very severe chastisement.

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Rh “It does not appear whether this Governor divined what was to occur in the future from the obstinacy, cruelty, and malevolence of these Barbarians, and how many efficacious Means were to be insufficient to reduce them to Peace; but that of War (is the best). But he pressed for permission to make use of it in order to bring them to subjection.”

Here it may be well to compare Cogolludo's account of these same events with that of Villagutierre. Cogolludo (lib. ix, cap. 1) says that these events took place in the reign of Bishop Don Fray Gonzalo de Salazar. In 1609 a great plague did much harm in Yucatan. In 1610, at the end of August, Salazar arrived to take the post of Bishop of Yucatan. At about that time two Indians called Alonzo Chable and Francisco Canul gave out that they were respectively the Pope and the Bishop, and they made the wretched Catholic Indians venerate them as such. All the most sacred mysteries of the Church were profaned by them, even the Host itself. This deplorable state of affairs was brought to an end by the intervention of the Governor of the village of Tikax in the sierra. He was one Don Pedro Xiu, a descendant of Tutul Xiu, Lord of Mani. Owing, perhaps, to the influence of a convent in his region, this chief was a good Christian, and he severely punished the offenders for their sacrilege. He even forced the Spaniards to attend Mass. In short his virtue was such as to earn him the hatred of all malcontents. Finally, being pursued by his enemies, the cacique sought refuge in the convent of Tikax,


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58 the guardian of which was the Reverend Padre Fray Juan de Coronel. Xiu was hidden behind the sacristy altar while the search was going forward. In due time the more orderly portion of the Spanish population came to the aid of the cacique, and his enemies were put to death by order of the Governor of Yucatan, who at this time was the Mariscal Don Carlos de Luna y Arellano. His qualities as a governor receive the following terse tribute from Cogolludo: “His term of office completed, he came forth from his post in debt, whereas others, in a short while, pay great debts and come forth very rich.” Luna had been rich when he went into office.

A New Period in the History of the ltzas. We have now reached a sort of natural break in our history. Beginning with a review of the pre-conquest history of the Mayas and of the Itzas, we have studied the entradas of Cortes, of Montejo, and of Dávila into the regions formerly occupied by them. We have seen the manner in which the northern portions of Yucatan and of the Maya-Itza stock were made subject to the crown of Castile; we have just examined the best two accounts of the events leading up to the conquest of the southern tribes, and especially of the Itzas of Tayasal. From the year 1614, which we have now reached, the main interest centers about the small nation whose chief town was at Tayasal on Lake Peten. They and their subject tribes resisted the Spanish onslaughts from 1614 to l697. It took eighty-three years for the Spaniards to subject this nation, which cannot have numbered more than one hundred and fifty thousand souls. The Itzas resisted successfully for a much longer time a power more their superior than was that of Caesar to that of the Gauls.

Having noticed the beginning of a new period, we will continue the translation of Villagutierre. We shall thus see how the conquest of the Itzas began as a more or less desultory evangelical affair, and how no real vigor was injected into it until a commercial motive (the building of the Yucatan-Guatemala road) was introduced.


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Rh Fuensalida and Orbita. The account continues thus:

“Three or four years later, when the year 1618 was already running its course, on the 25th of March, while Francisco Ramirez Briceño was governing these Provinces, the Provincial Chapter of the Religious Order of San Francisco was held in the City of Merida; before it,...Padres Fray Bartolomé de Fuensalida and Fray Juan de Orbita offered to go and preach the Holy Evangel to the Itzaex; both of these were Learned Men and of consummate Virtue, they were Priests well versed in that Maya Tongue which was natural to those Itzaex as to the Yucatecs, where they had been before.

“...It was determined that they should set forth on that Holy Errand; and they, well pleased, and trusting in God, determined to depart without delay and without other arms than the loving force of the Divine Word, thus fulfilling the will of the King that only Religious should go, and without the clangor of Soldiery. The Provincial gave them their patents which were presented before the Bishop, Don Gonzalo de Salazar, who was so overjoyed at their holy resolution that had his presence not been needed for the Government of his Bishopric, he would have gone with the Padres.

“Since this could not be, the Bishop despatched to them with great pleasure very ample Authority, in which he gave them as much Power over the Spaniards as they would have had if he had been present with them; and especially in regard to the People of the Town of Salamanca de Bacalar and its territory, commanding the Beneficiado of that Town and District, which includes Tipu, under penalty of the greater Excommunication, in no manner direct or indirect to embarrass or to expel the Religious while they were in Tipu, from which point they were to make ready for their Entrada to the Itzaex.

Briceño's Opposition. “And the Bishop perceived that the Religious were going without attention to temporal matters, for the Governor Francisco Ramirez Briceño, in spite of His Majesty's command that in such Cases the Necessary Funds for the Divine Worship and the Viaticum for the Religious should be given from the Royal Chest, did not wish to give anything to these men; nor did he wish to give them even the


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60 Despatch for which they asked in order that the Villages through which they passed might give them assistance, his excuse being that he did not have orders from the King, and that if they were killed by the Barbarians or by some Native Indians they had with them, or if any other misfortune should come to pass, the Blame would be upon him. The Bishop gave them, beside the Appointment, orders and aids which I have spoken of, many Crosses, Knives, Shears and other trifles and Charms from Spain so that they might treat the Indians well; and he comforted them, and put new life into their zeal for this good purpose.

“The Citizens of Merida joined the Bishop in his joy and also in giving the Padres increased Alms; and the Former Governor Don Antonio de Figueroa gave them Rosaries, and Glass Beads, and the Citizens gave them these and many other things, and still others were bought with the Alms contributed by the Encomenderos. Even the Indians of the City and the Villages through which they later passed, the Chiefs, and Indian Women, gave them Clothing of the sort they were wont to use for the improvement [of the Itzas], in order that they might be given to the King Canek and to his Wife and to the other Chiefs of the Itzas.”

The Padres Set out. “The present Governor alone, Briceño, gave them nothing, and he even swindled them out of the Despatch of Favor and Assistance, saying that he would give it to them the day of their departure; then he said that they should wait for it at the Convent of Tikax, which is the last one in the Sierra. So that without the Despatch, but with the Blessing of God and that of the Bishop and their own Prelate, and asking all to recommend to God the good outcome of the Voyage, they set out from Merida for Bacalar, rejoicing, and on naked feet.

“In a short space of time they arrived at the Convent of Tikax, for they feared that the rains would begin. When they had waited some days for the Despatches of the Governor, they received only a letter from him in which he said that he did not intend to give them the Despatches for the reasons he had already given them. The Padres greatly regretted the


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Rh coldness on the part of the Governor merely because they feared that they would not have in Bacalar good Aid without the orders of the Governor; for it was necessary to take Boats from there to go up the Rivers from that Town to the Village of Tipu, where they were to make their Headquarters, according to the instructions of the Bishop.

Their Route. “ But nevertheless, and confiding only in God, they continued their journey accompanied by some Indian Singers and Sacristans who were at the Convent and whom God moved to offer themselves as companions, although they knew the perils of the journey, and thus they went alone, without human defense, to place themselves in the hands of those Barbarous Caribes, of whom it was known for certain that they ate human Flesh; but they placed all fear behind them.

“And the Padres, seeing that they had with them those who would aid them to celebrate the Divine Services solemnly, traveled very contentedly. They arrived at Calotmul, five leagues from the Convent. And on leaving this Village, they traversed the Sierra to the Village of Chunhuhub, which is another fifteen leagues of deserted country full of swamps and marshes very difficult to cross. From there they journeyed to Pacha, another fifteen leagues of deserted country, with roads even worse than those before on account of their very swampy nature, which is so great that in the rainy season it is necessary to take to Canoes in order to pass those Places, and in the dry season the Canoes are beached there.

“From the Village of Pacha they went to another called Xoca, almost another ten leagues. This place was later deserted and overgrown with trees. From Xoca they went to the Town of Salamanca de Bacalar, which is five leagues. And there they were regaled and favored by the Alcalde, who, at that time, was Andres Carrillo de Pernia, a Citizen of the Town


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62 of Valladolid de Yucatan, who showed so much hospitality and kindliness while they were there to them and to the Indians whom they had with them, that in nowise were they made to feel the want of Despatches from the Governor of Yucatan; for he gave them more favors and assistance then and later, this Alcalde, than if they had carried the Commands, orders and Despatches of all the Tribunals of the World.

“Notwithstanding the great favors which the Alcalde Carrillo showed to the Missionaries, they desired to set forth with all speed for Tipu so as not to be overtaken by the Rains; and as they found themselves, like true Sons of Saint Francis, without any money with which to pay the Indian Rowers who were to conduct them, and with which to buy the ship-stores necessary for all in order to navigate the Rio Nohukun, which means Rio Grande, in order to go up by the river to Tipu, and not being able to ask aid of the Alcalde because of the absence of orders from the Governor, they were saddened and became exceedingly disconsolate.

“But the Noble Zeal of that Honorable Creole, Alcalde Carrillo, once more aided them. Learning the cause of their sadness, because the Holy Eagerness which they had was not cooled, he provided a Piragua of his own, very capacious, with Indian rowers and Supplies necessary for all. And not content with having fitted them out, he embarked with them and accompanied them in person as far as Tipu so that the Indians should not leave them, and so that aid should be offered more promptly; and all this was done at the expense of his estate without being necessitated by orders from any Superior.

The Journey up the River from Tipu. “They made the Navigation of that great River and of others which flow into it, with great contentment on account of the deliciousness of its Banks, Isles, great and wide-spread Lagoons, Woodlands, Forests, and Pine Groves which spread away as far as New Spain. And what caused them no less diversion was the Indians of the Piragua, who, without stopping the boat, continually captured Fishes with Harpoons; the only thing that annoyed them was the multitude of Mosquitoes which there are thereabouts and which caused them much pain and disquiet.


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Rh “To refer in detail to the Events and Places through which they passed either by Water or by Land, would be too much of prolixity, and it is not intended to do more than to let it be known from what will be said later, that from the City of Merida to the District and Village of Tipu it is a very long, and at times, toilsome Journey. And so it is sufficient to say that in three days, (after many of Traveling), they mounted the ascent to Tipu by the River which comes from there and which is very full. And as the going is against the current, which is of so much violence, in those twelve leagues that to go up to Tipu the Oars are not sufficient and it is necessary to go up by means of Poles; and at every mischance the Water whirls the Canoes backward; and at times the Indians throw themselves upon them with arms outstretched to stop them and to draw them forward....”

The account of these events given by Cogolludo (lib. ix, caps. 4, 5, 6) is almost identical. The place names mentioned by Villagutierre are all to be found on Costello's map (MacNutt, 1908, vol. ii, p. 232) save Pacha (between Chunhuhub and Xoca). The distances from place to place are inaccurately given by Villagutierre, being invariably too short.

Arrival at Tipu. We will now continue by translating Villagutierre. (Lib. ii, cap. 2 ff.)

“The Alcaldes, Caziques and Chief Men of Tipu learned before their arrival that the Padres were coming to their Village, and they set forth with their Canoes to go more than two leagues down the River to receive them with Refreshments in Food and a Drink called Zaca, which they make of Cacao and Maize. They saluted the Padres with much contentment and joy, and they returned with them to the Landing place, a stone's throw from the Village, and there they had prepared Dances according to their usage, and to the accompaniment of these and much rejoicing, they took the Padres to the Church, where they offered up to God their thanks for having permitted them to arrive safely at that Village on the outskirts of Christendom and the Plaza de Armas of valiant Spirits.

Events at the Village of Tipu. “And when they had said their Orisons, the Indians quartered the Padres in the house


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64 of the Beneficiado next to the Church and the Alcalde Carrillo was placed in the house of a leading Indian woman, called Doña Isabel Pec; who was the Widow of the Cacique Don Luis Mazun, who had died while a prisoner for Idolatry in Merida. When the Religious reached this Village there were Vespers of the Feast of the Holy Ghost....

The Friendliness of Carrillo and the Indians. “The Alcalde Carrillo inspected the Village as it was of his jurisdiction, and not having anything further to do there because the Citizens aided the Padres even more than was necessary, he wished them well and took leave of them all, returning to Salamanca de Bacalar.

“The Padres now remained alone with the Indians of Tipu, but they were very much the companions of God and of His fervent Spirit and of the gladness which it caused them to see those Indians so occupied with the affairs of good Christians such as attending with much punctuality the Divine Services, sending their Children to all the classes for the Catechism. (What passed in their hearts God alone knows, as will be told later.) The Padres saw that the Indians aided them with much generosity as time went on and until they set forth for the Itzaex, because the people of Tipu were very rich and got much Cacao, Vanilla and other things of a noble sort.

Don Christoval Na, Cacique of the Indians of Tipu. “There were then in the Vicinity of the Village of Tipu more than one hundred Citizens, all Indians. Don Christobal Na, their Cacique, was very devoted to the Religious. There was another Chief Indian called Don Francisco Cumux, who was a Descendant of the Lord of the Island of Cozumel, who received Don Fernando Cortes when he passed to the Conquest of New Spain. This man in his Habits, and actions showed very well his Nobility and good Blood, although he was but an Indian. He was very much the Servitor of the Padres and a great Singer, and he was often present in the Church, singing the Offices, as if he were a common Indian.”

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Rh attitude toward the Padres. “...Cumux accepted the Embassy with a very good will, although he was not eager for the danger; and when all had been made ready he set forth with the Indians that were assigned to him. The contents of the message were: To say to the Canek how the two Padres had remained in Tipu and that the reason they had gone thither was to pass to [the Itzas] to see and communicate certain things which were for the good of Canek and his people; and so the Ambassador was to ask him to assemble his Captains in order that they might see that their coming was a peaceful one, without Soldiers or arms, only two Poor Padres of San Francisco; and Canek was urged to send his Chief Men to see them at Tipu, and they said that they would like, with his leave and permission and safe-conduct to pass to see him, and that if he gave it, as they hoped, it would give them great pleasure, for without his consent they would do nothing.

Francisco Cumux Goes with an Embassy to Canek. “Don Francisco Cumux set forth on his Journey, very well-pleased; he traversed those Mountains and deserts, leaving the Padres in the hands of God and making continual Sacrifices and Orisons. He was six days in arriving at the Island, Capital of the Itzas; and when he was brought into the presence of Canek, he was received with affability, and he gave his message as he had been ordered. The Itzaex entertained him and those whom he brought with him according to the quality of each one. Then Canek called to Council all his Captains and Chiefs in order to consider what he should reply to the message and Letter which the Religious had sent him.

“And as some of those Indians already knew a little of what the Religious were, through having seen them in the City of Merida, at the time when they went there to give that false obedience of which I have spoken, and they also knew that they could do them no harm if they were alone as Don Francisco Cumux asserted, they resolved not only to give License to come and see them, but also the Canek sent two Captains of his, together with some Indians, in company with Don Francisco and his Indians, in order that they might visit the Padres in his behalf and tell them that they might come with all safety


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66 to his Land whenever it might please them, for he and his men were ready to receive them and talk with them in good feeling. And with this good Reply, farewells were said by Don Franciso [sic] Cumux, who set forth at once very happily, returning with the rest to Tipu.

Cumux Returns from Kanek with Two Chiefs of Tayasal. “He arrived in the presence of the Religious fifteen days after he had set out from there, greater speed being impossible because the road was closed up and surrounded with marshes. In his company came the two Itza Captains, one was called Ahchatappol, and the other Ahauppuc, with more than twenty other Indians. The two Captains bore their Lances with points of Flint, like ours, which differ from them only in being of Steel, and at the heads of them are many Plumes of divers and beautiful colors like the Ribbons our Standard-bearers use on their darts; and the points are as much as a quarter of a vara long and have two cutting-edges, and the point is like a very sharp Dagger.

“The other Itzaex Indians bore their Bows and Arrows with which they always march when they come forth from their Island and Territory in case they meet the Chinamitas, a Nation for whom they have always had enmity, and continual wars; for they hold themselves as brave warriors like the Itzas themselves.

The Two Chiefs are cordially Received. “As soon as they arrived, the two Captains saluted the Religious according to their usage (which is to throw the right arm over the shoulder as a sign of Peace and Friendship). The Religious replied with many urbanities and courtesies. The Captains were quartered in the house of the Cacique and the rest in the houses of the Chiefs of that Village of Tipu, care being taken to regale them as had been done in their Island to our Indians.

“And later Don Francisco Cumux gave the Religious an account of how he had been received by Canek and by the other Chiefs and Heads of the Districts of the City, and of how they had shown joy and of what had gone forward, and of the opinion that they had that the Padres should go to see the Itzas. The Padres were full of joy, and they thanked Don


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Rh Francisco and his companions for the trouble they had had on that Journey, and they told them that it was certain that God would reward them, for they had gone in His service and in His Holy Name....”

A rather verbose account of the services held for the benefit of the Itzas closes this chapter. The account of Cogolludo (lib. ix, caps. 7, 8) is much the same. Villagutierre (lib. ii, cap. 3) continues his description of the entrada of Fuensalida and Orbita:

The Padres Prepare to Travel to Tayasal. “The Religious tried, after the Itzaex Indians had gone thence, with their Indians of Tipu, to make ready for the Journey and to prepare the necessary food for traveling. This was done in a short while; so that on the Day of the Assumption of Our Lady, 15 August, 1618, they set forth from Tipu in company with the Cacique of that Village, Don Christoval Na, and with more than twenty important Indians besides those others which were needed as servants, their Maestro de Capilla, their Singers and their Sacristans, all of whom had offered to go with them from the Province....

“Two leagues from Tipu, in the direction of the Itzas, there was a Great River which, because the Waters had not risen greatly, it was possible to wade; and the Cacique, Don Christoval Na, who was a very corpulent man of great personal strength, placed the two Religious on his shoulders [and carried them across]. The River having been crossed, they journeyed some eight or ten leagues, and came upon a Great Lake which they called Yaxhaa. And finding no Canoe with which to traverse the Lake's two leagues of length, the Indians told the Religious that they should return to the Village of Tipu, since they could not go forward on account of the necessity of crossing the Lake, and because of the lack of Vessels.

Delays; the Padres' Anger. “The Padre Commissario Fuensalida became exceedingly angry with them, saying that it was not possible that they should have been ignorant of that Impediment, since they were so well versed in that Land and Road, and that they should have remedied it; and he declared that he would not go back upon the Road so well begun and


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68 that he would continue upon his Journey until he reached the Itzaex, for which place he and his Companion had set forth. And so, as to think of floating on any makeshift was to think of the impossible, and as to the left of that Lake it appeared that one might break through the Forest and proceed by opening a Road [through the jungle], passing around the edge of the Lake, they decided that they might thus continue their Voyage in a straight line.

“The Indians made this seem to be very difficult and they replied that it was far, and that it would be too toilsome to open a Road through the places the Father mentioned, and that the Supplies that they had with them were not sufficient for so many days, and they would want for them later on. Besides the time was coming on when it would be necessary for them to take in their crops from the fields and they said that while they were doing that a Canoe should be built on purpose for them all to cross the Lake and that they would carry the Padres with much pleasure and little toil to the Itzaex.

The Return to Tipu. “Padre Fuensalida insisted and persisted that what he had first proposed should be executed, namely, to cut around the Lake. And the Indians asked Padre Juan de Orbita to dissuade the Padre Commissario since what they said was more fitting, It seemed, at last, indeed to be so, and that the Indians were right, and all agreed to return to Tipu, and to build there a Canoe in which to pass across the Lake as they offered to do.

“When they had returned to Tipu, the Cacique Don Christoval soon sent Indian carpenters who, on the very shore of the Lake, were to make ready the wood for a very good Canoe. There are in that region great logs of Cedar and other trees from which can be made and are made many large Canoes. They built it very capacious and suitable; and the other Indians, in the interim, gathered in their crops and assembled new provisions in order to set out once more with the Padres for the Land of the Itzaex.

All Precautions Taken, they Set out Once More. “Once more they all set out as before from Tipu. They crossed the Rio Grande, which is two leagues away, with much more


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Rh trouble than before because the Waters had risen and were still rising, as it was already near the end of September. And having arrived once more at the Lake of Yaxhaa, where the Canoe was in readiness, the Persons who were journeying and all that they had with them were carried across the two leagues of water in four trips.

Lake Yaxha is Crossed; Arrival at Lake Zacpeten. “Everything and everybody being now on the other bank, they continued their march by Land for some fifteen leagues as far as another Lake, which was called Zacpeten (which is the same as saying White Island), which was shorter than the other, being not more than a league in length....”

Here follows a short passage describing how the devil made the Indians choose the wrong path. The reason for this suggested by Villagutierre seems plausible, namely, that the Tipuans did not want the Itzas converted, because if they were the Tipuans would have no place to take refuge should they themselves become apostates.

“When the Tipuan Indians saw the Constancy of the Padres (for, although they knew the malice of the Indians, they bore it with patience, and encouraged them, saying that God would bring them out on the right Road since He had brought them there) and perceiving that the intention of the Padres not to turn back was unchanged, or else, because they saw that the Spirit of the Padres became more determined the greater the difficulties they experienced on the way, the Indians at length brought them out upon the right road. And after they had followed it for two days and eighteen leagues, they came upon the Great Lake of the Itzaex called Chaltuna, with great relief and joy.

The Padres Camp beside Lake Peten. “They encamped on the Shore of the Lake and there built a very capacious Ranch in which they set up an altar in order to say Mass. Then they sent off a very important Indian of Tipu (who later was Cacique) with some others who were in his company, with orders to say to the Canek that the Religious were there, and to hand over to him a present of the trifles that had been given them in Merida for this purpose and also a little Cacao from Tipu,


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 which was very fine (and is so even today), and a very good hanger (cutlass). They warned the messenger also to tell the Canek to send them good Canoes for them to cross to his Island, and some of his Chief men who should take them thither.

“The Important Indian, Don Gaspar Cetza (for so he was named), set forth for the Island with the others who were going with him. And when eight days had been spent in waiting (which caused the Padres anxiety) Don Gaspar returned, accompanied by the Captains Ahchatappol and Ahauppuc, who had been in the Village of Tipu, and by other Itzaex Indians, as well as by four large Canoes which Canek sent in order that all might cross over in one trip.

“With this good provision they embarked, all feeling very contented and happy, on that same day after having said Mass and eaten. And with the Itza Captains and the other Indians, they navigated, in good time, the length of that Lake to the Island which, from that direction, is some six leagues. The Itzaex, who were in sight in order to see when they were approaching the Island, and others who in Canoes came out to a great distance for the same purpose, gave notice to the Canek of how the Religious were already arriving and were approaching. And the Canek sent a son-in-law of his with others of his Family, in two Canoes, who came out more than two leagues to salute the Padres and receive them in his name.

The Padres Arrive at Tayasal and are well Received. “They brought them some of that Drink which is called Zaca, together with frothed cacao, which is highly esteemed among them (and, in short, though they were Barbarians, they did not fail to have their own sort of politeness in some matters and signs of urbanity and good manners). They arrived at the Landing place very near the Village, and there was the Petty King or Cacique Canek with his Chiefs and a great crowd who had come out to receive them. And it was already about ten at night when they arrived at the Island, but there were many lighted torches of Oçote or Candlewood: so that all was clear and visible.

“When the Religious had set foot on Land, Canek received


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 them with demonstrations of great love and good will, and with much content. He invited the Religious to a House which he had made for them, although it was not very large, near his Palace, or rather, large House where he resided, and which was some twenty paces from that of the Padres, which was ample for their necessities. Two very good Barbacoas (=?) were set up, according to their usage as Beds, and all those who were with the Padres were quartered nearby.

“The House of Canek was some forty paces from the Lake and before it was a small Square in which was the House which he had had built for the Religious and with which they were much pleased, seeing how near it was to his own and how easy it would be to communicate with him frequently. Besides, the site was a very good one. And on the day after their arrival they embellished a Room in their House and erected there an Altar so that they might say Mass; and Padre Fuensalida chanted that of Saint Paul the Apostle, to whom they gave the Patronage of that Island.

Mass is Said. “Very many of the Itzaex were looking on from outside with profound silence and without making a single sound that could disturb what the Religious were doing. They, after having said Mass, went to see Canek, and after having saluted him, they remained in conversation with him a great while, for they knew the Language very well. They asked his leave to go all through the Village and to see its Houses and all its Cues or Temples, which were numerous. Canek conceded it, and gave them important Indians who were to go with them through the Village and show them all that they wished to see. The principal purpose of the Padres in soliciting this permission was to make a beginning to their preaching; from that time on, in the presence of Canek, of the Chiefs and of a great crowd of Zamaguales or Common People, they began to preach the Law of God….

Fuensalida Preaches; Orbita Destroys an Idol. “With great attention the Indians who were congregated there listened to the discourse of the Padre Fuensalida….” For a brief time it looked as if the Padres might attain success in the errand, but as we saw in Chapter III, Padre Orbita, in


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 anger, destroyed the idol of the horse and also the tolerance of the Itzas.

“Having returned to the guest house, and having rested a little from the toil of the Spiritual Battle and of breaking the Idol, the Religious went to see Canek, who, although he already knew what had happened in the Temple, and though they themselves spoke of it to him, did not say a word about it, nor did he show anger on account of it. So that the other Indians, seeing their Lord calm, became entirely appeased, and spoke no more of the affair to the Padres. But it is true that the Canek did not leave off wondering that they should have dared to do such a thing as that.

The Padres Urge the Itzas to be Christians. “He made them sit down on something which was like a small throne and on which he was wont to sit himself; it was then raised and placed in the midst of them, and being thus raised, the Padres discoursed for a long time concerning the affairs of God and the Holy Catholic Faith….

They Refuse because the Appointed Time has not Come. They told the Canek that a previous Canek had promised Cortes to receive Christianity. “… Canek replied: That the time had not yet arrived in which their ancient Priests had prophesied to them they were to relinquish the worship of their Gods; because the Period in which they then were was Oxahau, which means Third Period … and so they asked


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 the Padres to make no further attempts in that direction at that time, but to return to the Village of Tipu and then, on another occasion, to come again to see them.

“Despite all this, Canek was the first to receive, with great pleasure, a Cross which the Padres placed in his hands, and afterwards some of his men received others. Canek gave the Padres permission, during the days they were his guests, to chant the Christian Doctrine; they did so in the seventh Tone as they were accustomed to chant it in the Province of Yucatan.

After a Few Days the Padres Leave Tayasal. “In this way several days passed, and the Religious, perceiving that they could in no wise proceed with the execution of their good desire, on account of the fact that the Indians would not change their minds, determined to return to the Village of Tipu in order to obtain the benefit of the good-will of the people there with their suavity and patience.

“They imparted this determination to the Infidels, who readily agreed to it. The Indians who had come with them made ready a Canoe; and the Itzas gave the Religious some figures of their Idols, which they took to Yucatan that they might be seen, and some Clothing of the sort the Indians use.”

The Padres left Tayasal under rather unpleasant circumstances; some of the Indians seem to have harbored a grudge against them because of the incident of the idol, and these malcontents hurled insults after the canoes in which the Padres were going away. They returned to Tipu by the same way they had come, arriving there at the beginning of November. The Beneficiado of Bacalar would not let them stay in Tipu; he was reprimanded by the Bishop for his surliness. Finally


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 Padre Fuensalida returned to Merida, leaving Orbita in charge of the Indians at Tipu.

Thus ended the entrada of Fuensalida and Orbita into the country of the Itzas. One cannot but admire the stanch [sic] faith and unswerving loyalty to their ideals of these two men. They were both of great personal courage and virtue, but from the foregoing account of their entrada it is easy enough to deduce that Fuensalida was the greater man of the two. Orbita was skillful in making effective altar displays, but he was hasty and unwise in his treatment of the idol of the horse. We must, however, frankly acknowledge that for two men to go alone and unarmed into the midst of a powerful nation of barbarians whom they believed to be cannibals was a deed of very great bravery, especially as they had no expectations of personal material gain. This entrada of 1618 is just barely mentioned by Fray Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola (30 recto), who, however, speaks of the idol incident as a mistake of policy.


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ADRE FRAY DIEGO DELGADO'S Offer to Christianize the Itzas. In spite of the unfortunate turn that events had taken while Fuensalida and Orbita were at Tayasal, another Franciscan, Fray Diego Delgado, was filled with a desire to Christianize the Itzas. He set out from Merida; Villagutierre (lib. ii, cap. 8) relates the story thus:

“...A year and a half, with a slight difference, after the return of the Padres Orbita and Fuensalida, repulsed by the Itzaex, at a time when already the year 1621 was running its course and the Provincial Chapter of the Order of Saint Francis had already been held in the City of Merida, a proposal was made by the Padre Fray Diego Delgado, of the same Order and a Son of the Province of Los Angeles, to the new Provincial of Yucatan, the proposal being dictated by the desires of his Spiritual Love.”

There follows a setting forth of Delgado's belief that the fugitive Indians were likely to relapse into idolatry. Delgado asked leave to go and reconvert them; this was given by Arias Conde, Governor ad interim of Yucatan.

Delgado Travels to the Convent of Xecchacan. “Everything having been made ready for his journey, the Monk journeyed to that Convent of his Order which is in the Village of Xecchacan. And when his intention was known there, several Indians of the Village offered to go with him, for those of that place are well-versed in the Woodlands. And also certain other Indians who were Singers and Sacristans of the Convent, as is customary..., also promised to go with him.

He is well Provided with Guides and Other Indians. “So that now Fray Diego Delgado found himself not only with Guides, but with those who would aid him in celebrating the Divine Services and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And also


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76 some of the Indians of the Sierra came to him with a great inclination and desire to accompany him on that Voyage. And together with These and Those, he entered into the Woodlands to the Southward of that Land of Yucatan.

“And as soon as he began to penetrate the Woods, he kept encountering many of the Indians who were fugitives from the Villages of the Province, and who were living without Decency, Towns or Sacraments, but merely in Huts in several places of that Wilderness.

Zaclun. “He went about, bringing them with flattering caresses and the great suavity of his holy and loving words, and bearing them to the Mountains which are called the Mountains of Pimienta (which are very near the Sierra of Alabaster)....He formed with them a great Village on the same site as where had been before the village called Zaclun, which had been depopulated when the Guardians of the Province of San Francisco, who had gone, in former times, toward those inland Mountain Places, had been lost.

“He gave the Village the Name of San Felipe or Santiago de Zaclun. And in virtue of the Power given him by the Governor of Yucatan, to appoint Justices and Rulers in whatever Villages might be founded, he did this in the new Village of Zaclun in the Name of his Majesty and of his Governor of the Provinces of Yucatan, giving the posts to the most fit of those very Indians he had recently assembled.

“He appointed a Cacique and gave Authority to Alcaldes, Regidores, and other Officials of Government and of Public Weal, all of whom he appointed in order that those Indians might live in Justice, Christianity, and service to God and the King. And when this was done he gave an account of the whole matter to the Governor of Yucatan, begging him to confirm the Elections and Appointments that he had made for that new Village.

“The Governor of those Provinces of Yucatan at the time was Don Diego de Cárdenas, who celebrated with very great merriment the reception of such news, a delight which was participated in by all the Dwellers in the City of Merida and even in the rest of that Land and Province of Yucatan.


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Rh “Captain Francisco de Mirones, who was Juez de la Grana [agrarian officer] of the Territory of the Coast of Yucatan, and a very great Soldier, and the gallantry of whose Spirit was delighted at this new turn of affairs, conjectured that it was a fine occasion to enter by that Village of Zaclun to conquer by Arms the Itzaex; for the Religious, with all their preaching, had made no headway. Captain Mirones was persuaded that by way of Zaclun the Conquest would be easier, on account of the convenience which the nearness of that place would offer for whatever military operation he might wish to carry out.

The Proposal of Mirones. “He went to communicate this Proposal to the Governor, adorning the plan with arguments as to its suitableness, which he well knew how to do; to the Governor it appeared a very good thing that that Entrada into the Itzaex should be executed even as Captain Mirones proposed.”

Mirones and the Governor Make an Agreement. There follows a passage relating to the agreement made between the Governor and Mirones. It is in no way unusual. The remissness of Brizeño at the time of the entrada of Orbita and Fuensalida is touched upon, and the usual protestations as to the desirability of converting the Indians to Christianity.

Mirones Raises an Army for his Entrada. “Captain Francisco de Mirones raised his Banner for the King, and having enlisted as many as Five hundred Spanish Soldiers, he set forth with them and with some Indians of War and of Service from the City of Merida to join the rest who were being recruited at the Village of Oxcutzcab in the Sierra. The journey through that region led the Guide to tell Captain Mirones that from Oxcutzcab he had surveyed the highlands of the Itzas of Yucatan, that in a direct line or through the Air it was a distance of only eighty leagues, so that more than a half of the Road had already been traversed; having believed it all to be so, Captain Mirones...set forth with his Troops, and many Indian laborers, from the Village of Oxcutzcab, opening many Roads through the Woods and Thickets and among the Lakes and Swamps and sterile Lands, lacking water


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78 in many places. So that not only for the Indians who opened the roads, but also for the Spanish Soldiers, it was very painful work.

Mirones Arrives at Zaclun. “But at last, these difficulties being overcome, they arrived at the Village of Zaclun, where the Padre Fray Diego Delgado was established, administering to his Indians recently collected. In the Village Captain Mirones made a halt, making a Plaza de Armas so as to wait for the rest of his Troops, who were still being levied in Merida, in order that, on their arrival, he might begin with all his forces the Conquest of the Itzas.

The Wanton and Foolish Oppression Caused by Mirones. “The Recruiting of Troops in Merida could not be concluded in the short space of time expected by Captain Mirones, and so all the remainder of that year of 1622 was spent thus in the Village of Zaclun waiting for the Levies. And at that time, failing in wisdom and lacking proper consideration of the fact that those Indians of Zaclun were people newly reduced and that it would not be fitting to treat them with the sort of oppression with which it is sometimes customary to treat others in those parts of America, that Captain gave himself up to trades and unduly profitable contracts with them, which did not please them. So they began to be exasperated and to show some asperity of temper.

“Padre Fray Diego, recognizing the harm, and perceiving that it was not a good way to maintain his hold over the Indians or to keep the Indians on the right path, asked the Captain not to persist in those trades and contracts with the Indians, for the time of Conquests was not the time for merchandizing. He pointed out to him what he already knew, that the Indians were getting very much put out, and that grave obstacles to the carrying on of what had been begun might arise, and that it was not without cause that our Kings had ordered in so many Laws and Ordinances, the good treatment of the Indians.

Delgado Opposes Mirones. “The Padre, by these representations, was unable to procure any change in the Captain, but each day increased the latter's profits and extortions, so that the Indians of that Village became increasingly restless.


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Rh “The quarrels which the Captain and the Padre came to have over these questions were now declared in public and even talked of to a certain extent, and both were displeased with the other, and the Indians were uneasy and half mutinous. And the disquiet of these latter was increased by the arrival at that Village of Zaclun of news that Captain Juan Bernardo de Casanova was now in the Village of Mani on his march with fifty Soldiers who had been recruited in Merida to join in the Village of Zaclun with Captain Mirones and those whom he had with him. All of which gave cause to the unfortunate events which I shall now describe.”

Villagutierre (lib. ii, cap. 9) has an account of how Fray Diego complained to his Provincial of Captain Mirones and his actions. The Provincial, urging the illegality of Mirones' projected entrada to the Itzas, and especially that of his intention to conquer them by arms, advised Fray Diego to depend for advice as to the course he should pursue solely upon heavenly inspiration.

Delgado Determines to Anticipate Mirones. “When Padre Fray Diego received this Reply, he determined (although with great secrecy) to leave Captain Mirones and to go himself to the Itzaex. And so he did, nor did he lack the company of most of the Indians who had come with him from Xecchacan. He undertook his journey, directing his steps toward Tipu; and although there were many trials and hardships on account of the Woods and rough country entirely without Roads, Villages and rest from fatigue, his Indians bore him thither.

“Being suspicious, and knowing the Road that the Padre had taken, Captain Mirones dispatched twelve Soldiers after him with their Leader, who was the Standard-bearer Acosta, in order that they might catch up with him and persuade him to return to the Captain's company, and, in case the Padre did not wish so to return, they were to follow after him and escort him wherever he might go.

“The Squad came up with the Religious just before he reached Tipu. But the more they insisted that he return to Zaclun, the more impossible did it become to convince him and to make him return, so they accompanied him, forming an


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80 escort for him, as far as the Village of Tipu, which they entered with him and with the Indians who were with him.

“The Chief of the Soldiers dispatched a report from Tipu to Captain Mirones of the invincible resolution in which Padre Fray Diego persisted, because the Soldiers had orders not to desert the Padre. There is but little doubt what the feelings of the Infidel Indians would be, wherever he passed with those Soldiers, and that so long as he was accompanied by them, the Indians would not dare to maltreat him.

Delgado's Message to Canek. “Padre Fray Diego Delgado determined to send to the Itzaex and to their King Canek to say that he was in the Village of Tipu, and that with their Permission, he would come to see them. An offer to bear this Message was made by the good Cacique Don Christoval Na, who had gone with the Padres Orbita and Fuensalida to the Itzaex both times, as has been seen. In effect, he went to Chaltuna; crossed to the Island; delivered his Message. And when the Itzaex and their King and Lord Canek were informed of the small number of Spaniards who were with Padre Fray Diego in Tipu, Canek and his Chiefs gave Permission and Safe-conduct to the Padre so that he might come to the Island.

Delgado Receives Permission from Canek to Come to Tayasal. “And when the Cacique Don Christoval had returned with this Reply, and when the provisions had been made ready as usual and when all the other things necessary for the Journey had been prepared [the Padre set out] taking with him the Spaniards and eighty Indians from his Village to carry the supplies and baggage of the Spaniards. All went by the accustomed Road. And so they were spied upon by the Itzaex, who were on the lookout and who sent to the landing-place some very good Canoes so that they might cross to the Island.

The Treachery of the Itzas. “Padre Fray Diego, the Cacique of Tipu, and all the other Spaniards and Indians embarked. On landing on the Island the Itzaex received them in Peace and without any sign whatever of contrary feelings. But all this was pretence and evil deceitfulness and perfidy, because as soon as they had them in their power, all the Troops


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Rh of the Village attacked the unprepared Spanish Soldiers; the Indians from Tipu were unable to defend themselves: the Itzaex manacled them all and even the Padre Fray Diego himself.”

Delgado and Others are Put to Death. Villagutierre tells in detail how the soldiers must have been armed, because they would not be so foolish as to trust to the honor of natives; they were, however, but thirteen in number. All the soldiers were killed, and their hearts were torn from their breasts, while their heads were set up on stakes around the village. Later they took Fray Diego, cut him up into pieces, and set his head on a stake also. The fate of Cacique Na, whom, no doubt, the Itzas regarded as a traitor to his own race, was no better.

Mirones Sends Ek after Delgado. Meanwhile Mirones had received no word from the men he had sent as an escort to Padre Diego Delgado. He sent two Spaniards from Zaclun with an Indian servant of his who was very cunning and who was to act as an interpreter and guide. His name was Bernardino Ek. These three were to go to Tipu and learn all that they could of the whereabouts of the Padre and the soldiers. On their arrival at that village they were told that Delgado and the rest had gone to the Itzas. The three determined to follow; they did so, and directly they had reached the lake, canoes came in response to a smoke signal and bore them to the island, where they were all shut up in a corral and kept under guard. They made an attempt to escape, Ek leading the way. He succeeded in getting out on the lake in a very bad canoe which he found on the beach, but the two Spaniards found themselves greatly hampered by their bonds and were recaptured. Ek hid in the woods from those who were pursuing him and eventually made his way to Salamanca, where he told all that had happened. A report was sent to Governor Don Diego de Cárdenas in Merida, and Ek himself was sent to Captain Mirones at Zaclun. The latter straightway entered a complaint against Fray Diego for having done anything so foolhardy as to go to the Itzas. The upshot of the report made by Mirones' agent, Juan de Eguiluz, was that the Provincial of the Order of San Francisco in Yucatan sent to Zaclun one Padre Fray Juan


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82 de Berrio, a native of Castile. Villagutierre continues (lib. ii, cap. 10): “He, having been there [at Zaclun] a matter of fifteen days, because he did not well agree with the affairs and actions of the Captain and the Soldiers, returned to Merida without saying anything to them, and he went to the presence of his Provincial, who, being informed of all that was going on, considered his retreat to that City [Merida] a deed well done.

“A second time Captain Mirones made complaint through Contador Eguiluz, and he asked, as he did the first time, for another Friar. The Provincial refused to give him one because of what had occurred with the other two whom he had sent before….” As a result of these wranglings two Creole monks were finally sent to Zaclun.

Revolt of the Indians. After they had been ordered to go to Zaclun, they proffered various excuses, and the matter was ended at last by one Padre Fray Juan Enriquez, who offered to go thither himself. He was well received by Mirones; at about that time Bernardino Ek arrived with the news of the death of Delgado and his companions. Mirones would not believe him. He soon had ample cause to do so. On the Day of Purification, 1624, when all the Spaniards of Zaclun were at Mass, the Indians rose in revolt and put most of them to death.

Some time later Padre Fray Juan Fernandez and Captain Juan Bernardo came to Zaclun by way of Mani. The latter joined him at Mani, and as both were made suspicious by some Indians leading a mule of which they could not give a satisfactory account, Fernandez and Bernardo determined to go to Zaclun. When they reached that place they found the bodies of their compatriots, who had died “by the very arms with which they had thought to go against the Itzaex, in opposition to the orders and will of the King.” (Villagutierre, p. 144.) A Christian burial was given to the dead, after which Fernandez and Bernardo returned to Merida to report on what they had found. Eventually an Indian captain named Don Fernando Camal captured many of the aggressors, the chief of whom, Ahkimpol, with several others, was beheaded in Merida.

An Epidemic of Apostasy; the Third Phase of the Conquest


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Rh of the Itzas Begins. A direct result of this insurrection was a general epidemic of apostasy which especially affected such villages as Tipu. There, a few years later, a general exodus of the Indians into the mountains and woods took place, and a widespread relapse into idolatry occurred.

By a cedula of March 29, 1639, the King (Philip III) reiterated his desire that henceforth all efforts to reduce provinces should be carried on by means of spiritual methods only. These were not enough. A series of misfortunes and mutinies occurred at Bolonchen, Zahcabchen, Petenecte, and elsewhere. (Villagutierre, p. l47.)

We have now, with the year 1624, reached the close of the second phase of the Spanish conquest of the Maya-Itza stock. The first phase, an exploratory one, began with Cortes in 1524 and ended with Montejo in 1545 or thereabouts. The second phase, a proselytizing one, began with the year 1614, when the feigned submission of the Itzas took place, giving rise to the entrada of Fuensalida and Orbita. It came to a close about 1624 as a result of the mournful events following upon the entrada of Delgado and the mercenary meddling of Mirones. The third and last phase, a commercial and military one, we shall consider in Chapter VIII. It had its inception about 1692.


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ITHERTO all our attention has been absorbed by the Maya-speaking peoples of Yucatan and northern Guatemala and with the entradas made from Yucatan into the Peten region and to Tayasal. Now, however, we are to consider, first, the early history of the Maya-speaking peoples of southern Guatemala and the entradas made from that region into the northern parts of the country in search of Lake Peten and Tayasal.

The Indian Tribes of Guatemala. The two chief tribes were the highly cultured Cakchiquel and Quiché. They lived in what may be described as the central portion of modern Guatemala. To the north of them dwelt the Choles, Lacandones, Mopanes, and Itzas; to the south, along the Pacific coast, were the Pipiles. With the exception of the latter, all these people spoke dialects of Maya. It is well to note, however, that both Fuentes y Guzman (1882) and Stoll (1884) arrived at the conclusion that at least two thousand years must have elapsed to permit of the development of the differences that exist between the Maya of Yucatan and the Maya of the Cakchiquel and of the Quiché.

Account of the Cakchiquel and of the Quiché. The migration myths of the Cakchiquel and of the Quiché show that they came originally from the region of Mexico. Much later the Pipiles, a Nahuatl tribe, formed trade colonies on the Pacific coast.

The Government and the Cities of the Cakchiquel and of the Quiché. The ruler was chosen alternately from two families, the Zotzil and the Xahil. In like manner the early Colombian chiefs of Tunja and of Muequeta alternately chose from among their relatives the chief of Suamo. The title of the ruler was


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Rh Ahpo-Zotzil or Ahpo-Xahil, as the case might be. The word ahpo, like the Quichua word apu, which it resembles, means “Great Chief.” There was a marked division into classes among the Cakchiquel and the Quiché. In addition the sacerdotal body was strongly intrenched [sic] in the social system. The Annals of the Cakchiquel (Brinton, 1885) throw some light on the history of these people. These Annals were written by a member of the Xahil family. The mythical accounts go back to the reign of King Gagavitz, who flourished about 1380. Sometime early in the fifteenth century the Cakchiquel came into violent contact with the Quiché, and Quikab, King of the Quiché, made good, for a time, his rule over the Cakchiquel. Later the latter regained their freedom and founded Iximché.

Spanish Conquest. What Cortes was to Mexico and Montejo was to Yucatan, Pedro de Albarado or Alvarado was to Guatemala. He was sent to that country by Cortes, with whom he had been in Mexico. Leaving Mexico on November 13, 1523, he went to Guatemala with about eighty adventurous followers, an abundance of munitions, and some ships. He reduced the whole region of the Cakchiquel-Quiché peoples to a Spanish province. (Cortes, apud MacNutt, 1908, vol. ii, p.178; Fuentes y Guzman, 1882, vol. i, p. 46.) On July 25, 1524, the official title of this city became Santiago de los Cavalleros de Goathemala. In 1533 the King ordered Alvarado, whom he had made Governor of Guatemala, to make to him a full report concerning the country and its people and their customs. In 1541 Alvarado died at Guatemala, having in the meantime been to Peru. From that time down to about 1675 the city and Audiencia of Guatemala enjoyed a fair measure of prosperity under the usual type of Spanish rule. In 1675 some Chol Indians arrived there, asking the Dominican Provincial of Guatemala, Padre Maestro Fray Francisco Gallegos, for missionaries to teach them the Christian faith. (Villagutierre, p. 150 ff.)

Gallegos and Delgado. As a result of this Gallegos himself and Padre Fray Joseph Delgado set off from Guatemala and traveled twenty-three leagues through very rough country. At length they came upon some Choles, whom they formed into


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86 three small villages called San Lucas, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, and Santiago. They later made these villages one and placed in it the thirty or so Indians whom they had baptized. As the other Indians had withdrawn further to the north, the Provincial and Delgado determined to go after them. The Indian converts objected to this, but the missionaries overcame their fears. In due time they came to a certain hill which the natives worshiped as God of the Mountains. Some Indian lads they had with them as servants urged the Padres to place an offering of copal before this god in order to propitiate him and prevent him from destroying them all. Of course the two priests refused to give in to the superstitious fears of their servants. They said Mass instead. As a result all their followers, save two bearers, left them.

The Indians are Friendly to them. Once the mountains had been safely crossed, the Padres found that the Indians on the other side came to see them readily enough. When the natives found that their white visitors meant them no harm, they welcomed them and made a comfortable pathway, over which they conducted the Padres.

The Route Taken by the Two Padres. After some time they reached the shore of a large, fine river called Yaxha. There they encamped for a while, going on afterward to the house of a cacique named Matzin, who was later christened Martin. He treated them very well and they founded the village of San Jacinto Matzin and preached the Christian faith there. Four leagues away lived another cacique, called Ilixil, to whom, in spite of the risk of hunger, they went. First founding a village called San Pedro y San Pablo Ilixil, the Padres baptized many children. In that same village of Ilixil they met some Indians who had come thither from Cahabon and who offered to act as guides. With them the Padres went to a place called May. After several interesting adventures, told by Villagutierre (p. 157), they renamed the village San Joseph May.

The rainy season shortly afterward began, and the missionaries retired toward Cahabon, setting up crosses as landmarks at suitable places along the way. When they regained their first village, San Lucas Tzalac, they found matters much as


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Rh they had left them. From San Lucas they went to Cahabon, and from there to Coban, in search of some Indians called Axoyes, of whom they had heard. In response to a call issued from Coban by Gallegos, one hundred and eighty persons came to him. They had already been baptized and wanted only to confess.

Several Villages Founded. On this trip Padres Gallegos and Delgado baptized twenty-three hundred and forty-six persons and founded many villages: San Lucas Tzalac, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, San Jacinto Matzin, San Pedro and San Pablo Ilixil, Assumpcion, San Joseph May, San Miguel Manche, San Francisco Sacomo (=Secouamo on Hendges 1902?), and San Fernando Axoy. Villagutierre (p. 161) gives a long list of the places to which the Padres did not go.

The Dominicans and the Franciscans. We have already seen that most of the curacies in Yucatan were in the hands of friars of the Franciscan Order. In Guatemala, on the other hand, there was for a long time a dispute between the Dominicans and the Franciscans as to which should have the privilege of proselytizing in Guatemala. This quarrel, which Remesal (p. 587 ff.) plainly thought disgraceful, was at its height from 1551 to l560. On January 22, 1556, cedulas were dispatched from Valladolid bidding both the orders to live at peace with each other. Both orders had fine churches in Guatemala.

Struggles between the Dominicans and the Indians. We have already noticed how, as early as 1533, the King had expressed a wish to know everything possible about the dwellers in Guatemala. In 1555 the Lacandones and Puchutla put to death the good Dominican missionary, Fray Domingo de Vico. From that time there was a constantly growing wish on the part of the Spaniards to conquer those people, not only because they were not Christians and ate human flesh, but because they were a constant menace. On January 22, 1556, a cedula was dispatched ordering that the trouble-makers be reduced to obedience. (Remesal, lib. x, cap. 11.) For a long time after that bitter struggles between the Dominicans and the Indians lasted, struggles which caused the Spaniards to give the name of Tierra de Guerra to the region. One of the missionaries in


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174 in England, I may go to see you, but I will not take your money for such a purpose, however willingly and anxiously you may offer it; and I think that after these years of knocking about I am better cut out for life in a new country than in the old. Write to me all of you; I do not say write kindly, for you have always written so kindly that it cuts me to the heart. I'd rather have a box on the ear any day than such expressions of affection when I feel I do not deserve them; but write all about yourselves. I want to know everything that goes on at home, and what Tom and Charlie, and Lizzie and Jane are about. Tell me if here is any change in the house, if the old mossy apple trees are still bearing, if the elms where we used to go afar the rooks have been cut down, as was threatened to make nests for older friends still Tell me how the old squire keeps his health, and if he ever goes to Millmount to praise mother's poultry-yard and dairy now-a-days, and if Mr. Anthony has left Cambridge and come to Stanmore to live.

"I saw the Darlington crest the other day, where I had no idea of expecting to see it, and it brought old times to my mind. I would like to know how the young squire is thought of in the county and by the tenantry, and if his grandfather has better reason to be proud of

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88 this region, Fray Diego de Ribas, had some success in the region north of Huehuetenango in 1685. (Villagutierre, p. 176 ff.) He and his men opened up a road that led from Huehuetenango into the regions north and east of there. They got on very well until they came into contact with some Lacandones, who proved to be spies, From that time on their troubles increased.

From all this it is easy to deduce that the peoples to the south of the Lacandones and Maya (such people as the Choles) were of a comparatively docile temperament and were easily won over, temporarily, to the Christian faith. As soon, however, as the fiercer and more stubborn Lacandones brought their influence to bear upon the converts, the latter found that their attachment to the new religion was but superficial. (Remesal, lib. x, cap. 10.) Moreover, the lack of authority to use armed force wherever necessary was another disadvantage under which the missionaries labored. There can be but little doubt that they also were too hasty in their attempts to exchange the somewhat abstruse spiritual worship of the Catholic Church for the veneration of tangible gods of stone or wood. They were quick to destroy the old and long-venerated gods, but they were unable to replace them with something the Indians were able to understand.

In 1686 the King (Charles II), calling the Viceroy's attention to the great number of unconverted tribes in Guatemala, Yucatan, and elsewhere, ordered further reductions to be made, at once, but as gently as possible.

The Inception of the Plan to Subdue the Itzas, 1689. In 1689 Captain Juan de Mendoza wrote to the court to tell how the reductions had been begun, and to ask that he might be placed at the head of fifty soldiers. On the advice of Guzman, who had now returned from Guatemala to the Spanish court, his wish was granted. The following plan for the reduction of the Choles and the Lacandones was decided upon. (Villagutierre, p. 190.)

Three entradas were to be made at the same time. One from the province of Guatemala, which was in the hands of the Dominicans; a second from Huehuetenango, which was Mercedarian; and the third from Chiapas, which was Dominican.


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Rh Fray Augustin Cano, of the Order of Predicadores, and Fray Diego de Ribas, of the Order of la Merced, were to go first and try, by peaceful means, to accomplish their purpose. Mendoza was to try more vigorous measures. Juan de Mendoza and his men were to be nothing more than an escort to the Padres, and the conquest was to be accomplished only by the evangelical word.

Soberanis Ordered to Coöperate. On November 24, 1692, like orders were given to Don Roque de Soberanis y Centeno, Governor of Yucatan, and he was told to coöperate with President Barrios Leal of Guatemala. Unfortunately the enterprise was interrupted by the fact that unjust accusations caused a suspension of Leal's powers from 1691 to 1694.

Ursua to Succeed Soberanis in Office. At about this time an arrangement was made by the King whereby the Sargento Mayor Don Martin de Ursua y Arizmendi was to succeed Don Roque de Soberanis y Centeno in the government of Yucatan. At the time Ursua was in Mexico, at the court of the Viceroy. Ursua, who is to occupy much of our attention for some time to come, wrote a letter to King Charles, which is given by Villagutierre (lib. iii, cap. 8) and which I here translate in part.

A Letter from Ursua y Arizmendi to the King of the Spains. “S, — Your Majesty having had the graciousness to confer upon me the future possession of the Governorship of the Provinces of Yucatan, in which post I am to succeed Don Roque de Soberanis y Centeno,...my employment, during the time of my Governorship, is to be the Conversion and Reduction of the innumerable Indians, as well Infidel as Apostate, who are between the said Provinces of Yucatan and those of Guatimala. (And I shall urge) the opening of a road from the one to the other, not only to facilitate Commerce, which would be for the Public Convenience and the service of your Majesty, but would also make for the Reduction of the so many Indians....So I propose to Your Majesty: That at my own expense, and with no cost to the Royal Exchequer, when I shall have entered upon the Governorship and shall have made my Preparations, I shall put into execution the opening of a


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90 from the Provinces of Yucatan to those of Guatimala, at the same time reducing, by the peaceful means of the Evangelical Preaching, all the Indians who shall be found in those regions. But the Conversion is not to interrupt the opening of the Road which is more important as it will facilitate the later reduction of all those who live in those parts by the continuous Passing and Commerce of the Spaniards of both Provinces....”

The King Grants all that Ursua Asks. In the memorial just mentioned Ursua asked that orders be given so that the prelates of the Order of San Francisco, the President of the Audience of Guatemala, and the Viceroy of New Spain should be obliged to give him every sort of aid needed.

In 1693 the King replied, saying that he had given the desired orders to the Viceroy of New Spain, the President of Guatemala, the Bishop of Yucatan, and the Provincial of San Francisco. He then commanded that care should be taken to choose the best places for bridges, that inns should be established every four or eight leagues for the shelter of travelers, and that every effort should be made to form settlements that would insure the safety of travelers. As the work was not to begin until Ursua had entered upon his duties as Governor, the Viceroy, Conde de Galve, the Bishop, and others were unable, till well into 1694, to aid the work they all wished to see brought to a successful conclusion. Meanwhile Barrios Leal was still under the stigma of a Visita or Inspection. When his character was cleared of all blame, in the middle of 1694, he was told how the Itzas of Tayasal and other infidel nations were infesting the country and committing various atrocities. Once Barrios Leal was restored, the reduction began in earnest.

President Barrios Aids in the Undertaking. As soon as Barrios Leal was restored to office as President of the Audience of Guatemala and as soon as circumstances permitted, active preparations for the long-discussed conquest of the Itzas were begun.

Villagutierre (lib. iv, cap. 1) speaks thus of the preparations that were made: “We have already seen how intently President Don Jacinto de Barrios considered the hints which the


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Rh Padres Fray Melchor Lopez and Fray Antonio Margil and other persons had made to him, urging the importance of setting about with all possible efficiency the reduction of Barbarism in those Woodlands. So he promptly began to take the steps which seemed suitable in the matter....It was resolved by all the leaders and ministers: That the Entrada for the reduction of the Woodlands should be made at the beginning of the next year, 1695 (which is the beginning of summer in those lands)....”

Arrangements for the Entrada; Supplies, etc. Provisions were made whereby men who voluntarily gave aid in money or in extra services to those who were directing the entrada were to be advanced in rank over their fellows. Besides it was arranged that as soon as possible the religious authorities were to give their necessary aid.

Juan de Mendoza had already been named leader of the army, and as he was absent from the province at the time, it was decided that the President should appoint as leaders those whom he thought best.

Villagutierre (p. 219) continues: “And the President was to call to the Junta de Guerra the Padres Maestros Fray Diego de Ribas, Fray Augustin Cano, Fray Joseph Delgado, Fray Tomás Guerrero, and Fray Pedro Monzón, as well as other persons well versed in the frontiers, Entradas and Woodlands of the Infidels, because of the great value of their opinions in determining the methods of operation and the manner of penetrating the forest region....

“Likewise, it was determined that the expenses they were planning to incur and which were found necessary, should be met from the Royal Funds and that the Royal Officers should issue orders for quantities of maize, beans, chili, and fowl, which were to be collected with all speed as part of the Royal Tribute from the Provinces of Vera Paz, Chiapa, and Gueguetanango.

“And it was ordered that Spanish men-at-arms should be recruited at once, and that notice of this determination should


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92 be given to the Alcaldes Mayores and to Don Roque de Soberanis y Centeno, Governor of the Province of Yucatan.

“At this time the President had all the chief citizens of the City of Guatemala called together....He urged each one to aid with his person or with whatever aid of his he could....” The result of this appeal was a quickened activity in the recruiting and in the collecting of supplies and munitions of war. At the same time Don Joseph de Escals was applied to for aid in the collecting of donations or voluntary gifts.

The Voluntary Contributions. Toward the end of 1694 the donations began to come pouring in. A list of them will give some idea of the scale on which operations were carried out.

 * Don Joseph de Escals sent from Sonsonate 350 pesos, which he got by selling 56 horses given by the citizens.

 * Don Juan Jeronimo de Mexia, Corregidor of Huehuetenango, 100 pesos from the citizens and 100 of his own as well as 14 horses.

 * Quasaltenango, 14 horses but no money.
 * Acasaguastlan, through Captain Don Miguel de Azanon, its Corregidor, 34 horses but no money.
 * Chiquimula, 70 horses and 50 pesos.
 * Soconusco, 30 horses and 6 mules.
 * Esquintepeque and Guazacapan, 13 horses, 2 mules, and 23 pesos.
 * San Salvador, 60 horses, 11 mules, and 200 pesos.
 * Teconicapa and Huehuetenango, 33 horses, 800 fowl, and 400 bushels of maize.
 * Guatemala, 1176 pesos, 49 horses, and 7 mules.
 * Don Jacobo Barba of Zuchitepeque, 100 pesos.
 * Don Francisco Lopez de Albizuri, two soldiers and paid for the entire time of the campaign.
 * Don Juan de Galvez, 20 horses.
 * Don Estevan de Medrano, four soldiers for six months.
 * The totals of the donations were 2399 pesos, 354 horses, 22 mules, 420 bushels of maize, 800 fowl, etc.

Quarrels between Soberanis and the Bishop of Yucatan. While matters were going forward in a fairly satisfactory


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Rh manner in Guatemala, affairs were quite unsatisfactory in Yucatan, where the quarrels between Don Roque de Soberanis and the Bishop of Yucatan retarded all preparations.

At length the Viceroy of Mexico despatched Don Francisco Sarasa as Oidor to look into the situation and to report on it. As a result of his investigations Soberanis was deprived of his office. Believing that he could best defend himself by going in person to Mexico, Soberanis left Yucatan for the viceregal court. The natural step for the Viceroy, Conde de Galve, was to appoint Martin de Ursua y Arizmendi as Governor ad interim, and this was done.

Finding himself in possession (albeit only temporarily) of the government of Yucatan, and in view of the fact that he already held the necessary orders and cedulas for the opening of the road to Guatemala and for the conversion of the Indians along the route, as well as the advices from the President of Guatemala speaking of the matter, Ursua decided it was best to put them into immediate execution.

The year 1695 was already started and it was necessary to set to work at once, not only on the actual work of the entrada, but also on the task of getting the good will of the Cabildo of the city of Merida, of the Bishop, of the province of San Francisco, and of the Count of Galve, Viceroy of New Spain.

President Barrios Decides to Join the Entrada in Person. Villagutierre (lib. iv, cap. 4) goes on to inform us that after enough arms, munitions, food supplies, and small gifts for the Indians were got together, and just as the troops and the monks were on the point of setting off on their march to the woodlands, President Barrios Leal made up his mind to go with them in person. Villagutierre (p. 228) thus graphically describes the effect of his proposal: “In spite of the fact that the Ecclesiastical and Secular Cabildos of that City of Guatemala tried to dissuade him from his plan, urging him to notice that although that undertaking was so glorious and so much to the service of God and the King, and so greatly favored by all, by the public welfare and by the good of Christendom, he ought not to risk his life so wantonly upon it; and although they also warned him of the terribleness of the attacks which


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94 were always suffered in the stomach because of the hardships of the painful journey and country ride, bad resting-places, worse roads and lack of assistance, rest and tranquillity, which would put his health in evident danger, so that all felt he ought to give up, or at least postpone his journey until he was more hale and hearty in health; in spite of all these and other objections nothing arose from all these representations, and fears which sufficed to change the fervent zeal of the bold President who, in replying, first thanked them all for the great attention and affection with which they looked to his convenience, and then said that the greatest safety lay only in his being the first in all dangers in the service of Both Majesties.”

The gallant old President (who appears to have been subject to apoplectic seizures) wished to be in command of the army, but in case he were forced to fall back at any time to a place of safety, he appointed an assistant, who was Don Bartolomé de Amezquita, Fiscal of that Audience of Guatemala.

Amezquita, then, was Captain General of the entrada, taking the Chiapas division. Captain Juan Diaz de Velasco was made leader of the Vera Paz division. Don Tomás de Mendoza y Guzman was made leader of the Huehuetenango division.

When the pay, supplies, and baggage had been distributed among the soldiers, the President gave out his final orders as to the length of a day's journey. He had already sent ahead to the Alcalde Mayor of Ocozingo in Chiapas ordering that suitable ranchos be put up in certain places to shelter the royal army when it should arrive. While the Indians of Ocozingo were working on these they had been attacked by some Lacandon Indians when scarcely a house had been completed. All these unmistakable evidences of the proximity of the notorious Lacandones made Barrios choose the Chiapas division for himself, as it was the most likely to come across them.

At the same time the President ordered Don Tomás (de Mendoza?) de Guzman to go ahead with one hundred men and act as escort for the Indians while they were putting up the houses near Ocozingo or any more convenient place. Barrios had already informed Ursua that he intended to set


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Rh out in January, 1695, and the latter was to enter the unsubdued area from the north at the same time. Surveyors were to go ahead of the main body of men, and by means of smudges were to afford the greatest possible facility for the road openers, who thus would be prevented from going astray.

The Expedition Sets out from Guatemala City. At length the expedition really did start. (Villagutierre, pp. 234. ff.) Besides the soldiers and Indian bearers there were many friars, among whom were Padre Fray Diego de Ribas, Padre Fray Antonio Margil, Missionary Padre Fray Pedro de la Concepción, Master Cano, and others. As the army set off, all the citizens and nobility of Guatemala flocked to see them. The first day's journey led to Ixtapa, where they spent the night; the next day they went to Pazon, then to Huehuetenango, which they entered on January 23, 1695, having journeyed forty-six leagues from Guatemala.

In Huehuetenango the President, the monks, the officers, and the men all met with a warm welcome from the inhabitants. It is but natural that, on the eve of an undertaking which must have appeared very formidable to them, a large part of the time should be given up to religious exercises. Captain Melchor Rodriguez Mazariegos joined the party at the head of fifty men. Mazariegos himself, together with the standard-bearer Juan Salvador de Mata and Sergeant Pedro de Chaves Galindo, were all serving without pay, and many other people from the region, as well as some from Tabasco, joined the army voluntarily.

Events at Huehuetenango. On January 29, Amezquita arrived from Guatemala, where he had been making some final arrangements. Barrios spent his time at Huehuetenango in paying the new troops, distributing horses and supplies, and making all the final arrangements.

It was not long before the news of the departure of the President reached Ursua in Yucatan. (Villagutierre, pp. 235 ff.) The whole enterprise was so important for the service of God, the King, the public weal, and the souls of the Indians that Ursua immediately set about his preparations for the share his government was to take in it.


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96 Ursua's Activities. Ursua did not follow the example of the President by going in person at the head of his troops; instead he ordered Captain Alonso Garcia de Paredes, Perpetual Regidor of San Francisco de Campeche and Captain for War of the District of Sacabchen, to assemble what troops he could and to go with them to meet the President, under whose orders he should place himself, reporting to Ursua all occurrences of importance. For all this Ursua gave Paredes the title of Aide or the Captain General of las Montañas. Francisco Gonzalez Richardo was appointed subchief, second in command only to Ursua.

An Army Sets out from Yucatan for the Montaña. When all the usual and needful preparations had been made, the army set out from Yucatan. As soon as they left the settled part of the province they entered the territory of the Quehaches, whom they put to flight after a sharp skirmish. Paredes' soldiers, however, refused to go on without reënforcements, so the expedition had to turn back.

Padres Cano and Avendaño y Loyola. We have already reviewed the events up to 1695, in which year the two great divisions of the Spanish forces set out to subdue the dangerous Itzas and Lacandones. Hereafter we will, in the main, trust to two religious writers, whose accounts of the succeeding events are very vivid. Maestro Fray Agustín Cano accompanied that division of the army which was led by President Barrios; Padre Fray Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola, a Franciscan, accompanied Ursua's division.

Cano's Account of the Entrada from Guatemala. For the sake of continuity we will begin by quoting Cano's account of the entrada from Guatemala: “M L, Your Majesty having been pleased to appoint me in the Royal decree of Nov. 24, 1692, to enter into the territories of the heathen, to try to bring about their conquest, in the due obedience and execution of which, I personally took part in the expeditions into those lands which they have made during these years through the Province of Vera Paz, wishing to correspond to the Royal favor by which Your Majesty has been pleased to appoint me for this purpose; I understand that it is my duty to inform


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Rh Your Majesty of what has happened in these expeditions, making up for the delay of this report by the simple truth and clearness of the information which up to the present time could not be given without a great deal of confusion on account of the strange character of the events.

The Route Followed by Cano. “The President [Barrios]...finally determined to enter by way of Chiapas, and that I should go by way of Vera Paz with Captain Juan Diaz de Velasco and seventy men as an escort to the priests. Accordingly, in the month of March, of the said year '95, we started from the town of Cahabon, which is the last town of Vera Paz; seven priests of my order, and we entered by very rough paths into the highlands of the Chol, where we found many Indians, some baptized, others heathen, and the more we penetrated those highlands, the more numerous did we find the families in their hamlets, without the form of towns. We told all these people that the object of our journey was to search for them so that they should come together in towns in such a way that we should be able to come and live with them in order to teach them the law of God and to administer the holy Sacraments to them, and that we also wished that all the people of their tribe and of all the other tribes in those highlands should know God, and should come together in towns. Thus we went, passing from some farms to others in prosecution of our journey to the Lake, and we left all the Indians peaceful and satisfied with the promise which they made us to gather together in towns. In this we were obtaining plenty of good results, since we taught them the Christian doctrine of which most of the baptized Indians were totally ignorant. The children whom their fathers brought to us were baptized, and the grown people confessed themselves, many who had relapsed were consecrated anew, and the Holy Sacraments were administered to some Christian Indians who were found dying in their houses.

“After passing through the Province of Chol, which stretches from Cahabon forty-five or fifty leagues, we came upon another tribe which is called the Mopanes, among whom Spaniards or ministers of the holy gospel had never entered, and, although the difference in language was of some embarrassment, God


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98 willed that we should find some Mopan Indians who understood the Chol language, and by means of these we declared to them the purpose of our journey. This had good results at that time in the case of some adults, who, being dangerously ill, asked for holy baptism, and in the case of some sick children whom their fathers brought and who went to Heaven as the first-fruits among this tribe. Their principal cacique, Taximchan, fled from us, and although we made various endeavors to draw him to us, he always deceived us with false promises. But we made friends with four other caciques of this tribe of the Mopanes Indians, called, in their paganism, the Cacique Zac, the Cacique Tuzben, the Cacique Yahcab, and the Cacique Tezecum. They came to see us with a part of their families, and every day there came many Mopanes Indians to buy knives and many other little trifles which the soldiers sold in exchange for blankets. We presented them with salt, and for this they came to see us and to sell us their fruit, and apparently they were becoming friendly.

The Chols and the Mopanes. “On account of the many Indians who came every day to see us, and of the many farms and farm-buildings which we saw in those highlands, we knew that that tribe of Mopanes was very numerous. They all go naked like the Chols, and differ from them only in their hair, in that they do not wear it of the same length like the Chols, but cut the hair on the front part of the head and only wear it long behind. It is a race more robust and barbarous than the Chols; they have idols of diabolical forms, some of which we found, and they have many other superstitions, about which it would take long to tell. We found very little frankness in their nature and we found that they have relations with the Ahizaes Indians of the Lake; and we even learned that they all were of one Ytza nation, calling themselves Mopan Ytza; Peten Ytza and these Mopanes were subject to the petty King of the Lake, about which and about its Island of Peten and about its caciques they gave us much information, although they always refused to show us the way thither. Nevertheless, we prevailed upon the Cacique Zac to show us the way from Mopan as far as the first plain, and from there forward our guide was the Cacique


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Rh Yahcab, who knew the Chol language, by means of which he served as an interpreter, though a very unskilled one.

“In this way we had some means of prosecuting our journey to the Lake, and having written to the President by way of Vera Paz what had been done, and leaving in Mopan two priests to take care of those Indians, with twenty men for their protection, we priests, five in number, passed onward with Captain Juan Diaz de Velasco and fifty men.

From Mopan to the Lake. “We traveled from Mopan toward the Lake a matter of thirty-two leagues, in which the confusion of our guide and interpreter, the Cacique Yahcab, delayed us much more than our ignorance of the way; for he, whether from his want of knowledge, or from malice, said at each stream or small river that there was no more water till we reached the Lake. Having then come to a small river called Chacal, we made a halt while some of our men crossed with the guide and proceeded to reconnoiter the path, and they went forward in such a way that they reached the Lake and discovered the great Peten or island which stands in the middle of it, and which, according to the story of those who went there, must be distant from Chacal a matter of fourteen or sixteen leagues. Our people met many Ahizaes Indians, who came from the Lake to the shore armed with bows and arrows, and they, at the first sight of our people, got their bows ready; but the Indian Yahcab, who had been told what to do, calmed them by telling them that we were traders, which the Ahizaes heard with much pleasure. But when the said interpreter of ours went on to tell them that with these merchants were some Padres to teach them the law of God, the Ahizaes raised a great whispering among themselves; and as our people were unable to give the Ahizaes more reasons than those which that rude interpreter had studied and offered, there was no way to pacify them, and it was not known what they said, but all was confusion and disturbance, which resulted in fighting and general encounters, in which our men received no damage, but of the Ahizaes some were killed and wounded and two of them were captured; one of these was called Quixan and the other Chan. These two Indians uniformly said that the Ahizaes had taken


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100 up arms because they had had notice that we had come to Mopan, and that they had not perceived any other people in their lands either in the direction of Yucatan or in any other direction; which agreed with our not having any sign either from the people who went with the said President Don Jacinto, nor of those whom he had sent with the Padres de la Merced, although we made every effort to find them. I wished that the said two Indians, or one of them, should go with a message for his companions, but the affair was so stained with blood, and the time was so advanced that it did not permit of these delays, and the Captain gave sufficient reason for a contrary decision; and the Ahiza Indian called Chan quickly removed any doubt by fleeing by night, as a result of which we took more care of the remaining Indian called Quixan. Seeing, then, that at that time we were not able to get any result in that Ahiza nation, as they had taken up arms and we, not understanding their language, were not able to persuade them nor to come to an agreement with them; so that, if we went on, it would only be to continue a war against the will of our Majesty, as expressed in the Royal decree, and without any hope of good results, since we were not able to enter into the Island for want of canoemen and of instruments to make canoes, and for the same reason we could not go across the Lake in search of the people of the said President.

Cano Advises Return. “Seeing also that the rains were beginning with great fury, and that our people were becoming sick because of the change of weather, to which was added our finding ourselves in such want of supplies that we scarcely had what was needed to return to Mopan; for these reasons I advised the Captain that we should return to Mopan, and that there we should await news of the said President, and that when we had received this news we should see what ought to be done. This plan we carried out, taking in our company the Ahiza Indian called Quixan, treating him kindly and carefully.”

Explanations of their Withdrawal Sent to Guatemala. At this juncture an unfortunate controversy sprang up. Cano says that he and his companions wrote to Guatemala, explaining why they had withdrawn. Their explanations were not accepted,