We now commenced an incessant fire upon the enemy with our muskets and crossbows, but were unable to do them any injury, so securely were they posted behind the breastworks, their position being in every respect advantageous, and they continually wounded our men. In this way the battle lasted until nightfall, and we were no further advanced than when we commenced our attack in the morning. At one time we attempted to force a passage which led between the ramparts; but here no less than 2000 Indians stretched out against us a forest of long lances; and if we had entered this passage we should have run great danger of being pushed headlong down the deep hollow, and so have been dashed to atoms. Finding we should never be able to make any impression on the fortress in this way, we determined to send to a small township in the neighbourhood for some wood and other materials, and to construct a species of penthouse sufficiently large to cover twenty men, who were to undermine the fortress with mattocks and pick-axes. Accordingly, when the penthouse was finished, our men set hard to work, and at length succeeded in cutting an opening sufficiently large to admit one person at a time; and by this means only was it possible to get into the town, for we had carefully inspected the spot on all sides, full four miles in circumference, and we found but one other entrance to this rocky height, which would have been even more difficult to force, and a person might as well have thrown himself at once down an abyss as to have attempted an attack upon it, so very steep was the descent. While we were busily at work under our penthouse in widening the breach, the enemy cast down upon us a quantity of burning pitch and resin, boiling water and blood, hot ashes and firebrands; but when they found we were not to be daunted by this, they rolled down huge pieces of rock upon the penthouse, by which it was shattered, and we were obliged to retire in order to construct stronger ones.
When these were finished, and we were again moving on with them towards the breaches we had made, four priests, with several distinguished personages, all well covered with shields, appeared on the battlements, and cried out to us, "As your only object is to obtain gold, come in here, we have it in abundance!" With these words they threw towards us seven diadems of very fine gold, besides various other trinkets, all of which they accompanied by a cloud of stones, arrows, and darts. As we had by this time made two considerable breaches, and it was growing dark and beginning to rain, we retreated to our camp for the remaining part of the day: our captain also sent orders to the cavalry not to quit their position on the level plain, but narrowly to watch the enemy's movements, and to keep their horses ready saddled and bridled.
The enemy continued their fearful yells during the whole of the night, with the discordant sound of shell-trumpets, drums, and screeching pipes. The next day, they said, we were all to be killed, for this had been promised them by their gods. The following morning early, when we again moved forward with our penthouses to widen the breaches, the enemy defended themselves right valiantly, and wounded five of our men. I myself received a heavy thrust from a lance, which completely pierced my armour, and I should certainly have lost my life on the spot if my cuirass had not been strongly quilted with cotton. Thus I fortunately escaped with only a slight wound, and with my jacket considerably torn.
By this time it was mid-day, and rain fell in torrents, which was followed by so dense a fog that we could scarcely see each other; for as this township lay very high among the mountains, it either rained there, or the place was enveloped in a mist. Owing to the great darkness, our captain had ordered the men to desist from the attack; but, for myself, as I was well acquainted with the Mexican mode of warfare, I soon concluded, from the circumstance of the enemy's war music gradually dying away, and their yells becoming less frequent, that they were likewise desirous of retiring, on account of the fog. After a short time I could not count above 200 of the enemy's lances; so that I, with one of my companions, boldly entered one of the breaches, and we certainly did not encounter a greater number of the enemy than I had counted lances. In an instant they fell upon us, and we should undoubtedly have been killed if some Indians of Cinacatan had not hastened to our assistance and alarmed the rest of our troops, who now likewise forced their way in between the breaches into the fortress. As soon as the enemy espied our troops rushing in, they fled precipitately; the women and children ran off to the other declivity, which was the most difficult to reach; we, however, followed them closely, and took a number of them prisoners, besides thirty men. The township was now entirely in our possession, but we found nothing in it, with the exception of a few provisions, and we quitted the place almost immediately again. We then returned along the road leading to Cinacatan, and formed our camp on the banks of the river where at present Ciudad Real stands, which is also termed Chiapa de los Españoles. When we had arrived here, our captain liberated six of the women and a like number of the men, and despatched them to their countrymen with offers of peace, and also to assure them they had nothing further to fear from us,—on the contrary, we would liberate all the prisoners we had taken. This message met with a favorable reception, and ambassadors were sent to us next morning by the inhabitants, who now, for the second time, declared themselves vassals of our emperor, and, as we had promised, all the prisoners were instantly restored to their families.
After we had satisfactorily arranged all matters here, Luis Marin presented the township of Chamula to me as a commendary, for Cortes had expressly desired him to give me some valuable possession in the conquered countries. I always stood upon very good terms with Luis Marin, and he had not forgotten that I was the first man who forced his way into the town. This place, according to the deeds I received from Cortes, was given to me in perpetuity, but I only enjoyed the rents which it produced for little more than eight years, at the end of which time Ciudad Real was founded, and my commendary became the property of the inhabitants. When I entered into possession of it, I desired father Juan to preach to the inhabitants, and to explain our holy religion to them, with which he willingly complied, and ordered an altar to be constructed in the town, on which he placed a cross and the image of the blessed Virgin. Fifteen of the inhabitants allowed themselves to be baptized, and the father said he hoped to God they might all become good Catholic Christians. I felt highly delighted with all this; for, as these people were my own property, I naturally took a more particular interest in their welfare.
Though Chamula had again submitted to our arms, the townships of Guegustitlan still obstinately held out, notwithstanding all our kind messages to the caziques; we had, therefore, no other resource left than to march against them, and subdue them by force of arms. Each of these townships (for there were three) was strongly situated, and we therefore left our allies, with the baggage, in the camp, our captain only taking the most nimble and active of the Spanish troops with him, besides 300 warriors of Cinacatan. The distance to Guegustitlan was sixteen miles; but the enemy had everywhere cut down trees and constructed barricades along the line of our march to obstruct the cavalry; however, with the assistance of our Indian friends, we soon cleared these obstacles out of our way, and it was not long before we attacked one of the three townships. The place was well fortified and filled with warriors fully equipped for war; we, nevertheless, stormed the town, although it was even more difficult of access than Chamula. The enemy had not waited to offer any resistance to our arms, and we found the town quite deserted by its inhabitants, who had also carried off all their store of provisions; but it was not long before our Indian friends brought in two of the inhabitants prisoners, whom our captain immediately liberated, desiring them to go and call their countrymen. We staid one whole day in this place, during which time the inhabitants of all three townships submitted themselves as vassals to our emperor, and presented us with a small quantity of gold and some quetzal feathers, which are of great value in this country.
After we had returned to our camp we deliberated whether or not we should follow up Cortes' instructions, and lay the foundations of a town in this neighbourhood. Many of us were in favour of doing so, but others, who had lucrative possessions in Guacasualco, were quite opposed to it, and said we should have no shoes for the horses; that the most of us were wounded, and we were altogether too small in numbers to think of settling in a country so thickly populated: besides that, all the townships were strongly situated among steep mountains, inaccessible to our cavalry. But those who objected most to our founding a colony here were Luis Marin himself and Diego de Godoy, a very blustering sort of a man, both of whom felt more inclination to return to Guacasualco.
I have above spoken of a certain Alonso de Grado, who was a very turbulent fellow, though but a poor soldier. This man had managed to procure privately from Cortes a certain grant by which he was to have half the gold we should find in Chiapa when we had subjected this township. Grado now produced this document and claimed half of the gold found in the temples of this place, and of that which we had obtained from the inhabitants, altogether valued at about 15,000 pesos; but our captain maintained that, out of this gold, the value of the horses was to be deducted which had been killed in our recent campaign. This, added to other circumstances, gave rise to high words between the two, and Grado frequently made use of unbecoming expressions during the dispute; and the secretary Godoy, to make matters worse, now also put in his word, and things at length came to such a pass that Luis Marin lost all patience, and threw both these gentlemen into chains. After they had been in prison for about eight days, our captain sent Grado on his parole to Mexico, and also released Godoy, who had shown full contrition for his past behaviour. This was very impolitic on the part of Luis Marin as far as regarded himself, for Grado and Godoy now concocted measures together, and the latter wrote a letter to Cortes, in which he scandalized our captain in every possible manner. Alonso de Grado also requested me to draw up a letter to Cortes, in which he wished me to exculpate him in this affair, for he had been assured by Godoy that Cortes would believe me. I willingly complied with his request, and drew up a faithful account of the whole matter, but stated that no blame could be attached to Luis Marin. With these letters Grado set out for Mexico, after our captain had made him promise on oath to appear before Cortes within the space of eight days; for the distance from this place to Mexico by the road we had marched was 760 miles.
Our next step was to march to Cimatan, in order to punish its inhabitants, who, it will be remembered, killed two Spaniards on the occasion when Francisco Martin and myself so narrowly escaped. When we were on our march thither, and had arrived at no great distance from Tapelola, we came to some large mountains, containing several dangerous passes, through which our march lay to this township; Luis Marin, therefore, sent to the caziques of this place, desiring them to clear the roads for us that our horses might pass along in greater safety. This they readily undertook to do; but even then it was with great difficulty our cavalry could pass through the defiles. From Tapelola we marched peaceably over the townships Silo, Suchiapa, and Coyumelapa, to Panguaxaya, and it was not until we approached the townships of Tecomayacatl and Ateapan, which then formed but one town, that matters began to assume a different aspect. These were the most populous townships in the province, and formed part of my commendary. As the inhabitants of themselves were very numerous, and had besides called in the assistance of their neighbours, they mustered a very considerable body of troops, and attacked us as we were crossing the deep river which flows through the midst of their town. Six Spaniards were wounded and three of our horses killed, the battle continuing very sharply for a length of time before we could reach the opposite shore and drive the enemy back, who set fire to the houses in their flight, and then escaped to the mountains. Here we rested for five days to cure our wounds, and we sent out frequent foraging parties who captured many a fine Indian female. We then forwarded a message to the inhabitants, inviting them to return to obedience, with which they instantly complied, and their wives and children were again restored to them. The secretary Godoy had indeed advised Luis Marin not to return the prisoners, but to mark them with the iron and retain them as slaves, a punishment to which all those were subject who had once acknowledged themselves vassals of our emperor, and afterwards revolted without any apparent reason. These people, Godoy maintained, had commenced hostilities with us from sheer obstinacy, and we ought at least to demand a sufficient number of slaves as a compensation for the loss of our three horses. For myself, I loudly protested against this, and said it would be unjust to punish these people who had freely submitted again to our arms. At length Godoy and myself got to high words about this matter, which ended in our drawing swords and wounding each other, when our friends interfered and brought about a reconciliation between us. Luis Marin, who was, upon the whole, a very kind-hearted man, was convinced of the justness of my observation, and ordered all the prisoners to be returned to the caziques, and so we departed from them in perfect peace.
From this place we marched towards Cimatlan and Talatupan. At the entrance of this township the Indians had constructed, on the top of a hill, a species of rampart, with loop-holes, beyond which lay a marsh of considerable extent. When we had arrived up to this outwork, the enemy suddenly showered their arrows upon us, wounding above twenty of our men and killing two horses; and if we had not made a hasty retreat our loss might have been very serious.