[XXVI-46] 'I supe de los Naturales como esta Tierra no tiene cabo.' Alvarado, Relacion, i. 165.
[XXVI-47] 'Padecieron hartos trabajos, hambre y calamidades los nuestros, y los españoles.' Ixtlilxochitl, Horribles Crueldades, 70; also Gomara, Hist. Mex., 232.
[XXVII-1] Alvarado's report of the campaign bears this date, and as he mentions in it that on his return he founded the 'Ciudad del Señor Santiago,' he must have arrived at least several days previous to the above date. Brasseur de Bourbourg, after pointing out a misconception of Fuentes, exhibits some confusion in his own mind as to dates and time. Hist. Nat. Civ., 667.
[XXVII-2] Vazquez observes, 'Llegó â Vulvusya que oy llaman Almolonga; y auiendo en la falda de su bolcan assentado el Real a los 25 de Jullio de 1524, diò su primer ser a la Ciudad de Guatemala, con Nõbre de Villa que le duró muy pocos dias.' Chronica de Gvat., 7. Remesal also states that the city was founded on the slopes of the Volcan de Agua, at a place called Panchoy, which signifies Great Lagoon, the valley there being surrounded by mountains. The material of which the first houses were built consisted, he says, of forked posts for the corner pillars, of canes and mud for the walls, while the roofs were thatched with dry grass. By the aid of the Mexicans they were rapidly thrown up. A sufficient number for the accommodation of all the army being completed, they waited for the day of the Apostle Santiago, in order to found the city on that day and dedicate it to their patron saint. It fell on Monday, the 25th of July, when the founding was consummated. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 4. I have elsewhere shown that Patinamit was the city which Alvarado called Guatemala. Now there is positive evidence from his own despatch that he founded the city of Santiago at or upon that same city of Guatemala. 'Antes acorde me bolver à esta Ciudad de Guatemala, ... asi que Yo soi venido à esta Ciudad ... hice, i edifiquè, en nombre de su Magestad, vna Ciudad de Españoles, que se dice la Ciudad del Señor Santiago,' he writes. The use of the expression 'esta Ciudad de Guatemala' in other portions of the despatch proves that it was written at the capital of the Cakchiquel king, while at the conclusion it is dated thus: 'De esta ciudad de Santiago, à veinte i ocho de Julio de mil i quinientos i veinte i quatro Años.' Thus it is clear that the city of Guatemala and the city of Santiago were one, and that Alvarado appropriated to himself Sinacam's capital. Alvarado, Relacion, i. 161-2, 165-6. It may be here stated that in direct opposition to Alvarado's application of the term ciudad to the new settlement, both Vazquez and Remesal assert that it was a villa, the latter adding that it retained this title eighteen days, and was erected into a city on the 12th of August. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 4, 6. Pelaez says the city was called 'Ciudad de Santiago de los caballeros,' but not till November 22, 1527. Vazquez affirms, Chronica de Gvat., 11, that it was so called on the 29th of July, 1524, while Remesal gives August 12th of the same year. Pelaez, in his introduction to vol. i., states that Guatemala took its name from the expression of Guhatezmalhá, that is to say 'the hill which throws out water.' From the acts of the cabildo we know that it was called a city on the 29th of July, 1524. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 8.
[XXVII-3] Fuentes y Guzman, Recordacion Florida, MS., 25; Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 7; Zabarrieta, according to Remesal.
[XXVII-4] This right to appoint alcaldes and regidores was maintained and exercised by Alvarado whenever he was present, as is proved by the cabildos of 1525 and 1526. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 4. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 11-18.
[XXVII-5] The cabildo, as an assumption of its official prerogatives, entered into session the same day, and arranged legal prices for provisions. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 4. On July 27th we find that an act was passed regulating the blacksmith's rates. Two dollars was to be his charge for making 100 nails, the iron being furnished to him. The charge for shoeing a horse one gold dollar, and the same for bleeding. It is curious to observe that the price of horseshoes in Alvarado's army in April, 1524, was $190 a dozen, at which rate they were bought and sold in his camp. Alvarado, Relacion, i. 160. Remesal says that operatives, knowing the necessity of their services, charged what they liked. The tailor charged a real a stitch, and shoemakers worked only at such high wages that while soling other people's shoes with leather they might have used silver for their own; and the blacksmith could have made his tools of gold had he wished. On the 12th of December, 1524, the cabildo deemed it necessary to establish fixed rates for labor of all kinds. The measures adopted were punctually carried out by those in power. The regulations were modified as time required, and every two years, at most, new rates were adapted to the condition of affairs, with which even the lords of estates were compelled to comply. The artisans, however, still contrived to cause the other colonists much inconvenience by refusing all payment for work except in gold coin, the tailor otherwise retaining his customer's clothes, even on a feast-day, and the shoemaker his shoes. This state of things lasted till 1529, when the corporation on the 19th of February made the aboriginal currency of the country, cacao, feathers, and clothing, legal tender. Hist. Chyapa, 6; Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 8-67, passim. Another of the first acts of this new corporation was the appointment of a town-crier, his salary being fixed at $100 a year. Id., 7-8. With regard to this office of crier, Remesal states that it had to be accepted by the person selected to fill it under pain of death. Hist. Chyapa, 4. On the present occasion the person chosen was Diego Diaz, who strongly objected to the calling, but was compelled to accept. Remesal, with his death penalty, goes beyond the act of the corporation, which says 'so pena de cient azotes.' Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 8. As an instance of the dearness of provisions, we find an act passed on the 6th of May, 1525, limiting the price of eggs to one gold real apiece. Id., 12, 14.
[XXVII-6] Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 8. But Remesal, who is continually at variance with the best authorities, says on the 29th of July.
[XXVII-7] Vazquez says there were enrolled as settlers at the founding less than 200 Spaniards, for, though very few had fallen in battle, detachments had been left at Quezaltenango and Patinamit. With regard to this latter place it must be borne in mind that Vazquez believed the city to have been founded on the Volcan de Agua. Chronica de Gvat., 10-11; see also Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 8-19.
[XXVII-8] 'Cortes ... confirmo los repartimientos, y ayudo a pedir aquella gouernacion.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 233; see also Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. x.