[XXVII-9] It will be seen in the narrative that the Spaniards were soon obliged to abandon Patinamit and locate elsewhere, and that the city of Santiago had no permanent site until its establishment in Panchoy in 1527.
[XXVII-10] 'Pedro de Alvarado les mando que dentro de cierto termino le diesen mill hojas de oro de a quinze pesos cada hoja.' Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 59. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that the king and royal family were commanded to bring vases filled with the precious metals, and to deliver up even their crowns and personal ornaments. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 673.
[XXVII-11] The Indians appear to have brought in pyrites not unfrequently. Las Casas, speaking of the Cuzcatecs, says: 'Indiani igitur magnum hastarum ex orichalcho inaurato, numerum, quæ aureæ esse videbantur ... congregarunt. Capitaneus eas Lydio lapide probari jussit, cumque orichalcum esse cerneret,' etc. Regio. Ind. Devastat., 38. 'Alvarado no tomava syno oro fino e lo rescebia por el toque.' Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 59.
[XXVII-12] See [Bancroft's Native Races, ii. 732].
[XXVII-13] Brasseur de Bourbourg gives August 27, 1524, as the date of this abandonment of Patinamit by the Cakchiquels. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 676. This date would be about two months earlier than that assigned to the event in Alvarado's evidence for defence, where it is shown to have occurred six or seven months after his seizure of Queen Suchil. Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 100, 146-7, passim.
[XXVII-14] The high price of food during this war is evident from an act of the cabildo, passed May 6, 1525, limiting the charge for a hog weighing 120 pounds to twenty pesos de oro, equivalent to nearly $300 of our day; while eggs were one real de oro each, that is over $1.50. Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 13-14.
[XXVII-15] Las Casas tells a frightful story of reprisal, wherein the Spaniards drove all their captives, man, woman, or child, into these staked pits. Regio. Ind. Devastat., 36.
[XXVII-16] Brasseur de Bourbourg imagines this place to have been situated in the Zutugil territory. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 678.
[XXVII-17] Brasseur de Bourbourg takes the view that both the later Zacatepec war and the capture of Mixco occurred during the suppression of the Cakchiquel revolt. But he seems to me somewhat inconsistent. He makes the subjugation of the Cakchiquels last 'pendant plusieurs mois' after Alvarado's return to Patinamit, and yet a little later he points out that during the first months of the year 1525 Salvador was reconquered and a Spanish town founded there. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 680-1. It is scarcely to be supposed that a second campaign into Salvador could have been undertaken while the Cakchiquel war was going on. Moreover, according to his interpretation of the Cakchiquel manuscript, the town of Zumpango was one of many which submitted to the Spaniards after the destruction of Mixco; and, as will be seen later, the reduction of Zacatepec was owing to the hostile incursions from that district against Zumpango while Alvarado was absent on a campaign. The Cakchiquel manuscript is the production of Francisco Ernandez Arana Xahila, and contains a brief history of the Cakchiquel nation from the earliest times. The author was the grandson of King Hunyg of the Ahpotzotzil line, and it is written in his hand down to the year 1562, from which time it is continued somewhat further by Francisco Gebuta Queh, of the same family. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bib. Mex. Guat., 13, says that it was translated into French in 1856 at Rabinal in Guatemala.
[XXVII-18] This city had been founded by the Pocoman Indians, during their early wars with the Quichés and the Cakchiquels, the site selected being on account of its natural strength. [Native Races, i. 787]; Juarros, Guat., ii. 245. It was situated in the valley of Xilotepec, on a ridge between the Pixcayatl and the Rio Grande de Motagua, the former river being a tributary of the latter, and meaning 'guardian stream.' Juarros, Guat., ii. 350; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 680.