The region which lay between Yucatan and the pacified portions of Guatemala was inhabited by various unsubdued nations, conspicuous among which were the Lacandones, Itzas, Manches, and Choles. In 1603 certain members of the Dominican order, led by Juan de Esguerra, succeeded in penetrating a considerable portion of the Manche territory, and induced many of the natives to accept Christianity. In 1608 no less than eight villages[XXXVI‑1] were regulated by Christian custom and teaching, and the aspect of affairs was encouraging until 1626, when the Lacandones made a sudden and fierce assault upon the christianized natives and Spaniards of that district, advancing as far as within six leagues of Copan. Many native Christians were slain, and a still greater number carried off prisoners. This onslaught was followed the next year by an invasion of the Itzas, when more than three hundred of the native converts were captured, including the principal chief, Martin Cuc. These disasters had a bad effect on the Manches, who finding that the Spaniards would not protect them, threw off their allegiance, and with it their profession of Christianity.
IMPOLITIC ZEAL.
Meanwhile efforts to convert the Itzas had been made from Yucatan by the Franciscans. Of all the nations inhabiting this wild country the Itzas were the most powerful and aggressive. The difficulties of penetrating their territory, and their secure position on the islands of the great lake of Peten,[XXXVI‑2] rendered them apparently secure and independent. To attempt peaceful intercourse was, indeed, a bold proceeding; and yet in 1618 friars Bartolomé Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita, both conversant with the Maya tongue, left Mérida on such a mission. On their arrival at Tipu, after delays and difficulties, the cacique Cristóbal Na received them hospitably, and despatched an embassy to Tayasal, the capital of the Itzas.[XXXVI‑3] This attention obtained from the canek, or Itza king, an invitation for the missionaries to visit his city. On reaching the lake by night, they were received with welcome; a flotilla of canoes was sent to escort them across the water; the town was illuminated with torches, and a vast crowd assembled to greet them. Having visited the canek, or king, they were conducted through the city, after which Fuensalida, by the canek's permission, addressed the people in his presence, and explaining the doctrines of Christianity touched upon the object of their visit. The friar was listened to with dignified attention, but the answer, though politely expressed, was not encouraging. The fathers were welcome, but certain prophecies were current in the nation which declared that in time the Itzas would become Christians. That time, however, had not yet arrived, and the strangers, when their visit was terminated, could go back to their people and return at a more convenient season.
Hospitable as was the reception of the missionaries, an act of folly on the part of Orbita changed friendly feeling into indignation, and placed the visitors' lives in jeopardy. Entering one of the cues, the great idol, Tzimenchac,[XXXVI‑4] an image of a horse sejant, excited the wrath of the friar, who, seizing a stone, battered it to pieces, and scattered the fragments on the temple floor. The outcry was vehement, and it was only through the intervention of the friendly cacique of Tipu that the friars were allowed to depart unharmed.[XXXVI‑5]
The persistent friars, nevertheless, again attempted to introduce the faith among the islanders of Lake Peten, and a few months later, accompanied by a large escort of Tipus, paid them a second visit. The canek received them with kindness as before, but the priests of Itza were on their guard, jealous for their religion. If they could induce the canek to view the matter as they did, all would be well. To this end the king's wife was importuned by the Itza priests, and through her the fears of the king were aroused. It was then arranged that the mitote[XXXVI‑6] should be celebrated with unusual grandeur; and at this feast the canek should learn that the gods of Itza did not wish the missionaries to remain. The preparations for this ceremony excited the alarm of the Tipus, who warned the friars of danger. Nor were their fears unfounded. On the morning of the festival an armed multitude surrounded the dwelling of the missionaries, and having forcibly entered, hurried off the friars with violence[XXXVI‑7] to the lake, where they cast them into an old canoe, and left them to make their way back as best they could. Famished and dispirited they arrived at Tipu, and thenceforth abandoned all efforts to convert the Itzas.
Yet in the propagation of the faith, as is well known, failure usually excites to greater activity. In 1621 one Franciscan father, Diego Delgado, labored in the province of Bacalar, establishing a new town, Zaclun, in the mountains of Pimienta. This success induced Captain Francisco Mirones to enter into a contract with Governor Cárdenas for the subjugation of the Itzas. While waiting at Zaclun for reënforcements, which were slow in coming, the dealings of Mirones with the natives were so unjust as to excite their resentment. Delgado remonstrated in vain; Mirones became more and more arbitrary in his extortions till the town was ripe for an outbreak.
Meanwhile the friar obtained permission of his provincial to depart for the capital of the Itzas; and in 1623, accompanied by several Spaniards and about four score friendly Tipus, he proceeded to Lake Peten, where he was received by the Itzas with their customary kindness. Allured by false professions the ill-fated party passed over to the island, where as soon as they landed they were overwhelmed by numbers[XXXVI‑8] and bound, presently to be immolated on the heathen altar-stone. Delgado was reserved as the last. The heads of the victims were then placed on stakes erected on the hillside in full view of the city. Shortly afterward Mirones sent two Spaniards to inquire how Delgado and his party had fared, but their heads were soon added to the ghastly collection. A native guide who accompanied them managed to escape to tell the tale,[XXXVI‑9] but not believing it Mirones put him to torture.
REVOLT OF THE ZACLUNES.
The patience of the Zaclunes was now exhausted, and they determined to throw off the yoke. On the 2d of February 1624, while Mirones and his party were attending mass, and unarmed, they were assailed in the church and taken alive. The vengeance of the Indians was satisfying and complete. The hearts of Mirones and the officiating priest were torn from their breasts in the sacred building, and their bodies thrown into a hole, while the remaining captives, having suffered a similar death, were placed on stakes fixed in the road, by which Spanish reënforcements were expected. Then church and town were burned, and the natives betook themselves to the mountains.[XXXVI‑10]
This uprising was followed by that of the Tipus; and though some of those who had massacred Mirones and his party were captured and put to death, the country was no longer under subjection. And it further pleased the aboriginals to manifest their scorn and insult by erecting ludicrous figures of Spaniards in the mountain passes, which were guarded by images of hideous idols.[XXXVI‑11]