[XVII‑34] He was fined for having appropriated a mine and for having seized certain negroes belonging to one of the priests. Cerrato, Cartas, in Squier's MSS. Marroquin remarks in Carta al Principe Don Felipe, in Carta de Indias, 448: 'Very few who have come to the Indies have so well feathered their nests in so short a time as Herrera and Rogel.' 'Quieren para si un dios y un principe, y para los demas confusion y perdiçion.' Pedraza endorses Marroquin's statement with reference to Herrera, and accuses him of trafficking in silks, velvets, and cloth like a common mercer. Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 123. The statement of Las Casas and Valdivieso in Id., xxii., is doubtless more deserving of credit.
[XVII‑35] Bernal Diaz speaks unfavorably of Cerrato. He says that at first he promised well, but subsequently acted in every way contrary to his instructions, as if these had been 'mirá que todo lo bueno que bacare y obiere en estas provinçias todo lo deys á vuestras parientes.' He accuses him of giving the best repartimientos to his two brothers, a granddaughter, a son-in-law, and his followers and friends, and remarks that the people feared the coming of another boat-load of Cerratos. Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 38-42.
[XVIII‑1] Viceroy Mendoza addressed letters to the bishop of Guatemala, Francisco de la Cueva, and the cabildo respectively. In that sent to the municipality he says: 'You will learn that God was pleased to take to his glory the adelantado Alvarado.' Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179-80. Tello states that Governor Oñate also send word of Alvarado's death to Guatemala. Hist. N. Gal., 390-7. According to Remesal the first reports were generally discredited, and it was not until the viceroy's letters arrived that any manifestation of sorrow was shown. Hist. Chyapa, 165 et seq. A cabildo was held on the 29th of August.
[XVIII‑2] Ibid.; Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 432-3; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 236.
[XVIII‑3] An unknown author writing later during the same year states that Doña Beatriz 'dixo muchas veces que ya no tenia Dios mas mal que le hacer.' Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 385. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 269-70, and Torquemada, i. 324 et seq., make similar statements. Gomara's assertion is disputed by Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 226-7. See, also, for accounts of Doña Beatriz' grief, Carta del Obispo in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 388; Benzoni, Mondo Nvovo, 156; Bernal Diaz (ed. Paris, 1837), iv. 466-7; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 166.
[XVIII‑4] In his letter to the cabildo, above alluded to, and dated July 15, 1541. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179-80. Remesal gives July the 5th as the date, one day after Alvarado's death, which it was impossible for the viceroy to know anything about at that time. The friar, however, attempts to account for the discrepancy which his error produced. Hist. Chyapa, 165-6.
[XVIII‑5] Bishop Marroquin was of opinion that Cueva was not a fit person to have been left by Alvarado in charge of the government. In a letter to the king dated August 10, 1541, he describes him as being too young and inexperienced, void of zeal in favor of the natives, careless in matters of justice, as not being partial to the company of good people, and offering a bad example to others. Carta al Emperador, in Cartas de Indias, 430. I entertain little doubt that it was through the bishop's influence that the appointment of Doña Beatriz was made. It certainly was countenanced by him. His control over the lady-governor would give him great power in the protection of the natives.
[XVIII‑6] The extraordinary appointment of Doña Beatriz to the government of Guatemala is thus condemned by Gomara, who infers that she caused herself to be elected: 'Y se hizo jurar por Gouernadora: desuario, y presuncion de muger, y cosa nueua entre los Españoles de Indias.' Hist. Ind., 270. Escamilla, Noticias Curiosas de Guat., i., states that she resigned the same day, referring doubtless to the appointment of Cueva. Remesal, who gives a detailed account of these proceedings, also attributes the appointment to her own desire for it, ungenerously remarking: 'Y con todos estos extremos excedia su ambicion á las lagrimas, y el desseo de mãdar á la falda del mongil y pliegues de la toca.' The only dissenting voice to her appointment was that of the alcalde, Gonzalo Ortiz, who probably objected to it on the grounds of her apparent want of saneness. Although half a page was left blank for the entry of his opinion it was never filled up. This blank half page still existed in 1615. The signature of the hapless lady on this occasion was written thus: La sin ventura Doña Beatriz. In the original a line is drawn through the words Doña Beatriz which was probably done by herself at the time of signing with the object of letting it be known that in future she wished to be called La Sin Ventura. Hist. Chyapa, 166-8. This same author states on page 367 that Cueva's appointment by the viceroy was not recognized by the city because it was not accompanied by his commission as governor. I cannot agree with the above authorities who attribute to Doña Beatriz such ambitious feelings while in the state of despair to which she abandoned herself, but regard her appointment as a purely diplomatic proceeding.
[XVIII‑7] The base of the following account of the destruction of Santiago City is taken from Bishop Marroquin's narrative in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 386-8, and from another and fuller narration without signature in Id., 378-86. Oviedo, iv. 27-32, gives an almost verbatim copy of it, and states: 'Estas nuevas truxo á la isla ... Cuba, Johan de Alvarado, sobrino del mesmo adelantado don Pedro, que aportó al puerto de la Habana, desde donde el capitan Johan de Lobera, su amigo é uno de los mílites que un tiempo anduvieron con el mesmo adelantado, me escribió todo lo ques dicho por su carta fecha á quatro de enero de mill é quinientos é quarenta y dos años.' It must, however, be remarked that the letter in Pacheco and Cárdenas bears unquestionable evidence of having been written in Guatemala. Juan de Alvarado, who had been recommended by Marroquin to the emperor for the governorship—Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 271—was on his way to Spain. I conjecture that he was the bearer of this anonymous account of the calamity and allowed Lobera to transcribe it, who merely changed the first person into the third and forwarded it to Oviedo in Santo Domingo.
[XVIII‑8] The town unfortunately occupied a site in a natural hollow running down the mountain side.