In answer to the petition of the settlers at Trujillo, the emperor appointed as ruler of Honduras and Higueras Francisco de Montejo, the governor of Yucatan. It is not recorded that he brought with him either reënforcements or supplies in aid of the fast decaying colony. On his arrival he found a small band of starving men, destitute of all resources. The Spaniards who were able to make their way out of the province had already taken their departure. Even Juan de Chavez, appointed by Alvarado as his successor, not finding in Honduras any profitable field for his enterprise, had abandoned the territory and returned to Guatemala.[XVII‑1] The governor first proceeded to San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos, where he at once annulled the repartimientos granted by Alvarado, bestowing them on his friends or appropriating them to his own use,[XVII‑2] and despatched an expedition to the neighboring sierra for the purpose of pacifying the Indians. As no attempt was made to enslave or maltreat them, many returned voluntarily to the settlement. Montejo then visited Gracias á Dios, where he ascertained that certain Spaniards, journeying from Comayagua toward Guatemala, had been murdered by the natives in the province of Cerquin. He repaired to the spot, and arresting the ringleaders caused them to be punished in the presence of their caciques, who were then dismissed to their homes, professing to be satisfied that their penalty was deserved.
LEMPIRA AND HIS STRONGHOLD.
But their satisfaction was only feigned, and the colonists, who now imagined that they had established friendly relations with the Indians, were quickly undeceived. The most warlike and implacable of their enemies was the chief Lempira, a name signifying the Lord of the Mountains. He had long been a terror to the settlers, and a warrior of note among his own countrymen. With his own hand he was reputed to have slain in a single conflict with a hostile tribe one hundred and twenty of his foes. Such was the terror which his presence inspired that his enemies fled before him as from one bearing a charmed life, for in all the innumerable battles which he had fought he had never received a wound. Occupying a stronghold, known as the rock of Cerquin, in close proximity to Gracias á Dios,[XVII‑3] he had bid defiance to Alvarado when on his way to the relief of Cereceda at the head of a strong party of Spaniards and two thousand friendly natives. Juan de Chavez before his return to Guatemala had attacked Lempira's fortress with all the forces he could muster, but was foiled in his attempt, and the natives now believed their position to be impregnable.
Fired with the ambition to deliver his country, the cacique assembled the neighboring chieftains—their followers mustering in all some thirty thousand warriors—and invited them to join him in an effort to exterminate the invaders. He pointed out the disgrace of allowing themselves to be held in subjection by a handful of strangers, urged them to take arms against the Spaniards, and offering to place himself at their head promised to lead them to victory or lay down his life in the attempt. It was resolved to open hostilities at once, and a number of settlers were killed before any tidings of the revolt reached Gracias á Dios. Captain Cáceres with a well equipped force was despatched by Montejo to quell the insurrection, whereupon Lempira retired to his stronghold and put to death the messengers sent to require his surrender, stating that he acknowledged no master and obeyed no laws other than those of his own people.
Cáceres then laid siege to the place, but although assistance was summoned from Comayagua and San Pedro del Puerto de Caballos the Indians made good their defence. For six months the Spaniards beleaguered the fortress, their numbers rapidly diminishing from want, exposure, and ceaseless encounters with the natives. So untiring were the latter in their efforts that the besiegers, who were divided into eight parties, found little time to rest, being harassed day and night by sorties from the garrison. At length Cáceres, seeing no prospect of taking the stronghold, resolved to gain by a base stratagem the success which he had failed to win by force of arms. A horseman was ordered to approach within arquebuse-shot of the rock and summon Lempira to a colloquy under pretence of opening negotiations for peace, while a foot soldier who accompanied him, screened from view by the mounted man, was bid to take deliberate aim at the cacique and fire upon him when sure of his mark. The artifice succeeded only too well. The unsuspecting chieftain came forth to meet the messenger and while held in parley was brought to the ground by a shot from the arquebusier. His lifeless body rolled over the rock, and his followers, panic-stricken, made no further resistance, most of them taking to flight, and the rest giving themselves up to the Spaniards.[XVII‑4] It is but just to add that the captives were well treated and that the governor, who does not appear to have been responsible for this outrage, succeeded by his humane policy in pacifying many of the fugitives and inducing them to return to their abodes and till the soil.
During the administration of Montejo the settlers of Honduras again enjoyed an interval of repose,[XVII‑5] though his conduct was distasteful to many of the colonists, who still remembered with regret the time when slave-hunting was permitted throughout the territory. The arrival at Gracias á Dios, in 1538, of the licentiate Cristóbal de Pedraza, bearing the title of protector of the Indians, was of material service to the governor in settling the many difficulties that arose with the encomenderos. He was cordially welcomed and received every assistance in the discharge of his duties.
INTEROCEANIC HIGHWAY.
Montejo now turned his attention to the construction of roads and the development of the resources of his province which had already given promise of a prosperous future. Wheat had been successfully cultivated and the prospects of a largely increased production were encouraging, while the same favorable results had attended the planting of the vine. In 1539 the governor addressed a letter to the emperor, urging the expediency of constructing a road for pack-animals between the bay of Fonseca and Puerto de Caballos, by way of Comayagua. The whole distance was but fifty-two leagues, and it was pointed out that the road might afterward be improved, so as to be available for wheeled vehicles. It was claimed that this would prove a more favorable route for the transport of merchandise between Spain and Peru than that by way of Nombre de Dios and Panamá, the harbors on either side being safe and easily accessible. The country through which it was to pass, moreover, possessed an excellent climate, rich mines, a fruitful soil, good pasturage, and many fine streams of water. His Majesty was asked to furnish negroes for the prosecution of the work, as the natives were not to be relied on for such labor. A few of the colonists were soon afterward induced to form a settlement near the spot abandoned by Gil Gonzales Dávila and Sandoval's party.[XVII‑6] To this was given the name of San Juan del Puerto de Caballos. The site was in many respects favorable for a commercial emporium, but its sickly climate was already too well known to the Spaniards.
Soon after the Indian revolt, which terminated with the death of Lempira, the governor determined to establish a settlement in the district of Comayagua, and with that view despatched Cáceres to find a suitable location midway between the two oceans. A spot was selected in the centre of a fertile valley, distant about twenty-six leagues from either sea, and connected by a good road with an Indian village, whence a navigable river flowed northward toward Puerto de Caballos. Here was founded, in 1539, the town of Comayagua,[XVII‑7] and so prosperous were the affairs of the new colony that a few years later[XVII‑8] it was raised to the rank of a city.
The settlements founded by the early colonists of Honduras were slow of growth. In a letter addressed by Pedraza to the audiencia of the Confines, dated May 1, 1547, he states that the seven Spanish towns which the province then contained[XVII‑9] "were always increasing as were the villages;" and yet we find that Trujillo, which had then become the largest of them, contained but fifty settlers, while none of the others numbered more than thirty. The absence of communication with the South Sea, and the distance from the highways of commerce between Spain and the new world, no doubt retarded greatly the increase of population; for the agricultural and mineral resources of the territory were not inferior to those of other provinces which contained more than ten times the number of inhabitants. The want of good roads and of facilities for travel was also a serious drawback; and it is probable that to make a tour of the different settlements in Honduras, all lying within a radius of less than forty leagues, occupied, in the middle of the sixteenth century, almost as much time as would now be required to accomplish the circuit of the globe.[XVII‑10]