History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas / Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Hard University. Vol. VII.

by Philip Ainsworth Means

"The other Itzaex Indians bore their Bows and Arrows with which they always march when they come forth from their Island and Territory in case they meet the Chinamitas, a Nation for whom they have always had enmity, and continual wars; for they hold themselves as brave warriors like the Itzas themselves."

The Two Chiefs are cordially Received. "As soon as they arrived, the two Captains saluted the Religious according to their usage (which is to throw the right arm over the shoulder as a sign of Peace and Friendship). The Religious replied with many urbanities and courtesies. The Captains were quartered in the house of the Cacique and the rest in the houses of the Chiefs of that Village of Tipu, care being taken to regale them as had been done in their Island to our Indians.

"And later Don Francisco Cumux gave the Religious an account of how he had been received by Canek and by the other Chiefs and Heads of the Districts of the City, and of how they had shown joy and of what had gone forward, and of the opinion that they had that the Padres should go to see the Itzas. The Padres were full of joy, and they thanked Don Francisco and his companions for the trouble they had had on that Journey, and they told them that it was certain that God would reward them, for they had gone in His service and in His Holy Name...."

A rather verbose account of the services held for the benefit of the Itzas closes this chapter. The account of Cogolludo (lib. ix, caps. 7, 8) is much the same. Villagutierre (lib. ii, cap. 3) continues his description of the entrada of Fuensalida and Orbita:

The Padres Prepare to Travel to Tayasal. "The Religious tried, after the Itzaex Indians had gone thence, with their Indians of Tipu, to make ready for the Journey and to prepare the necessary food for traveling. This was done in a short while; so that on the Day of the Assumption of Our Lady, 15 August, 1618, they set forth from Tipu in company with the Cacique of that Village, Don Christoval Na, and with more than twenty important Indians besides those others which were needed as servants, their Maestro de Capilla, their Singers and their Sacristans, all of whom had offered to go with them from the Province....

"Two leagues from Tipu, in the direction of the Itzas, there was a Great River which, because the Waters had not risen greatly, it was possible to wade; and the Cacique, Don Christoval Na, who was a very corpulent man of great personal strength, placed the two Religious on his shoulders [and carried them across]. The River having been crossed, they journeyed some eight or ten leagues, and came upon a Great Lake which they called Yaxhaa. And finding no Canoe with which to traverse the Lake's two leagues of length, the Indians told the Religious that they should return to the Village of Tipu, since they could not go forward on account of the necessity of crossing the Lake, and because of the lack of Vessels."

Delays; the Padres' Anger. "The Padre Commissario Fuensalida became exceedingly angry with them, saying that it was not possible that they should have been ignorant of that Impediment, since they were so well versed in that Land and Road, and that they should have remedied it; and he declared that he would not go back upon the Road so well begun and that he would continue upon his Journey until he reached the Itzaex, for which place he and his Companion had set forth. And so, as to think of floating on any makeshift was to think of the impossible, and as to the left of that Lake it appeared that one might break through the Forest and proceed by opening a Road [through the jungle], passing around the edge of the Lake, they decided that they might thus continue their Voyage in a straight line.

"The Indians made this seem to be very difficult and they replied that it was far, and that it would be too toilsome to open a Road through the places the Father mentioned, and that the Supplies that they had with them were not sufficient for so many days, and they would want for them later on. Besides the time was coming on when it would be necessary for them to take in their crops from the fields and they said that while they were doing that a Canoe should be built on purpose for them all to cross the Lake and that they would carry the Padres with much pleasure and little toil to the Itzaex."

The Return to Tipu. "Padre Fuensalida insisted and persisted that what he had first proposed should be executed, namely, to cut around the Lake. And the Indians asked Padre Juan de Orbita to dissuade the Padre Commissario since what they said was more fitting. It seemed, at last, indeed to be so, and that the Indians were right, and all agreed to return to Tipu, and to build there a Canoe in which to pass across the Lake as they offered to do.

"When they had returned to Tipu, the Cacique Don Christoval soon sent Indian, carpenters who, on the very shore of the Lake, were to make ready the wood for a very good Canoe. There are in that region great logs of Cedar and other trees from which can be made and are made many large Canoes. They built it very capacious and suitable; and the other Indians, in the interim, gathered in their crops and assembled new provisions in order to set out once more with the Padres for the Land of the Itzaex."