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

Mass is Said. "Very many of the Itzaex were looking on from outside with profound silence and without making a single sound that could disturb what the Religious were doing. They, after having said Mass, went to see Canek, and after having saluted him, they remained in conversation with him a great while, for they knew the Language very well. They asked his leave to go all through the Village and to see its Houses and all its Cues or Temples, which were numerous. Canek conceded it, and gave them important Indians who were to go with them through the Village and show them all that they wished to see. The principal purpose of the Padres in soliciting this permission was to make a beginning to their preaching; from that time on, in the presence of Canek, of the Chiefs and of a great crowd of Zamaguales or Common People, they began to preach the Law of God...."

Fuensalida Preaches; Orbita Destroys an Idol. "With great attention the Indians who were congregated there listened to the discourse of the Padre Fuensalida...." For a brief time it looked as if the Padres might attain success in the errand, but as we saw in Chapter III, Padre Orbita, in anger, destroyed the idol of the horse and also the tolerance of the Itzas.

"Having returned to the guest house, and having rested a little from the toil of the Spiritual Battle and of breaking the Idol, the Religious went to see Canek, who, although he already knew what had happened in the Temple, and though they themselves spoke of it to him, did not say a word about it, nor did he show anger on account of it. So that the other Indians, seeing their Lord calm, became entirely appeased, and spoke no more of the affair to the Padres. But it is true that the Canek did not leave off wondering that they should have dared to do such a thing as that."

The Padres Urge the Itzas to be Christians. "He made them sit down on something which was like a small throne and on which he was wont to sit himself; it was then raised and placed in the midst of them, and being thus raised, the Padres discoursed for a long time concerning the affairs of God and the Holy Catholic Faith...."

They Refuse because the Appointed Time has not Come. They told the Canek that a previous Canek had promised Cortes to receive Christianity. "... Canek replied: That the time had not yet arrived in which their ancient Priests had prophesied to them they were to relinquish the worship of their Gods; because the Period in which they then were was Oxahau, which means Third Period[^5.6] ... and so they asked the Padres to make no further attempts in that direction at that time, but to return to the Village of Tipu and then, on another occasion, to come again to see them.

"Despite all this, Canek was the first to receive, with great pleasure, a Cross which the Padres placed in his hands, and afterwards some of his men received others. Canek gave the Padres permission, during the days they were his guests, to chant the Christian Doctrine; they did so in the seventh Tone as they were accustomed to chant it in the Province of Yucatan."

After a Few Days the Padres Leave Tayasal. "In this way several days passed, and the Religious, perceiving that they could in no wise proceed with the execution of their good desire, on account of the fact that the Indians would not change their minds, determined to return to the Village of Tipu in order to obtain the benefit of the good-will of the people there with their suavity and patience.

"They imparted this determination to the Infidels, who readily agreed to it. The Indians who had come with them made ready a Canoe; and the Itzas gave the Religious some figures of their Idols, which they took to Yucatan that they might be seen, and some Clothing of the sort the Indians use."

The Padres left Tayasal under rather unpleasant circumstances; some of the Indians seem to have harbored a grudge against them because of the incident of the idol, and these malcontents hurled insults after the canoes in which the Padres were going away. They returned to Tipu by the same way they had come, arriving there at the beginning of November. The Beneficiado of Bacalar would not let them stay in Tipu; he was reprimanded by the Bishop for his surliness. Finally Padre Fuensalida returned to Merida, leaving Orbita In charge of the Indians at Tipu.

Thus ended the entrada of Fuensalida and Orbita into the country of the Itzas. One cannot but admire the stanch faith and unswerving loyalty to their ideals of these two men. They were both of great personal courage and virtue, but from the foregoing account of their entrada it is easy enough to deduce that Fuensalida was the greater man of the two. Orbita was skillful in making effective altar displays, but he was hasty and unwise in his treatment of the idol of the horse. We must, however, frankly acknowledge that for two men to go alone and unarmed into the midst of a powerful nation of barbarians whom they believed to be cannibals was a deed of very great bravery, especially as they had no expectations of personal material gain. This entrada of 1618 is just barely mentioned by Fray Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola (30 recto), who, however, speaks of the idol incident as a mistake of policy.