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 Padres Endeavor to Instruct the Indians. "In these affairs, besides educating those who had been lately gathered together, although they might never be freed from slavery, we passed our time till the 24th of July, when we heard news that the road openers would shortly come to a certain town of the nation of the Cehaches; and in order not to fail as in the previous case, we priests planned to speak plainly with the captains and to find out what their plan was to be on entering it; for if it was not more decent and Christian than in the past, we had determined to avoid the occasion of disturbance, by returning to the Province, rather than see cruel deeds performed...."

The Captains Promise to Give Warning before Fighting. "The captains ... promised their assent to the advice which we might give them hereafter, adding that, when an opportunity offered to enter any town, a proclamation should be issued, with a penalty of death on any one who should dare to go against it...."

A Skirmish. "At this time the Indian road openers went on with their work, bringing as their guard the Indian musketeers from Sahcabchen, who never did anything well, owing to the said Captain Alonso, who, on account of his interest in their spoils, sends them out by themselves, without any Spanish people of intelligence to oversee that their duties are performed in a proper way. While engaged in this, they discovered a town of the Cehaches, Chunpich, already abandoned, as they had heard the rumor of the Spaniards, on account of which they found in one house only twenty-five loads of maize. Seeing many traces of people, they entered in fear, and notifying the said captain of their having discovered the said town, they all asked him for reinforcements, since they feared a hard fight. He gave them the reinforcements they asked for, together with their arms, though they did not arrive in time, since before they arrived there came as many as twenty-five Indians with their baskets for that maize which they had left. The soldiers, well prepared, carried their arms for whatever might turn up, since going prepared with arms was always the cause of many victories as opposed to many defeats. On the other hand they do less harm, the better provided they are. So it happened to these men; since having posted six Indian musketeers as sentinels in the direction they supposed the ruined town lay, so as to defend themselves and the workmen on the road, until their reinforcements arrived, it happened that the sentinels, seeing the said twenty-five Indians coming, they seemed to them to be thousands, and with the fear which never accomplished a good thing and with their evil disposition, which always has done much harm, without letting them enter so as to direct their fire well, our men broke ranks, which not only gave our opponents a better chance to get ready for a battle, but also frightening more the rest of our men who became aware of the retreat, made them hastily and heedlessly attribute the victory to our enemies. At that time, the reinforcement of our men coming up, the timid sentinels, deserting their posts, came back to make part of the reinforcement which was coming to them. When all were together they rushed to battle, which our opponents, like brave men, won finely, wounding three of our men without any of them being wounded. The remainder of our men fled and our opponents, laughing, left them and took their way with cries to those forests by the path on which they all lived. Our men returned to follow that path about four leagues; in that district they found two towns without inhabitants, though they were well provided with farms with all their products. These they ate and carried off as a token of their valor, giving as an excuse of their unfortunate fight, that their opponents were not men but demons, not endowed with reason, but brutes, since, without fear of death, they flung themselves savagely on the guns."

The Avarice of Paredes. "All this happened to the Captain [Paredes] through avarice, for, on account of avarice, he did not wish to send respectable and honorable Spaniards, who might obtain with good judgment victories in these engagements, but only his Indians from Cahcabchen, so that by frightening the other Indians, they should enter safely into the houses in order to steal as much as the poor Indians have in their houses, as happened in the preceding case that I refer to above. We all inferred that all this was with the permission of the said Captain, since, seeing the feelings, which we showed at his not having kept his promise to us, given at the conference which we had had, not only did he not punish the transgressors, but neither did he make amends for the casualties which might necessarily have happened, it being the fact that we suggested the remedy in both cases, and he appeased us with kind words...."

Chunpich is Reached. "After this unfortunate engagement the whole camp went along to the said town of Chunpich, distant eight long leagues from this town of Tzucthok, and the Captains, addressing me, asked me to stay with my companions to look after those Indians and children, besides some sick Indians, educating them and instructing them as I ought; and if by chance they should find a town, they would notify me, so that I could come to catechize them. I accepted this proposal for the future, carrying out his orders at the present time, and having known that the said captains had passed forwards from the said village of Chunpich, I got ready to go alone with four Indian singers to the said town, and by inspecting or cutting down all their thickets, to see if I could meet with the Cehaches Indians who made war on the Spaniards, in order to draw them to the bosom of our Holy Mother Church. I went through the said forests to a great distance, and in all directions and I did not meet any one. At this time I received information (although it was confused) that, after the said town of Chunpich was passed, on the road to the South which we were following in a Southeast direction, an indistinct foot path had been discovered. As I knew that on the said route lay the nation of the Ytzaes, for meeting whom I have been preparing for some years, by having learned their language, it was necessary to set about following the path which the Spaniards were taking, in order to verify my suspicions; but it verified nothing but constant misfortunes; since on the path I met four Indian musketeers of the town of Sahcabchen, whom their captain was sending as slaves to the quiet of his house. They brought me a letter from the Captain, Don Joseph de Estenos, in which he told me that he had found three other towns without inhabitants, though with some little rotten corn; and that the third leader, Don Pedro de Suviaur by name, had gone with his men to another town which they supposed belonged to the Ytzaes. This letter reached me a league and a half from Chunpich, at a very large aguada which there is there, and at three long leagues from there is another large abandoned town called Ixbam."

Zuviaur Goes to the Itzas; the Padres Return. "I returned unhappy when I thought of the little result which had come in the said town of Chunpich, and I took pleasure in its suburbs to divert my sorrow, since this place is very pleasant. A lake lies towards the West, so large that it stretches out of sight. The water is very good, the two other towns of which I spoke above being around the said lake. The Spaniards found these at the time of the fight, all very full of fruits and abundant corn-fields, which the captain wished to have trampled down and destroyed so that their owners might come and give themselves up. But we did not consent to this; I was taking great pleasure in looking at the said lake, when an Indian came whom I had sent to camp, with letters from the Governor, and besides confirming the news which the said Captain, Don Joseph, had written me, he stated to me that he had known how the third leader Don Pedro de Zuviaur had gone to one of the towns of the Ytzaes. I regretted this last more than the rest, since I was holding the said towns reserved for the purpose of going to them without their hearing any rumors of soldiers.... I returned more sad than I had been at first. I went to the town of Tzucthok, where my companion Padres were, looking after the management of those Indians who had been allotted to me.... As I considered our work useless, since they had depopulated eight towns of the Cehaches, without any results, to see also that they had reached the Ytzaes, whom also they were going to spoil was the cause of the greatest sorrow."

Further Troubles. "I discussed with my companion Padres the troubles which followed,--now on account of the Indians, who were fleeing every day, now of the need which they had of supplies, now of the continual rains which caused these places to be overflowed, by which speedy ruin was threatened, now of the injustice which the said captains showed us....

"Without giving me anything to do, nor allotting me Indians to catechize and manage in the future, the said captain took away from me those of whom I had charge, and whom I not only catechized but also baptized and married, without paying attention to the despatch of his Majesty, which prohibits the changing of the residence of the Indians who had recently been converted, on account of the risk of their lives which would follow; as Solorzano cites them and quotes them,--one of which says 'that too hard work should not be given them and they should not be taken to distant places, and that above all their health and preservation should be looked after, without taking them to a sky, climate or temperature which are different or contrary to those to which they are accustomed.' ..."

The Padres Determine to Get to the Itzas Some Other Way. "We then, seeing all these troubles and injustices, in order to avoid the contest and disturbances which could not be remedied, together with all the inconveniences, risks and dangers which in the time of so great rains, each day brought to us, determined to return to the Province, with the intention to send word about everything to our Very Reverend Padre Provincial from the first town of the Province and to take from there the road in a different direction, which I knew of, so as to go without any noise of arms to the nation of the heathen Ytzaes, passing through the nation of the Indians of Tipu. This is a direction opposite to that which the Spaniards took; so that we could obtain in this way something of our objects and end, which we always had before us, of going alone without soldiers or armed men, for the conversion of the said heathen, to which from the beginning we had dedicated ourselves...."

Letter to the Captains. "Agreeing then with my companions, the Padres, in this good suggestion, I wrote a letter to the captains, taking leave of them, without giving the reason why I returned, but stating that it was on account of a slight accident that had happened to me; they, whom their consciences must have accused, supposing that I should set forth there in this Province before the Governor, who had sent me, their improper methods of acting, determined maliciously, for their greater satisfaction, to justify themselves by forestalling, me, with charges against me, as if I should pay any attention to them...."