236 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY I boll. 73 
all, this being the intention of those from Coza. In order to attain better their 
intentions, they begged of the captain not to have the trumpet sounded that evening, 
which was the signal to all for prayer, greeting the queen of the Angels with the Ave 
Maria, which is the custom in all Christendom at nightfall. "The Napochies'' said 
the people of Coza, "are ensnarers and always have their spies around those fields, 
and upon hearing the trumpet they would retire into the woods and we would remain 
without the victory we desire; and therefore the trumpet should not be sounded." 
Thus the signal remained unsounded for that one night, but the blessed father Fray 
Domingo de la Anunciacion, with his pious devotion, went around to all the sol- 
diers telling them to say the Ave Maria, and he who was bugler of the evangile now 
had become bugler of war in the service of the Holy Virgin Mary. That night those 
of Coza sent their spies into the village of the Napochies to see what they were doing 
and if they were careless on account of their ignorance of the coming of the enemy; 
or, if knowing it, they were on the warpath. At midnight the spies came back, 
well content, for they had noticed great silence and lack of watchfulness in that 
village, where, not only was there no sound of arms, but even the ordinary noises 
of inhabited places were not heard. "They all sleep," they said, "and are entirely 
ignorant of our coming, and as a testimonial that we have made our investigation of 
the enemies' village careftilly and faithfully, we bring these ears of green corn, these 
beans, and calabashes, taken from the gardens which the Napochies have near their 
own houses." With those news the Coza people recovered new life and animation, 
and on that night all the soldiers made their oath to their captains, just as the cap- 
tains had done on the previous one to their cacique. And our Spaniards enjoyed 
those ceremonies at closer quarters, since they had seen from the first ceremony 
that this was really war against Indians which was intended, and not craft against 
themselves. The Indians were now very ferocious, with a great desire to come in 
contact with their enemies. . . . 
All of the Napochies had left their town, because without it being clear who 
had given them warning, they had received it, and the silence the spies had noticed 
in the village was not due to their carelessness but to their absence. The people of 
Coza went marching towards the village of the Napochies in good order, spreading 
over the country in small companies, each keeping to one road, thus covering all 
the exits from the village in order to kill all of their enemies, for they thought they 
were quiet and unprepared in their houses. When they entered the village they 
were astonished at the too great quiet and, finding the houses abandoned, they saw 
upon entering that their enemies had left them in a hurry, for they left even their 
food and in several houses they found it cooking on the fire, where now those poor 
men found it ready to season. They found in that village, which was quite complete, 
a quantity of maize, beans, and many pots filled with bear fat, bears abounding in 
that country and their fat being greatly prized. The highest priced riches which 
they could carry off as spoils were skins of deer and bear, which those Indians tanned 
in a diligent manner -very nicely and with which they covered themselves or which 
they used as beds. The people of Coza were desirous of finding some Indians on 
whom to demonstrate the fury of their wrath and vengeance and they went looking 
for them very diligently, but soon they saw what increased their wrath. In a square 
situated in the center of the vil lage they found a pole of about three estados in height l 
which served as gallows or pillory where they affronted or insulted their enemies 
and also criminals. As in the past wars had heen in favour of the Napochies, that 
pole was full of scalps of people from Coza. It was an Indian custom that the scalp 
of the fallen enemy was taken and hung on that pole. The dead had been numerous 
and the pole was quite peopled with scalps. It was a very great sorrow for the Coza 
people to see that testimonial of their ignominy which at once recalled the memory 
Three times the height of a man. 
