winship] TRASLADO DE LAS NUEVAS 565 



men who remained to defend the city, and many of them came out, 

 about a crossbow shot, uttering loud threats. The general himself went 

 forward with two priests and the army-master, to urge them to sur- 

 render, as is the custom in new countries. The reply that he received 

 was from many arrows which they let fly, and they wounded Hernando 

 Bermejo's horse and pierced the loose flap of the frock of father Friar 

 Luis, the former companion of the Lord Bishop of Mexico. When this 

 was seen, taking as their advocate the Holy Saint James, 1 he rushed 

 upon them with all his force, which he had kept in very good order, and 

 although the Indians turned their backs and tried to reach the city, they 

 were overtaken and many of them killed before they could reach it. 

 They killed three horses and wounded seven or eight. 



When my lord the general reached the city, he saw that it was sur- 

 rounded by stone walls, and the houses very high, four and five and 

 even six stories apiece, with their fiat roofs and balconies. As the 

 Indians had made themselves secure within it, and would not let anyone 

 come near without shooting arrows at him, and as we could not obtain 

 anything to eat unless we captured it, his grace decided to enter the 

 city on foot and to surround it by men on horseback, so that the Indians 

 who were inside could not get away. As he was distinguished among 

 them all by his gilt arms and a plume on his headpiece, all the Indians 

 aimed at him, because he was noticeable among all, and they knocked 

 him down to the ground twice by chance stones thrown from the flat 

 roofs, and stunned him in spite of his headpiece, and if this had not 

 been so good, I doubt if he would have come out alive from that enter- 

 prise, and besides all this — praised be Our Lord that he came out on 

 liis own feet — they hit him many times with stones on his head and 

 shoulders and legs, and he received two small wounds on his face and 

 an arrow wound in the right foot; but despite all this his grace is as 

 sound and well as the day he left that city. And you 2 may assure my 

 lord of all this, and also that on the 19th of July last he went 4 leagues 

 from this city to see a rock where they told him that the Indians of this 

 province had fortified themselves, 3 and he returned the same day, so 

 that he went S leagues in going and returning. I think I have given 

 you an account of everything, for it is right that I should be the author- 

 ity for you and his lordship, to assure you that everything is going well 

 with the general my lord, and without any hesitation I can assure you 

 that he is as well and sound as the day he left the city. He is located 

 within the city, for when the Indians saw that his grace was deter- 

 mined to enter the city, then they abandoned it, since they let them go 

 with their lives. We found in it what we needed more than gold and 

 silver, and that was much corn and beans and fowls, better than those 

 of New Spain, and salt, the best and whitest that I have seen in all 

 my life. 



1 Uttering the war cry of Santiago. 



a The printed manuscript is V. M.. which signifies Your Majesty. 



8 Doubtless Thunder mountain. 



