UTATLAN AND IXIMCKE. 33 



the chiefs, and they themselves said at the time that they wished to be burnt, as 

 appears in their confessions (where they say that they were those who had declared 

 and made the war against me and wished to burn me in the city ; and it was with this 

 intention that they brought me to the city, and that they had ordered their vassals not 

 to come and give obedience to our Lord the Emperor, nor help us nor do anything else 

 that was right). And as I knew them to have such a bad disposition towards the 

 service of his Majesty, and to insure the good and peace of this land, I burnt them 

 and sent to burn the town and to destroy it, for it is a very strong and dangerous place, 

 that more resembles a robbers' stronghold than a city. And to enable me to hunt 

 out these people I sent to the city of Guatemala, which is ten leagues distant from this 

 place, and ordered them on the part of his Majesty to send me some warriors (and 

 this I did so that I could find out what their disposition was, as well as to strike terror 

 into the land), and they were well disposed towards me and agreed to do so, and sent 

 me four thousand men, and with these men and those that were already with me, I 

 made an expedition and overran the whole of the country. And seeing the damages 

 which they had suffered they sent me messengers to tell me that now they wished to 

 be good, and that if they had erred it had been at the order of their chiefs, and that 

 whilst their chiefs had been living they dared not do otherwise, but as now their chiefs 

 were dead they prayed me to pardon them, and I spared their lives, and ordered them 

 to return to their houses and live as they had done formerly ; and this they did, and at 

 the present time I have them in the same condition as they were formerly, but at the 

 service of his Majesty. And for greater security I chose out two sons of the chiefs, 

 whom I placed in their fathers' position, and I believe that they will carry out faithfully 

 all that tends to the service of his Majesty and the good of his lands. And as far as 

 touches the war I have nothing more at present to relate, but that all the prisoners of 

 war were branded and made slaves, of whom I gave his Majesty's fifth part to the 

 treasurer Baltasar de Mendoza, which he sold by public auction, so that the payment 

 to his Majesty should be secure. 



" I would wish your Excellency to know that the country is healthy and the climate 

 temperate, that there are many strong towns, and that this city is well built and 

 wonderfully strong, and has much cornland and many people subject to it, the which, 

 with all the subject towns and neighbourhoods, I have placed under the yoke and in 

 the service of the royal crown of his Majesty." 



Alvarado then marched to Iximche, or Guatemala, as he calls it, and was received in 

 a most friendly manner by the Cachiquels : " we could not have been treated better iu 

 our fathers' houses," he writes to Cortes. After a few days' rest he joined his hosts 

 in an expedition against the Tzutuhils, who were easily conquered. 



Alvarado had now subdued two of the strong tribes of the country, and was iu 

 alliance with the third, so was free to continue his march ; and after a most arduous 

 journey and frequent collisions with other and less important Indian tribes he succeeded 



biol. centr.-amer., Archaeol., Vol. II., February 1901. / 



