6 CHICHEN ITZA. 



Cogolludo state that Montejo formed a camp at Chichen Itza, and made it his head- 

 quarters for some considerable time, apparently for nearly two years. 



This expedition ended in great loss and disaster to the Spaniards ; Montejo and the 

 greater number of his followers appear to have been driven to the north coast, whence 

 they found their way by sea to Campeche ; and another party under the command of 

 one of his lieutenants, Alonzo Davila, penetrated the country to the south in the 

 direction of Bacalar, and finally escaped by sea to Trujillo in Honduras. Later on 

 Alonzo Davila rejoined the Adelantado in Campeche, but no headway could be made 

 against the natives, many of the soldiers deserted the Adelantado, tempted by the 

 glowing accounts they received of the riches of Peru, and finally the remnant of the 

 force was removed by sea from Campeche to Tabasco. 



Landa, who may have conversed with some of the survivors of the expedition, 

 confines his account of it to a few paragraphs, and Cogolludo, writing about 120 years 

 later, although he enters much more into detail, admits that many conflicting accounts 

 were current, and devotes some space to the correction of the version given by Herrera 

 in the Decads. 



The document drawn up in Valladolid in 1579, in answer to a despatch from the 

 Spanish Government, in no way alludes to this early occupation of the site by the 

 Spaniards. It is quite possible that the name Chichen Itza may have been applied 

 to an area extending far beyond the site of the ruins, and until more conclusive evidence 

 is forthcoming it may be well to treat with some caution the generally accepted report 

 that the Spaniards were camped for two years on the site of the town itself. 



It was not until the year 1540 that a successful expedition was made, and the 

 Indians began to come under the Spanish dominion. Merida was founded in 1542 by 

 Francisco de Montejo, the son of the Adelantado, and in the same year his cousin of 

 the same name started on an expedition to the west, and founded a settlement at 

 Chuaca. This site was found to be unhealthy, and in 1545 the Spaniards moved to 

 what is now the town of Valladolid, about ten leagues distant from the ruins of 

 Chichen. 



The first description of Chichen Itza is to be found in the notes of Diego de Landa, 

 Bishop of Yucatan, which are supposed to have been written in the year 1566. It is 

 as follows : — 



" Chichen Itza is very well situated 10 leagues from Izamal and 11 from Valladolid, 

 and the elders among the Indians say that they remember to have heard from their 

 ancestors that in that place there once reigned three Lords who were brothers and 

 who came to that land from the west. And they brought together on these sites a 

 great number of towns and people, and ruled them for some years with justice and 

 in peace. 



"They paid much reverence to their God and on this account they raised many and 

 fine buildings, and of one in particular, the greatest of them all, I will here draw the 

 plan, as I drew it when I was standing on it, so that it may be the better understood. 



