OVERTHROW OF THE NATIVES. 177 



of loose stones, enclosing within its circuit several 

 mountains. In the camp were several military ma- 

 chines, formed of beams on rollers, to be moved from 

 place to place. After a series of desperate and bloody 

 battles, the Spaniards routed this immense army, and 

 entered the city of Xelahuh. The fugitives rallied out- 

 side, and made a last effort to surround and crush the 

 Spaniards. Tecum Umam commanded in person, sin- 

 gled out Alvarado, attacked him three times hand to 

 hand, and wounded his horse ; but the last time Alva- 

 rado pierced him with a lance, and killed him on the 

 spot. The fury of the Indians increased to madness ; 

 in immense masses they rushed upon the Spaniards ; 

 and, seizing the tails of the horses, endeavoured by main 

 force to bring horse and rider to the ground ; but, at a 

 critical moment, the Spaniards attacked in close column, 

 broke the solid masses of the Quiches, routed the whole 

 army, and slaying an immense number, became com- 

 pletely masters of the field. But few of the seventy 

 thousand who marched out from the capital with Te- 

 cum Umam ever returned ; and, hopeless of being able 

 to resist any longer by force, they had recourse to 

 treachery. At a council of war called at Utatlan by 

 the king, Chinanivalut, son and successor of Tecum 

 Umam, it was determined to send an embassy to Alva- 

 rado, with a valuable present of gold, suing for par- 

 don, promising submission, and inviting the Spaniards 

 to the capital. In a few days Alvarado, with his army, 

 in high spirits at the prospect of a termination of this 

 bloody war, encamped upon the plain. 



This was the first appearance of strangers at Utatlan, 

 the capital of the great Indian kingdom, the ruins of 

 which were now under our eyes, once the most popu- 

 lous and opulent city, not only of Quiche, but of the 



Vol. IL— Z 



