58 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



any violence upon the inhabitants, or suffering any 

 injury from them, the Spaniards proceeded from 

 town to town until they arrived at Conil At this 

 place, the Indians being apparently friendly, the 

 Spaniards were thrown off their guard; and on one 

 occasion, an Indian, who came to pay a visit, snatch- 

 ed a hanger from a little negro slave, and attempted 

 to kill the adelantado. The latter drew his sword 

 to defend himself, but the soldiers rushed forward 

 and killed the Indian on the spot. 



The adelantado now determined to march from 

 Conil to the province of Choaca, and from this time 

 they began to experience the dreadful hardships they 

 were doomed to suffer in subduing Yucatan. There 

 were no roads ; the country was stony, and overgrown 

 with thick woods. Fatigued with the difficulties of 

 their march, the heat, and want of water, they arri- 

 ved at Choaca, and found it deserted: the inhabitants 

 had gone to join other Indians who were gathering 

 for war. No one appeared to whom they could give 

 notice of their pacific intentions, and the tidings that 

 an Indian had been killed had gone before them. 



Setting out again, still under the guidance of the 

 Cozumel Indian, they reached a town named Ake. 

 Here they found themselves confronted by a great 

 multitude of Indians, who had lain in ambush, con- 

 cealed in the woods. 



These Indians were armed with quivers of ar- 

 rows, sticks burned at the ends, lances pointed with 

 sharp flints, and two-handed swords of very hard 



