MONTEJO JOINED BY N I E T O. 67 



turn to Mexico. Thus Yucatan remained without 

 the light and help of the doctrine, and the miserable 

 Indians in the darkness of ignorance. 



Such is the account of the mission of these monks 

 given by the old Spanish historians, but the cautious 

 reader of the present day will hardly credit that 

 these good priests, " ignorant of the language, and 

 without interpreters who understood the idiom," 

 could in forty days bring the Indians to throw their 

 idols at their feet ; and still less, that this warlike 

 people, who had made such fierce resistance to Cor- 

 dova, Grijalva, Cortez, and the adelantado, would all 

 at once turn cravens before thirty vagabond Span- 

 iards ; but, says the historian, these are secrets of 

 Divine justice ; perhaps for their many sins they did 

 not deserve that at that time the word should be 

 preached to them. 



We return now to the adelantado, whom we left 

 at Tobasco. Severe wars with the Indians, want 

 of arms and provisions, and, above all, desertions in- 

 stigated by the fame of Peruvian riches, had left him 

 at a low ebb. In this situation he was joined by 

 Captain Gonzalo Nieto and the small band which 

 had been compelled to evacuate Yucatan, and by the 

 presence of these old companions his spirits were 

 again roused. 



But the pacification of Tobasco was much more 

 difficult than was supposed. By communication 

 with the Spaniards, the Indians had lost their fears 

 of them. The country was bad for carrying on 



