266 
GUATEMALA. 
was Beleheb-Tzi; Tecum-Umam and Tepepul were the 
other principal chiefs. Tecum, as commander-in-chief of 
the army, designated Chuvi-Megena (Totonicapan) as the 
rendezvous of the Quiche forces. His army was immense 
(the annalists make it equal to the enrolled army of Ger¬ 
many !); but no one knows the exact number of naked 
soldiers he brought together. 
After the victory at Tonala, Alvarado marched inland 
towards Zapotitlan, the capital of Suchitepequez; and as 
he approached the city, sent some spies he had captured 
in the mountains with friendly messages to their chiefs. 
No answer, either good or bad, was returned, but a battle 
was fought on the Rio Tilapa, and again the Spaniards 
were victorious. Some of the inhabitants of Zapotitlan 
called from a distance to the invaders and invited them to 
come into the city; but Alvarado preferred to choose his 
own time, and the Indios again attacked him. Desperately 
fighting, they were constantly driven back, and the in¬ 
vaders trampled over their bodies even through the streets 
of the city and for half a league beyond, where the battle 
ended ; and Alvarado returned to the city and camped in 
the market-place. More like hungry locusts than human 
beings, these land-pirates went on destroying army after 
army in a way that is painful to read about. On the 
plains of the River Olintepec so great was the slaughter 
of the Indios that the stream was colored for days with 
their blood. The loss of the Spaniards was only a few 
men and horses wounded. 
Tzakaha was occupied without resistance, and the Mex¬ 
ican allies changed the name to Quezaltenango. Under 
a canopy of branches the ambassadors of the Prince of 
Peace offered sacrifice to the god of battles. Here at the 
