544 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
Nevertheless, the officer Andrés de Ulloa advanced to reconnoiter, with 70 
Spanish footmen. The rest of the Spanish army, under command of Hernando de 
Chaves, and which had just completed the conquest of Esquipulas, consisted of 
800 Tlascaltecas, Mexicans, and Cholutecas. 
After reconnoitering the camp, Commander Chaves took up the positions which 
seemed best for success in his task, while protected against immediate attacks by 
the enemy, further increasing his army by another thousand Miteco archers. 
While this went on, the Cacique Copan Calel remained with his army inside 
the fortifications, with abundant provisions and everything necessary to withstand 
a long siege; such a siege would, however, have been impossible from the smallness 
of the investing forces, unable to guard all points, although the cavalry scouted 
all the surrounding country to prevent the introduction of supplies. Hernando 
de Chaves therefore determined to approach the enemy lines for inspection, and to 
see if he might not invite the chief to peace. For this purpose he selected a number 
of well-armed cavalry, putting them in command of Gaspar de Polanco, a man 
in whom he had great confidence, and proceeded with them to the opposing lines. 
~ There through interpreters he proposed to the valiant Chief Copan Calel that he 
submit to the King of Spain, and also recognize the True God. The chief appeared 
to listen calmly to the argument of Chaves, but suddenly he broke out enraged, 
that neither he nor his would submit to any foreign domination, but were resolved 
to perish all together before enduring a foreign yoke; addressing Chaves personally, 
he declared that fortune would not always smile on him or be propitious. Uttering 
these last words, he shot an arrow (the sign of defiance among them), which was 
followed by a rain of these missiles, obliging Chaves and his men to retire at once. 
That night Hernando de Chaves called a council of his leading captains, Juan 
Sanchez de Guelva, Garcia de Aguilar, Miguel Quinteros, and Martin de la Mez- 
quita, and it was decided to attack Copan Calel the next morning. That night the 
guards were doubled at the important posts. 
Just at dawn the following day, and before sounding the reveille, Chaves drew 
up his forces. The infantry he gave coats of quilted cotton, with swords and shields; 
the cavalry he equipped in the best fashion to meet the darts of the enemy. There- 
upon he went to overlook the field, and decided to attack on the side of the moat, 
while seeking the shallowest place, both for filling and for giving passage to the men. 
Scarcely, however, had Chaves and his advance forces come near, when the 
troops of Copan Calel appeared on the opposite side, well armed, with handsome 
plumes, and with shields of tapir-skin, arrows, slings, and hardened spears. Then 
there began a severe combat between the Copanecos and the Conquistadores, which 
lasted nearly the whole day without other result than dead and wounded on both 
sides. ‘The Indians, however, suffered much the worst through the fearful arquebus 
fire, which still in no degree affected their spirit; so that, defending themselves with 
heroic valor, they forced Chaves to retire with heavy losses among hisown men. In 
this fight Lucas Magana was wounded in the thigh, for which he went lame ever 
after. 
After this disaster Hernando de Chaves did not know what to do, as every 
day was making his enterprise more difficult. The cavalry scouted and destroyed 
the neighboring fields; he himself consulted his principal officers, and constantly 
looked out for his resources; to ask help from Guatemala seemed humiliating; he 
fluctuated, in fine, in the midst of a thousand difficulties, until a chance freed him 
from them all. 
Copan Calel held a prominent cacique confined within his palaces, for an out- 
rage upon a woman of the court, for which offense he had ordered the prisoner’s 
nostrils slit, and other ill treatment. He [the punished cacique,] enraged, swore to 
