nor up to the present time in that of the Ytzaes, since they have the custom of beheading them when they pass fifty years, so that they shall not learn to be wizards and to kill; except the priests of their idols, for whom they have great respect. And this man must have been one without doubt.
"In the region of the said road, there are many hills and great density of woods on the hills, many cedar and mahogany trees, which in this tongue are called punabes, besides many others which I do not mention so as to avoid annoyance. There are many overflowed places called Akalchees; there are also three rivers, one of moderate size, which from its falling from a high rock, makes noise enough; the other two, although they too fall from a rather high place, are not so full of water, though they wet us all because their streams are wide and because there is no bridge to cross them. We came then to the said town, Nich, whose cacique is called Ahtul, and this little town is the chief town of Cha Kan Ytza, which consists of other very small towns, but of many settlements, and each of these possesses a cacique or captain, although all the Cha Kan Ytzaes, with their wives and children, as far as I saw, will be about six hundred souls, more or less.
Indians Arrive from Tayasal. "We ate very heartily in the said town, for the sake of giving them pleasure, so that they showed that they were pleased and they entertained us with their instruments from twelve o'clock of the day that we arrived till two o'clock in the afternoon, when, in answer to the previous messenger which I sent to the petty King of my coming to his territory, there came up some eighty canoes, full of Indians, painted and dressed for war, with very large quivers of arrows, though all were left in the canoes,-all the canoes escorting and accompanying the petty King, who with about five hundred Indians came forward to receive us. They hurried us on board with great speed and with very rude actions, without taking notice of the music of the clarions with which we awaited him, nor of the peace, which as its messengers I brought him in the name of the King, our Lord. Nor on our part, could we fulfill our embassy, since, without giving us an opportunity to do so, they began suddenly to take
