and from him the news of how they were attacked at night was obtained. It was ascertained that two hundred and ten men of the adelantado's people had been killed, and also forty-three of the inhabitants I had left in that town, who were going about their villages which they held under encomienda[1]; it was even believed that the adelantado's people were more numerous, though they could not remember them all. There were altogether, including those whom the captain had taken with him and the lieutenants and the alcalde's people and the inhabitants, eighty horsemen who were divided into three companies. During the war they carried on in the province, they captured about four hundred chiefs and notable persons, besides others of lower class, all of whom — I speak of the chiefs — were burned,[2] having confessed that they had instigated the war and that each had participated in the killing of Spaniards; the other persons were then liberated, and, through them, the people were brought back to the towns. The captain then appointed, in Your Majesty's name, new chiefs from among the rightful heirs, according to their laws of inheritance. At that time I received letters from the captain and other persons who were with him assuring me that — God be praised — the whole province was entirely pacified and subdued, the natives serving them faithfully; and I believe the past ill-feeling will be forgotten and there will be peace for the whole year.
Your Cæsarian Majesty may believe that these people are so turbulent that any novelty or preparation for disturbance excites them, for they have been used to
- ↑ Some authors have sought to cast doubts upon the number burned, Herrera even reducing them to thirty, but the language of Cortes seems to be sufficiently explicit. To drive the lesson well home, the Indians were all assembled to witness this frightful execution of their relatives. Gonzalo de Sandoval was the Captain commanding in this war, and it is with reluctance that we record this black deed against his otherwise exceptionally fair fame.
- ↑ See Appendix at the close of this Letter.
