pillage, wherein he might share, Olid thought it both dangerous and impolitic to go too far, and accordingly took strict measures to check the disorder. The soldiers considered this rather an unwarrantable interference, and rose in open mutiny. This was quelled, and the ringleaders reserved due punishment; but harmony could not be restored, and the majority loudly protested against remaining in garrison duty supported only by repartimientos, while their comrades at Mexico were preparing to invade the rich regions to the south. Their minds were still too much occupied with the acquisition of treasures to rest content with the quiet life of encomenderos, and since the gold and silver in the Tzintzuntzan district had been well-nigh exhausted, the country possessed no further attraction. So energetic were the protests that Cortés gave orders to abandon the colony, those desiring to return to Mexico being permitted to do so; the rest were ordered to Zacatula.[1]It was not his intention, however, to abandon so promising a region, or to lose control of a powerful monarch, and some time later he sent Olid again to reëstablish the settlement, though not to remain in charge, since more trouble might arise with the colonists. The control was assigned to Andrés de Tapia, assisted by a municipality appointed by Cortés himself, and while Olid passed on to install a similar body at Zacatula, that officer proceeded to reconcile the Tarascans to the return of the white men, promising that no outrages should again mar their intercourse. The promises brought from Cortés reassured Tangaxoan, and under
- ↑ Cortés, Cartas, 276. 'Pacificamete se fue entreteniedo por algu tiepo,' says Herrera, dec. ui. lib. iii. cap. xi., adding that Olid sought to introduce intercourse and culture. This vagueness assists Brasseur de Bourbourg to assume that the colony remained, Hist Nat. Civ., iv. 538, contrary to Cortés' positive statement, supported also by Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iii. 49, though the latter adds, 'sin tener lugar de poblar.' Cortés would never acknowledge the abandonment of the only colony in a rich kingdom, unless obliged by truth to do so. Zamacois goes so far as to appoint a municipality which remains in the country, Hist. Méj., iv. 74; but he anticipates, as will be seen. Bernal Diaz assumes that Olid was anxious to return to his newly wedded wife at Mexico. Hist. Verdad., 161, 164.
