Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/139

116 we had an opportunity of gaining a better understanding of its ruins. This is a town,—one of those which our Padre, Fray Christoval Sanchez, brought into obedience, though afterwards the people became rebellious. Today the forked poles which his holiness placed in the church he built are still standing. It is a very pleasant place, although unhealthful on account of the lightness of the winds. The water is pure, but also of a hardness which makes it excessively harmful. There are many cocoa-nut palm trees, many fruit trees, particularly lemons. Before reaching this place there is a large spring or river beneath the ground, so that for the distance of a league, the path goes following its banks and the bed of the said river. It is to be understood that in the rainy season it is full of water. There is good hunting in the woods, especially peacocks and pheasants. The most common animal in these woods is a leopard or false lion, with a red skin and with spots of various colors. The natives call it Chacekel. Among the birds are some which are very different from those of the Province. I heard a little bird warble, which I knew at once was a linnet like those of Spain; it imitated it much in its song as in its size, though not in its plumage. There is another bird with a body of a hen of Castile, called Pan. Its beak is very long and thick; up to the middle it is yellow and the other half green; its feathers correspond, being very yellow from below the beak to its belly. The rest of the body is black, except under the tail, which has a red plumage; the legs are green and in spite of so much beauty, it utters only shrieks....

The Padres Endeavor to Instruct the Indians. “In these affairs, besides educating those who had been lately gathered together, although they might never be freed from slavery, we passed our time till the 24th of July, when we heard news that the road openers would shortly come to a certain town of the nation of the Cehaches; and in order not to fail as in the previous case, we priests planned to speak plainly with the captains and to find out what their plan was to be on entering it; for if it was not more decent and Christian than in the past, we had determined to avoid the occasion of disturbance, by returning to the Province, rather than see cruel deeds performed....