Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/53

30 their wars and quarrels, and that, because he was forced to continue his journey, he could not stop, nor could he aid them and defend them against those enemies of theirs. But, he added, had the situation been otherwise, he would have done so, and they would see, what they could not well imagine, how he would leave the Lacandones well punished and these Indians in peace and security in their houses.

“With these affectionate speeches, and seeing that no harm was done to them, those Indians were greatly contented. They gave thanks, after their fashion, to Cortes and his men, and at the same time, they gave him guides so that he might proceed with his army, which he did. Other large pueblos were encountered which, like this one from which they started out, they called the Mazotecas. This is the same as Villages of Deer, and the name was given because of the large numbers there are in that level country whence they set out.

The Deer Hunt. “The deer ran away so little and were so free from fright at the men that our soldiers on horseback were able to come up with them and kill them as they wished. In this way the men killed many of them and ate them for some days after. The Indian guides, who were showing the Spaniards everything and all those villages of their people which had been burned and razed, on being asked why it was that having so many deer at hand, they permitted them to be so tame. The Indians replied that in their villages they held the deer to be gods, for their greatest idol had appeared to them in that form and commanded them not to kill the deer, nor frighten them. They had executed this command, and as a result the deer were not easily scared, nor did they flee from the soldiers, and they were very numerous....

“Cortes and his men set forth from these villages of the Mazotecas and from the province of Acalan (which in after years, during the conquest of the Kingdom of Yucatan, was subjected by Captain Francisco de Tamayo Pacheco, who had come out in quest of it from the City of Merida)....

The Army of Cortes Proceeds on its Way. “Once more the army of Cortes went forward through rough and broken country. As always, he sent camp-scouts ahead on horseback