Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/91

68 that he would continue upon his Journey until he reached the Itzaex, for which place he and his Companion had set forth. And so, as to think of floating on any makeshift was to think of the impossible, and as to the left of that Lake it appeared that one might break through the Forest and proceed by opening a Road [through the jungle], passing around the edge of the Lake, they decided that they might thus continue their Voyage in a straight line.

“The Indians made this seem to be very difficult and they replied that it was far, and that it would be too toilsome to open a Road through the places the Father mentioned, and that the Supplies that they had with them were not sufficient for so many days, and they would want for them later on. Besides the time was coming on when it would be necessary for them to take in their crops from the fields and they said that while they were doing that a Canoe should be built on purpose for them all to cross the Lake and that they would carry the Padres with much pleasure and little toil to the Itzaex.

The Return to Tipu. “Padre Fuensalida insisted and persisted that what he had first proposed should be executed, namely, to cut around the Lake. And the Indians asked Padre Juan de Orbita to dissuade the Padre Commissario since what they said was more fitting, It seemed, at last, indeed to be so, and that the Indians were right, and all agreed to return to Tipu, and to build there a Canoe in which to pass across the Lake as they offered to do.

“When they had returned to Tipu, the Cacique Don Christoval soon sent Indian carpenters who, on the very shore of the Lake, were to make ready the wood for a very good Canoe. There are in that region great logs of Cedar and other trees from which can be made and are made many large Canoes. They built it very capacious and suitable; and the other Indians, in the interim, gathered in their crops and assembled new provisions in order to set out once more with the Padres for the Land of the Itzaex.

All Precautions Taken, they Set out Once More. “Once more they all set out as before from Tipu. They crossed the Rio Grande, which is two leagues away, with much more