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78, they only thought of enriching themselves. The people were docile and friendly, and these captains did so much harm to the land, and put so many Indians to death for the purpose of robbing them, that the population has greatly diminished. There are the same provisions in this province as in the others, wonderful deer hunting, and the climate is healthy, fresh, and temperate. There is a universal chief of all that land, who is very rich, and when he saw the evil treatment his Indians had received, he neither desired to be friendly nor to make war. This captain Quesada, with the followers of Geronimo Lebron, and as many more as he could collect, has gone inland, and up to this time the result is not known.

There is a province called Apirama at a distance of ten leagues from Popayan, which is where they killed the captains of whom I have already spoken. The chiefs of this province, seeing that little resistance was made to their invasion of Popayan, and that I had not been able to enter their country to chastise them, waxed bold, and penetrated within five leagues of the city of Popayan, laying waste the land and killing the inhabitants they met with: so that it became necessary to march against them, and invade their country. I sent one hundred and fifty foot and sixty horse; and they awaited their approach on a plain, formed in close column, with as much precision as could have been seen in Italy, to the number of twelve thousand, armed with pikes forty palmos long, and between each pikeman there was a man armed with a club which they call macana. These came forth between the pikemen to fight, and then retreated behind them; so that the cavalry could neither break the line nor use their lances against them, until the arquebusiers opened fire from a plain, and before the Indians could close up they were charged by the cavalry. Thus they suffered loss before they could retreat to rough ground. After this they no more came down into the plains,