Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/52

32 made of the discovery, which led also to finding rich silver and iron deposits. Casting at once began under the direction of an experienced gunner, and with the artillery already on hand, they had soon a hundred cannon.

During the general uprising that followed the expulsion of Spaniards from Mexico in the previous year, some fourscore adventurers had been surprised and slaughtered in Tochtepec, a mountainous region on the upper waters of Rio Papaloapan. No measures being taken to chastise the perpetrators of the deed, the inhabitants grew confident in their strongholds. After the fall of Mexico a number of Aztec fugitives sought refuge there to keep alive the spirit of freedom. With no lack of men at his command, Cortés now resolved to uproot this hot-bed of sedition, located as it was in a country reputed rich in gold. A force of thirty-five horse, two hundred foot, and some thirty thousand allies, was accordingly despatched at the end of October 1521, under Sandoval, attended by Captain Luis Marin and others, with orders to reduce the whole region, and secure possession by founding the necessary colonies. The first demand for submission by so formidable an army, flushed with recent victories, brought forth the natives in humble supplication. All that remained to be done was to pursue the hostile refugees and chief