Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/79

Rh mountaineers, prevented success in Impilcingo, and he passed on to Zacatula, Increasing his force to about twice its original strength, he thereupon marched on Colima. After a hotly contested battle at Alima, he compelled the king and his allies to retire to the mountains, with heavy loss. The rest of the country hastened to submit, and to assure possession he founded a town named Coliman after the country, for which Cortes appointed a municipality. Olid thereupon returned with a rich booty, including some pearls, Ávalos being left in charge of the colony, numbering about one hundred and fifty Spaniards, and a force of allies. As in Michoacan, the settlers speedily grew discontented at the rapid dwindling of the much lauded wealth of the country, and many deserted. This encouraged the still hostile royalists in the mountains, and when the remaining colonists demanded their tribute from the repartimientos they found most of the natives united in a general revolt. An appeal for aid was made to Cortes, and this time he despatched Sandoval, who so effectually suppressed the revolt that none was ever again attempted.

This conquest opened the gate to the fertile regions northward, since known as Nueva Galicia, extending from the east in a succession of green plains and smiling