Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/32

12 hundred Spaniards and half-breeds were added from settlements on the way.

A tiresome march brought him near the haunts of the insurgents, though without knowing where or how to meet them. From this dilemma he was relieved by the arrival of a message from Yanga and his military lieutenant Matosa, brought by a captive, who had been defiantly instructed to guide the troops to the foot of the negroes' stronghold, so that they might measure arms with them. Herrera gladly availed himself of this vaunting challenge, to which the chieftain's companions had objected, and in the last week of February he came in sight of the negro camp, on the summit of a mountain. Regardless of the missiles showered upon them, the Spaniards climbed the rugged slope, and though many a one was felled, now by a dart, now by some thundering rock or beam which crushed everything in its path, they persevered and gained the camp, which contained fully three score houses, with church, public edifices, and newly planted fields. The negroes retired to several strong points around, with the loss of quite a number, including several leaders, yet still defiant. Their spirit failed, however, with succeeding reverses, and, as they saw their families falling captive, their houses burned, and their effects seized or destroyed, they submitted terms of capitulation to the viceroy. On condition that Yanga and his free companions be given a site for a new settlement in the neighborhood, they promised to surrender all fugitive negroes in the camps, and thereafter to assist, if duly rewarded, in the capture of any who took refuge in that region. This was agreed to; and soon after they founded the village of San Lorenzo, remaining thenceforth comparatively faithful.

In the following year a more extensive campaign