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 362 always glad to leave them alone after a single trial of their prowess. Anxious as they were for the bringing of these Indians under the influence of their religion, the acquisition of wealth was a matter of vastly greater concern. So the tide of conquest flowed over all Mexico, and extended even to Guatemala and the Pacific, before it more than lapped the shores of Yucatan.

[A. D. 1527.] But its time was soon to come. In the year 1527 Montejo's fleet of four vessels, containing four hundred men, with liberal supplies, landed at Cozumel, the same island that Cortez had rendezvoused at eight years before. Here, for the first time, the Spaniards had seen, as they coasted, "villages in which they could distinguish houses of stone that appeared white and lofty at a distance. There were so many and such stately stone buildings that they were amazing; and the greatest wonder is that having no use of any metal these people were able to raise such structures, which seem to have been temples." The Spaniards took possession of the country in the name of their king, the bearer of the royal standard planting it in the ground, crying in a loud voice, "España! España! Viva España!"

Their troubles commenced almost at their landing, for the people of this section of the country were as hostile to strangers, and as courageous, as any the Spaniards had met on the western coast. Men fell sick from the heat, the country was rough and rocky, and overgrown with dense woods; though the little army offered no violence to any one, evidences accumulated on every side that the natives of Yucatan were gathering for a general resistance to the invasion.

After enduring great fatigue the army arrived at the town of Aké. On the present map of Yucatan, Aké exists no longer as a centre of population, but at this place are some