218 ESCAPE OF EK FROM TAYASAL. [CHAP. CHAP. XIV. which they had been bound. In the attempt to reach the top, one of the Spaniards slipped and fell back into the enclosure, and the noise awoke the Itzaex, who rose hastily to learn the cause, calling out loudly to each other. Hearing these voices, Bernardino ran down to the lake, got into a sorry canoe which he found on the beach, and plied the paddle with all the speed of a man escaping from the prospect of a cruel death. The Itzaex heard, and pursued him across the lake, following him even into the mountains on the opposite side; but he managed so effectually to conceal himself, that they failed to discover him, and desisted from the pursuit. As to the two Spaniards who were left within the palisades, their fate in all likelihood was the same as that of Father Delgado and his party, for they were never heard of afterwards. Bernardino Ek succeeded in reaching Tipu; from thence he went to Salamanca de Bacalar, where he laid his formal declaration of what had happened before the Alcalde of that place, who remitted it to the Governor, Don Diego de Cardenas, at Merida, and sent the Indians to Mirones to report the account to his master, who at first would not believe the news, and actually put Bernardino to the torture, thinking that he had deceived him. He soon found however that the statement which his servant made was the truth. The policy of Mirones towards the people of Zaclun had not changed during the interval, and much discontent continued to prevail. He was urgent with the Government that some member of a religious community should be sent there to replace Father Delgado, and eventually Father Juan Enriquez consented to settle at Zaclun. He was conscious that there was great danger in taking such a step, but not aware that a con spiracy had been formed amongst the Indians, who were only waiting for an opportunity to carry their plans into execution. The occasion presented itself on the 2nd of February, 1624. On that day, which was the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, Mirones and all his soldiers attended Mass without arms, leaving only one soldier at the guard-house in charge of them. The Indians, observing this neglect, stole to the guard-house, overpowered the sentinel, and seized all the weapons; they then painted their faces, and rushing with loud cries to the church entered tumultuously, and falling upon the defenceless Spaniards, took them all prisoners. The scene that took place is thus described by Villagutierre:-Mass was not ended, only the consecration of the elements, when, guessing the cause of the uproar, Father Enriquez immediately consumed them, not however omitting any of the proper forms in doing so, and leaning against the altar, turned his face towards the In-. dians, while they were binding the Spaniards before they killed them. In a loud voice he called to Ahkimppol, the leader and priest of the Indians, to keep back his men, and consider the crime they were committing, or at least to let the innocent prisoners die like Christians, after confessing themselves. This all the poor Spaniards did, loudly declaring their sins. Ahkimppol then went up to Captain Mirones, who was tied to one of the props of the church (the pillars that supported its straw roof), on the Epistle side', and, taking a dagger or knife from the Captain's belt, struck him so fierce a blow on the breast that he laid it entirely open, on which he thrust in 1 Epistle and Gospel side; the left and right, looking from the altar. 220 ATROCITIES OF THE INDIANS. CHAP. XIV. his hand and tore away his prisoner's heart. The rest of the Indians followed the example of their leader, and similarly sacrificed all the Spanish soldiers. While these ministers of Satan thus glutted their infernal rage, other Indians tied Father Enriquez, in his robes as he was, to another wooden prop opposite to the Captain, on the Gospel side. The Indians wished afterwards to loose him and leave him alive, but the sacrilegious Ahkimppol, without saying a word, came up to him and gave him a blow with his dagger, as he had done to Captain Mirones, and instantly tore his heart out of his body. To the moment of his death the holy friar, with great spirit, boldly preached to them without ceasing on the horrible and abominable impiety they were committing by their inhuman murders, and on the errors of their idolatry. All this was known by the subsequent confessions of many of the aggressors, who were taken and punished, for they left none of the prisoners alive to bear witness to what had passed. They dragged the crosses from the church, and cast the bodies of Father Enriquez and Captain Mirones into a grave made in the white earth, and, leaving them there, they took the rest to the cross in the road, by which the Spanish soldiers would pass who were coming to Zaclun. There they left them, each stuck upon a stake. They afterwards burnt the town and the church, and again fled to the mountains, to commit idolatry and lead a barbarous life1.” The Spaniards alluded to by Villagutierre consisted of a party of fifty men, under Captain Juan Bernardo, stationed at a town called Mani, but who, when the news was brought of the death of Father Delgado and his companions, were ordered to proceed in all haste to re1 Villagutierre. lib. iii. cap. 10. inforce Mirones. On their way to Zaclun they met some Indians driving the mule of Father Enriquez, and being questioned where they were taking it, the latter replied, that they had been sent to Merida for some wine and provisions which were wanted. The Indians were therefore allowed to pass, and soon afterwards the Spaniards came to the cross by the wayside, where they found the mutilated remains of their unhappy countrymen. Captain Bernardo caused them to be decently interred, and, finding that no chance existed of effecting the purpose for which he set out, returned with his men to Merida. Summary vengeance was executed on these murderers a short time afterwards, the greater part of them being made prisoners by an Indian captain, called Fernando Camal; Ahkimppol, their leader, did not escape, but was hung in Merida, refusing to the last to confess himself before death. With this and other insurrections, especially that of the Indians of the district of Tipu, which happened some years later, the whole of that very extensive range of mountains, and the many tribes who inhabited it, became impracticably shut up and lost. The people of Tipu returned to their idolatry, and, closing the mountain passes, erected statues in them, "like ridiculous figures of Spaniards, and in front of them other formidable figures of idols, saying that they were the Gods of the roads, who kept them closed to the Spaniards, to prevent them from entering into their country'." 1 Villagutierre. CHAPTER XV. CONTINUED DISTURBANCES ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER.-CAMPEA- SIMON TO EXPEDITION AFTER the massacre of Zaclun and the revolt of the people of Tipu, who, abandoning that town, fled to the mountains, there to renew their old idolatry, the progress of "pacification" in the interior of Yucatan, to the south of Salamanca de Bacalar, was for some time suspended. Indeed, the Spaniards, notwithstanding their tenure of the country for nearly a century, held their ground in many parts but insecurely, the tendency of the Indians to apostatize and rebel being continually manifested. Thus in the town of Bolonchen, about twelve leagues from Campeachy, the natives rose on one occasion, put all the Spanish men to death that were there, and carried off all the Spanish women, children, and slaves, and all the moveable property which they could seize. In the |