99 CHAPTER VII. ARRIVAL OF DAVILA AT CAMPEACHY.-THE INDIANS ATTACK MONTEJO. THE ADELANTADO NEARLY MADE PRISONER.-MONTEJO PRAYS TO BE RELEASED FROM HIS GOVERNMENT OF YUCATAN.-ROYAL CEDULA ENJOINING HIM TO PROSECUTE THE WAR.-REVOLT AT TABASCO.THE SPANIARDS WITHDRAW FROM THE PENINSULA.-THE RELIGIOUS PACIFICATION OF THE COUNTRY RESOLVED ON. THE ADELANTADO RETURNS TO YUCATAN.-DISEMBARKATION AT CHAMPOTON.-NIGHT REPULSED.-DIMINISHED ATTACK BY THE INDIANS.-GENERAL ASSAULT OF THE SPANISH CAMP, THOUGH Sorely depressed by the mischances of the last two years, the courage and perseverance of Montejo were still unbroken, and a fresh stimulus to exertion was afforded him in the arrival at Campeachy of his lieutenant Davila, who, after having made his way by sea to Truxillo, had recruited his forces there, and returned to unite his fortunes once more with those of the Adelantado. The moment this reinforcement reached him, Montejo resolved to profit by it, and Davila was sent off with fifty men to penetrate the country from the western coast. The Indians, having learnt how greatly Montejo's own forces had been reduced by this draft, for only forty 154547 100 MONTEJO NEARLY MADE PRISONER. [CHAP. CHAP. VII. infantry and ten horsemen remained in Campeachy, assembled in great numbers to attack him'. "Hearing a tumult the Adelantado went out on horseback, and, riding towards a group assembled on a little hill, cried out, endeavouring to pacify them; but the Indians, turning in the direction of his voice, and recognizing the Adelantado, surrounded him, laid hands upon the reins of his horse, and tried to wrest from him his lance, and others, who came up at the moment, rescued the Adelantado. Both himself and the brave Gonzales were very severely wounded, and the horse of the latter died of his wounds." When the Indians saw that Montejo had been rescued by his own men they gradually withdrew, and the danger which threatened the Spaniards from their assemblage was averted. But the Adelantado, with all his soldier-like qualities, "n'avait pas la main heureuse." The discovery of Peru had recently taken place, and the riches of that country, widely bruited, caused many of his men to desert from a service which held out but little prospect of the recompense for which the Spanish adventurers mainly fought. Montejo felt that if he proposed effectually to subdue the province of Yucatan his forces must be greatly augmented, and he therefore determined upon proceeding to New Spain to recruit them, at the same time sending information to the King of the misfortunes that had befallen him since his first arrival in Yucatan, and praying that his services might be employed elsewhere, since he had no hope of success there. He begged also that the Government of Honduras might be united to that of Yucatan, as he hoped, with the people of one province, to subdue those of the other. The latter part of his request was not acceded to, as Honduras was included in the Government of Guatemala, under Pedro de Alvarado; but a Cedula Real, or "royal parchment," dated from Ocaña, April 4th, 1531, was despatched to Montejo, commanding that every assistance should be afforded him to enable him to recover the province. By the aid of this document, together with the produce of his rents in New Spain, the Adelantado collected a number of soldiers, and bought some vessels wherewith to prosecute the conquest of Yucatan. But in the meantime the Indians of Tabasco, a place within the limits of his command, had revolted, and Montejo resolved to reduce them to order before he went on to Campeachy, whither however he despatched his son, Don Francisco, whom he had associated with him in the government. But this attempt to put down the revolt at Tabasco was more difficult than Montejo had anticipated, and Gonzalo Nieto was eventually sent with two vessels to Campeachy, to bring away the whole of the Spaniards to the assistance of the Adelantado. The situation in which Nieto found them was most deplorable. They had been unable to penetrate into the country, and were cooped up at the spot where they had landed. "The Indians cut off their supplies of provisions, and, being short of sustenance, nearly all became ill. They were obliged to make constant sorties to procure food, and it was necessary to let the horses go loose, though at the risk of their being killed. They were reduced so low that but five soldiers (and the captain) remained to watch over and provide for the rest1." 1 Stephens's Abridgment of Cogolludo. 102 THE SPANIARDS WITHDRAW FROM YUCATAN. CHAP. VII. In one of the sallies which were made by this small body, Gonzalo Nieto received so severe a wound that it was at first supposed to be mortal; but he recovered from it, and then, finding that no exertions could maintain them any longer, it was resolved to abandon the place and return to Tabasco. This event took place in 1535, in which year, says Cogolludo, not a single Spaniard remained in Yucatan1. When the news of these disasters reached Spain, the Council of the Indies, confirmed in their opinion that the pacification of the transatlantic provinces could only be surely effected by the conversion of the natives to the Christian faith,-a principle neglected by Montejo, though specifically insisted on in the Capitulacion,-resolved that the next attempt should be made by the Missionary Fathers already established in St. Domingo and New Spain. But before the detail is given of the continuous and successful efforts of the Franciscan friars, it is desirable to follow the military operations in Yucatan to their close. They are so perspicuously narrated by the intelligent author of the Incidents of Travel in Yucatan,' that to adopt his words as far as he has pursued the account, and thus avoid the tautologies and digressions of Cogolludo, the only original writer on this period of the history of that country, offers the readiest and best means of laying them before the reader. 'We return now to the Adelantado, whom we left at Tabasco. Severe wars with the Indians, want of arms and provisions, and, above all, desertions instigated by the fame of Peruvian riches, had left him at a low ebb. In this situation he was joined by Captain Gonzalo Nieto and the small band which had been compelled to evacuate 1 Cogolludo: Historia, lib. ii. cap. 2. |