Alvarado's Expedition against Guatemala. 241 and another which is called Chiapa,* that is near them, do not maintain that good-will which they formerly showed, but, on the contrary, it is said that they do injury to the towns of Soconusco, because they (the Soconuscans) are our friends. The said Christians also write to me that the Guatemalans have sent many messengers to exculpate themselves, saying that they did not do it, but others; and to ascertain the truth of this statement, I have sent Pedro de Alvarado, with eighty horsemen, two hundred foot-soldiers, among whom were several cross-bowmen and arquebusiers, and four cannon, with much ammunition and powder."t + LORENZANA, p. 350. * This is the first mention of that district, afterward to become renowned as the bishopric of Las Casas. VOL. III.-L 242 Alvarado's Expedition against Guatemala. It does not need much knowledge of history, nor much experience of life, to foresee what kind of truth would be discovered by this formidable* armament; and it may be useful to notice the mode of interference of a powerful state in the affairs of smaller ones, when it comes before us in this clear and marked way, without any of the complications of nice and difficult diplomacy. This expedition, in which Pedro de Alvarado held the title of lieutenant governor and captain general, quitted Mexico on the 6th of December, 1523. * I say "formidable," because, though the numbers of the Spaniards were few, they were probably accompanied by a numerous body of their Indian allies. In such an expedition as this, there would be at least a thousand or fifteen hundred Mexican auxiliaries. CHAPTER II. CONQUEST OF GUATEMALA BY PEDRO DE ALVARADO.- IN NSTEAD of following Alvarado immediately to the fertile valleys of Guatemala, the reader must for a moment give his thoughts to the central region of Spain, and try to picture to himself what sort of a land it is. Let him bring before him a landscape of vast extent in Old or New Castile, unimpeded by landmarks any where, brown and stony on the heights, brown and dusty in the valleys, while the towns and villages are seen afar off in the clear air, with no pleasant trees around them, but brown like the rest of the landscape, and not divided from it. Here and there stands out a gnarled and riven olive-tree. It is a landscape, not soft or joyous, though equable and harmonious, when seen in the early dawn, fierce and glowing under the noontide sun, and grandly solemn and desolate in the shades of the declining day. To understand any people thoroughly, we must know something of the country in which they live, or, at least, of that part inhabited by the dominant race. The insects partake the color of the trees they dwell upon, and man is not less affected by the place of his habitation on the earth. Stern, arid, lofty, dignified, and isolated from the men of other nations, the Spaniard was probably the most remarkable European man in the sixteenth century. He had a clearness of conviction and a resoluteness of purpose which resembled the 244 Character of the Spaniards. sharp atmosphere in which he had lived, that left no undecided outlines; and as, in the landscape, all variety was amply compensated for by the vast extent of one solemn color, so, in the Spaniard's character, there were one or two deep tints of love, of loyalty, and of religion, which might render it fervid, bigoted, and ferocious, but never left it small, feeble, or unmeaning. A body, therefore, of two hundred and eighty menat-arms of this stamp, each of them having some individuality of character, and yet being inured to discipline, with obedient troops of Mexican Indians (auxiliaries by no means contemptible in war), contained the elements of force sufficient for subjugating a great part of Central America, and we must look upon them with somewhat of the respect which we should feel for a large and well-appointed army. An old chronicler has compared the advance of Alvarado to the darting of a flash of lightning. The first place the lightning fell upon was Soconusco, the territory in behalf of which the expedition had been sent out. A great battle, accompanied by much slaughter and great destruction (the traces of which were visible nearly a hundred years afterward), took place on the frontier of that province, in which battle the King of Zacapula was killed. Of the further advance of the army we possess an account written by the Conqueror himself, who states that he pushed on from Soconusco to Zacapula,* from thence to Quezaltenango, from thence to Utatlan, fighting, negotiating, and terrifying the Indians into submission. He had previously sent * The civilization of these parts must have been somewhat of the Mexican and Peruvian order; for Alvarado happens to remark the broad ways and paved streets in Zapotula (Zacapula). 1 Advance of Alvarado's Army. 245 messengers into the country, requiring the inhabitants to submit themselves to the King of Spain, and threatening with slavery all those who should be taken in arms. No attention was paid to this requisition by the natives. He found the roads that led to Zacapula open and well constructed.* He did not enter the town, forming his camp in the vicinity, until he should understand the disposition of the people toward him. They soon made an attack upon him: he routed them, and pursued them into the market-place, where he pitched his camp. In two days' time he set off for Quezaltenango. On a precipitous rock, in a very dif * "Hallé todos los caminos abiertos, í muy anchos, así el Real, como los que atravesaban, í los caminos que iban á las Calles principales tapados."-PEDRO DE ALVARADO, Relacion á Hernando Cortés. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 157. |