very formidable, and much longer than ours, and provided with
a species of blade made of flint, which is much sharper than a Spanish
sword. They also had light shields, which covered the whole body, and
they use the bow, the pike, and the sling. When these wild people, who
are excessively nimble, bounded from one rock to another, where our men
could not get at them, they communicated with each other by means of
piping and shouting, and the noise rolled and resounded through the
mountains for a length of time, until lost in distant echoes.

The captain Briones then returned with a great number of his men
wounded, he himself having been struck by an arrow. The township where
he met with this defeat was called Tiltepec, and the inhabitants
subsequently submitted of their own accord, when the district was given
as a commendary to a soldier, named Ojeda, the one-eyed, who at present
lives in the town of San Ildefonso.

When Briones called upon Sandoval to give him an account of his
expedition, and said a great deal about the courage of the Tzapotecs,
Sandoval reminded him of the many bloody engagements he had spoken of in
his Italian campaigns, and added, "It appears, nevertheless, captain,
that you experienced hotter work on this occasion than in any of your
previous battles?"

Briones, who appeared greatly annoyed, swore that he would at any time
rather stand over against heavy cannon and a large army, would even
rather fight against the Turks and Saracens, than against the Tzapotecs;
and adduced good reasons for saying so.

To this Sandoval immediately answered, "Then I must say I am sorry I
gave you that command; but after the many things you have told us of
your Italian campaigns, I could not help thinking but this expedition
would be a mere frolic to you. In what light will these Tzapotecs look
upon us henceforth? At present they will certainly entertain a different
notion of our bravery to what they did previously!"

After this unfortunate expedition, Sandoval sent word to the inhabitants
of the province of Xaltepec that they should despatch ambassadors to us,
and declare themselves vassals of our emperor. This tribe also belongs
to the Tzapotecs, and their country is bounded by that of the Minxes,
another very courageous and warlike tribe, with whom the Xaltepecs
happened to be at war just then. Twenty of the caziques and principal
personages soon made their appearance, bringing with them a present of
gold dust