r he took
the Spaniards to Izancanac, which was "quite large, and has many
mosques." This Apospolon was a sort of merchant prince and had
widespread trading connections. At Nito, where Cortes met Gil Gonzalez
de Avila, a whole quarter "was peopled with his agents under command of
one of his brothers." The articles of trade were, of course, only such
things as cocoa, mantles, red shells, and dyes. As the people of
Izancanac were near neighbors of the Itzas, and as the latter lay
between them and Nito, it seems as if it must have been almost
inevitable that the two tribes, the subjects of Apospolon and those of
Canek, should have had much in common.

When Cortes left Izancanac he passed through the fortified village, the
name of which no one mentions, and later came to that of Tiac, which
was still larger and very well built. From the province of Mazatlan (in
which was Tiac) to that of Taiza (Itza) was a matter of four nights. At
length he reached the lake, which he thought to be an arm of the sea,
and from the shore he saw Tayasal. He found that his scouts had
captured an Indian, who gave valuable information. From this point the
account of Cortes agrees absolutely with that of Villagutierre, even to
the number of the crossbowmen (twelve) whom Cortes took with him.

Now that we have compared all the important accounts of this entrada we
must summarize our impressions. In the first place it is clear enough
that a possibility may exist of Villagutierre having copied Cogolludo
minutely. In the second place it is equally clear that in those
instances where Villagutierre puts aside Cogolludo he draws from
someone else of even more authority. Therefore we may safely believe
that in quoting the accounts of various events given by Villagutierre
we shall be availing ourselves of the best possible information.

Canek's Attitude toward Cortes. At the time when Cortes was at Tayasal
(1525) a tolerant attitude toward the white men was prevalent. Far from
resenting the proposed change in religion, the Canek of that day seems
rather to have welcomed the new faith, and one can readily believe that
had Cortes been able to do all that he promised, an early
Christianization of the Itzas would have taken place. Instead, however,
as we shall see, their idolatrous ways were to continue for many
decades, and their attitude was to suffer a great change which, we must
concede, is largely to be accounted for by Spanish brutality and bad
fait