the best way
to combat the Indians. The Spaniards, greatly outnumbered, kept up the
fight all day, receiving many lance wounds in their faces and bodies;
many died; more were seriously wounded. The horses and bloodhounds also
suffered greatly. Only after a second day of fighting did the Indians
finally flee, leaving twelve hundred of their companions dead behind
them. This first victory over the Indians took place in the last weeks
of 1527. Cogolludo dwells at great length on the errors of Herrera
(Dec. ix, lib. iii, cap. 3) concerning the founding of Tihoo or Merida
and of Chichen Itza. According to Herrera, Montejo went to Tihoo, where
he came into contact with the Cheles, who showed him Chichen Itza,
seven leagues away. The Tutul Xiu, Lords of Mani, were then ruling
there, and with them, Herrera says, the Spaniards made a peaceful
arrangement. All this, according to Cogolludo, is wrong. In the opinion
of Cogolludo, events were as follows. After the battle of Ake, Montejo
determined to proceed cautiously and to endeavor by peaceful means to
win over the natives to obedience to the king. Slowly he made his way
to Chichen Itza, which, by reason of its great buildings, seemed to him
a suitable place for one of the two fortresses he was to build. Having
fortified himself against attacks, he set about subduing the country.
He managed to win the friendship of the Indians of that neighborhood. A
village of Spaniards with houses built after the native plan was
erected. The dwellings were made of vertical wooden logs and had
palm-leaf roofs. One hundred and seventy Spaniards were left in the new
settlement. One of the first things done was to divide the land among
them. Cogolludo thinks that the name first given to the new village was
that of Salamanca. Misled by the seeming peacefulness of the Indians,
Montejo determined to divide them up into _encomiendas_. The plan was
carried out, to the secret disgust of the Indians, who determined to
get free as soon as an opportunity offered.

Davila and Vazquez Search vainly for Gold in the Region of Chetemal.
From the map which Montejo had with him it was learned that there were
gold mines in the vicinity of Bakhalal, which place the Indians called
Vaymil or Chetemal. Because no sign of gold had been seen in that part
of the country through which they had hitherto been, the soldiers were
getting downhearted, and Montejo determined to send a party in search
of mines. Captain Alonso D