CHAPTER V

THE ENTRADA OF PADRES FUENSALIDA AND
ORBITA, 1618

The next entrada was made by two members of the Franciscan Order, which
has done so much in many parts of the world to bring unbelievers into
the Church. As we shall very shortly see, their coming inaugurated a
new period in the conquest of the Itzas.

From lack of any sort of information we must assume that from 1524 to
1614 the Itzas of Tayasal or Peten were unmolested by Spaniards. There
are numerous hints of their formidableness during this period, and the
event of which we shall soon learn shows that they were not without a
certain grim humor.

The Name Canek. Cortes, when he visited Peten, found the governmental
power in the hands of a personage bearing the name or title of Canek.
Cogolludo and Villagutierre both say that this term was a name arrived
at by combining the family names of the ruler's parents. This seems to
me difficult to believe. Rather, I think the word Canek to be a title.
My reason for so thinking is this: in 1524 the ruler was called Canek,
and ninety years later the then ruler was also Canek. It could hardly
have been the same individual, and it is equally unlikely that the
parents of two rulers should have exactly the same name. It is
possible, of course, that the first king of Peten or Tayasal had the
name of Canek, derived as the two historians suggest, and that this
family name later took on the attributes of a title. The same thing
happened in the case of the Pharaohs, the Seleucidae, the Roman
emperors (Caesar), and the Incas.

While the northern part of the peninsula was being made a Spanish
dominion, the southern woodland remained unconquered, causing much
annoyance to the authorities. If we look upon the year 1545 as marking
the completion of the conquest of northern Yucatan, we may say that a
century and a half elapsed before the subjection of the Itzas was
consummated. To gain an idea of the events of the time we can do
nothing better than to give Villagutierre's account. (Lib. ii, cap. 1.)

Increased Power of the Itzas. "It is now many years that the Barbarous
Itzaex,[5.1] more than any other Nation of Infidels, have been
terrifying all those Provinces. For, since the time when D. Fernando
Cortes passed through their land and those events which have already
been told happened to them, no further attempts had been made to bring
ab