ursued by his enemies, the cacique sought refuge in the convent
of Tikax, the guardian of which was the Reverend Padre Fray Juan de
Coronel.[5.3] Xiu was hidden behind the sacristy altar while the search
was going forward. In due time the more orderly portion of the Spanish
population came to the aid of the cacique, and his enemies were put to
death by order of the Governor of Yucatan, who at this time was the
Mariscal Don Carlos de Luna y Arellano. His qualities as a governor
receive the following terse tribute from Cogolludo: "His term of
office completed, he came forth from his post in debt, whereas others,
in a short while, pay great debts and come forth very rich." Luna had
been rich when he went into office.

A New Period in the History of the Itzas. We have now reached a sort
of natural break in our history. Beginning with a review of the
pre-conquest history of the Mayas and of the Itzas, we have studied the
entradas of Cortes, of Montejo, and of Davila into the regions formerly
occupied by them. We have seen the manner in which the northern
portions of Yucatan and of the Maya-Itza stock were made subject to the
crown of Castile; we have just examined the best two accounts of the
events leading up to the conquest of the southern tribes, and
especially of the Itzas of Tayasal. From the year 1614, which we have
now reached, the main interest centers about the small nation whose
chief town was at Tayasal on Lake Peten. They and their subject tribes
resisted the Spanish onslaughts from 1614 to 1697. It took eighty-three
years for the Spaniards to subject this nation, which cannot have
numbered more than one hundred and fifty thousand souls. The Itzas
resisted successfully for a much longer time a power more their
superior than was that of Caesar to that of the Gauls.

Having noticed the beginning of a new period, we will continue the
translation of Villagutierre. We shall thus see how the conquest of the
Itzas began as a more or less desultory evangelical affair, and how no
real vigor was injected into it until a commercial motive (the building
of the Yucatan-Guatemala road) was introduced.

Fuensalida and Orbita. The account continues thus:

"Three or four years later, when the year 1618 was already running its
course, on the 25th of March, while Francisco Ramirez Briceno was
governing these Provinces, the Provincial Chapter of the Religious
Order of San Francisco was held in the City of Merida; before it, .