za and the Cehaches; on the East, slightly North, the nation of the
men of Tipu; in the direction of the South, running from East to West,
are very high ridges, which are really the Sierra Madre, from which (in
New Spain) they exploit mines, and as there are mines there, there is
no doubt that there are some here, since it is one and the same ridge.
There must be mines in the environs of this nation of the Ytzaes,
because the most of the Indians (in some large ear drops which they
wear) have roses of silver hanging down, and others of silver and gold,
and as the Spaniards do not come to this nation, nor the Indians of
this Province of Yucathan, nor of the other provinces, because they are
afraid of them, I do not know where they could get this gold and silver
unless they took it from some mine. In the said southerly direction
running towards the East, the said Peten Ytzaes have their farms and
tilled fields on the main land; and in said fields they have their
houses as in Peten, so as to live there all the time that the
cultivation lasts, so that the houses are doubled in number as well as
the families. From this, people imagine that this nation is more
numerous than it really is.

"The largest and best calculation which I can make of this nation was
from the account which the King and his chiefs gave me, and this was
that the _Peten_ in which we stopped consisted of twenty-two districts
and towns, and they did not know how to give me the count of each town,
since they know how to count only up to twenty, and in going beyond
many twenties, they do not know how to explain it, for it appears to
them an infinite number.[2.5] I did not have much time to verify this,
for I preferred to employ the little time I had in baptizing; but
nevertheless from what I saw and understood of the number of the people
of all ages, I say that Peten Ytza, with the other _Petenes_, Cha Kan
Ytzaes and Tuluncies (?), with the communities, which are found on the
main land, will all come up to twenty-four or twenty-five thousand
souls,--a thousand more or less. This computation I make from the
_Peten_ on which the King lives, for he told me that all the _Petens_
were equal in the number of people, with but little difference."

The Itzas Described. "These Ytzaes are well-featured and, like
mestizos, nearly all of a light complexion and of very perfect stature
and of natural gifts. But the Devil has compelled them, in their
weakness, to make them