History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/45

Exported from Wikisource on September 4, 2024

22

SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND THE ITZAS

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[1] 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 diference.

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 themselves hideous and witches, because it appears to them a greater feat to frighten by their appearance than to conquer by their strength. And so most of them have their faces cut and rubbed in with black, and some streaked like black negroes. And this hideousness many women also show in their ear lobes, so that it is not possible for them to wear ear drops or pendants. Painting themselves or cutting on their faces the form of the animal which they have as a charm, the men consider themselves as more genteel than the women; and as they are of this opinion, they dress themselves in this way, tying up their hair with bands of cotton which are made by them, woven with many curious designs of various colors, with cords and tassels at the ends, made very beautifully. They clothe themselves with some-

1. ↑ This is difficult to understand, as the early Maya peoples had recorded numbers running into the millions.

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Title page

History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/45

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