forth to meet the enemy, leaving three or four of their number in the fortifications, with orders to beat drums and make all the uproar possible, and thus impress the foe with the belief that a strong guard was stationed there. Astonished at their boldness, the natives forebore to advance, and by making frequent sorties the besieged held them in check until young Montejo with a considerable force came to their relief. Soon after his arrival the Spaniards marched forth to give battle, and after a stubborn fight put the enemy to rout, though with the loss of twenty of their own number and five hundred of their native allies.
By adopting peaceful measures after the victory, the adelantado's son succeeded in pacifying the disturbed districts, and though in 1547 the territory of the Chetumals was the scene of a slight outbreak, which was suppressed without bloodshed by the politic measures of Juan de Aguilar, it may be said that all concerted resistance was at an end. Thus at length there was peace in Yucatan; but the conquest of this sterile peninsula had cost the lives of more Spaniards than had been expended in wresting from the Incas and the Montezumas the wealthiest empires of the western world.[1]
Although Francisco de Montejo had been allowed to remain nominally at the head of affairs in Yucatan, the circumstances under which its subjugation had been effected precluded him from any real claim to authority. One of the first measures of the audiencia de los confines had been an attempt to enforce a royal decree, by which he was to be deprived of office. In 1545 the oidor Rogel was ordered to take his residencia; but Montejo was son-in-law to the president, and it was arranged that the investigation should be held at Chiapas. Here none came to accuse him,
- ↑ Cogolludo estimates the loss of the Spaniards in Yucatan up to 1547 at 500.
