of battle, pursued their retreating foes, and
inflicted upon them great slaughter. The Indians were completely routed,
and never again rallied for a general battle. The conquerors founded the
present city of Merida on the site of the Indian town, with all legal
formalities, in January, 1542.[44-*]

But though conquered the Indians were not subjugated. They cherished an
inveterate hatred of the Spaniards, which manifested itself on every
possible occasion, and it required the utmost watchfulness and energy
to suppress the insurrections which from time to time broke out; and the
complete pacification of Yucatan was not secured before the year 1547.

Hon. Lewis H. Morgan, in an interesting article in the North American
Review, entitled "_Montezuma's Dinner_," makes the statement that
"American aboriginal history is based upon a misconception of Indian
life which has remained substantially unquestioned to the present hour."
He considers that the accounts of Spanish writers were filled with
extravagancies, exaggerations and absurdities, and that the grand
terminology of the old world, created under despotic and monarchial
institutions, was drawn upon to explain the social and political
condition of the Indian races. He states, that while "the histories of
Spanish America may be trusted in whatever relates to the acts of the
Spaniards, and to the acts and personal characteristics of the Indians;
in whatever relates to Indian society and government, their social
relations and plan of life, they are wholly worthless, because they
learned nothing and knew nothing of either." On the other hand, we are
told that "Indian society could be explained as completely, and
understood as perfectly, as the civilized society of Europe or America,
by finding its exact organization."[45-*] Mr. Morgan proposes to
accomplish this result by the study of the manners and customs of Indian
races whose histories are better known. In the familiar habits of the
Iroquois, and their practice as to communism of living, and the
construction of their dwellings, Mr. Morgan finds the key to all the
palatial edifices encountered by Cortez on his invasion of Mexico: and
he wishes to include, also, the magnificent remains in the Mayan
territory. He would have us believe, that the highly ornamental stone
structures of Uxmal, Chichen-Itza, and Palenque, were but joint tenement
houses, which should be studied with attention to the usages of Indian
tribes of which