seemed an
impossibility for us ever to cross it. The only resource we had left was
to fell a ceiba tree of very large dimensions, of which we hollowed out
a canoe of such magnitude, that nothing was ever seen equal to it in
this country before. Even then it took us five whole days before we had
all passed across, during which time we suffered dreadfully from hunger,
as we had not a grain of maise left.

After we had passed the river, we came to the townships of Chapanastec,
where the inhabitants killed one of our men, named Nicuesa, and wounded
three others. These men had gone out in search of provisions, and were
attacked before we could come up to their assistance. As we did not wish
to be detained any longer, we would not give ourselves the trouble of
chastising the inhabitants for their murderous attack. This took place
in that province where at present the town of San Miguel is built. From
this place we came into the territory of Cuzcatlan, the inhabitants of
which we found very hostilely inclined towards us; nevertheless, we had
plenty of provisions; and we now came into some townships in the
neighbourhood of Petapa, where the Guatimaltecs were lying in wait for
us, in deep hollows, between steep rocks. It took us three days before
we could succeed in forcing this passage. Here I was slightly wounded by
an arrow.

In this way we at length reached Petapa, and the day following we
arrived in a valley, to which we gave the name of Fuerto, and in which
at present the town of Guatimala stands. At that time the whole of
Guatimala was up in arms against us, so that we had to fight our way
through the country. I shall never forget the dreadful earthquake we
felt here. We were marching steadily along the slope of a rising ground,
when the earth began to tremble so strongly, that several of our
soldiers were no longer able to stand on their legs, and fell down; and
this fearful shaking continued for a considerable length of time. From
this place we had a good road to Old Guatimala, where the two caziques
Sacachul and Cinacan generally resided. However, the whole armed force
of Guatimala lay in wait for us, in a deep hollow, near the town, to
prevent our entry; but we soon dispersed them with considerable loss,
and we took up our quarters for the night in the town, which contained
many large and beautiful buildings, owing to the circumstance of all the
caziques, who governed the neighbouring provinces, residing there. The