to Return the Plunder. "All these reasons which I gave
to the said Captain, Alonso Garcia de Paredes, struck him favorably and
he gave me his word to cooperate in my request, causing their clothes
and the rest of the things which had been taken from them to be
returned to the Indian prisoners, promising at the same time to punish
the transgressors, as soon as he reached the said abandoned Tzucthok."

Paredes Fails to Keep his Word. "And when he reached there, I reminded
him of the said promise, but as avarice drew him more than charity, he
answered me with scorn, saying, 'God be with you. Padre, how can you
expect me to know now who was the man who robbed the prisoners?' At
this time there came one of the offending soldiers to speak to him. He
was wearing loose breeches made of the clothing which they had stolen
from the aforesaid Indians; and I, answering his rough suggestion, said
to him:--'See, Senor Captain, that there is standing near you one who
knows of or is the doer of the theft, since the breeches of this
soldier of yours show it.' He replied:--Padre, those are his
perquisites, which I cannot take away.' And at the same time, turning
his back to me, he said to him:--'Take notice, man, that I hold you
responsible for paying for all the wax which you and the rest of you
hold.' So that the special result of this trip can well be understood
to be quite contrary to the service of God and of the King, and very
useful only to the special ends of the avarice of the soldiers.

"I, seeing this coldness, in the beginning, never supposed that the
results would be happy, so that I felt sad enough; since it would have
been better not to have started out on such an enterprise, if I was to
see such inhumanities...."

Tzucthok, once before Reduced, had Rebelled. "By our lengthened stay in
this aforesaid abandoned town of Tzucthok, we had an opportunity of
gaining a better understanding of its ruins. This is a town,--one of
those which our Padre, Fray Christoval Sanchez, brought into obedience,
though afterwards the people became rebellious. Today the forked poles
which his holiness placed in the church he built are still standing. It
is a very pleasant place, although unhealthful on account of the
lightness of the winds. The water is pure, but also of a hardness which
makes it excessively harmful. There are many cocoa-nut palm trees, many
fruit trees, particularly lemons. Before reaching this place there is a
large spri