390 Foundation of the Second Town. B. XV. north-east of the old town.* One circumstance Ch. 8. that helped to confirm them in their determination was, that the Indians were accustomed to come to the Valley of Panchoy with provisions, and to render personal services, and that it might be difficult to get them to come to another spot.† At no time were the personal services of the Indians more precious than at the building of a town, for all the burdens fell upon their muchvexed shoulders. Some humanity was shown at this period by the authorities of Guatemala in limiting the weight that any Indian was to carry to two arrobas.‡ The 4th of December, 1543, was the day on which the Spaniards took possession of their new quarters. The former town was now called the Ciudad Vieja. According to JUARROS (Hist. de Guatemala, tom. 2, trat. 6, cap. 4), a government engineer arrived most opportunely at this juncture, and it was by his advice, and contrary to the first wishes of the majority of the inhabitants, that the second site of the town was chosen. I do not give credit to this statement, notwithstanding its being supported by many probable details; and I suspect that Antoneli's report had reference to some other occasion on which a change of site was in discussion. The investigation of the earth's surface was a study not known in those times, and the second town of Guatemala remained to be a mark for earthquakes for a "Audiencia" for Guatemala appointed. 391 Ch. 8. appointed Guatemala. The joint government of the Bishop and of B. XV. Don Francisco de la Cueva did not subsist long, being superseded by an Audiencia appointed in Audiencia the ensuing year, 1542, which was to govern both for Nicaragua and Guatemala, and for that purpose to have its seat of government on the confines of these two provinces, on which account it was called "La Audiencia de los Confines." The President named was Alonzo de Maldonado,* an Auditor of the Royal Audiencia of Mexico, already well known to the readers of this history as having signed, when Governor, the agreement with Las Casas and the Dominicans, by virtue of which the spiritual and peaceful conquest of "the Land of War" had been accomplished. * Bernal Diaz, speaking of| another Maldonado, describes the Governor of Guatemala as "Alonzo Maldonado the Good." - "No CHAPTER IX. TRIUMPH OF THE DOMINICANS IN GUATEMALA 66 THE LAND OF WAR" IS CALLED "THE LAND OF PEACE"-THE FINAL LABOURS AND DEATH OF DOMINGO DE BETANZOS. B. XV. THE history of Guatemala oscillates curiously Ch. 9. between Church and State. Now, amidst the crowd of wild men, and in the progress of strange events, a steel-clad personage stands forth preeminently, marshalling the order of battle; now a cowled and sandalled figure, strong only in its humbleness, is seen to prevail over enemies not less fierce, and to exercise a sway compared with which that of the warrior is poor, transitory, and superficial. Something of this kind of alternation is visible throughout the early annals of the New World, but its character is more distinctly marked in Guatemala than elsewhere. Having shown what the civil government of Guatemala had finally settled down into, our narrative returns to the deserted Dominican monastery in that city, which happily was not long left uninhabited this Pedro de time, as Pedro de Angulo came back from the returns to Chapter of his Order, which had been held in Guatemala. Mexico in the year 1538, bringing with him four other Dominican monks-two of whom afterwards became very celebrated for their zeal—namely, Angulo Return of Luis Cancér to Santiago. 393 Ch. 9. Father Juan de Torres and Father Matthias de B. XV. Paz. Amongst other things for which the latter is much praised was his introduction of the use of the rosary, in order to extirpate, it is said, the superstitions* of the Indians. The private history of Father Matthias is curious. He had fled from matrimony to monastic life; and on the very day, it is said, that he was to have been married, he preferred the espousals of the Church to those other espousals "which the world so much esteems and desires."+ of Luis In the year 1542, after an absence of four years, Luis Cancér, the companion of Las Casas, Return returned to his monastery at Santiago, or probably Cancér. to the new monastery in the new town, and joined his brother, Pedro de Angulo, bringing with him the various decrees which Las Casas had obtained in favour of the Indians of Tuzulutlan. Father Luis had also, by dint of many entreaties, persuaded a guardian of the Order of San Francisco to give him some Indians who knew how to sing and to play church music.‡ "De los santos fundadores | Domingo de México, pidio el hizo mucho el santo fray Matías hábito, y le recibió, trocando de Paz, plantando (para extirpar estas bodas por aquellas que sus supersticiones) la santa devo- tanto el mundo estima y apecion del Rosario de la Vírgen tece, como en quien consiste nuestra Señora en los Indios." su aumento y conservacion."-FERNANDEZ, Hist. Eccles., REMESAL, Hist. de Chiapa y cap. 41. Guatemala, lib. 3, cap. 20. per "He oydo dezir dél á sona fide digna, que conoció y trató al Padre fray Matías, que estando concertado para casarse, la noche que se avia de desposar se fué al convento de Santo The following extract will show what attention the Franciscans wisely gave to the cultivation of music amongst their new converts:-" Ogni giorno cantiamo la messa in questo 394 Indian Christians in "the Land of War." B. XV. These Indians, though doubtless they were made Ch. 9. much of, and treated with every possible kind goes to ness, either died, or were obliged to return to their own country near the city of Los Angeles in Tlascala, for they were not able to endure the change of climate.* We may, therefore, imagine how little those Indians would be able to endure it who had to bear its effects when aggravated by ill-usage and hard work. These native choristers, however, remained sufficiently long to attach the Indians in Tuzulutlan to the chanted services of the Church. Father Luis did not suffer much time to elapse before he went to visit his friends in "the Land Luis Cancer of War," and great was the delight of the consee his verted caciques when, after an interval of four Tuzulutlan. years, they saw their spiritual father again, "the standard-bearer of the Faith" (Alférez de la Fé). converts in modo. Il sacerdote intona la |