the harvest, and to take another fort in the same neighborhood,
of which the Indians informed them. On the twenty-second of October
they attacked it, and took it with all the artillery, killing more
than a hundred and seventy of them, besides taking a number captive. I
did not come out so cheaply as the last time; for it was an extremely
strong place, having, besides the usual defenses, inventions of which a
barbarous people are incapable. Furthermore, they had fastened on the
very curtains some large spars bent like a bow, so that when anyone
attacked it, by cutting one end loose from the inside a hundred men
would be thrown down--namely, all who were climbing upon the rampart
platform. It was intrenched at intervals in such wise that it was
necessary to win it step by step, and from below, if one undertook
to take it by storm. There were a great many pikemen to receive the
stormers, and they felt so safe that they put their women and goods
on the inside to guard them better. Thus they lost everything, and
the booty was very rich, although the Indians obtained the most--more
than did the soldiers, of whom eighteen came out wounded (including
the two captains, Guerrero and Grabiel Gonzalez), most being wounded
by bullets and arrows. They had fortified this fort strongly; and
since they had lost it first, having considered it so long as a last
hope for their safety, they thought of nothing more after losing it
but being left in peace in the one which they at present hold; for
already they have hardly a hand's breadth of land left, and there they
are fortifying themselves as much as possible. This will not succeed,
for without my going there they will come to ask peace from me--in a
few days I hope, because the grain is growing up all over. In this
way the whole country becomes ours and the crops are left ready to
be gathered. They lie so near to Buyahen that the sentinel bells can
be heard from one place to the other.