After A Severe Conflict, We At Length
Forced Them To Fly; But They Rallied In Some Broken Ground, Reinforced By
Some Fresh Bodies Of Indians, And Attacked Us Again By Surprize, While We
Were Giving God Thanks For Our Victory.
In these new troops, many were
provided with long thongs to twist round our horses, and some carried the
nets they used in hunting for the same purpose.
In this second battle the
enemy were so desperate that they killed two of our soldiers and five
horses, and scarce one of us escaped without a wound. They had along with
them a very fat aged woman, whom they esteemed a wizard, who had promised
them the victory. Her body was all covered over with paint mixed with
cotton wool; and she advanced fearlessly amid our allies, who were
regularly formed by companies, by whom she was cut to pieces. At length,
by a violent effort, we forced the enemy to fly, some taking to the rocks
and others to the river, and being excellent swimmers they made their
escape. We then halted and sang the _Salve regina_: After which we took
possession of a town on the river, where we halted for the night, taking
care of our wounded, and carefully concealing our dead.
About midnight, ten chiefs of neighbouring districts came down the river
in five canoes, and were brought to our captain, whom they informed that
they belonged to the nation of the Xaltepecs, who were at war with the
people of Chiapa, and came to offer their assistance to us against them,
on condition that we should afterwards support the independence of their
nation against the people of Chiapa. This was very satisfactory to us, as
we could not have passed the river, which was both broad and deep, without
their assistance; the chiefs were therefore dismissed with a promise on
our part of protection, and on theirs to bring us canoes and auxiliaries.
During the remainder of the night we had to keep strict guard, as the
drums and horns of the enemy were heard on the opposite banks of the river,
where their warriors were collecting from all sides to attack us. As soon
as it was light, our new friends joined us with the promised canoes, and
shewed us a very dangerous ford, which they urged us to pass without delay,
that we might endeavour to save the lives of some of their people who had
been recently made prisoners by the enemy. We accordingly passed the river
in a solid column at the ford, which reached our armpits, and where we
lost one of our cavalry. On gaining the opposite bank, we were so hotly
assailed by the enemy with darts and arrows, that every one of us had two
or three wounds before we got out of the water. But as we were now joined
by large bodies of those Indians who had offered their assistance, we soon
compelled the enemy to fly for shelter to their city, against which we
immediately advanced in good order, accompanied by our new allies.
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