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.
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