Note XXII-25 — Chapter XXII · MARCH OF ALVARADO TO GUATEMALA. 1522-1524.

Pelaez, Mem. Guat., i. 45; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 229; Vazquez, Chronica de Gvat., 4; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. viii. Bernal Diaz, followed by Fuentes, states that in Soconusco Alvarado was peaceably received, and that the natives presented offerings of gold. Hist. Verdad., 174. This idea may have arisen from the fact that some towns did submit without active opposition, as recorded or implied by Gomara and Herrera. Remesal says that Alvarado passed on like a thunderbolt, conquering by force of arms and exciting great terror by reason of the carnage at Soconusco. That the destruction was great is evident from the ruins to be seen at the entrance into Guatemala, in the locality called the Sacrificadero. Hist. Chyapa, 3. Brasseur de Bourbourg affirms that Alvarado, as he passed through this district, founded a Spanish colony at Huehuetan, which was long the capital of the territory after the destruction of the city of Soconusco. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 633-4. This could have been only a concentration of the already resident Spaniards, for Alvarado would scarcely have left behind him, at this juncture, many of his own men.