Note XIV‑6 — Chapter XIV · THREATENED DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES. 1526-1543.

Regio, Ind. Devastat., 38-40. How populous the country was may be imagined from the fact that Alvarado represented it as exceeding Mexico in the number of its inhabitants. 'Et ipsemet tyrannus scripsit majorem esse in hac provincia populi frequentiam, quám in Regno Mexico, quod & verum est.' Id. Las Casas also states that, when the Spaniards first entered the country, the towns and villages were so many and large and so densely populated that those who marched in advance not infrequently returned to the captain demanding a reward for having discovered another city equal in size to Mexico. Hist. Apolog., MS., 28.