Note XX‑45 — Chapter XX · MARROQUIN AND LAS CASAS IN GUATEMALA AND VERA PAZ. 1541-1550.

The date of his departure from New Spain and of his arrival at the peninsula are alike uncertain. Remesal states that he attended a provincial chapter of his order held in Mexico on the 24th of August 1538 at which the question of his mission to Spain was discussed and permission given to him, Ladrada, and Cancer to go thither. At the same meeting the title of vicar of the Dominican convent in Guatemala was conferred upon Fray Angulo. Hist. Chyapa, 147, 150. Las Casas, in Quintana, Vidas, 178, concludes that he arrived in Spain in 1539. Helps, Span. Conq., iii. 304-7, and Life of Las Casas, 178, avers that he returned from Tuzulutlan to Santiago in May 1539 and proceeded to Mexico to attend the chapter held on August 24, 1539. According to Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. pp. lv. lxii. 258, Las Casas was in Tlascala in the early part of 1539. For particulars regarding the sailing of the fleets to and from Spain see Id., pp. cxiv-v. February 15th was the day of leaving Vera Cruz as regulated by decree of 1564. Remesal states that previous to his departure Las Casas founded Rabinal after mature deliberation as to the choice of a site favorable to his design. The undertaking was extremely difficult, but through the curiosity of roaming natives and the friendly invitations of the original settlers, the number of inhabitants increased before long to 500, including neophytes and other Indians. Las Casas was assisted in this work by Fray Luis Cancer, who availed himself of the opportunity of visiting the interior as far as the towns of Coban. Hist. Chyapa, 143-4.