On the following day we departed thence, and saw that the province was very large, full of villages, planted with maize and great rushes, and that there were groves of fruit trees, and palms yielding _pixibays_. The villages on the slopes and higher ground contained circular houses so large that there was room for fifteen or twenty people in each. There are many other things to tell of this province, which I have written in my _Book of Foundations_, where the reader will have seen them. When we were passing out of a valley we heard a still greater noise at the top of the next range of hills, whither the road that we were taking led; and, marching more quickly, we came to the beginning of the rise, and saw that the pass was difficult before reaching the summit, for, besides presenting a steep ascent there were some rocks and gullies which would make it necessary for the horses to go gently, without attempting to press quickly forward. The captain demanded peace from the natives, and obedience to the Emperor; if this was refused he would make ruthless war. The Indians, deriding these demands, replied to us that we came to conquer and to rob what did not belong to us, that we should return to our own country, and leave them quiet and at peace in theirs. Having said these words and others, they shot off many darts and stones, showing that they intended to defend the approach to their village. The captain seeing that the barbarians intended to defend the pass, and that the noon-day heat was coming on, ordered the foot soldiers to lose no time in attacking the Indians with shields, cross-bows and dogs, in order to take the pass, so that the horses might be able to come up. In this they were successful, while some of the horsemen, laboriously seeking a way by one or other side of the mountain in spite of the Indians, found a place by which they were able to come up with the horses, to the position reached by the men on foot. Then the shouting was greater, for the Indians did not dare to await the coming of men who they saw were so valiant; and not caring to hear the neighing of the horses, turned their backs and began to run away, abandoning their arms--the cowards. The mounted men followed and overtook some of them, taking a quantity of gold in ornaments such as I have said they have. All the Spaniards who were behind having come up, we proceeded to encamp on the summit, which they called _de los Cavallos_. Here they found but little maize, as it was only in leaf.