Another strange event that took place whilst the troops were in this region, was the tragic fate of Guatimozin, who had succeeded Montezuma as Emperor of Mexico. It is difficult to understand what could have been the object that Cortes had in view when he ordered this monarch to be executed. He may have thought it expedient to destroy, as far as possible, the whole race of caciques throughout New Spain and thus minimise the risk of any organized rebellion. These chiefs ruled with absolute power over the natives, and it is possible that the Spanish authorities deemed it advisable to get rid of them. Hundreds of them were burnt alive at the stake upon the slightest pretexts. After one of the local insurrections the officer who suppressed it reported that he had burnt forty of the rebellious caciques. In a similar manner the leaders in Cuba and Haiti were also destroyed. In the case of Guatimozin, Cortes considered that he and his cousin, the King of Tlacupa, had been proved guilty of conspiring with other Indians to kill the Spaniards; and he accordingly ordered them to be put to death. The sentence was immediately carried out, and the two Mexican monarchs were hanged upon a tree within sight of the army as it continued its march through the forest. The positions where these events occurred can only be approximately determined. The wooden bridges which were constructed for the passage of the troops have disappeared. All local records of this famous march have passed away. The villages or pueblos mentioned by the conquerors no longer exist, and their names are forgotten. It is only by the most attentive study that even a presumptive knowledge of the route can be obtained. From the accounts given in the official dispatches and the statements of Bernal Diaz, and also from the fact that Cortes steered a straight course by compass, it may be concluded that the forces must have passed near Jonuta and about twenty-eight miles from the ruins of Palenque. With respect to the acts of cannibalism it should be observed, in justice to other tribes, that the caciques who devoured the bodies were Mexicans, and there are reasons for believing that before the arrival of the Aztecs cannibalism was unknown in Central America. The method of cooking by baking in ovens which, after the holes had been dug out of the ground, were surrounded and covered by heated stones, are the same as those that were customary with the Maoris in New Zealand, who, after their fights, feasted upon their captured enemies in that manner.