Of the chief battles and encounters that occurred during the war and conquest of the island of San Juan, otherwise called Boriquen.

          After the Indians had rebelled and killed half, or al most half of the Christians, and the governor Juan Ponce de León took the step of naming the captains I have mentioned, and setting a watch over the livesand health of those left alive, the Indians and Christians had their first battle in the territory of Agueybana, at the mouth of the Caoyuco River, in which many Indians died, including Caribs and archers from the nearby islands who had joined them, as well as those of the land who wished to cross over to an islet called Angulo, that is near the island of San Juan, off the south coast, as I have said.
          And the Christians fell on them at night, during the dawn watch, and wrought great destruction among them; and from this defeat they remained very harassed and suspicious of the immortality of the Christians. And some of the Indians said it was impossible unless some of those they had treacherously killed had come back to life; and others said that wherever Christians were found, a few of them did as much as many. The governor Juan Ponce won this battle; there were more than ten enemies for every Christian; and it happened a few days after the Indians rebelled.
          Thence Juan Ponce went to the town of Caparra, and reorganized his troops and commands with somewhat more company than he had had, and he went to pitch camp at Aymaco, and sent Captains Luis de Añasco and Miguel de Toro to make a sortie with about fifty men, and he learned how Chief Mabodomoca was waiting with six hundred men in a certain place, and he told the Christians to go there, that he would await them and keep the roads open. And when Juan Ponce knew this, he sent Captain Diego de Salazar there, whom they called the "commander of the boys and the cripples"; and although it appeared a mockery, because his people were so weak, the well ones took it, as was right they should, because the person of the captain was so valiant that he made up for all the defects and weakness of his soldiers; not that they were weak in spirit, but because some lacked the health to withstand the vicissitudes of war, and others were youths without age or experience. But with all these difficulties he came to where Mabodomoca was with the people I have mentioned, and he fought with him, and that night accomplished such slaughter and punishment of Indians that a hundred and fifty of them died, without any Christian receiving a fatal wound or being seriously hurt; and the rest of the enemy was put to flight.
          In this battle Juan de León, who was mentioned sometime back, left the company to follow a chief he saw fleeing the battle, and who was wearing on his breast a guanin or piece of gold of the kind that leading Indians are wont to hang from their necks: and as he was a fast youth, he overtook him and tried to seize him; but the Indian was very strong, and they wrestled for more than a quarter of an hour. And among the other Indians who were fleeing to escape was one who saw them thus entangled in a ravine where they were fighting their battle; and this Indian succored the other one who was defending himself from Juan de León, who in order not to appear asking for help was about to lose his life. But God did not want a good man to die that way, and a Christian happened along in pursuit of another Indian, and saw Juan de León struggling with the two I have mentioned and in a condition where he seemed in danger or about to lose his life: and then the Christian stopped chasing he Indian and came to his aid, and so the two Christians killed the two Indians, the chief with whom Juan de León was fighting at first and the Indian who was helping him or had come to his aid.
Having obtained this victory or win I have named, as soon as day broke, the governor Juan Ponce de León came up in the morning, with his own people and the rearguard, some­what separated, of Captain Diego de Salazar, and he did not know anything about it until he found the victors drinking and resting from their labors of the two and a half to three hours during which they had fought the enemy. For which all the Christians gave great thanks to God that He thus favored and miraculously aided the Christians.