This sympathetic eyewitness report is a comprehensive primary source on the last independent Maya who were able to evade domination by the Spaniards until 1697. Avendaño gives an account of the two journeys he undertook in the years 1695 and 1696 in order to convert the Itza Maya. In January 1696 this led him to the capital of the Itza on an island in the middle of Lake Peten. His report abounds in rich descriptions of geography, geology, ecology, flora and fauna. The edition includes historical background, bibliography and index.