This expedition is a modest one—sixteen is large enough for self-defense, small enough for rapid movement, but far too small to be a settlement.
Is the number sixteen significant? If there had been twelve, we would immediately know that it also had symbolic significance. Just as the numbers three, seven, twelve, and forty have special meaning in our Old World scriptures, Mesoamerica also attached significance to numbers, particularly four, which represents completion or wholeness. This number appears in many creation accounts (e.g., four world trees, four deities assigned to the four directions, and four ages of creation). As four fours, sixteen would seem like an emininently satisfying number to a native Mesoamerican.