The arquebusiers were more than mere noise maker. A nearly inch-wide ball could do a lot of damage and the soldiers knew how to use their weapons. They functioned as part of a flexible and potent strike force including cannon, cavalry and crossbow. Load a .75 caliber smoothbore with a fist full of buckshot and set some targets out at 75 yards. That's not just symbolic damage they're doing. So the natives would be scared by the noise and smoke, but would also see their best warriors magically killed and maimed. The Spanish would also make a point of targeting leaders with their small arms, causing further confusion. And they had no respect at all for the notions of decorum or ceremony. They would pepper the warriors with buckshot, sweep them with grape from the cannons, nail them with crosbow bolts, ride through them with lancers, drive into them with pikes, and finally hack what was left to pieces with swords and axes as the dogs set off after any survivors. Anyone left could be killed with daggers, or just strangled. A highly ritualized society of stone age warriors came up against a killing machine fresh from driving the Moors out of Spain.