Amezquita, then, was Captain General of the entrada, taking the Chiapas division. Captain Juan Diaz de Velasco was made leader of the Vera Paz division. Don Tomás de Mendoza y Guzman was made leader of the Huehuetenango division.
When the pay, supplies, and baggage had been distributed among the soldiers, the President gave out his final orders as to the length of a day's journey. He had already sent ahead to the Alcalde Mayor of Ocozingo in Chiapas ordering that suitable ranchos be put up in certain places to shelter the royal army when it should arrive. While the Indians of Ocozingo were working on these they had been attacked by some Lacandon Indians when scarcely a house had been completed. All these unmistakable evidences of the proximity of the notorious Lacandones made Barrios choose the Chiapas division for himself, as it was the most likely to come across them.
At the same time the President ordered Don Tomás (de Mendoza?) de Guzman to go ahead with one hundred men and act as escort for the Indians while they were putting up the houses near Ocozingo or any more convenient place. Barrios had already informed Ursua that he intended to set out in January, 1695, and the latter was to enter the unsubdued area from the north at the same time. Surveyors were to go ahead of the main body of men, and by means of smudges were to afford the greatest possible facility for the road openers, who thus would be prevented from going astray.
The Expedition Sets out from Guatemala City. At length the expedition really did start. (Villagutierre, pp. 234 ff.) Besides the soldiers and Indian bearers there were many friars, among whom were Padre Fray Diego de Ribas, Padre Fray Antonio Margil, Missionary Padre Fray Pedro de la Concepción, Master Cano, and others. As the army set off, all the citizens and nobility of Guatemala flocked to see them. The first day's journey led to Ixtapa, where they spent the night; the next day they went to Pazon, then to Huehuetenango, which they entered on January 23, 1695, having journeyed forty-six leagues from Guatemala.
In Huehuetenango the President, the monks, the officers, and the men all met with a warm welcome from the inhabitants. It is but natural that, on the eve of an undertaking which must have appeared very formidable to them, a large part of the time should be given up to religious exercises. Captain Melchor Rodriguez Mazariegos joined the party at the head of fifty men. Mazariegos himself, together with the standard-bearer Juan Salvador de Mata and Sergeant Pedro de Chaves Galindo, were all serving without pay, and many other people from the region, as well as some from Tabasco, joined the army voluntarily.
Events at Huehuetenango. On January 29, Amezquita arrived from Guatemala, where he had been making some final arrangements. Barrios spent his time at Huehuetenango in paying the new troops, distributing horses and supplies, and making all the final arrangements.
It was not long before the news of the departure of the President reached Ursua in Yucatan. (Villagutierre, pp. 235 ff.) The whole enterprise was so important for the service of God, the King, the public weal, and the souls of the Indians that Ursua immediately set about his preparations for the share his government was to take in it.
Ursua's Activities. Ursua did not follow the example of the President by going in person at the head of his troops; instead he ordered Captain Alonso Garcia de Paredes, Perpetual Regidor of San Francisco de Campeche and Captain for War of the District of Sacabchen, to assemble what troops he could and to go with them to meet the President, under whose orders he should place himself, reporting to Ursua all occurrences of importance. For all this Ursua gave Paredes the title of Aide or the Captain General of las Montañas. Francisco Gonzalez Richardo was appointed subchief, second in command only to Ursua.
An Army Sets out from Yucatan for the Montaña. When all the usual and needful preparations had been made, the army set out from Yucatan. As soon as they left the settled part of the province they entered the territory of the Quehaches, whom they put to flight after a sharp skirmish. Paredes' soldiers, however, refused to go on without reënforcements, so the expedition had to turn back.
Padres Cano and Avendaño y Loyola. We have already reviewed the events up to 1695, in which year the two great divisions of the Spanish forces set out to subdue the dangerous Itzas and Lacandones. Hereafter we will, in the main, trust to two religious writers, whose accounts of the succeeding events are very vivid. Maestro Fray Agustin Cano accompanied that division of the army which was led by President Barrios; Padre Fray Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola, a Franciscan, accompanied Ursua's division.