Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/111

88 this region, Fray Diego de Ribas, had some success in the region north of Huehuetenango in 1685. (Villagutierre, p. 176 ff.) He and his men opened up a road that led from Huehuetenango into the regions north and east of there. They got on very well until they came into contact with some Lacandones, who proved to be spies, From that time on their troubles increased.

From all this it is easy to deduce that the peoples to the south of the Lacandones and Maya (such people as the Choles) were of a comparatively docile temperament and were easily won over, temporarily, to the Christian faith. As soon, however, as the fiercer and more stubborn Lacandones brought their influence to bear upon the converts, the latter found that their attachment to the new religion was but superficial. (Remesal, lib. x, cap. 10.) Moreover, the lack of authority to use armed force wherever necessary was another disadvantage under which the missionaries labored. There can be but little doubt that they also were too hasty in their attempts to exchange the somewhat abstruse spiritual worship of the Catholic Church for the veneration of tangible gods of stone or wood. They were quick to destroy the old and long-venerated gods, but they were unable to replace them with something the Indians were able to understand.

In 1686 the King (Charles II), calling the Viceroy's attention to the great number of unconverted tribes in Guatemala, Yucatan, and elsewhere, ordered further reductions to be made, at once, but as gently as possible.

The Inception of the Plan to Subdue the Itzas, 1689. In 1689 Captain Juan de Mendoza wrote to the court to tell how the reductions had been begun, and to ask that he might be placed at the head of fifty soldiers. On the advice of Guzman, who had now returned from Guatemala to the Spanish court, his wish was granted. The following plan for the reduction of the Choles and the Lacandones was decided upon. (Villagutierre, p. 190.)

Three entradas were to be made at the same time. One from the province of Guatemala, which was in the hands of the Dominicans; a second from Huehuetenango, which was Mercedarian; and the third from Chiapas, which was Dominican.