Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/199

176 been planned, to Tayasal. Cuixam reported that two Franciscans were on the island. The Captain would not believe this. Still, he was so bold as to embark in a canoe rowed by natives, who, as soon as the vessel was clear of the shore, began a sharp struggle which resulted in the death of all the Spaniards in the party. In due course Amezquita followed in the footsteps of the ill-fated Captain. On arriving at the shores of the lake he learned the fate that had befallen Diaz de Velasco, Seeing that there was nothing he could do with so small a force as that which he had at his disposal, Amezquita withdrew to Chacal, and later on, by the order of Don Gabriel Sanchez de Berrospe, the new President of the Audiencia of Guatemala, he withdrew to Guatemala City.

Conclusion of the Subjection of the Itzas Begun. After the series of events which we have just studied came to an end there was, for a time, a lull in the war. Our knowledge of the incidents which followed the break is derived from Villagutierre y Sotomayor. (Lib. v, caps. 7, 8, etc.) According to this authority, events occurred in the following order.

Paredes is Ordered to March to Los Dolores. Ursua determined to bring matters to a satisfactory conclusion by means of another expedition into the Itza country. Accordingly he sent his orders to Alonso Garcia de Paredes, who, with the soldiers of that unsuccessful expedition on which Avendaño had gone, was still in Tzucthok. In substance Paredes was ordered to go and place himself and his men under the orders of the President of Guatemala or his successor. To this end he was to go south from Tzucthok, and always "trying to incline his route a little toward the left hand, or towards the east, was to place himself in sight of the town of Lacandones, which the President had discovered and named Nuestra Señora de los Dolores." Paredes was to fortify himself there about five leagues from the town of Lacandon, and he was to stay