Having made the preparations for that conquest, the governor appointed Admiral Pedro Durán de Monforte, a brave and experienced soldier (of whom repeated mention has been made in this history) the chief commander of it. He gave him the title of lieutenant captain-general, and a sufficient number of soldiers, both Spanish and Pampango. The sargentos-mayor Blas Rodríguez and Don José de Robles Cortés accompanied him, as did also Captains Gabriel de la Jara, Francisco de Espinosa, Don Pablo de la Piedra, and Lorenzo Rubio, and Adjutants Pedro Bravo, Juan de Mercado, and Francisco de la Jara--all leaders and veteran soldiers. He asked our father provincial, Fray Alonso Quijano, to appoint evangelical ministers to go to the preaching and teaching of the villages which would be conquered. The provincial appointed father Fray Lorenzo de Herrera [137] (former prior of Narbacán in Ilocos), father Fray Luís de la Fuente, [138] and Fray Gabriel Alvarez, [139] for that mission. The governor also appointed the commander Don Felipe de Ugalde as purveyor and paymaster for those troops, giving him four thousand pesos for that purpose. Don Felipe, however, did not accompany the army, but went later; and his self-confidence was the cause of his death. For at the point of the uninhabited district the Zambals went out against him; and, although he defended himself with great valor, a valiant Zambal named Tumalang killed him. That man became a Christian after the event of Pignauén, and was named Don Alonso. He cut off the purveyor's head, as we have mentioned in another chapter, [treating] of the year 1656.
Pedro Durán marched with his men by short stages, because of the inconvenience to the infantry and baggage, and for fear of the ambushes which could be set against him in the many defiles that offered along the road. He always had spies who knew the roads, and Pampanga scouts, and friendly Zambals together with Sargento-mayor Blas Rodríguez and the adjutant Francisco de la Jara, and some Spaniards. Without the occurrence of anything worthy of consideration, they arrived at the first two villages of the Igolotes--called Cayang, [140] of one hundred and fifty houses; and Lobing, of a few less. They found these deserted, but they remained there to await the rest of the convoy. The site of Cayang was very pleasant, and suitable for a military post, as it was the nearest to the villages that had been subdued. Consequently, Pedro Durán determined to build a fort for his defense until, by means of the Zambals and Ilocans, the Igolotes should become quieted and reduced to their houses. He treated the natives well, and the soldiers who might transgress by offering them the least injury he punished. Gradually many of the chief Igolotes came, and showed themselves to be obedient, and friends of the Spaniards, and well inclined to profess the evangelical law and be baptized. A church was built of such materials as could be found in those mountains, because of the difficulty of finding bamboo near there. The same and greater difficulty was experienced in building a fort of palisades and a terreplein; for all that land was bare, and had no forests of timber. Therefore it cost the soldiers considerable labor to find timber and bring it from afar, as they did, without any disaster having happened to them.