Page:Memoir of a tour to northern Mexico.djvu/26

[ 26 ] viceroy of Mexico, Count de Monterey, sent the gallant Juan de Oñate, of Zacatecas, to New Mexico, to take formal possession of the country in the name of Spain, and to establish colonies, missions, and presidios, (forts.) They found a great many Indian tribes and settlements, which they succeeded in christianizing in the usual Spanish way, with sword in hand, and made them their slaves. The villages of the christianized Indians were called pueblos, in opposition to the wild and roving tribes that refused such favors. Many towns, of which only ruins exist now, were established at that time; many mines were worked, and the occupation of the country seemed to be secured, when quite unexpectedly in 1680, a general insurrection of all the Indian tribes broke out against the Spanish yoke. The Indians massacred every white male, and the then Governor of New Mexico, Don Antonio de Otermin, after a hard fight, had to retreat with his men from Santa Fe, and marched as far south as Paso del Norte, where they met with some friendly Indians, and laid the foundation of the present town of that name. It lasted ten years, until Spain recovered the whole province of New Mexico again. Several other insurrections took place after that, but none so disastrous as the first. However, the deep rancour of the Indian race against the white has continued to the present time, and in all the frequent and bloody revolutions of later years in New Mexico the pueblos generally acted a conspicuous and cruel part. There is constantly some distance between them and the rest of the Mexicans. They live always isolated in their villages, cultivate the soil, and raise some stock, and are generally poor, frugal, and sober. Their different tribes, of which about twenty yet exist, are reduced to about ten thousand souls. They speak different Indian dialects; sometimes, too, broken Spanish. All of them know the old tradition of Montezuma, mentioned already in the account of the old Pecos village; but none have carried the veneration of their expected Saviour so far as this faithful tribe. For the regulation of their communities they select a chief or cacique, and a council, and in war a capitan. Their religious rites are a mixture of Catholicism and Indian paganism; the Spanish priests themselves favored this combination, from policy. Their villages are built with great regularity; sometimes they have but one large house, with several stories, and a great many small rooms, in which the whole village is quartered. Instead of doors in front, they use trap-doors on the roots of their houses, to which they climb up on a ladder, which is withdrawn in the night for greater security. Their dress consists of moccasins, short breeches and a woolen jacket, or blanket; they generally wear their hair long. Bows and arrows and a lance, and sometimes a gun constitute their weapons.

The whole population of New Mexico was in 1793, according to a census, 30,953; in 1833 it was calculated to amount to 52,360, and that number to consist of $1⁄20$ Gachupines, (native Spaniards,) $4⁄20$ Creoles, $5⁄20$ Mestizes of all grades, and $10⁄20$ of pueblo Indians. In 1842, the population was estimated at 57,026, and at present at about 70,000 souls.

The manners and customs of the New Mexicans proper are very similar to those over all Mexico, described so often by travellers to that country. While the higher classes conform themselves more to American and European fashions, the men of the lower classes are faithful to their serapes or colored blankets, and to their wide trousers with glittering buttons, and split from hip to ankle to give the white cotton drawers also a chance to be