Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/231

Rh the troops departed in quest of the headstrong rebels. But all their pains and efforts were fruitless. The object of the Indians seems to have been accomplished in driving off the Spaniards and destroying their settlements. The wild children of the soil and of the forest neither desired the possession of their goods, nor waged war in order to enjoy the estates they had been forced to till. It was a simple effort to recover once more the wild liberty of which they had been deprived, and to overthrow the masked slavery to which the more ennervated races of the south submitted tamely, under the controling presence of ampler forces. They contented themselves, therefore, with destroying towns, plantations, farms, and villages, and, flying to the fastnesses of the mountain forests, either kept out of reach of the military bands that traversed the country or descended in force upon detached parties. The Spaniards were thus denied all opportunity to make a successful military demonstration against the Indians; and, after waiting a season in fruitless efforts to subdue the natives, they retired to El Paso, leaving the country still in the possession of their foes who would neither fight nor come to terms, although an unconditional pardon and a future security of rights were freely promised.

The unsuccessful expedition of the previous year, induced the viceroy, in 1682, to adopt other means for the reduction of the refractory Indians to obedience. That vast region was not to be lost, nor were the few inhabitants who still continued to reside on its frontiers, to be abandoned to the mercy of savages. The Marques de la Laguna, therefore resolved to re-colonize Santa Fé, and, accordingly, despatched three hundred families of Spaniards and mulattoes, among whom he divided the land by caballerias. Besides this, he augmented the garrison in all the forts and strongholds scattered throughout the territory, so that agriculture and trade, grouped under the guns of his soldiery, might once more lift up their heads in that remote region in spite of Indian hostility. This measure was of great service in controling the natives elsewhere. The Indians in the neighboring provinces had begun to exhibit a strong desire to imitate the example of the New Mexican bands, and, in all probability, were only prevented by this stringent measure of the viceroy from freeing themselves from the Spanish yoke.

The administration of the Marques de la Laguna was an unfortunate one for his peace if not for his fame. The expedition which