Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/483

Rh Nor did the efforts of Torre in his dealings with the natives meet with less encouragement. He soon saw that if treated well the natives would gladly return to their homes, and with the aid of the friars this was in a measure accomplished. But the bad practices of encomenderos could not immediately be stopped. Excesses in the outlying districts were still committed, and in 1538 in the northern portion of the province the people of Jocolotlan, Guajacatlan, and Ostoticpaquillo, under the leadership of their cacique Guajicar, rose in arms.

The suppression of this revolt was attended with a catastrophe which closed the career of the unfortunate Torre. As soon as news of the outbreak reached Guadalajara, a council was held at which it was decided to send a force under the command of captains Alonso Álvarez, Diego Sigler, and Cristóbal Romero against the disaffected district. The governor, however, in the hope, probably, of effecting a reconciliation without the necessity of bloodshed, resolved to accompany the expedition in person. When the Spaniards arrived in the hostile territory they found the Indians strongly intrenched on a rocky eminence, and though Torre made every endeavor to induce them to submit on general terms, they refused. "Let death come to you or us," they replied.

An appeal to arms was therefore unavoidable. The heights were invested and assailed at different points, and the Indians so harassed that they