Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/751

Rh began to listen, and by spending twelve years among them, he succeeded in converting some.

The Chinantecs were believed by the first Spanish conquerors to be ferocious giants who would not accept alliance or religion. The Dominican priest Francisco de Saravia was the first Spaniard to visit them. He learned their language, and in four years taught them Christianity, and induced them to live in towns and practise the arts of civilization. He taught their youths to read and write, and to translate into their language a prayer-book. The Mijes also taxed the patience of the worthy missionaries. When the Spanish arms reached that country the Zapotecs of the sierra and the Mijes were at war. Gaspar Pacheco, sent there by Cortés with a force, found no trouble in obtaining the allegiance of the former with a promise of help to destroy their foes. Being a nomad people, the conquest of the Mijes was a difficult task; it was accomplished, however, with the aid of Father Gonzalo Lucero, whose zeal prompted him to attempt in 1531 their conversion, for which he was given two assistants. The nation being numerous and restless, to keep them in check the Spanish commander founded in their midst the Villa Alta de San Ildefonso with thirty Spanish vecinos, and near it on the west a town of Mexicans, named Analco. The villa was destroyed by fire in 1580, and afterward rebuilt.

The Dominicans in charge of the Chinantecs and Mijes enjoyed, under a royal order of 1556, a yearly allowance of 1,000 pesos besides the necessary oil and wine, church ornaments, etc. The natives were taught reading, writing, and the useful arts by fathers Jordan de Santa Catarina, Pedro Guerrero, and Pablo de San