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Rh the eighteenth century drove them back from the district which they had gained with so much labor, but in 1740 fresh efforts were made in unison with other orders, to reëstablish the missions. The attempt was so successful, that in 1756 the mission of Pugniguia was in a condition to be delivered to the secular clergy, a change apparently injurious to the settlement, which decreased in number of inhabitants considerably during the following years. This course was nevertheless persisted in, and, in 1787, of all the Dominican missions in the Sierra Gorda district, only that of San Miguel de las Palmas remained under the control of the order. Strange as it may appear, this transfer of jurisdiction seems not to have encountered opposition on the part of the friars, though as a rule the regulars were loath to release their hold when once they had acquired control in a new region.

Of the minor orders, such as the Carmelites and friars of Our Lady of Mercy, there is little to be said. After founding their convents in the capital, they spread over portions of the country, but in no special direction nor to any considerable extent. They possessed establishments in the larger towns, as Puebla, Vera Cruz, Valladolid, Colima, Oajaca, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, and other places, but their importance and influence always remained inferior to those of the Franciscans or Jesuits.