Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/554

538 the revolution in Nueva Galicia to very narrow limits, notwithstanding the dangerous proximity of Miehoacan and Guanajuato. Along these frontiers there were movements of some importance, in the south mainly under the direction of Vargas, who figured as comandante general of the province for Rayon, but the counter-campaign fell rather to the share of Iturbide and Linares or his successor, and in the north a corps of observation served to restrict the incursions toward the Rio Grande from the fastnesses of Nayarit and Acaponeta. Encounters were frequent enough, and for the greater part in favor of the royalists, with their superior arms and discipline, and their possession of nearly all the towns well fortified and provided; but the insurgents aimed here less at winning battles than raiding and harassing; and if less glorious, such operations served at least to keep alive the spirit of resistance and provide means for more effective demonstrations elsewhere.

The most important movement which occupied the province itself was the siege of Mescala rock in Lake Chapala, situated six miles from the northern shore. Roused by certain unjust exactions on the part of Cruz, a number of Indians had taken refuge there to devote themselves to sweet revenge under a revolutionary banner, after having secured arms from surprised convoys, and inflicted some damage on the royalist parties which attempted to suppress their