62 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
only resulted in an immediate attack in which the 
priests in all the near-by villages were killed. Word 
was sent to the other villages of the miscarriage of the 
plot and the priests and Spaniards living in them were 
killed. Governor Otermin, after several days of un- 
successful fighting about Santa Fé, which had become 
the capital, fled with many of the Spanish inhabitants 
to El Paso. He returned the next year, succeeded in 
capturing Isleta, but failed to reéstablish his rule. 
In 1683 Petriz de Cruzat became governor. He was 
later removed and still later reappointed. He made a 
successful march as far as Sia where in an all-day battle 
he beat the combined Indians, killing 600 and capturing 
70 of them. Before the report of this victory reached 
the king, Don Diego de Vargas was appointed as his 
successor. He conducted a vigorous war from 1692 
until 1696, during which he tried in vain to take the 
Black Mesa near Espanola upon which the inhabitants 
of San Ildefonso had established themselves, but suc- 
ceeded in capturing Old Cochiti in a night attack. 
Most of the warriors had escaped, and by a counter 
attack they released half of the 340 women and children 
heldasprisoners. De Vargas burned the village and took 
the stored corn to Santa Fé. In the end the Indians — 
were subjugated and peace was established, but the 
Indians were not again treated so harshly and the 
priests were more tolerant toward the native religious 
practices and less insistent upon anything but a nominal 
acceptance of Christianity. 
DISTRIBUTION IN 1540. 
If we assume that all the inhabited pueblos, with one 
exception mentioned below, were seen by members of 
Coronado’s party, it appears that there had -already 
been a considerable shrinkage in the pueblo area. 
