EFFORTS OF THE SPANIARDS TO RECONQUER 



215 



the troops departed in quest of the headstrong rebels. But all 

 their pains and efforts were fruitless. The object of the Indians 

 seems to have been accomplished in driving off the Spaniards and 

 destroying their settlements. The wild children of the soil and of 

 the forest neither desired the possession of their goods, nor waged 

 war in order to enjoy the estates they had been forced to till. It 

 was a simple effort to recover once more the wild liberty of 

 which they had been deprived, and to overthrow the masked 

 slavery to which the more ennervated races of the south submitted 

 tamely, under the controling presence of ampler forces. They 

 contented themselves, therefore, with destroying towns, planta- 

 tions, farms, and villages, and, flying to the fastnesses of the 

 mountain forests, either kept out of reach of the military bands that 

 traversed the country or descended in force upon detached parties. 

 The Spaniards were thus denied all opportunity to make a suc- 

 cessful military demonstration against the Indians ; and, after 

 waiting a season in fruitless efforts to subdue the natives, they 

 retired to El Paso, leaving the country still in the possession of 

 their foes who would neither fight nor come to terms, although an 

 unconditional pardon and a future security of rights were freely 

 promised. 



The unsuccessful expedition of the previous year, induced the 

 viceroy, in 1682, to adopt other means for the reduction of the 

 refractory Indians to obedience. That vast region was not to be 

 lost, nor were the few inhabitants who still continued to reside on 

 its frontiers, to be abandoned to the mercy of savages. The 

 Marques de la Laguna, therefore resolved to re-colonize Santa Fe, 

 and, accordingly, despatched three hundred families of Spaniards 

 and mulattoes, among whom he divided the land by caballerias. 

 Besides this, he augmented the garrison in all the forts and strong- 

 holds scattered throughout the territory, so that agriculture and 

 trade, grouped under the guns of his soldiery, might once more 

 lift up their heads in that remote region in spite of Indian hostility. 

 This measure was of great service in controling the natives else- 

 where. The Indians in the neighboring provinces had begun to 

 exhibit a strong desire to imitate the example of the New Mexican 

 bands, and, in all probability, were only prevented by this strin- 

 gent measure of the viceroy from freeing themselves from the 

 Spanish yoke. 



The administration of the Marques de la Laguna was an unfor- 

 tunate one for his peace if not for his fame. The expedition which 



