LABORS OF THE JESUITS.

13

had to be undertaken against Indian rebels in Durango. This region was frequently disturbed by one tribe or another, abused as the natives were by miners, and favored by the physical features of their country, which on one side presented rugged ranges, and on the other plains and deserts. The private explorations of Francisco de Ibarra in this direction had revealed vast agricultural and mineral resources, and aided by his influence with the viceroy he had secured a commission as governor and captain-general to conquer and rule the still unsubdued country to the north. He entered with a strong force, and laid claim to all the region beyond the line now dividing Jalisco and Zacatecas from Sinaloa and Durango, applying to it the name of Nueva Vizcaya, a term which soon became confined to the district east of the Sierra Madre range, embracing, for a while, a part of Coahuila. In 1563 he formally established the still existing settlement of Nombre de Dios as a villa;30 and beyond, in Guadiana Valley, he founded as his capital Durango, known also by the name of the valley. In 1621 this was made a city and the seat of a new diocese extending over all of Ibarra's govcrnment. He pursued his discoveries as far as San Bartolomé Valley, in southern Chihuahua, and thence westward into northern Sinaloa, where he founded San Juan de Sinaloa, laying claim also to the two southern districts of Culiacan, with the settlement of San Miguel, and to Chametla, with San Sebastian, which had maintained a precarious existence since Guzman's time.

31

The tribes of Sinaloa proved very hostile, and San Juan had to be abandoned. It was refounded in 1583 under the name of San Felipe, but only after 1596, when it became a presidio, was the perma

30 The control of this was long disputed by the government immediately south, and then seized upon by the viceroy; but in 1611 it was restored to Nueva Vizcaya.

"The Augustinian, Gonzalo de Hermosilla, was the first prelate.

nency of this settlement secured. In 1610 the border was advanced to Rio del Fuerte, so named after the fort of Montesclaros there erected; and now the Jesuits began the conversion of Mayos and Yaquis. Thirty years later San Juan Bautista was founded in Sonora Valley, already made known by expeditions which had passed into the northern regions. All this country west of the Sierra Madre was ruled by a military captain appointed by the viceroy, but subject in civil matters to the governor at Durango. In Coahuila, Saltillo was formally founded in 1586, and Parras in 1598, partly by Tlascaltecs, while in Chihuahua it was not till 1631 that a presidio rose at Parral in the rich mining region, and permanent missions in 1639 among the Tarahumaras.32

Side by side with settlers and miners strode the friars, in this region, notably the Jesuits, whose aim was not alone to convert, but to pacify and prepare the natives for the yoke of Christ and the colonists. It was cheap and effective, this subjugation by the cross. Warfare against the wilder tribes of the north proved quite different from that against the more cultured and settled communities encountered by Cortés. Here the capture of a capital, the treaty with a ruler, generally sufficed to control the people; but among the northern tribes treaties availed little with the petty, irresponsible chieftains unless they were specially commissioned by the people, and to ravage their vil lages was seldom effective. Hence, after many and costly military operations, Viceroy Velasco had toward the close of the preceding century found it necessary to adopt a different course, and stoop to what may be termed humiliating concessions. But he stooped to conquer, for under shelter of this purchased peace missionaries crept forward to fasten a gradually tightening bond, secured at different points by military colonies. This policy did not succeed in every quar

32 The history of Nueva Vizcaya, based on such standard authorities as Ibarra, Relacion; Durango, Doc. Hist., MS.; Sinaloa, Mem. Hist., MS.; Al

ATTITUDE OF THE NATIVES.

15

ter, nor was it effected elsewhere without occasional struggles. The resolute opposition of the Sinaloa tribes to the encroachments of the Spaniards served to animate also adjoining peoples who had already submitted and found just cause for discontent in the oppression and outrages practised by miners and

others.

33

In 1601 the Acaxées, who occupied the mountain regions of Topia and San Andrés, rose to the number of five thousand, with a solemn determination to kill or drive away every Spaniard. They swooped down with unexpected suddenness on the villages and mining camps, whose number may be estimated from the statement that over forty churches shared in the destruction. The first effective resistance encountered was at San Andrés, where the small garrison managed to hold out for a fortnight, till Governor Urdiñola learned of their strait and came to the rescue with sixty men. The warriors now withdrew to the mountain fastnesses, and kept the pursuing troops constantly engaged in toilsome marches and sharp skirmishes, ever on the alert to entrap them into ambuscades, though with little success. What arms failed to achieve was accomplished by means of Urdiñola's generous treatment of a number of captured Acaxée women. This touched the hearts of the husbands, and with the gentle persuasion of Father Santaren they submitted and began to rebuild their churches. The Sabaibos held out for a while longer under the guidance of a sorcerer who proclaimed himself bishop, and even God, and proceeded with the aid of associated apostles to carry on a peculiar spiritual and political administration. His rule was soon cut short, and with him disappeared the last trace of the revolt.

34

bieuri, Hist. Mis., MS.; Arlegui, Ribas, Alegre, Beaumont, Mota-Padilla, is fully related in my History of the North Mexican States, this series.

33 For particulars see Native Races, i. 614.

34 For a detailed account of the campaign with its interesting happenings, see Hist. North Mex. States, i., this series.

This submission appears to have either irritated or emboldened the Xiximes, a tribe of cannibalistic tendencies, who adjoined the Acaxées on the south, and ranked as their bitter foes. The neighbors soon began to appeal for aid against their onslaughts, and with intercession of friars they were in 1607 induced to relent; but three years later they broke out in open revolt, and an expedition of two hundred Spaniards and eleven hundred Indians marched against them. Their two strongholds were quickly reduced, and after the execution of the ringleaders the excuses of the remainder were accepted with a readiness that served only too often to encourage hostilities, as may be seen throughout the history of this frontier region. to the present time. Had the same policy been pursued by Cortés and his contemporaries, Spanish domination might have been deferred for years. This temporizing was owing in part to a change in the character of the settlers, and a diversion of public interest from the career of conquest, and partly to actual weakness and indecision; but under the circumstances it was dangerous to display it so freely.

Of this an instance may be found in the more serious outbreak in the same province, in 1616, among the Tepehuanes, for no outrages or other good reason appear to have afforded the pretext. This tribe covered a wide-spread area in Durango, extending into southern Chihuahua and bordering east and north on Topia, and had yielded good fruit to the Jesuit missionaries. Dismayed by the downfall of their influence, the native sorcerers strove hard to combat the new religion; and encouraged by the example of the Sabaibo bishop, one of them proclaimed himself a messiah divinely appointed to free his people from the foreign yoke. This character he sustained by a number of cleverly executed miracles, and by alluring prospects disseminated by active agents.

His plans succeeded, and his people rose almost en masse. At Atotonilco nearly two hundred Spaniards,

ATTITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT.

17

men, women, and children, were massacred; at Papasquiaro a number were lured to destruction by treachery; at Zape ninety persons fell. Durango city, the seat of government, might also have been surprised but for the premature outbreak on the part of certain greedy chieftains, which gave the alarm, and enabled measures to be taken against the great simultaneous attack on the 21st of November. These measures extended also to the Acaxées, Xiximes, and other tribes who were prevailed upon to withhold at least active coöperation in the revolt.

Nevertheless the outlook became so serious that appeal for aid was sent to the viceroy, who gave orders upon the royal coffers at Zacatecas and Durango for funds, wherewith to raise more troops. The Tepehuanes generally avoided an encounter. With the spring of 1617 the revolt was practically ended. Deserted by their messiah, who mysteriously disappeared, the still rebellious bands took refuge in the mountains, there to be exposed to repeated attacks from different quarters, to which a price upon their heads gave incentive. After suffering heavy losses they were induced gradually to rejoin their submissive brethren. As it was, the outbreak had caused a drain on the royal treasury of several hundred thousand pesos, besides losses in revenue and to settlers, and retarded material progress in the province for a number of years.35

A lenient policy characterized more and more the attitude of the government toward the natives, and experiments were continually tried for promoting their welfare. In 1602 came a cédula recommending a system of public hiring of Indians, to take the place of repartimientos. A fair was accordingly established in the principal squares at Mexico 3 under supervision of a judge, where employers might come to engage

36

35 For a full account see Hist. North Mex. States, i., this series. 36 On Sundays. Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 237.

HIST. MEX., VOL. III. 2