made a nearer approach to manual labor than superintending from his saddle the movements of native workmen. The slaves taken in New Galicia were no longer enough to supply the demand, as most of them had perished during war and epidemic. Unable to resist the power of the intruders, or too wise to risk their liberties on the issue of a doubtful contest, multitudes withdrew into out-of-the-way places. Those who clung to their homes in the different provinces were subjected to increased exactions, till roused by repeated injuries they broke into open revolt. Indeed submission profited little. Notwithstanding the prohibition to engage in new discoveries and the consequent new enslavement of the natives, the Spaniards asked license, ostensibly for the purpose of pacification, to enter the mountain regions and capture the inhabitants.
Before accounting for the subjugation of the wild tribes in the mountains near Querétaro, it will be well to notice some facts touching this region prior to the conquest by Cortés.
The whole country lying to the north of Mexico was at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards almost unknown to the Mexicans. The northern confines of the Aztec empire extended but little beyond the valley, and there Aztec civilization terminated. The mountainous regions beyond were inhabited by various tribes of wild savages, known by the general name of Chichimecs.[1] Dependent on the chase for their subsistence, these people had no settled dwelling-place, but roamed over a vast unknown territory, from time to time making inroads into the rich districts of the south. It does not appear that the empire ever seriously attempted their conquest; it was content to protect the frontier against them. Shortly after the conquest, however, expeditions
- ↑ The term Chichimec being general, was applied to all wild tribes, and, according to Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, ii. 163, the district now known as Querétaro, and where the battle of pacification was fought, was principally inhabited by Otomís.
