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Show THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS 81 horses and sheep made the Navajos easy victims. An Indian rather than a Spanish threat may have been the major reason the Navajos had to fortify their mesa tops. Strong pressure slowly forced them to leave the upper San Juan River and move south and west, to a region where small bands of the People already lived. The Navajos could not fight both the Spaniards and the Shoshoneans. Since the Spanish threat seemed less serious, the Navajo-Spanish peace held for a time. Pedro de Rivera visited New Mexico in 1726 in an attempt to end the constant threat of frontier war. As a result of his visit, new rules were made for New Mexico in 1729. No war was to be made against hostile Indians unless persuasion had failed to bring peace. One non-Christian nation could not be used to fight another unless the first nation had asked for Spanish help. The use of Christian Indian allies was encouraged, though. Indian trade had to be at fair prices. Captive families were not to be split up, because breaking up the families led to Indian revenge. Finally, when the Indians asked for peace, written agreements were to be signed. In 1732 Governor Cruzat outlawed the sale of captives to friendly Indians. The punishment was not harsh enough, though, to stop the practice. Still the Navajos stayed at peace for more than fifty years. With peace, missionaries came to the Navajos again. At first the fathers merely preached to the Navajos who had gone to the Pueblos. Then, in the early 1740s, the fathers made a bigger effort. By that time, the Franciscan fathers of New Mexico faced two challenges. Priests loyal to the bishop of Durango challenged their right to control New Mexico. And Jesuit fathers won the right to convert the Hopi Pueblos in 1741. The Franciscans needed new converts to strengthen their position in New Mexico. At the same time, Spanish interest in the Navajo area grew as a result of rumors that there were silver mines northwest of the People's land. So two fathers visited the Navajo in 1744. They preached and gave gifts. Later, wildly stretching the truth, they claimed to have converted five thousand Indians. The missionaries' success excited the Spaniards, who soon made plans to convert all the Navajos. Governor Joachin Codallos y Rabal began to gather information on them. Among other things, he found that the tribe had four thousand members. The Spanish fathers made two more visits to the Navajo country, baptizing many children there and at Cebolleta. The |
