How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Only last year the Indian pueblo of San Fernandez de Taos murdered and scalped the American Governor and some dozen other whites." (P.25)
While the religious leaders in Rome discuss how things are going in North America, they're quick to repeat some of the horror stories they've heard about Native Americans massacring the white people who have moved there. We never actually witness anything like this in the book, but people seem pretty bent on using these stories to represent the Native American peoples as bloodthirsty "savages."
Quote #2
He found a half sheep hanging outside the door, covered with a bloody sack, and asked Rosa to heat the oven for him, announcing that he meant to roast the hind leg. (2.1.20)
The people of New Mexico aren't shy around death and carnage. In fact, they're more than happy to hang up a dead and bloody sheep in their kitchen even when there's a distinguished guest in the house. This is the frontier, after all, and you can't get hung up on politeness (or cleanliness!) in a world where survival is the main goal.
Quote #3
A new settlement in the Conejos valley had lately been raided by Indians; many of the inhabitants were killed, and the survivors, who were originally from Mora, had managed to get back there, utterly destitute. (2.2.3)
The stories of Native American raids on white colonial outposts keep swirling around Father Latour once he's in New Mexico. But many of these stories seem to be exaggerated, since he spends over fifty years in the area without ever encountering a single violent Native American. He encounters plenty of violent white dudes, but those aren't the people that the colonizers like to tell stories about.