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molest them, and prepared to resist any attempt to arrest them. Del Moral was powerless to enforce his demand or to carry out his purpose. He had to return to Nacogdoches and make a lame excuse for his futile trip. When Nava heard of the incident, he reprimanded the zealous com- mander for his hasty action. The attempt to drive the traders out with such a small force was a serious mistake. It would have been wiser to have allowed the traders to withdraw peaceably and then to warn the Indians against such trade, threatening to discontinue the annual gifts and to suspend all relations with them. The forced retirement of Del Moral had only served to reveal to friends and foes alike the inability to enforce the law. Such an exhibition of weakness, Nava feared, would result in the loss of the little respect the Indian 1llies had for the Spaniards. Repetition of the incident was to be avoided by a stricter enforcement of the law prohibiting the entrance of foreigners. This end might be more effectively attained through the cooperation of the commander at Natchitoches and the governor of Louisiana himself, through whose province they had to pass first. The soldiers at Nacogdoches were advised to make more frequent visits to the country of the friendly northern nations to cultivate their friendship. Their support of the intruders was attributed by _Nava to dissatisfaction with the Spaniards. Such dissatis- faction, he went on to elucidate, was _perhaps traceable to indiscretion and lack of tact which had been turned to good account by the foreign traders in order to set the natives against the Spaniards. Lastly, trading horses for ammunition and guns should be stopped by all means. 28 The problem presented by the obnoxious trade in arms was carefully considered and analyzed in an effort to find a solution. The Comanches who came to San Antonio were adroitly questioned. It was learned that Chief El Tuerto and others were the principal participants in the arms and munition trade with the Taovayas who were supplied by foreigners. The occasion for the penetration was not primarily a desire to trade in arms alone, but to supply the Indians of the north with many articles they had formerly obtained from the Spaniards whose European markets had been closed by the war. The inability of Spanish trading agents to meet the demand had made the natives grow cold and to turn to the
11 Pedro Nava to Manuel Munoz, September 18, 1799. Bexar Arcl,ives.
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