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)
There's no question that the American settlers have some deep-seated fears about angering the Native Americans whose land they've, uh, stolen. Stories about bloody raids are pretty common all over New Mexico, and people seem to watch their backs whenever a large group of Native Americans is around.
Quote #2
"And the silver of the Spanish was really Moorish, was it not? If not actually of Moorish make, copied from their design." (1.4.7)
Father Latour is willing to give credit where credit's due. He's perfectly aware that the African "Moorish" people were the first to perfect the techniques of melting silver. Father Vaillant doesn't like the thought that anything non-white could be involved in the making of a church bell, but then again, he's a lot more closed-minded than Latour when it comes to this stuff.
Quote #3
"Those Indians are of a sullen disposition. If I were to have dealings with them, they would suspect my motives." (2.1.27)
Father Vaillant is very wary of dealing with Native Americans because he knows how suspicious they are of white people—and with good freaking reason. If he is going to approach them to bring them the word of God, he wants to make sure that there's no possible personal benefit he could get from the encounter. That's why he'll never ask for money or make any trades with these people, because he wants to gain their trust in order to make them into Catholic believers.
Quote #4
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)
Once again, we hear a story about disgruntled Native Americans raiding a white colonial settlement and killing all of the people in it. Father Latour's relations with Native Americans might be decent, but that doesn't mean that things are peachy everywhere. There's a lot of resentment on both sides of the White/Native American relationship.
Quote #5
All white men knew him for a dog and a degenerate—but to Mexican girls, marriage with an American meant coming up in the world. (2.2.37)
Buck Scales is a horrible man and everyone knows it. But Magdalena still marries him because he's white and she's Mexican. In her culture, marrying a white man is a big step up in the world. Little does she know that she's getting into a horribly abusive relationship with a murderer. Poor Magdalena.
Quote #6
He felt as if he were celebrating Mass at the bottom of the sea, for antediluvian creatures; for types of life so old, so hardened, so shut within their shells, that the sacrifice on Calvary could hardly reach back so far. (3.2.20)
When he preaches a Catholic mass to a group of Native Americans, Father Latour can't help but feel like these people are completely set in their ways. They might pay a little lip service to Catholicism, but Latour thinks of them as a completely different species than himself, something more ancient than he or any white person could ever understand. It's kind of racist and othering, but Latour generally has his heart in the right place.
Quote #7
The tribe was dying out; infant mortality was heavy, and the young couples did not reproduce freely,—the life-force seemed low. (4.1.12)
Father Latour is sad to notice that the numbers of Native Americans in New Mexico seem to be in consistent decline. People aren't having kids and a lot of people are dying from sickness. It seems as though the life force of an entire race is dying out.
Quote #8
He never liked to drink spirits in the presence of an Indian. (4.2.19)
There are a couple of reasons why Latour wouldn't want to drink in front of a Native American. It might be out of respect (good job, Latour) or he might not want to show any weakness in front of Native Americans because he needs them to respect his power (less of a good job there, Latour).
Quote #9
He was already convinced that neither the white men nor the Mexicans in Santa Fe understood anything about Indian beliefs or the workings of the Indian mind. (4.2.29)
Father Latour has little faith that any white person has any clue about what's going on in the heads of Native Americans. A culture that outwardly different must be even more inwardly different, reasons Latour.
Quote #10
You are among barbarous people, my Frenchman, between two savage races. The dark things forbidden by your Church are part of Indian religion. You cannot introduce French fashions here. (5.1.27)
Father Martinez is quick to warn Father Latour that the Native Americans are a bunch of barbarians and that it's silly to try to change them. Here's the thing, though: Martinez is simply using this argument as a lead-in to his own views about why priests in New Mexico should be allowed to break from Catholic tradition (especially when it comes to having sex).