[Illustration: The pastoral scene shows two contemporary Navajo structures. To the left is a modern hogan, and to the right, a ramada.] By 1750, the Navajos had abandoned their homes west of the Chama River Valley because of pressure from the Utes to the north. Generally they moved westward, but a few split off to the south. We do not know when they first entered Canyon de Chelly, but there is evidence at the site of Tse-ta’a to suggest that it was after 1700. Hunters, gatherers, and farmers, the Navajos changed their way of life sharply when they acquired horses and sheep from the Spanish after the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680. Horses made the Navajos highly mobile and increased their ability to raid the alluring towns along the Rio Grande and then vanish into mountain and canyon hideouts. Sheep gradually changed the basis of their economy, converting them from hunters and raiders to the pastoral herders they are today. After the Spanish reconquered New Mexico in 1692, many Pueblo families from the Rio Grande sought sanctuary with the Navajos. Some of these refugees were absorbed into the tribe, and they brought with them not only weaving, but sheep raising, pottery and basketry techniques, architectural and agricultural ideas, the clan system, and much religious lore. Navajo-Spanish relations were generally quiet after the Spanish returned because the tribe was preoccupied with fighting the Utes to the north and was interested in enlisting Spanish support or, at least, forbearance. This comparatively peaceful interlude came to an end in the 1770’s because of land disputes, and friction continued from that time until the 1860’s. In 1805, during this period of strife, a Spanish punitive expedition entered Canyon de Chelly, bent on taking slaves, or servants as the whites called them. According to the Navajo account of the episode, all the Navajo men had gone out on an expedition, leaving the old men, and women, and children hidden in a deep ledge high up the canyon wall. Their position was strengthened by a wall of loose stones placed along the rim of the ledge. As the Spanish troops, commanded by Lt. Antonio Narbona, passed below, an old woman who had been a Spanish slave could not resist scoffing at them and thus exposed the hiding place. In a letter on January 25, 1805, to the Governor of New Mexico, Narbona described the action which followed: _On the 17th of the current month I managed to attack in Cañon de Chelli a great number of enemy Indians and though they entrenched themselves in an almost inaccessible spot, and fortified beforehand, we succeeded after having battled all day long with the greatest ardor and effort, in taking [it] the morning after and that our arms had the result of ninety dead warriors, twenty-five women and children, and as prisoners three warriors, eight women and twenty-two boys and girls...._