192 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



country is delightful, with a good climate ; it contains a river full 

 of delicious fish, and is a route to New Mexico, though not yet 

 explored. 



542. It has many other provinces and very rich mining towns, as 

 e.g., in the province of Topia. Here in the year 1602 the Indian 

 tribes of the Tepehuanes, Acaxeses, and Conchos, savage Caribs, had 

 retired into the mountains, and kept dashing down to raid the country, 

 [In the year 1602] Don Rodrigo de Vivero, the then Governor of 

 New Vizcaya, set out to chastise them, raising soldiers from the 

 countryside, and among them Ensign Fernando Mendez de Ocampo 

 y Sotomayor ; he distinguished himself above the others in scouting 

 to locate the enemy, and by his great skill and assiduity they con- 

 quered the savages, carrying off their women and children, whom 

 they took to the Topia mines ; and so they subdued them, and the 

 country remained quiet and peaceful. (The MS. contains on folio 33 

 a note of which the above in the text from folio 32 is an expansion.) 



In the mines of Chindehe and Santa Barbara, Alcaldes Mayores 

 are appointed by the Governor of New Vizcaya for their satisfactory 

 administration. The mines of Mapimi are 100 leagues from Guadiana 

 on the road to New Mexico ; the town was built in the mountains 

 where these rich silver veins and ore deposits lie ; there are eight 

 rich silver companies there with their establishments for grinding 

 and refining the metal. The town has 100 Spanish residents ; there 

 is a parish church there and a Franciscan convent, a hospital for 

 the care of the sick, and other shrines. In this town the Governor 

 of New Vizcaya appoints an Alcalde Mayor for the administration 

 of justice. 



Chapter V 



Continuing the Description of New Vizcaya, and of the Famous 

 Achievements of Gov. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado in His Cam- 

 paign of Pacification. 



543. The Provinces of Chiametlan lie along the Pacific coast at 

 22° N., with rich silver mines; the town of San Sebastian has been 

 built here. Next to the W. along this same coast comes the Province 

 of Culiacan. This is fertile, with abundance of foodstuffs and a 

 good climate ; there are silver mines. Forty leagues beyond the 

 Province of Culiacan is the Province of Sinaloa, in which is built 

 the town of San Juan de Sinaloa, the last that has been settled in 

 that direction. Pres. Nuno de Guzman and Diego de Ybarra, Knight 

 of the Order of Santiago, began the work of subduing these provinces, 

 and later the pacification was completed by Gov. Francisco Vasquez 



