174 



EXPEDITION TO NEW MEXICO. 



selfish and avaricious purposes of the receivers. He immediately 

 abolished this impost, and diminished the whole amount of taxation 

 upon the Indians. 



In consequence of the loss of the galeon from the Philipines, 

 which we have related, the king ordered an expedition, under the 

 command of General Sebastian Viscaino, to examine and scour 

 the coasts of the Californias, where it was alleged the precious 

 metals, and, especially, the most valuable pearls would be found 

 in abundance. Viscaino recruited a large number of follow- 

 ers in Mexico for this enterprise, and set sail with three vessels, 

 in 1596, from Acapulco. The adventurers coasted the territory 

 for a considerable time without finding a suitable location in which 

 they might settle advantageously, until, at length, they disem- 

 barked in the port of La Paz, whence, however, they soon departed 

 for want of provisions and supplies of every kind. 



Meanwhile the Count of Monterey examined into the state of the 

 expedition to New Mexico, which he found had been projected and 

 partly prepared by his predecessor. He made some changes in the 

 plan agreed on between Velasco and Onate, and, in order to ex- 

 hibit his good will to the latter personage, he joined with him, in 

 the enterprise, his relation Vicente Saldivar, who had gathered 

 a number of emigrants for these remote and northern regions. 

 People were tempted to abandon their homes by the reports of ex- 

 traordinary mineral wealth which was to be obtained in these unex- 

 plored portions of New Spain ; and, accordingly, when the stand- 

 ard of the expedition was raised in the great square of the capital, 

 crowds of men with their families flocked around it to enlist for the 

 hazardous and toilsome service. 



The first news received from the emigrant colonists, when they 

 reached Caxco, two hundred leagues from the capital, was disas- 

 trous. Quarrels had originated among the adventurers, who as- 

 serted that the terms of the expedition had not been complied with 

 faithfully. As soon as the viceroy heard of the discontent, he 

 despatched Don Lope de Ulloa as a pacificator, to the inflamed 

 band which was quickly reduced to harmony and persuaded to 

 continue its journey to the promised land. At length the weary 

 emigrants reached the boasted El Dorado ; but finding the reports 

 of mineral wealth altogether exaggerated, and doubting the advan- 

 tage of residing with their families permanently in such distant out- 

 posts, many of them retraced their way southward to regions that 

 were more densely populated. 



In 1598, another effort was resolved on to gather the dispersed 



