CHAPTER VI. 

 1607—1621. 



SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF DON LUIS VELASCO HIS GREAT 



WORK FOR THE DRAINAGE OF THE VALLEY. LAKES IN THE 



VALLEY DANGER OF INUNDATION. HISTORY OF THE DE- 



SAGUE OF HUEHUETOCA. OPERATIONS OF THE ENGINEERS 



MARTINEZ AND BOOT. THE FRANCISCANS. COMPLETION OF 



THE DESAGUE. LA OBRA DEL CONSULADO. NEGRO REVOLT. 



EXTENSION OF ORIENTAL TRADE. GUERRA VICEROY. DE 



CORDOVA VICEROY. INDIAN REVOLT. CORDOVA FOUNDED. 



Don Luis Velasco, — the Second, — Conde de Santiago and 

 First Marques de Salinas, 

 XI. Viceroy of Mexico. His Second Administration. 

 1607 — 1611. 



Don Luis Velasco had been seven years viceroy of Peru since 

 he left the government of Mexico, when he was summoned once 

 more to rule a country of which he felt himself almost a native. 1 

 He was tired of public life, and being advanced in years would 

 gladly have devoted the rest of his existence to the care of his 

 family and the management of his valuable estates in the colony. 

 But he could not refuse the nomination of the king, and at the age 

 of seventy, once more found himself at the head of affairs in New 

 Spain. 



The government of this excellent nobleman has been signalized 

 in history by the erection of the magnificent public work, designed 

 for the drainage of the valley, of which we spoke during the last 

 viceroyalty. The results of Velasco's labors were permanent, and 

 as his work, or at least a large portion of it remains to the present 

 day, and serves to secure the capital from the floods with which it is 

 constantly menaced, we shall describe the whole of this magnificent 

 enterprise at present, though our description will carry us, chrono- 

 logically, out of the period under consideration, and lead us from 

 the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. 



1 Velasco had been sent to Peru eleven years before, and after governing it seven, 

 had returned to reside in Mexico, when he was unexpectedly reappointed viceroy. 



