Introduction 
201 
on the above date. 32 Finally, on September 25, 1596, just a year and four 
days after Viceroy Velasco, acting under full authority from the king so 
to do, had made a contract with Don Juan Oñate for the exploration, 
pacification, and settlement of New Mexico, Philip II. at San Lorenzo, in 
Spain, entered into a contract for the same thing with Don Pedro Ponce 
de León. 33 
The sixty-two provisions of the contract as signed with Don Pedro 
differed in no essentials from those originally submitted by him for the 
consideration of the king and the Council. Among the more important 
and interesting provisions it was stipulated that Don Pedro must fulfill 
the contract within one year and a half to the entire satisfaction of the 
Count of Monterey; nevertheless he was to be independent of the latter 
and of the adjacent audiencias and was to deal directly with the Council 
of the Indies. If his explorations should extend to either or both seas 
he was to construct vessels there and explore the coasts. To aid the 
undertaking, the king exempted the members from the ordinary export 
duties on the supplies to be carried by them. For the first twenty years 
they were required to pay one-tenth of all mined and precious metals 
instead of the usual one-fifth to the king. For the same number of years 
they were to be exempt from the ordinary excise tax, while for a period 
of ten years household goods taken into New Mexico were to be exempt 
from the ordinary duties, unless they were sold after being taken there. 
Members of the expedition were exempt from submitting, on their depar¬ 
ture from Spain, the usual special personal reports to the Casa de Con¬ 
tratación, provided that the married men were accompanied by their wives 
and that there were no undesirables among the members of the expedition. 
Permission was given Don Pedro to take from New Spain such arms, 
powder, and ammunition as he might choose; to import fifty negro slaves 
free of duty; and to leave New Mexico after six years, provided the 
pacification and conquest of the country was complete and a person could 
be left in charge of the government, pending its disposition by the king, 
who was satisfactory to the viceroy of New Spain. But the most inter¬ 
esting provision reads as follows: “ I will order that you be given the 
necessary warrants . . . notwithstanding the state in which the fulfill¬ 
ment and execution of the said pacification, settlement, and exploration 
may be, or that it may have been commenced, for it is my royal and 
determined will that you and no other person whosoever shall undertake 
the said pacification . . . or if it has been commenced by another that 
you shall continue and finish it.” 34 
On October 16, three weeks after the above mentioned contract was 
signed, a special cédula authorized Don Pedro to give in encomienda, with 
certain qualifications, the Indians of the province. 35 Three days after this, 
82 First patent of the Council of the Indies with Don Pedro Ponce de León, Sept. 7, 
1596. This volume, p. 305. 
38 Contract of the king with Don Pedro Ponce de León, San Lorenzo, Sept. 25, 1596. 
This volume, pp. 305-321. 
34 Ibid. 
35 Royal cédula to Don Pedro Ponce de León, . . . San Lorenzo, Oct. 16, 1596. This 
volume, p. 323. 
