Juan de Oñate, 1595 
227 
ordered that which is stated on the margin of each one. Don Luís de 
Velasco. Before me Martín López de Gauna. 
Most Illustrious Sir: I, Don Juan de Oñate, resident of the city of 
Nuestra Señora de las Zacatecas, of the new kingdom of Galicia, declare: 
That, having offered to your most illustrious lordship my person to 
serve his Majesty and your lordship in his royal name in the pacification 
of New Mexico and the occasions that have offered, continuing in this 
what I have done for more than twenty years up to now in the war with 
and the pacification of the Chichimecas and Guachichiles Indians and 
other nations in the kingdoms of Nueva Galicia and Vizcaya at my own 
cost and expense, imitating my father, Cristóbal de Oñate, 3 who, while 
exercising the duty and office of captain-general in the said kingdom of 
Galicia, conquered, pacified, and settled the major part of the said king¬ 
dom at his expense. In this he spent a very large sum of money, as is 
known to your lordship and is public and notorious, following in the 
footsteps of his ancestors, who always employed themselves like noble 
knights in the service of the royal crown of Castile. And your lordship 
having been pleased to do me the favor of accepting my offer, and to 
order me to enter the said province in pursuit of Captain Francisco de 
Leyva Bonilla 4 and his companions, so that they might be arrested and 
receive the punishment which their offense merited in having entered un¬ 
lawfully and contrary to the order of your lordship and the special pro¬ 
hibition of his Majesty—not to mention the great difficulties that would 
result and will result from the disturbance and ill treatment of the natives, 
for cause of which their conversion and pacification will not be so easy in 
the future; and because the principal purpose that should be held and 
which his Majesty exhibits, and no less your lordship in his royal name, is 
this conversion, and the one is closely joined to the other; and because it 
would be possible to procure the punishment of the said delinquents and 
at the same time the service of God and the king, our lord, in the said 
conversion and pacification, I again offer to your lordship my person so 
that your lordship may thus be pleased to employ it in the said exploration, 
pacification, and conversion of the said provinces of New Mexico. 
I beg that your most illustrious lordship will do me the favor to accept 
the said offer and to choose my person for the said purpose; and for what 
concerns it I present the following: 
First, I offer to take two hundred men and over, equipped with every¬ 
thing necessary and supplies sufficient to reach the settlements and until 
after I have reached them—all at my expense and that of the said soldiers, 
without his Majesty being obliged to pay them any salary besides what I 
will voluntarily give them from my funds. 
Item: 1500 pesos worth of flour and corn. 
Item: 500 pesos worth of wheat for sowing. 
Item: 500 pesos worth of jerked beef. 
Item: 1000 head of cattle. 
Item: 3000 sheep for wool. 
Item: 1000 sheep for mutton. 
Item: 1000 goats. 
