Capitulations with Oñate , 1595 
277 
they must have, and in consideration of which they have spent a very great 
sum of money to prepare for the journey, and have suffered and are suffer¬ 
ing great troubles in it. And if before they complete it they are deprived 
of the power and grants and favors which his Majesty offers by the royal 
ordinances to Don Juan and those who are serving with such pleasure, 
their strength will be exhausted and the ardor lost with which they have 
begun so strongly. It is therefore just that Don Juan shall have the power 
to apportion the Indians, without having to give account to his Majesty, 
but in accordance with the services that each one of the conquistadores 
may have given, for this great favor is what is needed to make the expedi¬ 
tion and to bring it to completion, to the great increase of the royal patri¬ 
mony that must result from it. 
Disadvantages of modification 6. If they are ordered to give account 
to his Majesty and to secure confirmation of it, it will appear doubtful to 
them and that they will have to spend more in this than the expedition will 
cost them, as will happen if each one does not come in his own behalf. 
What is most important to his Majesty is that the world shall understand 
that the governor has the power to apportion [the Indians] and to appoint 
and remove [officials], for this will give him strength and people with 
which to make the journey, while the other is to take it from him, as has 
happened since the Count of Monterey made modifications. This is noth¬ 
ing new, for to-day in some of the conquered and pacified provinces of 
Peru and the new kingdom 18 and in that of Guatemala the presidents of 
the audiencias give these apportionments when they fall vacant [en va¬ 
cando] by their own authority and without subordination to anyone else, 
and by this means the land is settled with noble and reliable people and is 
kept in peace. 
Article 7. Item: That to the said conquerors and settlers, the favor 
which his Majesty grants them in ordinance 99 shall be extended, making 
them and their descendants gentlemen of noble family, so that they may 
enjoy all the honors and privileges and may be empowered to do all the 
things that all nobles and knights of the kingdoms of Castile, according 
to the statutes, laws, and customs of Castile, have the right to do and 
enjoy, in conformity with the said ordinance. Let him be granted what 
is provided in article 99 of the ordinances. 
Ordinance 99. In order to honor the persons of those who shall obli¬ 
gate themselves to make the said settlement, and who shall make the set¬ 
tlement and fulfill their agreement, and their descendants, and so that 
there shall remain honorable memory of them as the first settlers, we make 
them and their legitimate descendants gentlemen of noble estate, so that 
in the pueblos that they may settle and in all other parts of the Indies they 
shall be gentlemen and nobles of recognized lineage and estate. And 
they shall be received as such and shall enjoy all the honors and privileges 
and have the right to do all the things that all gentlemen and knights of 
these kingdoms, according to the statutes, laws, and customs of Spain, 
have the power and right to do and enjoy. 
Modification. That the prerogatives which the conquerors are to enjoy 
in conformity with the said ordinance are to be understood as applying 
