Count of Monterey, 1596 
377 
Letter from the Count of Monterey to his Majesty with regard to the 
expedition to New Mexico. [ Mexico, November 15, 1596P] 
Sir: By the first and second despatch-boats I gave account to your 
Majesty, among other affairs, of what was to be said about the expedition 
to New Mexico, and, in substance, I informed you that people were being 
recruited and that an attempt would be made to make the entrance in 
June, when the rains commence. Afterwards, at the time when the fleet 
left this country, as your Majesty must know, the people began to leave 
here on the way to Zacatecas and their expedition. In this letter I will 
give an account to your Majesty of what has happened since in this 
business. 
As soon as the people started from here there were many complaints of 
offenses committed in the passage. I sent commissaries, but that was not 
enough, and the clamor reached such a pitch that I was compelled to send, 
according to the decision of the real acuerdo ,* 7 an alcalde, who, after 
travelling but a few leagues, put fear in the soldiers, stopped many out¬ 
rages, and remedied some of the acts, which were not so bad as rumor 
indicated. 
After the people had reached Zacatecas it seemed to me, and to some 
persons of the Audiencia and of the fiscal council with whom I consulted 
about it, that—in order to put into effect the same remedy for the protec¬ 
tion of the herds of Galicia and Vizcaya, and of the mules and Indians and 
other appurtenances of the mining properties of those provinces, which 
are almost all in the passage and which, here and there, it was feared 
would be robbed, and more especially in order to take an inspection and 
muster from Don Juan de Oñate of the people and goods and things which 
he was taking—a person should go on account of your Majesty, entirely 
independent, and of character and standing, so that, without depending 
on anyone, he might ascertain whether Don Juan had carried out his con¬ 
tract, in which case he should permit him to enter, and, in the contrary 
case, he should detain him and his people, as would comport with the 
rights of your Majesty and your royal conscience and authority, and the 
reputation of our nation among the Indians of that land. Accordingly 
I named and sent for this purpose Don Lope de Ulloa, captain of my 
guard. He carried out his orders well, gathering the people together and 
getting them well on the way, and postponing the inspection and muster, 
according to his instructions, until the last settlement had been passed, 
so that there might be no misunderstanding about cattle and other property 
belonging to others and so that this examination should be made at the 
same time as the entrance, without giving time or opportunity for removal 
or damage of what was to be inspected before it could be carried into effect. 
Affairs being in this state, I received in the latter part of July a decree 
from your Majesty done at Aceca on May 8, of this year, in which your 
Majesty orders me not to permit or give opportunity to the said Don Juan 
de Oñate to make this entrance or to continue it if he has commenced it, 
but that it shall be given up until your Majesty shall decree and order 
what seems best to you, of which I would shortly be informed. In ful¬ 
fillment of the decree, I immediately sent, in haste and in duplicate, an 
