Juan de Oñate, 1598 
395 
There would be great difficulty in collecting another mass of supplies 
such as Don Juan has gathered, not to mention the time that it would 
require, and the large amount that it would cost. 
That it is very doubtful whether any person coming from Spain, with¬ 
out property in that land or relationship to anyone that might have it, 
could collect by means of money, even though it should be a large sum, 
the men and other things necessary. 
That it is a great drawback if the one who goes to make this expedition 
is not a person of great experience in dealing with the Indians, and it 
seems unlikely that a person going from here, even though he may have 
been there, can be as well-informed as one who was born and reared in 
that country. 
That the person who goes from Spain, no matter how important a man 
he may be, cannot take with him as many near relatives and friends, 
upon whom he can depend, as are necessary to make the rest fear him, 
for the most of the men who go on these expeditions are bold and in¬ 
solent enough to attempt audacities. 
That for the most part the expeditions which have been made from 
Spain have never been successful, while the contrary is the case with 
those which have been made from there [Mexico]. 
Letter from the governor and captain-general of New Mexico, Don Juan 
de Oñate , to the king. [Río de las Conchas, March 15, 159#.] 
T0 our lord, the king, in his royal hands. 
Sir: The difficulties that have been put in the way of the expedition to 
the provinces of New Mexico, which is in my charge through a contract 
made with me by Viceroy Don Luis de Velasco, have been so great that 
it may be regarded as a miracle that it has been possible to adjust them. 
I gave an account of the expedition to your Majesty, making a statement 
of the damage caused me by the detention, and the losses which have fol¬ 
lowed from it, and how much it is costing me, and what I have suffered 
for not giving up my resolution to make it in your service. Also [I gave 
an account of] how, as though it were some wrongful act or might be 
esteemed as mischievous, I met with contradictions and oppositions un¬ 
worthy of Christian breasts, threatening that if the obedience which I so 
punctiliously gave should fail in the smallest particular it would be suffi¬ 
cient to destroy all that had been done and put me in trouble. It is the 
truth, although nothing was found upon which to base the injuries which 
I have received, that they went on multiplying until, with the camp, I 
started very slowly on February 7 of this year, taking eighty carts and 
wagons loaded with the necessary stores and provisions, trusting that by 
the compassionate assistance of God in my good intent I shall accomplish 
the purpose of the expedition, to the increase of the holy Catholic faith 
and the advantage of your royal person. Dwelling little upon the great 
trouble which I have had in resisting the violent efforts of the Count of 
Monterey to dissuade me from going on, I do not know how to say that 
