Vicente de Zaldívar, 1603 
407 
to the said Vicente Zaldívar to raise and take the said people, and for 
the aid that was ordered of 1500 ducats for their stores to be paid from 
the treasury of Vera Cruz, and for the permission to take the said people 
without waiting for the fleet—everything, in fact, that had been granted 
to Vicente de Zaldívar for this purpose. The Council desires to know 
what can be done in the matter of giving passage to these people, and in 
what way and at what time it can be done without causing any trouble. 
For this reason your Majesty and the official judges are requested, after 
you have looked into the matter and discussed it, to state what you sug¬ 
gest, with the opinion and mediation of the prior and consuls of the Insti¬ 
tute of Merchants [ universidad de los mercaderes ]. 58 Valladolid, 
May 19, 1603. Signed by the Council. 
[Royal cédula. To the president of the Casa de Contratación. Burgos, 
June 23, 1603 .] 
The King. My president and official judges of the Casa de Contrata¬ 
ción of Seville: Vicente de Zaldívar, maestre de campo of the expedition 
to New Mexico, has represented to me in the name of Don Juan de Oñate, 
in whose charge this expedition is, that it is necessary for the prosecution 
of the undertaking to take from these kingdoms some soldiers 59 —muske¬ 
teers and professional ship-builders—in order to build boats and discover 
ports in those seas, for there is a great lack there of people of this class. 
Having been petitioned by him for permission to raise a certain number 
of them and to take passage on the fleet that will soon be ready to sail for 
that country, because of the great importance of aiding that expedition 
so that there may result from it the good effects hoped for in the service 
of our Lord God and the reduction of the native Indians to our holy 
Catholic faith, I have determined to give permission to the said maestre 
de campo to collect and take from these kingdoms in the said fleet as many 
as forty 60 professional musketeers and ship-carpenters. I also order you, 
after the said maestre de campo has sought and collected them, to make 
arrangements for their supplies and provisions until they disembark at 
San Juan de Ullua with the masters of the merchant ships of the said fleet; 
whatever this amounts to, provided that it does not go beyond 1500 
ducats—which come to 562,500 maravedís 61 —with which I have resolved 
to aid the said Don Juan de Oñate for this time only and for this purpose, 
you will pay to the said masters or the owners of the said ships with whom 
you make the agreement, from one of my royal treasuries of Vera Cruz 
or Mexico, and by this writing or a signed copy of it I order my officials 
of any of the said treasuries to pay from any of my funds which you allow 
them, up to the said quantity for this purpose. 
And since there have also been asked for on the part of the said Don 
Juan de Oñate two pilots for the mapping of the roads which will be 
traversed in that exploration, it is necessary that you look for them and 
that they shall be qualified and experienced. You will make arrangements 
