Juan de Oñate, 1606 
413 
way, to give permission to the said Don Alonso de Oñate for the ship in 
which the said people are to be taken to load and take as many as forty or 
fifty tons of products of the country, or the least that will make it possible 
for them to be able to prepare and make their voyage. Valladolid, 
July 19, 1604. 
To the Marquis of Montesclaros: He shall cause the exploration of New 
Mexico to cease and he discontinued, and he shall order the recall 
and detention in Mexico of Don Juan de Oñate , who was commis¬ 
sioned by contract to make the said exploration; when the soldiers 
have all been disbanded he shall place a governor over the explored 
country. [MadridJune 17, 1606 .] 
The King. Marquis of Montesclaros, my relative, viceroy, governor, 
and captain-general of the provinces of New Spain: You already know 
that Don Juan de Oñate, resident of the City of Mexico, was commis¬ 
sioned by contract to make the said exploration, pacification, and settle¬ 
ment of New Mexico, in which he is now engaged, and that it was repre¬ 
sented upon his part that, although he had discovered some settlements 
and that the country promised much produce, substance, and riches, and 
that he had very great hopes of accomplishing what was sought for 
through the people whom he was converting, yet, because of the small 
means of which he found himself possessed, he could not continue the 
undertaking unless I should order that he be given assistance with three 
hundred 68 men, paid and provided with the necessaries. Having re¬ 
ceived information at that time, through letters from religious and secular 
persons who were in the said New Mexico and who went upon the ex¬ 
pedition, of lawless acts and crimes 69 committed by the said Don Juan 
de Oñate and some of his relatives, in the year 1602, I sent an order to 
the Count of Monterey, your predecessor in that government, that, after 
first informing himself secretly whether this was true, he should send a 
person to make an investigation and administer punishment; if Don Juan 
de Oñate should be found to be so guilty and affairs in such a condition 
that it was not desirable that he should remain there, the expedition should 
be put in a state of safety, so that what had been explored might be pre¬ 
served and the conversion of the Indians be continued. Afterwards, the 
said count having been promoted to the governorship of Peru, in order 
that the command that I had given him might be carried out, by a decree 
of mine of May 26, 1603, you were informed of it and I turned over to 
you the decision and execution of what was asked for on the part of the 
said Don Juan de Oñate, if it should be desirable for the prosecution of 
the said enterprise; so that, having learned from the said Count of Mon¬ 
terey of the state in which it was and what had resulted from the inves¬ 
tigation of the offenses of the said Don Juan de Oñate, you should take 
such measures as should appear best to you to accomplish the purpose 
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