Luís de Velasco , 1601 
437 
him the favor or favors which such loyal services merit, employing him 
in serious affairs of intimacy and weight. For, in having taken part dur¬ 
ing the time mentioned in this expedition and its provinces he has fulfilled 
his obligation, and he has no other motive in leaving this country than 
his extreme necessity, and in order that he may not die of hunger without 
his Majesty receiving any service from his stay. And, since five religious 
have determined, with the permission of their commissary, to leave these 
provinces and go to New Spain, for reasons they have alleged relating to 
the service of God and his Majesty, and as the said religious have asked 
me for an escort, for this reason I order Captain Don Luís de Velasco 
to go as escort to the aforesaid religious, with other companions whom I 
shall appoint, and not to leave them until they reach a place where they 
will be in safety and free from danger, which will be, moreover, for the 
good of the service of God and his Majesty. Issued in this town and camp 
of San Gabriel of these provinces, on the sixteenth day of the month of 
September, 1601. 
Captain Juan de Castañeda, factor and overseer of the real hacienda, 
and lieutenant-governor and captain-general of this kingdom of Nueva 
Vizcaya. . . . Inasmuch as Don Juan Felis Dias, who was appointed 
captain and alcalde mayor of the province of Santa Bárbara, valley of 
San Bartolomé, the mines of Todos Santos, and their district, by his long 
absence from the district, bordering as it does on mountain Indians, left it 
unprotected, and, as this will be the cause, unless some person is quickly 
appointed to undertake the said duties, of an uprising among the said 
Indians—in view of this, and being confident that you, Don Luís Gaseo 
de Velasco, are the kind of person who will serve his Majesty with zeal 
and diligence, as you have already done in the campaign and exploration 
of New Mexico in the office of captain and chief of cavalry, of which 
I have been informed, and [believing], because of my confidence in your 
person and worth, that you will carry out what is entrusted to you by me 
and ordered in the name of his Majesty, I appoint and name you captain 
and alcalde mayor of the said province of Santa Barbara, valley of San 
Bartolomé, mines of Todos Santos and all their district, as Don Juan 
Felis was. . . . 
Francisco de Urdiñola, governor and captain-general of this kingdom 
of Nueva Vizcaya. . . . Inasmuch as Don Alonso Maldonado Saavedra, 
who was appointed alcalde mayor of the mines of Santiago, of Mapimi, 
and San Lorenzo del Casco and their district, has completed the time for 
which he was so appointed, and it is necessary to name a person to exercise 
the said duty, and, being confident that you, Don Luís Gaseo de Velasco, 
will well and faithfully serve his Majesty, in what you may be charged 
with by me, as you have done in the campaign and exploration of the 
provinces of New Mexico ... in the company of Governor Don Juan 
de Oñate, of which I have complete account—in view of these things, in 
the name of his Majesty, I appoint and name you captain and alcalde 
mayor of the said mines. . . . You will take special care that the natives 
in your district are well treated and instructed in the articles of our holy 
