herds of sheep and cattle. Taking formal possession of New Mexico, May 30, 1598, he moved up the Rio Grande to where the hamlet of Chamita now is (north of Santa Fe), and there founded in September of that year, San Gabriel de los Españoles (St. Gabriel of the Spaniards), the second town in the United States.

Oñate was remarkable not only for his success in colonizing a country so forbidding as this then was, but also as an explorer. He ransacked all the country round about, travelled to Acoma and put down a revolt of the Indians and, in 1600, made an expedition into Nebraska.

In 1604, with thirty men, he marched from San Gabriel across that grim desert to the Gulf of California, and returned to San Gabriel in April, 1605. By that time the English had penetrated no farther into the interior of America than forty or fifty miles from the Atlantic coast.

In 1605 Oñate founded Santa Fe, the City of the Holy Faith of St. Francis, about whose age a great many foolish fables have been written. The city actually celebrated the three hundred and thirty-third anniversary of its founding twenty years before it was three centuries old.

In 1606 Oñate made another expedition to the far northeast, about which expedition we know almost nothing; and in 1608, he was superseded by Pedro de Peralta, the second governor of New Mexico.

Oñate was of middle age when he made this very striking record. Born on the frontier, used to the deserts, endowed with great tenacity, coolness and knowledge of frontier warfare, he was

the very man to succeed in planting the first considerable colonies in the United States at their most dangerous and difficult points."

The following account is condensed from Bancroft, and taken from all accessible authorities, mainly from a book published in 1610, and from documents obtained in modern times from the Spanish archives, and, as Bancroft says: "Now utilized practically for the first time in writing the history of New Mexico.'

From this account it appears that Oñate was not the unselfish hero that Lummis describes, but was not without selfish motives in his patriotic desire to colonize and conquer the territory which had heretofore been explored by Coronado and Espejo, and to extend the dominion of the church.

According to Gregg's resume of the memorial made by Oñate to the Crown, Oñate offered to raise 200 men, and to supply at his own expense livestock, implements, merchandise, and one year's provisions for the colony. In return he asked for himself the titles of governor, etc., for five lives; 30 leagues of land with all the vassals thereon; a salary of 8,000 ducats annually, and exemption from the crown tax for working mines; for his family hereditary nobility and liberal encomiendas; for his army, arms and ammunition; for his officers, repartimientos of native laborers for his colony, a loan of 20,000 pesos from the royal treasury, and for the spiritual wellbeing of all, 6 friars and the fitting church accoutrements. He also asked for instructions respecting the forcible conversion of

gentiles and the collection of tribute. Gregg does not indicate what demands were granted or declined in the marginal note, nor is it apparent whether this was the original arrangement, or the final one, as modified by a new viceroy. It is stated in the N. Mex. Mem. 188-9, that Velasco accepted the offer by indorsing the several articles of the petition in marginal notes. Villagra (the poet-historian of the expedition), says that Oñate got 4,000 dollars in money; Torquemada and Calle add also 6,000 dollars as a loan. (Marginal note, Bancroft's "Arizona and New Mexico," pp. 116-7). Concerning which Bancroft says: "Oñate's petition and contract are not extant; but the former with marginal notes of approval and dissent was seen by Gregg at Santa Fe; and his brief resume, confirmed by incidental allusions in other documents, shows that the contract did not differ materially from the earlier ones that have been described. empresario agreed to raise a force of 200 men or more at his own expense; but seems to have been furnished by the king with a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition, and even a sum of money, being also authorized to confiscate the property of Bonilla and other adventurers (who had preceded him into New Mexico without the authority of the Crown) if he could catch them. He was made governor, adelantado, and captain-general of the territories to be colonized; and his somewhat extravagant claims for honors, titles, lands and other emoluments, were freely granted by Velasco so far as the royal instructions would permit."

The

This was about the year 1595. The contract signed, Don Juan secured the support of the highest officials and most influential men of Mexico, Nueva Galicia and Nueva Vizcaya and invoked the aid of his four brothers and his four nephews, the Zaldivars, with other active friends, and began to recruit an army, by no means a long and difficult task. Captain Vicente Zaldivar was made sargento mayor, and unfurled his enlistment banner in the grand plaza of Mexico with a salute of artillery. The scenes of '30 and '40 under Guzman and Coronado were repeated; recruits came from all directions, attracted by the favorable terms offered and the hope of wealth and fame in the north. The ranks were soon full. Success was assured, and preparations were made for an early departure when a change of viceroys occurred, the Count of Monterey succeeding Velasco. Oñate's brilliant prospects and the unusual powers granted him created jealousy; his foes and rivals at once banding together, had more influence over the new viceroy than over the old one. Before he reached the capital, Monterey asked for a delay, but after Velasco had explained the matter by letter, consented to a completion of the arrangements. Arriving and taking possession of his office on November 5th, Monterey proceeded leisurely to investigate the adelantado's fitness for his position and the truth of certain charges made against him. The exact nature of the charges is not explained, but soon everyone not interested in the enterprise itself, seems to have had something to say against Don Juan. The leader of

the opposition, Pedro Ponce de Leon, wishing to undertake the conquista, wrote the king on December 20th, asking that ratification of Oñate's project be delayed until new information was obtained. The poet's narrative of these and similar complications, says Bancroft, is confirmed by documents from the Spanish archives.

Eventually the viceroy approved his predecessor's contract with certain modifications, insisting particularly that Oñate should not, as he demanded, be independent of the audiencia in the administration of justice, or of the viceroy in war and finance, which seems to have been a proper curtailment of his powers, for had the demands of Oñate been complied with, he would have been an absolute despot in the country over which he was appointed to rule.

Preparations were now actively renewed for the march, but when the modifications alluded to became known to some members of the colony, whose privileges were more or less curtailed, a new storm of complaints gathered, of which Oñate's foes did not fail to take advantage. To escape these, he made haste to begin his march northward. "In June, 1596, Lope de Ulloa y Lemos was commissioned by Monterey to make a visita general, or inspection and inventory. Ulloa was also instructed to remove the army from the settlements on account of certain complaints of disorderly conduct, and he began his inspection in July, appointing Francisco de Esquivel as assistant or comisario," which caused a delay, but the viceroy had sent a friendly letter, assuring the governor that the visita was a mere