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Rh to take their residencia, and gained the gratitude of the people by suspending three of them, Lebron de Quiñones, Contreras, and Oseguera. The latter managed to be reinstated, however, and retrieved himself so well that he was promoted to a similar office in Mexico. The bishopric of New Galicia was erected at Compostela in 1544, including within its ecclesiastical purview all the explored regions north of the Michoacan boundary. The first incumbent was Pedro Gomez Maraver, and the seat was transferred to the new capital at or about the same time the secular government was transferred.

The audiencia of New Galicia, aware of the great wealth of the mines in Sinaloa, Durango, and elsewhere, with the view of adding area to its rule, and of controlling those rich deposits, resolved in 1552 to undertake the conquest of the whole region, beginning with the rich sierras of Guaynamota, Guazamota, and Jocotlan, situated some fifteen leagues from Compostela. On the other hand, Spaniards, both civilians and soldiers, were already making settlements in a considerable part of the country, and Chametla, a province lying between Compostela and the villa de Culiacan, would soon be under Viceroy Velasco’s control.

For the chief command of the expedition was selected Ginés Vazquez de Mercado, said to have been a brave officer and a worthy cavalier. He was given