Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/738

718 The new comisario, who arrived in 1586, despatched to Spain six of the chief instigators of the disturbances, while Ponce, though justified by his superiors, was ignominiously sent to Spain by the viceroy in 1588; the provision made for him and his secretary being scanty and of inferior quality.

The second Franciscan province in the order of precedence was that of Michoacan. Until 1565 it formed together with Jalisco a custodia that had been erected in 1535 by Father Martin de la Coruña, or de Jesus, and it progressed so much in the foundation of new convents that the general chapter held at Valladolid, Spain, raised it to the rank of a separate province, with the name of San Pedro y San Pablo. About 1570 it had, within sixty leagues, twenty-seven or twenty-eight convents with fifty friars. In 1586 the province extended over one hundred and twenty leagues from east to west, with a comparatively small expanse from north to south. It was then in two distinct portions, namely, Michoacan with twenty-three convents and seventy-eight friars, and New Galicia with twenty-five convents. About this time New Galicia gave up three convents, retaining twenty-two, with fifty-seven friars. It being impossible for one provincial to visit and rule so vast a territory, a comisario provincial was created, and when the provincial was in Jalisco the comisario ruled in Michoacan,