Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/786

766 can aboriginal could not take a hand might be less burdensome, it was decreed by the viceroy that of the four additional reals demanded by the king, only three should be required in money, a fowl being held equivalent to one real. It was intended as a masterstroke, and might have been called "the raising of revenue made easy." Unfortunately for the Indian, who usually neglected to provide himself with the required fowl, and who was predestined to be cheated even in the payment of an imposition, Spanish speculators bought up the fowls, and advanced the price two hundred or three hundred per cent, so that to obtain a fowl, which in his Majesty's forced loan was to take the place of one real m money, the red subject must pay perhaps three reals in money.

But for all this the country made steady progress in every branch of industry during Velasco's rule; political, commercial, and social conditions were improved, and prosperity prevailed. Under this government were also begun the first preparations for the conquest of New Mexico, which were not wholly completed when the present term was brought to a close. The eminent services of Velasco were duly acknowledged by the crown, many favors being bestowed on him and his family; and on June 7, 1595, he was appointed viceroy for Peru.

On September 18, 1595, the ninth viceroy of New Spain, Gaspar de Zuñiga y Acebedo, count of Monterey, landed at Vera Cruz, and on the fifth of the following month, after observing the usual formalities with respect to the departing viceroy he entered the