Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/247

Rh was made by either Spaniards or French during the next twenty years.

About this time the occupation of Pensacola had been resolved upon, partly with a view to check the further encroachments of the French, and an expedition having been sent from Vera Cruz in 1693 to examine the bay and select a site, the following year troops, colonists, and supplies were landed, and the erection of a fort and town was immediately begun. In 1696 both town and fortifications were complete, and the name of Santa María was given to the bay and colony.

Notwithstanding some drawbacks, the administration of Viceroy Galve up to 1691 had given general satisfaction, and the arrival in November of a decree extending his term of office was made the occasion for a public rejoicing. But this second term proved to be as disastrous as the previous one had been for the most part prosperous. Shortly before its commencement inundation and famine had visited the fair valley of Mexico.

Contrary to custom, on the death, in 1689, of the queen. Doña María Luisa, wife of Cárlos II., the usual funeral ceremonies and mourning were omitted, but not so the festivities which, a year later, were celebrated with extraordinary splendor in honor of the marriage of the king with Mariana de Neoburgo.

These brilliant festivities were, however, interrupted on the 9th of June by a sudden freshet which swept down into the valley, carrying away houses and cattle, destroying in its course the wheat crops and the flour stored in the mills, and inundating for a time the western portion of the city. With the exception of a slight rain on the preceding day the weather in the city and its vicinity had for months