Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/27

Rh visitador, in 1609, to the relief of the officials, who had sought to hasten his removal by charges of bribery and other misconduct. Torquemada condemns his opponents, and lauds him highly as a man of unimpeachable rectitude, a friend of the Indians, and one who returned poorer than he came.

In the first year of Velasco's rule was begun the famous drainage work of Huehuetoca, already projected by Enriquez, whereby Mexico hoped to obtain relief from the inundations which had caused such oft-repeated misery. The rains in the autumn of 1604 had been so heavy as to inflict great damage, and leave some parts of the city under water for a year. In the midst of this suffering a Franciscan spread terror among the people by preaching in the public square against the prevailing wickedness, and declaring that the city deserved to be destroyed. Quite a panic fell on all classes, and the churches were crowded all night by penitents. No cataclysm followed; but three days later an earthquake was felt, which frightened several persons to death.

So discouraged were the people that they seriously considered the expediency of removing the capital to the hills of Tacubaya; but property-owners, who had over twenty millions of pesos at stake, succeeded in preventing the movement. Montesclaros, then ruling, favored the drainage undertaking, but so many objections were raised that he turned his attention wholly to repairing the dike of San Lázaro and the causeways of San Antonio and Chapultepec, while he finished that of San Cristóbal, in addition to constructing the causeway of Guadalupe. Notwithstanding