Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/279

Rh The last days of Montañez' administration were days of mourning caused by news of the death of the queen of Spain. For three weeks the city was draped with funeral emblems, and religious observances were held in honor of the dead.

In October intelligence reached New Spain that José Sarmiento Valladares, conde de Montezuma, had been appointed viceroy. Connected with the dukes of Lessa, this ruler obtained his title by marriage with Gerónima María, a lineal descendant of the Mexican emperor, and third countess of Montezuma. Accompanied by his wife he took possession of the government on the 18th of December, and on the 2d of February following made his public entry into the city.

During January and February the attendance at the annual fair at Acapulco was unusually large. The galleon from the Philippines arrived safely with so large and valuable a cargo that eighty thousand pesos were paid in custom duties. Merchants from all parts of New Spain hastened to the fair; but what caused the assembly to be so numerous this year, and trading so brisk, was the arrival of a forty-two gun frigate, with a number of Peruvian merchants, who brought with them two million pesos for the purchase of Chinese goods.

While wealth was thus flowing into the country the