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304 but the pressure brought to bear on the king from the New World metropolis was always too strong, and the interests of the province were disregarded.

The total population of Nueva Galicia in the middle of the eighteenth century was estimated at not less than two hundred thousand, of which number sixty thousand were Indians and the remainder of Spanish and mixed blood. Though this seems a comparatively high figure, Mota-Padilla certainly had excellent apportunities for obtaining correct statistics. During the second half of the century the population seems to have increased more rapidly; for we find that at the beginning of the nineteenth century the population of Guadalajara was variously estimated at from nineteen to thirty-five thousand, and that under the jurisdiction of the audiencia as high as six hundred and thirty thousand.

It will be remembered that at the close of the sixteenth century Zacatecas was the new El Dorado which attracted settlers and adventurers from all parts; the population rapidly increased; mines were being discovered and developed, and a great future seemed to be in store for the new colony. At that time the site of the city of Zacatecas seemed anything but pleasant