town being formed by a few Spanish settlers assisted by a number of allies.[1] Celaya and other towns also sprang up, and by 1680 the district claimed six hundred Spaniards. In 1576 Luis de Leixa had penetrated north-eastward, and on the slope of a metal-bearing mountain he founded the town of San Luis Potosí, which became the seat of the alcaldía mayor controlling for a time the whole region northward,[2] and promoting thence its settlement.
Very naturally these rich and promising districts were objects of parental solicitude to the government, and as armed measures availed so little against the inroads of the savages, Velasco determined to try concession. In 1591, while seeking to devise the best means for the accomplishment of his purpose, he was gladdened by the arrival of an embassy from the hostile tribes, desirous to sue for peace. The Indians had been persuaded to this step by the mestizo, Captain Caldera, whose mother was a Chichimec. Caldera was a brave soldier, and a person of influence among his mother’s people. He had been able to convince them that continued war against the stronger race was useless, and they had now decided to make a treaty. The ambassadors were cordially received by the viceroy, and when, in return for their allegiance,
- ↑ At this place existed a relic venerated generally under the name of Señor de la Conquista, and also a crucifix spotted with the blood of Father Francisco Doncel, the minister of Chamacuero in the same district, who with Frair Pedro Burgense had been murdered by Indians. With the pacification of Indians San Felipe declined. Torquemada, i. 640-2; Mex., Informes, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xv. 247; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, ix. 110, 143.
- ↑ It was named after Leixa, Potosí being added because of its similarity in rich veins and site to the Peruvian city. Frair Diego de la Magdalena is also claimed as the founder. Its alcalde mayor in 1584 was Gaspar de Castaño. In 1656 it was made a city, and so confirmed by cédula of Aug. 17, 1658. In 1787 it had 22,000 inhabitants. Among the settlements founded in this region are Matechula, 1550; San Gerónimo de Agua Hedionda, 1552; Charcas Viejas, formerly Real Natividad, 1564, whose site was changed in 1583; and San Pedro mines, about 1586. The Tlascaltec towns of Tlascalilla, Mezquitic, and El Venado, 1580 to 1595; Santa María del Rio, whose site was afterward changed, 1589. See Torquemada, i. 640; Arlegui, Cron. Zac., 73 et seq.; Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 280; Castillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3da ép., v. 497, 503-8; Iturribarria, in Museo Mex., iv. 12; Gonzalez, Col. Doc. N. Leon, p. vi.
