five days. There they took in supplies, waiting about fifteen days for the fleet from Nombre de Dios, which brought the treasures from Peru; thence passing through the Bahama Channel, off Cape Cañaveral, they sailed away from Spain.[1] Of course there were shipwrecks, one of the most notable of early times being the loss of the admiral's ship, coming with an anxiously expected fleet from Spain, which was dashed to pieces on the reefs at the mouth of Vera Cruz Harbor, during a norther early in 1588. Over one hundred and eighty persons perished in sight of the town, for lack of boats on shore to deliver them.[2]
A consulate or commercial tribunal was originated in the city of Mexico in 1581, under whose protection the growing commerce of the country might be regulated. The merchants hailed this institution with satisfaction, for Mexico was now the commercial centre for traders from Asia, America, and Europe, and the harbors of Vera Cruz and Acapulco had become famous in the trafficking world.[3]
But what were shipwrecks, and the depredations of filibusters, and the loss of galleons, with the consequent curses of the men, and the low long-drawn complaints of women — what to the unhappy representative of royalty were such troubles compared with those attending the regulations of the social spheres? "By thee, O king! we live and move and have our being," the maids and matrons of New Spain might say. "Thou givest us better than corn and wine — husbands great or small according to thy good pleasure; and frocks and ribbons, in thy great Majesty determining the extent and colors of them." And if Philip so said, Vallamanrique must take his viceregal seat on
- ↑ Hortop's Travailes, in Haklvyt's Voy., iii. 493.
- ↑ The admiral and over 100 persons were saved by the exertions of some few who ventured out in boats to their assistance. Ponce, Relacion, in Col. Doc. Inéd., lviii. 480.
- ↑ Though begun in 1581, the establishment of the consulate was not fully established until 10 or 12 years later. For details and list of officers, see Calle, Mem. y Not., 53; Vetancvrt, Trat. Mex., 30-1.
