CHAPTER XXVII.
THE REIGN OF THE VICEROYS.—Continued.
[A. D. 1551.] Don Louis de Velasco, the second viceroy, was a worthy successor of Mendoza, and one possessed, apparently, of more firmness than he, for he had the courage to carry out the laws for the liberation of the Indians. He released from slavery more than one hundred and fifty thousand Indians, who toiled for the benefit of their oppressors in the mines, in the fields, and in the mountains. By his humane conduct Velasco brought upon him the enmity of the planters and mine-owners, who were becoming rich from the labor of their Indian slaves, and who procured from the king a partial revocation of the laws in favor of the friendless race.
In 1553 was founded the royal university at the city of Mexico by an order of the emperor, Charles V., dated September, 1551. In the same year occurred a great inundation, the first since the occupation of Mexico by the Spaniards, and a great dike was constructed, in imitation of that ancient work of the Aztec kings.
In 1555 the Chichimecs, or wild Indians of the north, rebelled and committed great depredations, and Don Francisco Ibarra was dispatched to conquer and explore the territory to the north and west; this he did successfully, discovered many rich mines of gold and silver, and the city of Durango was founded in 1563.
In the year 1557 the news reached Mexico of the abdication of Charles V., and the accession to the throne of
