each, the imposition of which the viceroy strove in vain to avert, and which was the cause of much suffering. In 1595 this viceroy was promoted to Peru, his seat being taken by Don Caspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, who exhibited his firmness and humanity by relieving the Indians of that odious tax. In 1596 an expedition was fitted out for the exploration of the California coast, and colonists started for New Mexico, the land of the Pueblos, from which they later returned dissatisfied with the country. The year 1597 is celebrated in Mexican annals as that in which perished "Saint Philip of Jesus," a native of Mexico, who was crucified in Japan, whither he had gone on missionary work.
[A. D. 1598.] Philip II. of Spain, the ferocious persecutor of his race and kindred, did the world an unwilling service by dying, and his loathsome, worm-infested body was consigned to earth. The news of this important event did not reach Mexico till 1599, in which year the city of Monterey was founded.
[A. D. 1600.] In the year following, 1600, the city of Vera Cruz was transferred from its ancient site, where it had been located by Cortez, to the one it at present occupies, in the vain hope that the last would prove more salubrious.
[A. D. 1602.] The coast of California, which in our time became El Dorado—the land of gold—was thoroughly explored, in 1602, by General Viscaino, by order of Philip III., the new King of Spain and the Indies. Setting sail from the port of Acapulco with four vessels he reached the port of Monterey—named in honor of the viceroy—and eventually coasted as far as Cape Mendocino, in latitude 40° north. Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the service of Spain, discovered California in the year 1542, and the buccaneer, Drake, took possession of it for Queen
