The unsuccessful expedition of the previous year, induced the viceroy, in 1682, to adopt other means for the reduction of the refractory Indians to obedience. That vast region was not to be lost, nor were the few inhabitants who still continued to reside on its frontiers, to be abandoned to the mercy of savages. The Marques de la Laguna, therefore resolved to re-colonize Santa Fé, and, accordingly, despatched three hundred families of Spaniards and mulattoes, among whom he divided the land by caballerias. Besides this, he augmented the garrison in all the forts and strongholds scattered throughout the territory, so that agriculture and trade, grouped under the guns of his soldiery, might once more lift up their heads in that remote region in spite of Indian hostility. This measure was of great service in controlling the natives elsewhere. The Indians in the neighboring provinces had begun to exhibit a strong desire to imitate the example of the New Mexican bands, and, in all probability, were only prevented by this stringent measure of the viceroy from freeing themselves from the Spanish yoke.
The administration of the Marques de la Laguna was an unfortunate one for his peace if not for his fame. The expedition which he despatched in 1683 to California, under Don Isidro Otondo, and in which were Jesuits among whom was the celebrated Father Kino, returned from that country three years afterwards after a fruitless voyage and exploration of the coasts. Nor was the eastern coast of New Spain more grateful for the cares of the viceroy. Vera Cruz, the chief port of the realm, was, at this time, warmly besieged and finally sacked by the English pirate Nicholas Agramont, who was drawn thither by a mulatto, Lorencellio, after taking refuge in Jamaica for a crime that he had committed in New Spain. On the 17th of May, Vera Cruz, surrendered to the robbers, who possessed themselves of property to the amount of