[To his Majesty. Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdez sends a certificate

I certify to the king, our lord, and to the most excellent senor viceroy, governor and captain-general of this New Spain, etc,: That I founded a villa on the banks and in the valley of the Rio del Norte in a good place as regards land, water, pasture, and fire-wood, about twenty-two leagues from the villa of Santa Fe. I gave it as patron titular saint the glorious apostle of the Indies, Senor Francisco Xavier, and called and named it the villa of Albuquerque. It has a good site and location, and I bore in mind [in all this] that which his Majesty provides in his royal laws in titulo seven, book four of the Recopilacion. Thirty-five families have been settled, including two hundred and fifty-two persons, large and small. The church is done; it is very capacious and decent. Part of the minister’s dwelling is also finished. The principal royal houses are begun, the other houses for the settlers are finished, with their corrals and irrigation ditches in place and the water running. The fields are sown; everything is in good order, and there has been no expense to the royal treasury.

I also certify that I settled the old pueblo of Galisteo with one hundred and fifty families of Christian Indians of the Thanos nation who have been scattered since the year 1702, living in the other pueblos, ranches and frontier places, poorly and unhappily. To-day they are very happily congregated in their pueblo, named Santa Maria de la Gracia de Galisteo. The church is newly rebuilt, as is the convent. It has no minister, bells, or ornaments. The cornfields are planted and cultivated, also at no expense up to date to the royal treasury; this is the case with both of the new settlements, to which I certify. In order that [all the foregoing] may be made evident, I give the present certification in testimony of the truth in this villa of Santa Fe on the twenty-third day of the month of April, 1706. Signed by my hand, sealed with the seal of my arms, and countersigned by the undersigned secretary of government and war, on this common paper because we have no stamped paper, nor is it in use in these parts, to which I attest, etc.

Francisco Cuervo y Valdez.

Signature of the secretary,

Alonso Rael de Aguilar