Although Spain laid numberless restrictions on exploration and settlement in the endeavour to compel large tribute to the royal coffers, the opening of the next century saw a number of settlements flourishing in New Mexico. Missions were established with greater permanence, the ruins of the old ones bestowing an air of long European occupation on the new land. Villages were settled by Spaniards and their families, cattle, and sheep were brought in larger numbers, and agriculture was developed on a greater scale, so that at last the life of Europe became rooted in this foreign soil. Each governor during his term ruled much at his own pleasure, being so far from the central power, and they went usually on the principle of making hay while the sun shines. The regions away from the Rio Grande were left alone as a rule, though expeditions from time to time went on various errands: to punish the Apaches or other predatory tribes; or, perhaps, to oppose the progress of the French from the eastward. About 1720, one under Villazur, Governor Cossio's lieutenant, was sent out on the plains to the Pawnee villages, for what purpose is not exactly clear, but it seems to have been with an idea of enlisting this tribe against the French. Almost the entire force was massacred, only a few escaping to carry the news to Santa Fé. The Spaniards blamed the French for inciting the natives to this act, and as such action was quite common always by French, Spaniards, and English alike, it is not improbable. By this time a number of Spanish settlements were established in Texas and there was intermittent communication. [Illustration: Church and Mission of San Xavier del Bac, Arizona. Mission Founded 1699. The Church Here Shown was Finished in 1797.] The year Coronado returned Cabrillo coasted north on the Pacific, touching here and there along what is now California, and died at the Santa Barbara Islands, the command then falling to Ferrelo, who explored as far as what is now the southern line of Oregon. The famous English pirate, Drake, thirty-seven years later, with his vessel filled with Spanish plunder, sailed north from the west coast of Mexico endeavouring to find a water passage to the Atlantic. He repaired his ship in a bay, and to-day, just north of the Golden Gate, a small bay is known as Drake's Bay. Another thirteen years and a Greek, Juan de Fuca, discovered the strait which is now known by his name, as well as the great arm of the sea called Puget's Sound. Four years after this Vizcaino was sent with three vessels to explore the northern coast, but he did not then go beyond the Gulf of California.[46]