Upon the death of the last viceroy, the Audiencia, of course, took possession of the government during the interregnum;--and, as it seems that this body of men was always doomed to celebrate its authority by acts of folly or cruelty, we find that soon after its accession to power the city was alarmed by the news of another outbreak among the negroes. The people were panic struck. A terrible noise had been heard in the streets of the metropolis during the night, and, although it was proved that the disturbance was entirely caused by the entrance, during the darkness, of a large drove of hogs, the Audiencia determined, nevertheless, to appease public opinion by the execution of twenty-nine male negroes and four negro women! Their withered and fetid bodies were left to hang on the gallows, tainting the air and shocking the eyes of every passer, until the neighborhood could no longer bear the sickly stench and imperiously demanded their removal. * * * * * The Marques de Guadalcazar took possession of the viceroyalty on the 28th of October, 1612, and his government passed in quiet engaged in the mere ordinary discharge of executive duties during the first four years, subsequent to which an Indian insurrection of a formidable character broke out in one of the departments, under a chief who styled himself "Son of the Sun and God of Heaven and Earth." This assault was fatal to every Spaniard within reach of the infuriate natives, who broke into the churches, murdered the whites seeking sanctuary at their altars, and spared not even the ecclesiastics, who, in all times, have so zealously proved themselves to be the defenders of their race. Don Gaspar Alvear, Governor of Durango, assembled a large force as soon as the viceroy informed him of the insurrection, and marched against the savages. After three months of fighting, executions and diplomacy, this functionary succeeded in suffocating the rebellion; but he was probably more indebted, for the final reconciliation of the Indians, to the persuasive talents of the Jesuits who accompanied the expedition, than to the arms of his soldiers. The remaining years of this viceroyalty are only signalized by the founding of the city of Cordova,--whose neighborhood is renowned for the excellent tobacco it produces,--and for the construction of the beautiful aqueduct of San Cosmé which brings the sweet waters of Santa Fé to the capital. This monument to the intelligence and memory of Guadalcazar was completed in 1620; and, in March, 1621, the viceroy was removed to the government of Peru. [Footnote 35: Velasco had been sent to Peru eleven years before, and after governing it seven, had returned to reside in Mexico, when he was unexpectedly reappointed viceroy.] [Footnote 36: The level of Tezcoco is now, according to Mühlenpfordt, five feet seven inches (Spanish) below that of the city of Mexico.] [Footnote 37: Ward's Mexico in 1827, vol. 2, p. 282 et seq.]