As the wealth and importance of the viceroyalty increased, the Court of Spain sent representatives to the colonial capital whose rank and previous services to the Crown entitled them to the most exalted position in the realm, next to that of the sovereign himself; the salary of a viceroy was seventy thousand dollars, his official income being double that amount from various other sources. The Duke de la Palata and Prince of Masa, who succeeded the Count de Castellar, had held high offices of state for thirty years prior to his appointment as Viceroy of Peru. He belonged to the royal house of Navarre and had been a member of the council of regency during the minority of Charles II. of Spain. With such prestige and renown, it was to be expected that his reception in the colonial capital would be of the most magnificent description. The chronicles of the period state that the noble duke was welcomed with such pomp and splendor as his royal master might have envied, the street along which he was conducted to the palace being paved with ingots of silver, while the triumphal arch through which he made his entry to the city was supported on silver pillars. The robes of the high functionaries who received the viceroy and his suite sparkled with costly jewels, and in the Cathedral and the palace enough gold and silver were displayed to pave another _calle_. And all this wealth existed in spite of the millions sent annually to Spain, and the misfortunes the colony had suffered from time to time in consequence of interruptions in the working of the mines, epidemics, earthquakes, and attacks from filibustering expeditions, that increased as the precious galleons of Spain were more and more heavily laden with gold and silver to attract their cupidity.