no gold or silver had been found and the viceroy was receiving reports of mistreatment of the indians and of near-starvation of the settlers. due to these problems, on 13 september 1608 the council of the indies made a formal recommendation that new mexico be abandoned. however, soon afterwards, fray lázaro jiménez brought news from new mexico that 7,000 indians had been converted and baptized. they could not be abandoned, so king philip iii of spain suspended the order to evacuate the colony.