Over the 17th century the viceroy and royal officials of the Mexico City treasury allowed the situados to fall seriously behind. By 1642 the drafts against unpaid situados amounted to 250,000 pesos, four times the yearly subsidy. Four years later the situador was forced to ask for a cedula ordering the Mexico City officials to turn over the current situado to him instead of to Florida’s creditors. ...[Note 29: Nicolas Ponce de Leon 9/25/1642; Juan de Instueta 2/5/1646; Gov. Guerra y Vega 4/8/1666] Although something was applied to these arrearages from time to time, the case seemed hopeless to the unpaid soldiers and to the local men and women who made their shoes and did their laundry. The crown set guidelines for paying back salaries in a fair manner, then circumvented its own instructions by giving out personal cedulas for some individuals to collect their wages ahead of the rest. [Note 30: Juan Jimenez 6/1/1627; Salvador de Cigarroa and Francisco de la Rocha 7/20/1678; Juan Fernandez de Florencia 1/21/1676] The officials at St. Augustine treated payments toward back situados as a totally fresh and unexpected revenue. They inquired in writing whether such money might not be used to build a stone fort or to found Spanish towns. [Note 31: Joseph Prado and Juan Menendez Marquez 6/30/1668; Nicolas Ponce de Leon II 3/24/1675] (Bushnell KC)