chapter eleven

Pasce pecora occisionis, quæ qui occidebant non dolebant, sed dicebant: Benedictus Deus, quia divites facti sumus.

The Kingdom of Yucatan

1. In the year 1526, by lying and deceiving and by making offers to the King, as all the other tyrants have done till now to obtain offices and positions, so as to rob, another unhappy man(95) was elected governor of the kingdom of Yucatan. 2.2. This kingdom possessed a dense population, because the country is very healthy and abounding much more than Mexico in provisions and fruit: and honey was particularly abundant, more so than in any other part of the Indies thus far discovered. 2.3. The said kingdom has a circumference of about three hundred leagues. Its people were famous among all those of the Indies for prudence and cleanliness, and for having fewer vices and sins than any other; and they were very willing and worthy of being brought to the knowledge of God. A great town might have been built there by the Spaniards where they might have lived as in a terrestrial paradise had they been worthy; but, on account of their great avarice, stupidity and grave sins they were not; just as they have not been worthy to possess the many other countries that God has disclosed to them, in the Indies. 4.4. This tyrant, with three hundred men whom he brought with him, began by making cruel war on those good and innocent people, who kept within their houses without offending any one; and they killed and destroyed countless people. 5.5. The country produces no gold, and if it had he would have used up the people by working them in the mines; to coin gold therefore out of the bodies and souls of those for whom Jesus Christ died, he made slaves indifferently of all whom he did not kill; many ships were attracted thither by the news that slaves were to be had, all of which he sent back loaded with human beings whom he sold for wine, oil, vinegar, pork, clothing, horses and whatever else he and his men thought they needed. 6.6. He selected the most beautiful maid from fifty or a hundred, and gave her to him who chose her, in exchange for an aroba of wine, or oil, or for a pig: and similarly a handsome boy, chosen from among two hundred or three hundred, for the same amount. One boy, who seemed to be the son of a prince was given in exchange for a cheese; and a hundred people for a horse. 7.7. He continued with these operations from the year 1526 to 1533 which were seven years, ruining and depopulating those countries, and killing those people without pity, till news of the riches of Peru reached the place and the Spaniards left him, and that hell ceased for some days. 8.8. Afterwards, however, his ministers returned to commit more great evils, robbery, wickedness, and great offence against God: and neither have they ceased at the present time. Thus have they almost entirely depopulated all those three hundred leagues that were, as has been said, so densely peopled. 9.9. No one could believe, neither could the particular cases of cruelty that were done here, be related. I will only tell of two or three, that I remember. 10.10. On one occasion these wretched Spaniards set out with fierce dogs to hunt Indians, both women and men, and an Indian woman who was too ill to escape, took a cord and, so that the dogs should not tear her to pieces as they tore the others, she tied her little son of one year to one foot, and then hanged herself on a beam; she was not quick enough before the dogs came up and tore the child limb from limb, although a friar baptised it before it expired. 11.11. When the Spaniards were leaving the kingdom, one of them asked the son of a lord of a certain town or province to go with him; the child answered, that he did not wish to leave his country: the Spaniard replied, “come along with me, or I will cut off your ears”; as the boy said that he would not, the man seized a dagger and cut off one of his ears, and then the other; and on the boy still saying that he would not leave his country, he slit his nostrils, laughing as though he were only giving him a pinch. 12.12. This lost soul lauded himself, and shamelessly boasted before a venerable monk that he tried his best to get many Indian women with child, because when they were pregnant he got a better price on selling them for slaves. 13.13. In this kingdom, or possibly in a province of New Spain, a Spaniard went hunting game, or rabbits, with his dogs; one day, not finding anything to hunt, it seemed to him that the dogs were hungry, so he seized a little child from its mother and cut off its arms and legs with a dagger, giving each dog its portion and when they had eaten these pieces he threw that little body on the ground for all of them together. 14.14. Consider only the inhumanity of the Spaniards in these parts and how God has let them fall into reprobate appetite; consider of what account they hold these people who are created in God’s image and redeemed by His blood. But we shall see worse things below. 15.15. Leaving the infinite and unheard of cruelties perpetrated by those who call themselves Christians, in this kingdom where there is no justice worth speaking of, I will conclude with this only: that when all the infernal tyrants had left, eager for and blinded by the riches of Peru, Fray Jacomo proceeded, with four monks of his Order of St. Francis, to that kingdom, to pacify it, and to preach and bring to Jesus Christ the remnant of people left from the infernal harvesting and the tyrannical massacres committed by the Spaniards during seven years; and I think that these monks went there in the year thirty-four. 16.16. They sent ahead certain Indians from the province of Mexico as messengers, to inquire whether the natives were satisfied that the said monks should enter their country, to bring them news of the one only God, who is God and true Lord of all the world. 17.17. They [the Indians] assembled many times and consulted about the thing, having first made many inquiries as to what sort of men these were, who called themselves _fathers_ and _brothers_, and as to what they laid claim; and in what they were different from the Christians from whom they had suffered so many offences and such injustice. 18.18. They resolved at last to receive them, on the condition that they came alone with no Spaniards. The monks promised this because the Viceroy of New Spain had granted them this privilege and had given orders that no more Spaniards except the monks were to be allowed to enter the country, nor should the Indians suffer any harm from the Christians. 19.19. The friars, as is their custom, preached to those people the gospel of Christ, and the holy intentions of the king of Spain towards them. With such love and pleasure did they receive the doctrine and example of the monks, and so greatly did they rejoice over the news of the kings of Castile, of whom in all the past seven years the Spaniards had never given them information nor that there was any king other than he, who tyrannised and destroyed here, that after the monks had preached there forty days, the lords of the country brought and consigned to them all their idols that they might burn them. 20.20. And afterwards they gave them their own children, whom they love more than the light of their eyes, that they might train them. And they built them churches, monasteries and houses: and friars, were invited to other provinces, to preach and bring the natives to the knowledge of God and of him whom they called the great king of Castile. 21.21. And, persuaded by the monks, the Indians did a thing never done again up to the present day; and all that some of those Tyrants pretend about those kingdoms being destroyed by the friars, is falsehood and lies. 22.22. Twelve or fifteen lords, each ruling many vassals and large territories, assembled their people and, after taking their votes and consent, subjected themselves of their own will to the dominion of the kings of Castile, receiving the Emperor, as King of Spain, for their supreme and universal sovereign; and they made some sinas, like signatures, which I have in my possession, together with the attestations of the said friars. 23.23. Just when this growth of faith inspired the friars with great joy and hope of drawing to Jesus Christ the still numerous people of that kingdom who survived the murders and unjust wars, eighteen Spanish tyrants on horse entered a certain part of the country with twelve others on foot, which makes thirty, and they brought with them many loads of idols taken from the Indians in other provinces. 24.24. And the captain of the said thirty summoned a lord of the country where he had entered, and told him that he must take those loads of idols and distribute them throughout his country, trading each idol for an Indian man or woman, to make them slaves; he threatened to make war on the chief if he refused. 25.25. Forced by fear, the said lord distributed the idols throughout all this territory and commanded all his vassals that they should accept and adore them, and give him Indian men and women as slaves for the Spaniards. In alarm, the Indians who had two children gave one of them, and those who had three gave two; and in this way they concluded that sacrilegious commerce and the lord, or prince satisfied the Spaniards. 26.26. One of these impious and infernal bandits, called Juan Garcia, when ill and near death, had under his bed two loads of idols and he commanded an Indian woman who served him, to be very careful not to exchange those idols for fowls, but each one for a slave because they were very valuable. And finally with this testament and occupied with this thought the unhappy man died. And who doubts that he is buried in hell? 27.27. Consider therefore of what profit are the religion and the examples of Christianity of the Spaniards who go to the Indies; what honour they procure for God; how they work that he may be known and adored by those people; what care they take that His holy faith be sown, grow and expand in those souls. And judge whether this be a less sin than Jeroboam’s qui peccare fecit Israel by making two golden calves, for the people to adore. Or whether it equals that of Judas or causes more scandal. 28.28. These then are the deeds of the Spaniards who go to the Indies; in their desire for gold they have numberless times sold, and do sell, and have forsworn Jesus Christ. 29.29. When the Indians saw that the promise the monks made them that the Spaniards should not enter those provinces did not come true, and that the same Spaniards brought their idols from other countries to sell, after they had given all their own gods to the monks to be burned, so that they might adore the one true God, they became tumultuous and the whole country was enraged with the friars, to whom they said: 30.30. Why have you lied and deceived us saying that Christians could not enter this country? And why have you burnt our gods when your Christians bring gods from other provinces to sell to us? Were perhaps our gods not better than those of other nations? 31.31. The friars having nothing to reply, calmed them as best they could. They sought out the thirty Spaniards, telling them the harm they had done and beseeching them to depart, but they would not go; on the contrary they gave the Indians to understand, that it was the friars themselves who had made them come there,—which was the height of all malice. 32.32. At last the Indians determined to kill the friars; being warned by some Indian, the latter escaped one night. And when the friars had left, and the Indians perceived their innocence and virtue and the malice of the Spaniards, they sent messengers a distance of fifty leagues after them, praying them to return, and asking their pardon for the anxiety they had caused them. 33.33. The friars, being servants of God and zealous for those souls, gave them credence, and returned to the country where they were received like angels, the Indians rendering them a thousand services; and they stayed there four or five months longer. 34.34. As that country was so distant from New Spain, the Viceroy’s efforts to expel those Christians from it were fruitless, and they persisted in remaining there although he had them proclaimed traitors; and because they never ceased their outrages and habitual oppression of the Indians, it seemed to the monks that, sooner or later the natives would become disgusted with such perverse works, and that perhaps the evil consequences would fall on them, especially as the evil deeds of the Spaniards constantly disturbed the Indians and prevented them from preaching to them in tran‐ quillity. They therefore determined to abandon the kingdom. 35.35. Thus the country was left without the light and help of doctrine; and those souls were abandoned to the obscurity of ignorance and misery, in which they formerly were. The Indians were deprived, till better times should come, of assistance and the diffusion of the knowledge of God, which they had been already receiving with eagerness; it was just as though we were to deprive plants of water a few days after planting them: and this was brought about by the inexpiable fault and consummate malice of those Spaniards.

The Province of Santa Maria

1. The province of Santa Marta was a country where the Indians had a great deal of gold because both it and the places round about have rich mines which were diligently worked. And for this reason, from the year 1498 till the present 1542, numberless Spanish tyrants have continually gone there with ships to ravage and kill those people and to steal their gold. They afterwards returned in the ships with which they made numerous expeditions, murdering and massacring, with notorious cruelty; this commonly occurred along the seacoast and a few leagues inland, till the year 1523. 2.2. In the year 1523 some Spanish tyrants went to take up their abode here. And because the country, as has been said, was rich, divers captains succeeded one another, each crueller than the other, so that it seemed as though each had made a vow to practise more exorbitant evils and cruelty than the other, in verification of the rule we have given above. 3.3. In the year 1529 there arrived a great tyrant accompanied by many men, devoid of any fear of God or any mercy on mankind; so great were the massacres, slaughter and impiety he perpetrated, that he surpassed all his predecessors. During the space of six, or seven years that he lived, he and his men stole much treasure. (96) 4.4. He died without sacraments after also avoiding the commission of investigation met on his account; and afterwards, other murderous and thieving tyrants succeeded, who continued to destroy those people who had survived the treatment and cruel swords of their predecessors. 5.5. They marched far inland, ruining and exterminating large and numerous provinces; killing, and making slaves of their people in the ways above told of the others, putting lords and their vassals to grievous tortures to force them to disclose the gold and the town where it was to be had: as has been said they surpassed, both in number and quality, the operations of all their predecessors so that from the said year 1529, till to-day, they have devastated in those parts more than four hundred leagues of country, which was as densely peopled as the other. 6.6. I truthfully declare that if I had to relate singly the evil, the massacres, the destruction, injustice, violence, slaughter, and the great sins the Spaniards have committed in this Kingdom of Santa Marta, against God, against the King, and against those innocent nations, I would compose a very long history; I shall relate all this however in due time, if God gives me life. 7.7. Here I wish only to quote some few of the words that the lord bishop of that province now writes to the King: and the date of his letter is the 20th of May, 1541, in which among other words he says thus: 8.8. “I assert, oh Sacred Cæsar, that the way to remedy the ills of this country is for Your Majesty to now take it out of the hands of step-fathers and to give it a husband, who will treat it justly, and as it deserves; and this as soon as possible because otherwise I am certain that the way these tyrants who now have the government, crush and harass it, will very soon destroy it,” etc. 9.9. And further on he says: “therefore Your Majesty will clearly discern that those who govern in these parts, deserve to be destroyed, to relieve the republics. And if this is not done, their infirmities are, in my opinion, without remedy. And Your Majesty will know in like manner that in these parts there are no Christians but demons; neither are there servants of God nor of the King, but traitors to His law, and to the King.” 10.10. “Because in truth, the greatest obstacle I find to winning the Indians from war to peace, and from peace to the knowledge of our Holy Faith, is the harsh and cruel treatment that the peaceable ones receive from the Christians.” 11.11. “They have on this account become so fierce and enraged, that nothing is more hated or abhorred by them, than the name of Christians, whom in all this country they call in their language Yares, which means demons; and without doubt they are right, because the deeds they do here are not those of Christians nor of reasonable men, but of devils.” 12.12. “From which it arises, that the Indians, seeing these perverse operations are general, and that both the commanders and the subordinates are so devoid of mercy, think that such is the law of the Christians, of which their God and their King are the authors. And to try to persuade them to the contrary is like trying to dry up the sea, and only makes them laugh and jeer at Jesus Christ and His law.” 13.13. “And the Indian warriors, seeing the treatment shown the peaceable people, count it better to die once, than many times in the power of the Spaniards; I know this most invincible Caesar from experience” etc. 14.14. And in a chapter further on he says: “Your Majesty has more servants in these parts than is supposed; because there is not a soldier among those here who, while he is assassinating, or robbing, or destroying, or killing, or burning Your Majesty’s vassals to force their gold from them, does not make bold to claim that he is serving Your Majesty. It would therefore be well, Most Christian Cæsar, that Your Majesty should make known by rigorously punishing some of them, that such services as are contrary to the service of God, are not accepted.” 15.15. All the above are formal words of the said Bishop of Santa Marta, and from them it will be clearly seen what is done to-day in these unfortunate countries, and to these innocent people. 16.16. By "Indian warriors" he means those who live in the mountains and have been able to escape from massacres perpetrated by the unhappy Spaniards. And he terms “peaceable” those Indians whom the Spaniards, after having killed numberless people, condemn to the aforesaid tyrannical and horrible slavery, in which they then finish destroying and killing them, as appears from the quoted words of the bishop: and in truth very little indeed does he express, of what they suffer. 17.17. When the Spaniards make them labour, carrying loads over the mountains, they kick and beat them, and knock out their teeth with the handles of their swords, to force them to get up when they fall, fainting from weakness, and to go on without taking breath; and the Indians commonly exclaim; “go to, how wicked you are: I am worn out so kill me here, for I would rather die now and here.” And they say this with many sighs and gasps, showing great anguish and grief. 18.18. Oh! who could express the hundredth part of the affliction and calamity that these innocent people suffer from the unhappy Spaniards! May God make it known to those who can, and ought to remedy it.

The Province of Cartagena

1. This province of Cartagena lies westward and fifty leagues below that of Santa Marta, and bordering on that of Cenù as far as the Gulf of Urabà: it comprises about a hundred leagues of seacoast and a large territory inland towards the south. 2.2. These provinces have been as badly treated as those of Santa Marta, distressed, killed, depopulated and devastated, from the year 1498 or 99 until to-day, and in them many notorious cruelties, murders, and robberies have been committed by the Spaniards; but in order to finish this brief compendium quickly and to recount the wickedness done by them elsewhere, I will not describe the details.

The Pearl Coast

Paria, and the Island of Trinidad

1. Great and notorious have been the destruction that the Spaniards have worked along the Coast of Paria, (97) extending for two hundred leagues as far as the Gulf of Venezuela, assassinating the inhabitants and capturing as many as they could alive, to sell them as slaves. 2.2. They frequently took them by violating their pledged word and friendship, the Spaniards failing to keep faith, while the Indians received them in their houses, like fathers receive their children, giving them all they possessed and serving them to the best of their ability. 3.3. Certainly it would not be easy to relate, or describe minutely the variety and number of the injustices, wrongs, oppressions, and injury practised upon the people of this coast by the Spaniards from the year 1510 up to the present day. I will relate but two or three instances from which the villany and number of the others, worthy of punishment by every torment and fire may be judged. 4.4. In the island of Trinidad which joins the continent at Paria, and is much larger and more prosperous than Sicily, there are as good and virtuous people as in all the Indies; an assassin going there in the year 1516, with sixty or seventy other habitual robbers, gave the Indians to understand that they had come to dwell and live in that island along with them. 5.5. The Indians received them as though they were children of their own flesh and blood, the lords and their subjects serving them with the greatest affection and joy, bringing them every day double the amount of food required; for it is the usual disposition and liberality of all the Indians of this new world to give the Spaniards in excess of all they need and as much as they themselves possess. 6.6. In accordance with the Spaniards’ wish, they built one great house of timber, where all might live: they needed no more than one in order to carry out what they had in mind and afterwards accomplished. 7.7. When they were putting the straw over the timbers and had covered about the height of two paces so that those inside no longer saw those without, the Spaniards, under pretence of hurrying on the completion of the house, induced many people to go inside; meanwhile they divided, some surrounding the house outside, with their weapons ready for the Indians who should come out, and the others stationing themselves inside the house. The latter drew their swords and threatening the naked Indians with death if they moved, they began to bind them, while some who ran out seeking to escape were cut to pieces with swords. 8.8. Some who got out, wounded, and others sound, joined with one or two hundred natives who had not entered the house, and arming themselves with bows and arrows they retired to another house of the community’s to defend themselves; while they defended the door however, the Spaniards set fire to the house, and burnt them alive; they then took the prey they had captured, amounting to perhaps a hundred and eighty or two hundred men, and carried them bound to their ship. Hoisting sail they departed for the island of San Juan, where they sold one half as slaves, and afterwards to Hispaniola, where they sold the remainder. 9.9. When I at the time reproved the captain in the same island of San Juan for such infamous treachery and malice, he replied “Go to, Senor, thus was I commanded, and instructions were given me by those who sent me, that if I could not capture them in war, I should take them under pretext of peace.” 10.10. And in truth he told me that in all his life he had found neither father nor mother, if not in the island of Trinidad; such were the good services the Indians had rendered him. This he said to his greater shame and the aggravation of his sins. 11.11. Numberless times have they done these things on this continent, capturing people and making them slaves under promise of safe conduct. Let it be seen what sort of acts these are: and whether those Indians taken in such a way, are justly made slaves. 12.12. Another time the friars of our Order of St. Dominic determined to go and preach to those people and convert them, for they were without the hope or the light of doctrine by which to save their souls, as they still are to-day in the Indies; they sent a monk, who was a theological scholar of great virtue and sanctity, accompanied by a serving friar as his companion; his object was to see the country, become intimate with the people, and seek convenient sites to build monasteries. 13.13. When the monks arrived, the Indians received them as angels from heaven, and listened with great affection, attention, and joy to those words which they could make them understand more by signs than speech, as they did not know the language. 14.14. It happened that after the departure of the vessel that had brought the monks, another ship arrived there; the Spaniards on board of it practising their infernal custom, deceitfully enticed the lord of that land, named Don Alonso, on board without the monks perceiving it; either the friars or some other Spaniards, had given him this name, for the Indians like and desire Christian names and at once ask to have them, even before they know enough to be baptised. So they deceived the said Don Alonso, to make him come aboard their ship, with his wife and certain other persons, by telling him they would prepare a feast there for him. 15.15. At last seventeen persons went on board with the lord and his wife, confident that as the monks were in the country, out of respect for them, the Spaniards would not do anything wicked; because otherwise they would not have trusted them. Once the Indians were on the ship, the traitors set sail and were off to Hispaniola, where they sold them for slaves. 16.16. On seeing their lord and his wife carried off, all the Indians came to the friars intending to kill them. The friars were like to die for sorrow on beholding such great villany, and it may be believed they would have rather given their lives than that such injustice should have been done; especially as it impeded those souls from ever hearing or believing the word of God. 17.17. They called the Indians as best they could and told them that by the first ship that passed there, they would write to Hispaniola and bring about the restoration of their lord and of the others who were with him. For the greater confirmation of the damnation of those who were governing, God caused a ship to come at once to hand. The monks wrote to their brethren in Hispaniola lamenting and protesting repeatedly. The auditors never would do justice, because they themselves had divided a share of the Indians so barbarously and unjustly carried off by the tyrants. 18.18. The two monks who had promised the Indians that their lord, Don Alonso, together with the others, should return in four months’ time, seeing that they did not come, neither in four, nor in eight months prepared for death, and to give their lives to those to whom they had consecrated them before they left. And so the Indians took vengeance upon them, killing them justly, although they were innocent: because it was believed that the monks had been the cause of that treachery, and because they saw that what had been faithfully promised them within four months was not fulfilled; and also because up to that time and up to the present day they neither knew, nor know, that there is a difference between the friars and the Spanish tyrants, bandits, and assassins of all that country. 19.19. The blessed friars suffered unjustly, and by that injustice there is no doubt that, according to our holy faith, they are true martyrs, and reign blissfully to-day with God in the heavens; for they were sent to that land under obedience, and their intention was to preach and spread the holy faith, to save all those souls and to suffer every kind of affliction and death that might be offered them for Jesus Christ crucified. 20.20. Another time, through the great tyranny and execrable works of the wicked Spaniards, the Indians killed two monks of St. Dominic and one of St. Francis, of which I myself am a witness, for I escaped the same death by divine miracle; so serious and horrible was the case I might have much to say that would amaze mankind, but on account of the length of the narration I will not relate it here nor until the time comes. The last day will disclose all more clearly, for God will then avenge such horrible and abominable outrages as are done in the Indies by those who bear the name of Christians. 21.21. Another time there was a town in the provinces called Capo della Codera, the lord of which was called Nigoroto; this is either a personal name or else one common to all the lords of that country. 22.22. He was so kind and his people so virtuous, that when the Spanish ships passed there the Spaniards found comforts, provisions, rest, and every consolation and refreshment, and many did he deliver from death, who, wasted with hunger, took refuge there from other provinces where they had assassinated, and practised evil and tyranny. He gave them food and sent them safe to the Pearl Island [Cubagua], where some Christians dwelt, whom he could have slain, without any one knowing it, and did not: all the Christians finally called Nigoroto’s town the mansion and home of everybody. 23.23. An ill-starred tyrant deliberated within himself to attack this place, as the people felt so safe: so he went there with a ship and invited many people to come on board, as they were used to, trusting the Spaniards. When many men, women, and children were gathered in the ship, he set sail and came to the island of San Juan, where he sold them all as slaves. And I arrived just then at the said island and saw that tyrant and heard what he had done. 24.24. He left all that country ruined; and all those Spanish tyrants, who robbed and assassinated along those coasts took it ill, and detested so dreadful a deed because they lost the asylum and dwelling place they had had there as though in their own houses. 25.25. To abbreviate, I omit the narration of the tremendous wickedness and fearful deeds that have been committed, and are committed to-day in these countries. 26.26. They have taken more than two million ruined souls from that populous seacoast to the island of Hispaniola, and to that of San Juan, where they have likewise caused their death in the mines and other works, of which there were many, as has been said above. And it excites great compassion and sorrow to see all that most delightful coast deserted and depopulated. 27.27. It is certainly true, that never does a ship sail loaded with kidnapped and ruined Indians (as I have told) without the third part of those that embarked, being thrown dead into the sea, besides those that they kill in effecting their capture. 28.28. The reason of this is, that as they need many men to accomplish their aim of making more money from a greater number of slaves, they carry but little food and water, so as to save expense to the tyrants, who call themselves privateers; they have enough for only a few more people than the Spaniards who man the ships to make the raids; as these miserable Indians are in want and die of hunger and thirst, the remedy is to throw them in the sea. 29.29. And in truth, one of them told me, that from the Lucayan Islands, where very great havoc of this sort was made, to the Island of Hispaniola, which is more than sixty or seventy leagues, a ship is supposed to have gone without compass or nautical chart, finding its course by the trail of dead Indians who had been thrown out of ships and left in the sea. 30.30. When they are afterwards disembarked at the island where they are taken to be sold, it is enough to break the heart of whomsoever has some spark of compassion to see naked, starving children, old people, men, and women falling, faint from hunger. 31.31. They then divide them like so many lambs, the fathers separated from the children, and the wives from the husbands, making droves of ten or twenty persons and casting lots for them, so that each of the unhappy privateers who contributed to fit out a fleet of two or three vessels, and the tyrant villains who go to capture and prey upon the natives in their homes, receives his share. 32.32. And when the lot falls on a drove in which there is some old or ill person, the tyrant who gets it, says: “Why in the devil do you give this old man to me? That I shall bury him? Why should I take this ill one? To nurse him?” It may be seen how the Spaniards despise the Indians and whether they carry out the precept of divine love to one’s neighbour, upon which rest the law and the prophets. 33.33. The tyranny exercised by the Spaniards upon the Indians in fishing pearls, is as cruel, and reprehensible a thing as there can be in the world. Upon the land there is no life so infernal and hopeless as to be compared to it, although that of digging gold in the mines is the hardest and worst. 34.34. They let them down into the sea three and four and five fathoms deep, from the morning till sunset. They are always swimming under water without respite, gathering the oysters, in which the pearls grow. 35.35. They come up to breathe bringing little nets full of them; there is a hangman Spaniard in a boat and if they linger resting, he beats them with his fists, and, taking them by the hair, throws them in the water to go on fishing. 36.36. Their food is fish and the fish that contain the pearls, and a little cazabi or maize bread, which are the kinds of native bread: the one gives very little sustenance and the other is very difficult to make, so with such food they are never sufficiently nourished. Instead of giving them beds at night, they put them in stocks on the ground, to prevent them from escaping. 37.37. Many times the Indians throw themselves into the sea while fishing or hunting pearls and never come up again, because dolphins and sharks, which are two kinds of very cruel sea animals that swallow a man whole, kill and eat them. 38.38. From this it may be seen, whether the Spaniards who thus seek profit from the pearls, observe the divine precepts of love to God and one’s neighbour; out of avarice, they put their fellow creatures in danger of death to the body and also to the soul; because they die without faith and without sacraments. 39.39. They lead the Indians such a wretched life that they ruin and waste them in a few days; for it is impossible for men to live much under water without respiration, especially because the cold of the water penetrates their bodies and so they generally all die from hæmorrhages, oppression of the chest caused by staying such long stretches of time without breathing; and from dysentery caused by the frigidity. 40.40. Their hair, which is by nature black, changes to an ashen colour like the skin of seals, and nitre comes out from their shoulders so that they resemble human monsters of some species. 41.41. With this insupportable toil, or rather, infernal trade, the Spaniards completed the destruction of all the Indians of the Lucayan Islands who were there when they set themselves to making these gains; each one was worth fifty and a hundred crowns, and they were sold publicly, although it had been prohibited by the magistrates themselves; it was even more unjust elsewhere for the Lucayans were great swimmers. They have caused the death of numberless others here, from other provinces, and other regions.

The Yuyapari River

On a river called the Yuyapari, which flows for more than two hundred leagues through the province of Paria, a wretched tyrant(98) sailed a great distance in the year 1539, accompanied by four hundred or more men; and he did very great slaughter, burning alive and putting to the sword numberless innocent and inoffensive people who were in their towns or houses, unsuspicious of danger; and he left immense tracts of country burnt, terrorized, and the inhabitants scattered. He finally died a bad death and his fleet was dispersed. Other tyrants succeeded him and continued this wickedness and tyranny: and to-day they go through those regions destroying, killing, and sending to hell those souls that were redeemed by the son of God with His own blood.

The Kingdom of Venezuela

1. The Spaniards have always exercised diligent care to hide the truth from our lord the King about injuries and losses to God, to human souls, and to his State; and in the year 1526, he was deceived and perniciously persuaded into giving and conceding to some German merchants, the great kingdom of Venezuela which is much larger than all Spain; the entire management of the government and all jurisdiction were conceded under a certain agreement and compact, or condition that was made with them. (99) 2.2. These men invaded these countries with a force of three hundred or more and found the people the same gentle lambs, (and much more so), as they usually find them everywhere in the Indies before the Spaniards injure them. 3.3. More cruel beyond comparison than any of the other tyrants we have told of, was their invasion; and more irrational and furious were they than the cruellest tigers, or raging wolves and lions. Their liberty of action was the greater because they held all the jurisdiction of the country; with greater eagerness and blind greediness of avarice, and with ways and arts for stealing and accumulating gold and silver more exquisite than their predecessors, they abandoned all fear of God and the King and all shame of men, forgetting that they were mortal beings. 4.4. These devils incarnate have devastated, destroyed, and depopulated more than four hundred leagues of most delightful country containing large and marvellous provinces, valleys extending for forty leagues, pleasant regions, very large towns, most rich in gold. 5.5. They have killed and entirely cut to pieces divers large nations and destroyed many languages, so that not a person who speaks them remains, except a few, who have hidden in caverns and in the bowels of the earth to escape from the pestilential sword of the foreigners. 66. They have killed, destroyed, and sent to hell, (according to my belief), more than four or five millions of those innocent races by means of various strange and new kinds of cruel iniquity and impiety; nor do they, at the present day, cease sending them there. 7.7. I will relate no more than three or four instances of the endless injustice, outrages, and slaughter they have done, and are doing to-day; it may be imagined from these what they must have done to accomplish the great destruction and depopulation we have described. 8.8. They took the supreme lord of all the province, putting him to torture, for no other reason than to obtain his gold. He escaped and fled to the mountains, where he remained in hiding amongst the rocks, with his enraged and terrified people. The Spaniards attacked them in their search for him; they recaptured him and, after cruel slaughter, they sold at auction all whom they took alive. 9.9. Before they captured that ruler, they had been received in many, nay in all the provinces, wherever they went, with singing and dances and many gifts of large quantities of gold; the payment they made the Indians was to put them to the sword and cut them to pieces in order to terrorise the whole country. 10.10. Once, when the inhabitants had come out to meet him in the aforesaid way, the tyrant German captain put a great number of people into a large straw louse and cut them to pieces. As the house had some beams at the top and many climbed up to escape from the bloody hands and swords of those men or pitiless beasts, this infernal man caused fire to be set to the house; thus all who remained were burnt alive. This action caused the depopulation of a great number of towns as all the people fled to the mountains where they hoped to be safe. 11.11. They came to another large province on the borders of the province and kingdom of Santa Marta, where they found the Indians in their towns and houses, peaceably occupied with their affairs. They stayed with them a long time, eating their substance while the Indians served them as though it were their duty to give them life and succour; they bore with their continual oppressions and usual exactions, which are intolerable, for one parasite Spaniard eats as much in one day as would be sufficient for an Indian household of ten persons for a month. 12.12. During this time, the Indians spontaneously gave them great quantities of gold, besides the best of treatment. At last when the tyrants wished to depart, they determined to repay their hospitality in this following manner. 13.13. The German governor, who was a tyrant and, for what we know also a heretic—for he never attends mass neither does he let many others go, besides which, other signs mark him as a Lutheran,—ordered his men to capture all the Indians they could, with their wives and children, and to confine them in a large yard or wooden enclosure prepared for the purpose; he then announced that whoever wished to go out and be free, must ransom himself according to the will of the iniquitous governor, giving so much gold for himself, so much for his wife and for each of his children; and to force them the more, he commanded that nothing whatever should be given them to eat, until they brought him the gold he demanded as ransom. 14.14. Many who were able, sent to their houses for gold and redeemed themselves. They were set free, and returned to their occupations and to their houses to provide themselves with the necessaries of life. The tyrant sent certain villainous Spanish thieves to recapture these miserable Indians, who had once ransomed themselves; they brought them back to the enclosure and tortured them with hunger and thirst to make them ransom themselves again. 15.15. Many who were captured were ransomed two and three times. Others who could not, because they had given all the gold they possessed and had not enough left, he left languishing in the enclosure till they died of hunger. 16.16. By this deed, he left ruined, desolate, and depopulated, a most populous province most rich in gold, which has a valley of forty leagues, where he burnt a town that had a thousand houses. 17.17. This infernal tyrant determined to go inland, as he eagerly desired to discover the hell of Peru in those parts. To make this unhappy journey, he, and the others brought numberless Indians, chained to one another, carrying loads of sixty, and seventy pounds each. 18.18. If one tired, or fainted from hunger, fatigue, and weakness, they at once cut off his head at the collar of the chain so as not to stop to loosen the others in the line; and the head fell to one side and the body to the other, and they distributed his load among the other bearers. 1919. To tell of the provinces he destroyed, the towns, and places he burnt (for all the houses are built of straw)—the people he killed, the cruelty he displayed in the several massacres during this journey, would make an incredible and terrifying story, but it would be true, nevertheless. 20.20. These journeys were afterwards undertaken by other tyrants who followed in the same Venezuela, and others from the province of Santa Marta, animated by the same holy intention of discovering this holy house of gold in Peru; and they found all the country for more than two hundred leagues, so much burnt, depopulated, and deserted, from formerly being most populous and prosperous, as has been said, that though they themselves were cruel tyrants, they marvelled and were horrified to behold the traces of such lamentable devastation. 21.21. Many witnesses have proved these things before the chancellor of the exchequer of the India Council and the proofs are in the possession of the same Council but they have never burnt alive any of these nefarious tyrants. 22.22. But what has been proven is as nothing compared to the massacres and great wickedness that have been committed, because all the officers of justice in the Indies are so mortally blind that they do not investigate the crimes, destruction, and slaughter that have been, and are to-day wrought by all the tyrants of the Indies, beyond declaring that as such and such a one has used cruelty towards the Indians, the King’s revenue has lost so many thousand crowns; they are satisfied with little proof, and that of a very general and confused character. 23.23. And even this they do not verify, nor make it as clear as they should; for if they did their duty to God and the king, they would discover that the said German tyrants have robbed the king of more than three million crowns’ worth of gold, because that province of Venezuela, with the others they have ruined, devastated, and depopulated for an extent of more than four hundred leagues, (as I have said) was the most prosperous, the richest in gold, and the most populous of the universe. 24.24. During the sixteen years those tyrants, enemies of God, devastated it, they have wasted and caused the loss of more than two millions of revenue that the king of Spain would have drawn from that kingdom. Nor is there hope of repairing this damage between now and the end of the world, unless God, through a miracle, should resuscitate so many million persons. 25.25. These are the temporal injuries to the king. It would be well to consider what, and how many are the injuries, the dishonour, blasphemies, and insults to God and His law, and with what will be requited so many numberless souls, burning in hell, because of the avarice and cruelty of these tyrant animals or Germans. (100) 26.26. To sum up this wickedness and ferocity, I will only say that from the day the Germans entered the country till the present time, that is in these sixteen years, the Indians they have transported in their ships amount to more than a million who were sold as slaves in Santa Marta, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the island of San Juan. 27.27. And even now, in the year 1542, the traffic continues, for the royal Audiencia of Hispaniola dissembled—nay favoured this and all the other numberless acts of tyranny and destruction done along all that coast of the continent, which is more than four hundred leagues from Venezuela to Santa Marta, and is under their jurisdiction, though they could have prevented and corrected them. 28.28. There has been no other reason to make slaves of all these Indians except the perverse, blind, obstinate will of these most avaricious tyrants, and to satisfy their insatiable avarice for money; just as all the others have always done everywhere in the Indies, taking those lambs and sheep away from their houses, their wives, and their children in the said cruel and wicked ways, marking them with the king’s brand to sell them as slaves.

The Provinces of that Part of the Continent which is Called Florida

1. These provinces(101) have been visited at divers times since the year 1510 or 1511 by three tyrants who imitated the deeds done by the others, and also by two of them in other parts of the Indies seeking to advance to a degree disproportioned to their merit, at the cost of the blood and destruction of their fellow creatures. 2.2. And all three died a bad death, and their families and properties established in human blood, perished, for I am witness of all three, whose very memory is already as extinct in the world as though they had never lived. 3.3. The infamy and horror of their names scandalised all the land because of some massacres they perpetrated: these were not many, however, for God killed them before they did more, for He had reserved till that hour the punishment for the wickedness that I know and saw they committed in other parts of the Indies. 4.4. The fourth tyrant went there recently, in the year 1538, with his plans made and with great preparations. Since three years nothing has been seen or heard of him. 5.5. We are sure, that as soon as he landed he committed cruel deeds and at once disappeared: and that, if he be alive, he and his men have destroyed numbers of people in these three years, if he encountered any on his march, for he is one of the notorious, and experienced ones who, together with his other companions, has done the most harm and wickedness, and has destroyed many provinces, and kingdoms. But we rather believe that God has given him the same end as the others. 6.6. Three or four years after the above things were written, three of the other tyrants returned from the land called Florida; they had accompanied the chief tyrant whom they left dead, and we learned from them what cruelty and unheard of wickedness, these inhuman men committed there against those innocent and harmless Indians, principally during the life of their commander and also after his unhappy death: therefore what I foretold above has not turned out wrong. 7.7. And so many things confirm the rule I laid down at the beginning: that the more they continue to discover, ruin, and destroy both peoples and countries, the more notorious are the cruelties and iniquities they commit against God and their fellow creatures. 8.8. It is already wearisome to us to relate so many, and such execrable, horrible, blood-thirsty operations, not by men, but by ferocious beasts, hence I will not stop to relate any but the following. 9.9. They found large towns full of people who were friendly, intelligent, politic, and orderly. They did great slaughter among them, according to their custom, in order to impregnate the hearts of those people with fear of them. 10.10. They tormented and killed them, loading them like animals. When one became tired, or fainted, they cut off his head at the neck, in order not to free those in front from the chain that bound them, and the body fell to one side and the head to the other, as we have told elsewhere above. 11.11. In one town where they went they were received with joy, and over-abundant food was given them, while more than six hundred Indians carried their loads, like beasts of burden, and cared for their horses; when the tyrants had left there, a captain who was a relative of the chief tyrant, turned back to rob the entire town whose people felt themselves safe; and with a lance, he killed the lord and king of the town, and did other cruel deeds. 12.12. Because the inhabitants of another large town seemed to them to be a little more on their guard, on account of the infamous and horrible deeds of which they had heard, they put to the sword large and small children and old people, subjects and lords, without sparing any one. 13.13. It is said that the chief tyrant had the faces of many Indians cut, so that they were shorn of nostrils and lips, down to the beard; and in particular of a group of two hundred whom he either summoned or who came voluntarily from a certain town. Thus he despatched these mutilated, suffering creatures dripping with blood to carry the news of the deeds and miracles done by those baptised Christians, preachers of the Holy Catholic faith. 14.14. It may be judged in what state those people must be, how they must love the Christians, and how they will believe that their God is good and just, and that the law and religion they profess and praise, is immaculate. 15.15. Most great and outlandish are the evils done here by those unhappy men, sons of perdition. And thus the wickedest of captains died miserably and without confession; and we doubt not that he is buried in hell, unless by chance, God out of His divine mercy has mysteriously succoured him despite his guiltiness for such execrable wickedness.

Rio della Plata

1. Three or four times since the year 1522 some captains have visited Rio della Plata, (102) where there are large kingdoms and provinces, and very friendly and intelligent people. 2.2. We know, in general, that they have committed many homicides and much injury. In particular, as it is so distant from the Indies, we have nothing signal to tell. 3.3. We have no doubt at all, however, but that they have and do carry on the same practices as in other places; because they are the same Spaniards, and some among them have visited other regions, and because they go to get wealth and power just like the others; it is impossible for this to come about, except by destruction, massacres, robbery, and the extermination of the Indians by the adoption of the perverse rule and system they have all alike followed. 4.4. After writing the above, we have learned, with ample proof, that they have destroyed and depopulated great provinces and kingdoms of that country, murdering, and cruelly treating those unfortunate people; they have thereby made themselves even more notorious than the others, because, being at a greater distance from Spain, they could do more as they pleased and consequently lived in greater disorder and with less justice. As for justice, however, there has never been any in all the Indies, as is seen from what has been related above. 5.5. Among infinite other cases, the three following have been read before the Council of the Indies. A tyrant governor commanded certain of his people, to go to some Indian town and, if food was not given them, to kill all the inhabitants. Thus authorised, they started and, because the Indians considered them their enemies and more out of fear and the desire to escape from them, than from a want of generosity, refused to supply them, the Spaniards put more than five thousand persons to the sword. 6.6. Another time a certain number of people presented themselves peaceably for their service, or perhaps they had been summoned by the Spaniards; and because they did not come quickly enough, or because, as is their habit and common usage, they wished to inspire them with fear and horrible fright, the Governor commanded that they should all be consigned into the hands of their Indian enemies. 7.7. They wept and cried, praying that the Spaniards would kill them, rather than deliver them to their enemies. (103) And as they would not leave the house where they were, they were cut to pieces there, weeping, and crying out: “We came peaceably to serve you and you kill us? May our blood, remain on these walls as testimony of our unjust death and of your cruelty!” This was, in truth, a notorious

## action, and worthy of consideration, but much more of being

lamented.

The Vast Kingdoms and Great Provinces of Peru

1. In the year 1531 another great tyrant went with certain people to the kingdoms of Peru,(104) which he invaded by virtue of the same title, intentions, and principles as all the former ones, because he was one of the most experienced, and since a long time had taken

## part in all the cruelties and massacres that had been committed on

the continent since the year 1510; he was devoid of faith and honour, and he did more cruelty and slaughter, destroying towns, killing and exterminating the people of them and causing such great mischief in these countries that, I am certain, it would be impossible for any one to recount and describe them till we shall see and know them clearly in the day of judgment. I could not, nor should I know how to describe the deformity, the character, and the circumstances of some incidents that I would relate, and which greatly aggravate their hideousness. 2.2. From his unhappy landing, he killed and destroyed some peoples and robbed them of a large quantity of gold. In an island near the same province called Pugna which is very populous and pleasing, they were received by the lord and people like angels from heaven and, after having eaten all their provisions in six months, the Indians again uncovered the store of corn they had laid up for themselves and their families in time of drought and barrenness, tearfully offering it for their consumption. The payment that was finally awarded the natives, was to put them to the sword, for they killed great numbers with lances, and those whom they captured alive, they made slaves; in consequence of this and the other great notorious cruelties done there, they left this island almost deserted. 3.3. From there the Spaniards went to the province of Tumbala, which is on the continent, where they killed and destroyed everything they could. And because all the people fled from their fearful and horrible operations, they declared they had revolted and were in rebellion against the king. 4.4. This tyrant employed the following artifice. He demanded still more from all who either offered or whom he asked to present him with gold, silver, and their other possessions, until he saw that they either had no more, or brought no more: he then declared that he received them as vassals of the king of Spain and embraced them; he caused two trumpets to be sounded, giving them to understand that for the future he would take nothing more from them, nor do them any harm; he esteemed it permissible to rob them or to take all they gave, out of fear inspired by the abominable reports they heard of him, before he received them under the shelter and protection of the king, as though after they were received under the royal protection he would no more oppress, rob, desolate, and destroy them. 5.5. A few days later came the universal king and emperor of those kingdoms, who was called Atabaliba with many naked people armed with ridiculous weapons and ignorant of how swords cut, and lances wound, and horses run; nor did they know the Spaniards, who would assault the very devils if they had gold, to rob them of it. He arrived at the place where they were, and said: “Where are these Spaniards? let them come forward, for I shall not stir from here till satisfaction is rendered me for my vassals whom they have killed, for the town they have desolated, and for the riches they have stolen from me.” 6.6. The Spaniards attacked him—killing infinite numbers of his people; they took him prisoner from the litter in which he was carried and after they had captured him, they negotiated with him for his ransom: he promised to give four million crowns, and paid them fifteen, after which they promised to set him free. 7.7. They ended by keeping no faith nor truth, for they have never been kept by the Spaniards in their dealings with the Indians: they calumniated him, saying that by his orders the people were assembling, and he replied that not a leaf moved in all the country save by his will and that if the people were assembling, they might believe that he was the cause of it: as he was their prisoner, they might therefore kill him. 8.8. In spite of all this they condemned him to be burned alive, although later, some of them begged the captain, to have him strangled and to burn him afterwards. When he learned this he said: “Why do you wish to burn me? What have I done to you? Have you not promised to free me, after my ransom was paid? Have I not given you more than what I promised you? Send me, as thus you wish it, to your King of Spain.” He said many other things showing condemnation and detestation of the great injustice of the Spaniards: and at last they burnt him. 9.9. Let the justice of these deeds be considered: the reason of this war: the imprisonment, death sentence, and execution of this monarch; and how conscientiously these tyrants hold the great treasures they steal in those kingdoms from such a great king and from numberless other lords and private people. 10.10. Of the countless notoriously wicked and cruel acts committed in the extirpation of these people by those who call themselves Christians, I will relate some few that a friar of St. Francis witnessed in the beginning; and he signed depositions with his name, sending some of the copies to those regions and others to the kingdoms of Castile: and I have one of the copies in my possession with his own signature, in which he makes the following statements. 11.11. “I, Fray Marcus de Nizza of the Order of St. Francis, commissary of the friars of the same Order in the provinces of Peru, who were among the first monks who entered the said provinces with the first Christians, speak to render truthful testimony of some of the things that I saw with my own eyes in that country; chiefly concerning the treatment of the Indians and the acquisition of property taken from the natives.” 12.12. “First of all I am eye-witness, and from actual experience know, that these Indians of Peru are the most affable people that have been seen among the Indians, and were very well inclined and friendly towards the Christians.” 13.13. “And I saw that they gave gold abundantly to the Spaniards, and silver and precious stones and all that was asked of them, and that they rendered them every good service; and the Indians never went forth in war fashion, but always peaceably, as long as no cruelty and ill-treatment provoked them; on the contrary, they received the Spaniards with all benevolence and honour in their towns, giving them provisions and as many male and female slaves for their service, as they asked.” 14.14. “I am also witness, and I testify, that without the Indians giving them any cause or occasion, the Spaniards, as soon as they entered their country, and after the chief lord Atabaliba had paid them more than two millions of gold and had left all the country in their power, without resistance, immediately burnt the said Atabaliba, who was ruler of all the country: and after him, they burnt alive his captain-general Cochilimaca who had come peaceably to the governor, accompanied by other high personages.” 15.15. “Within a few days after these executions they likewise burned Chamba another very high lord of the province of Quito, without him giving them any cause.” 16.16. “Thus too they burnt unjustly Chapera lord of the Canaries.” 17.17. “Likewise they burnt the feet of Luis who was one of the great lords in Quito, and tortured him in many other ways, to force him to reveal the hiding place of Atabaliba’s gold, of which treasure it was known that he knew nothing whatever.” 18.18. “They likewise burnt in Quito, Cozzopanga, who was governor of all the provinces of Quito and who had responded to the intimations of Sebastian de Benalcazza, the governor’s captain, by coming peaceably; but because he did not give them as much gold as they asked, they burnt him, with many other lords and principal persons. As far as I could understand, it was the intention of the Spaniards that no lord should survive in all the country.” 19.19. “The Spaniards assembled a large number of Indians, and shut up as many as could enter, in three large houses which they then set on fire and burnt them all, although they had never done the slightest thing against any Spaniard, nor given the least cause.” 20.20. “It once happened, that when a priest called Ocana, pulled a child out of the fire in which it was burning, another Spaniard snatched it out of his hands and threw it back in the middle of the flames, where it became ashes together with the others; while the aforesaid Spaniard, who had thus thrown the Indian into the fire was returning to his dwelling the same day, he suddenly fell dead in the road; and it was my opinion, that they should not give him [Christian] burial.” 21.21. “Moreover I affirm, that I myself saw the Spaniards cut off the hands, noses, and ears of the Indian men and women, for no purpose whatever but just because the fancy struck them; and in so many places and regions did this occur that it would be a long story to tell.” 22.22. “I also saw the Spaniards setting dogs onto the Indians, to tear them to pieces; and thus I saw many of them torn to pieces.” 23.23. “I likewise saw so many houses and towns burned that I could not tell the number, so great was their multitude.” 24.24. “It is likewise true that they took nursing children by the arms and hurled them in the air as high as they could; and their other injustice and aimless cruelties terrified me, besides innumerable other things that I saw, and which it would take long to tell.” 25.25. “I saw moreover that they called the Indian lords and chiefs, to come peaceably, promising them safety, but as soon as they arrived they burnt them. And in my presence they burnt two, one from Andon and the other in Tumbala, nor was I able for all I preached to them, to prevent them burning them.” 26.26. “I call God and my own conscience to witness that, as far as I can understand, the Indians only revolted on account of this ill treatment which sufficiently justified their action as may be clearly seen by everybody.” 27.27. “The Spaniards have never dealt honestly with them nor kept their word but, contrary to all reason and justice, they have tyrannically ruined them and all their country, doing such things against them, that they [the Indians] have resolved sooner to die, than suffer such deeds.” 28.28. “I say moreover, that the Indians are right in affirming that there is more gold hidden, than has been discovered, for they have refused to disclose it because of the injustice and cruelty shown them by the Spaniards; nor will they disclose it as long as such treatment continues, but rather will they die like the others.” 29.29. “God our Lord has been much offended by these deeds, and His Majesty very badly served and defrauded, for they have made him lose countries that could very well provide food for the whole of Castile, and in my opinion, it will be very difficult and expensive to recover them.” 30.30. All these are the formal words of the said monk; and bear the signature also of the Bishop of Mexico, testifying that everything was affirmed by the said Father, Fray Marcus. 31.31. What this Father says he has seen, should be considered here: because this happened throughout fifty or a hundred leagues of country and during nine or ten years, at the beginning, when there were very few Spaniards: afterwards the sound of gold drew thither four or five thousand Spaniards, who spread through many large kingdoms and provinces, covering more than five hundred or seven hundred leagues, all of which they have destroyed by practising the same deeds and others still more ferocious and cruel. 32.32. Truly, from that time to the present day, a thousand times more people have been destroyed and dispersed than he was told of; being devoid of mercy and the fear of God and the King, the Spaniards have destroyed a very large part of the human race. 33.33. Within the space of ten years they have killed, up to the present day, more than four millions of persons; and they are still killing. 34.34. A short time since they pursued and killed a great queen, wife of Elingue, he who was left king of those kingdoms which the Christians had tyrannically seized and provoked to rise in the present rebellion. They captured the queen, his wife who, it is said, was pregnant and, contrary to all justice, they killed her, only to grieve her husband. 35.35. If the cruelties and different murders committed by the Christians, and their daily deeds in those kingdoms of Peru were to be told, they would doubtless be so horrible and so numerous that what we have recounted of the other countries would fade, and seem little, compared with their number and their gravity.

Of the New Kingdom of Granada

1. In the year 1539 many tyrants joined together and started from Venezuela, Santa Marta, and Cartagena for Peru: and others came back from the same Peru to explore those countries. Three hundred leagues inland behind Santa Marta and Cartagena, they found some very delightful and marvellous provinces, full of numberless people, as mild and kind as the others, and very rich in gold, and in those precious stones called emeralds. 2.2. To these provinces they gave the name of the new kingdom of Granada; because those tyrants who first came to these countries were natives of the kingdom of Granada in Spain. 3.3. As many iniquitous and cruel men among those who gathered from all parts, were notorious butchers and shedders of human blood who were very inured to, and experienced in the great sins that we have said were committed in many parts of the Indies, it follows that their fiendish operations, and the circumstances and qualities that blackened and aggravated them, were such that they have surpassed very many, or indeed all, that the others and they themselves have committed elsewhere in the Indies. 4.4. Of the multitude they have committed in these three years, and continue without ceasing to commit, I will briefly relate a few. As a man who was robbing and murdering in the said kingdom would not allow a governor to also rob and kill, the latter brought a suit against him, calling many witnesses to prove the slaughter, injustice, and massacres he had done, and is doing; this evidence was read, and is to be found in the Council of the Indies. 5.5. The witnesses in the said law-suit affirm that all the kingdom was quiet, and subject to the Spaniards; the Indians continually laboured to furnish them provisions, and to accumulate property for them; they brought them all the gold and precious emeralds they possessed or could obtain: the lords and inhabitants of the towns had been divided among the Spaniards, who lay claim to them as the means for obtaining their final object, which is gold. Having thus reduced everybody to the usual tyranny and slavery, the principal tyrant captain commanding them, captured the sovereign of all that country, without any cause or reason, and kept him for six or seven months, demanding gold and emeralds of him. 6.6. The said king, who was called Bogota, being overcome by fear said that he would give a house of the gold they demanded, hoping to free himself from the hands of his tormenters: he sent some Indians to bring him the treasure, and several times they brought a large quantity of gold and stones: because he did not give the house of gold, the Spaniards declared that he should be killed, because he did not fulfil his promise. 7.7. The tyrant said that he should be tried by process of law, so they prosecuted him, accusing the said king of the country. The tyrant gave sentence, condemning him to tortures, if he did not give the house of gold. 8.8. They tortured him with the cord: they threw burning fat on his belly; they put his feet in irons fastened to a stake, tied his neck to another, while two men held his hands; and in this position they put fire to his feet. 9.9. Every now and then, the tyrant entered and told him, that they would kill him by inches with tortures if he did not give the gold. And thus they did, and killed this lord with tortures. While they were tormenting him, God gave a sign of destestation of that cruelty, by causing all that town, where it was committed to be burnt. 10.10. The other Spaniards imitated their good captain and, since they only know how to rend these people, they did the same; torturing the lord of the town or towns, that had been confided to them, with divers and fierce tortures while those lords and their people felt themselves safe, and were giving them all the gold and emeralds they could: the Spaniards tortured them only to extort more gold and jewels. And in this way they burnt and cut to pieces all the lords of that country. 11.11. Terror-stricken by the excessive cruelty practised upon the Indians by one of those particular tyrants a great lord called Daytama fled, with many of his people from such inhumanity, and retreated to the mountains. This, if it did but avail, they conceive to be the remedy and refuge, and this is what the Spaniards call revolt and rebellion. 12.12. The principal tyrant captain hearing this, sent a force to that cruel man, whose ferocity and wickedness towards the peaceful and submissive Indians had driven them to the mountains; the latter went in pursuit of the natives, and because it sufficed not to hide in the bowels of the earth, they found a large number of people whom they killed, cutting to pieces more than five hundred men, women, and children, and sparing no one. 13.13. The witnesses also say that before his death, the same Prince Daytama had been to see that cruel man and had taken him four or five thousand crowns, but notwithstanding this, he committed the said slaughter. 14.14. Another time a great number of people having come to serve the Spaniards, and feeling themselves safe, serving with their humility and simplicity, the captain entered the town one night where the Indians were and commanded that all those Indians should be put to the sword while some of them were sleeping, and some supping and resting from the labours of the day. 15.15. He perpetrated this massacre because it seemed good to him to make himself feared by all the people of the country. 16.16. Another time the captain put all the Spaniards on oath, to lead at once as many lords and chiefs and common people as each had in his household service, to the square, where he had all their heads cut off, thus killing four or five hundred people. And the witnesses say that he thought in this way to pacify the country. 17.17. The witnesses depose that one particular tyrant did great cruelty, killing, and cutting off the hands and noses of many men and women, and destroying many people. 18.18. Another time the captain sent the afore-named cruel man, with certain Spaniards to the province of Bogota, to make inquiry as to who had succeeded to that dominion since they had tortured the universal lord to death: he marched through many leagues of country, capturing as many Indians as he could. 19.19. And because the people did not show him the lord who had succeeded, he cut off the hands of some and gave others to ferocious dogs, which tore them to pieces both men, and women; and in this way he killed, and destroyed many Indian men and women. 20.20. One day, near sunrise, he went to attack some lords, or captains and many Indians who felt tranquil and secure, because he had assured them and given them his word that they should receive no hurt or harm; confiding in this assurance they had come down from the mountains, where they were hidden, to dwell in this town on the plain; thus he captured a great many of these unsuspecting and confiding people, women and men, and making them put their hands flat on the ground he himself cut them off with a scimitar, saying that he punished them because they would not tell where the new lord, who had succeeded to that kingdom, was hidden. 21.21. Another time, because the Indians did not give a coffer full of gold that this cruel captain demanded, he sent people to make war on them, in which they killed numberless persons, and cut off the hands and noses of so many women and men that they could not be counted: they gave others to fierce dogs that tore them to pieces and ate them. 22.22. Another time, the Indians of a province of that kingdom, seeing that the Spaniards had burnt three or four principal lords, retreated in fear to a strong rock to defend themselves from enemies so devoid of humanity; and according to the witnesses, there may have been four or five thousand Indians on the rock. 23.23. The above-named captain sent a great and notorious tryant, who surpassed many of those who have charge of destroying those countries, with a certain number of Spaniards, to punish those Indians who had fled from such a great pestilence and butchery: and he declared they were in revolt, seeking to make it appear that they had done something wrong, for which the Spaniards must punish them and take vengeance: they themselves, however, merit any most cruel torture whatsoever, without mercy, because they are so deprived of mercy and compassion towards those innocent creatures. 24.24. The Spaniards went to the rock and forced their way up, the Indians being naked and without arms; then the Spaniards called the Indians with professions of peace, assuring them that no harm should be done them, if they did not fight; the Indians at once ceased, whereupon that most cruel man commanded the Spaniards, to seize all the strong positions of the rock, and when taken, to surround the Indians. These tigers and lions surrounded the tame lambs, and disembowelled and put to the sword so many, that they stopped to rest, so many had they cut to pieces. 25.25. When they had rested a little, the captain ordered that they should kill and throw down from the rock, which was very high, all the survivors; and so they did. And the witnesses say, that they beheld such a mass of Indians thrown from the rock, that there might have been seven hundred men together, who were crushed to pieces where they fell. 26.26. To complete their great cruelty, they sought out all the Indians who had hidden in the thicket, and he commanded all to be put to the sword; and thus they killed them, and threw them down from the rock. 27.27. Nor would he rest satisfied with the cruel things that have been related, but wished to distinguish himself still more and increase the horribleness of his sins, by commanding that all the Indians, men and women, save those he kept for his own service, who had been captured alive (because in these massacres each usually chooses a few men, women and children for his own use) should be put in a straw house to which he set fire: some forty or fifty were thus burnt alive, while others were thrown to fierce dogs that tore them to pieces and ate them. 28.28. Another time, this same tyrant captured many Indians in a certain town called Cota which he visited; he had fifteen or twenty lords and principal persons torn by dogs; and he cut off the hands of many men and women, tied them to cords and hung about seventy pairs of hands along a beam, so that the other Indians should see what had been done to these people; and he cut off the noses of many women and children. 29.29. Nobody could explain the actions, and cruelty of this man, God’s enemy, because they are innumerable, nor have such deeds as he did in those countries and in the province of Guatemala, ever been witnessed or heard of since then: during many years he went about those countries doing these deeds, burning and destroying the inhabitants and their property. 30.30. The witnesses in the trial further say, that the cruelties and massacres perpetrated in the said new kingdom of Granada by the captain himself and, with his consent, by all those tyrants and destroyers of the human race who were with him, were such that they have wasted and exterminated all the country. And that unless His Majesty arrests the massacring done among the Indians to extort gold which, as they had already given all they had, they no longer possess, the destruction will shortly be complete, and no Indians of any sort will be left to sustain the country, which will be left depopulated and desolate. 31.31. It should be considered how great and furious has been the cruelty and pestilential tyranny of unhappy tyrants, in the space of two or three years, since the discovery of this kingdom which, as all who have been there, and the witnesses at the trial say, was as thickly populated as any in the world; they have desolated it with massacres, so devoid of mercy, of the fear of God and the King, that they say, not a single person will be left alive unless His Majesty shortly prevents these infernal operations. And so I believe it to be, for with my own eyes I have seen many, and large countries in those parts, which they have destroyed and completely depopulated within a brief period. 32.32. There are other large provinces, bordering the said new kingdom of Granada, called Popayan and Cali: also three, or four others that extend for more than five hundred leagues; the Spaniards have rendered them desolate, and destroyed them like the others, unjustly robbing and torturing to death the numberless inhabitants of that most delightful country. 33.33. People coming now from there declare that it excites compassion to see so many large towns burnt and destroyed; towns where formerly there were a thousand or two thousand families, are reduced to hardly fifty, while others are entirely burned and abandoned. 34.34. In other places, from one to three hundred leagues of country are found completely deserted; large towns having been burnt and destroyed. 35.35. Great and cruel tyrants penetrated into New Granada from the direction of the province of Quito in the kingdom of Peru, and into Popayan and Cali from the direction of Cartagena and Uraba, while from Cartagena, other ill-starred tyrants marched through to Quito; afterwards others, came from the direction of Rio de San Juan, which is on the South coast. All of these men united together and they have devastated and depopulated more than six hundred leagues of country, sending innumerable souls to hell. They are doing the same at the present day to the miserable survivors, although they are innocent. 36.36. And to prove the axiom I laid down in the beginning, namely that the tyranny, violence, and injustice of the Spaniards towards these gentle lambs, accompanied by cruelty, inhumanity, and wickedness, most worthy of all fire and torture, which continue in the said provinces, go on increasing, I cite the following. 37.37. After the massacres and slaughter of the war, the people are condemned, as was said, to the horrible slavery described above. To one of the devils, two hundred Indians were given, to another, three. The devil commandant ordered a hundred Indians to be called before him and when they promptly came like so many lambs, he had the heads of thirty or forty cut off; and said to the others: “I will do the same to you, if you do not serve me well, and if you leave without my permission.” 38.38. Now in God’s name consider, you, who read this, what sort of deeds are these, and whether they do not surpass every imaginable cruelty and injustice, and whether it squares well with such Christians as these to call them devils; and whether it could be worse to give the Indians into the charge of the devils of hell than to the Christians of the Indies. 39.39. I will also tell of another such operation; I do not know which is the more cruel, the more infernal, and nearer the ferocity of wild beasts, this one or that one just told. 40.40. It has already been said, that the Spaniards of the Indies have tamed and trained the strongest and most ferocious dogs to kill and tear the Indians to pieces. 41.41. Listen and see, all you who are true Christians and also you who are not, whether such deeds have ever been heard of in the world; to feed the said dogs they take many Indians in chains with them on their journeys, as though they were herds of swine; and they kill them, making public butchery of human flesh; and one says to the other; “lend me a quarter of one of these villeins to give to my dogs to eat, until I kill.” It is as though they were lending a quarter of pork or of mutton. 42.42. There are others, who go hunting with their dogs in the morning and when one is asked on his return for dinner how it has fared with him, he replies; “it has fared well with me, because I have left perhaps fifteen or twenty villeins killed by my dogs.” 43.43. All these and other diabolical things are being proved now in law-suits started by some tyrants against others. What can be filthier, fiercer, and more inhuman? 44.44. I will finish with this, till news comes of other deeds of more eminent wickedness, if any such there can be: or until, on our return there, we again behold them, as we continually have with our own eyes since forty-two years. 45.45. I protest before God on my conscience that, as I believe and hold certain, such are the perdition, harm, destruction, depopulation, slaughter, deaths, and great and horrible cruelties, and most foul ways of violence, injustice, robbery, and massacre, done among those people and in all those countries of the Indies, that with all I have described, and those upon which I have enlarged, I have not told nor enlarged upon, in quality and quantity, a ten thousandth part of what has been done and is being done to-day. 46.46. And that all Christians may have greater compassion on those innocent nations, and that they may more sincerely lament their loss and doom, and blame and abominate the detestible avarice, ambition, and cruelty of the Spaniards, let them all hold this truth for certain, in addition to what I have affirmed above; namely, that from the time the Indies were discovered down to the present, nowhere did the Indians harm any Christians, before they had sustained harm, robbery, and treachery from them. Nay, they always esteemed them immortal, and come from Heaven; and as such they received them, until their deeds manifested their character and intentions. 47.47. It is well to add something else, that from the beginning till the present day the Spaniards have given no more thought to providing for the preaching of the faith of Jesus Christ to these people than if they were dogs or other animals: nay, they have persistently afflicted and persecuted the monks, to prevent them from preaching, because it seemed to them an impediment to the acquisition of the gold and wealth they promised themselves in their greedy desires. 48.48. And to-day there is not in all the Indies more knowledge of God among these people, as to whether He is of wood, or in heaven or on earth, than there was a hundred years ago, except in new Spain, where monks have gone and which is but a very little corner of the Indies. And so all have perished and are perishing, without faith and without Sacraments.

1. I was induced to write this work I, Fray Bartolomeus de las Casas, or Casaus, friar of St. Dominic, who by God’s mercy do go about this Court of Spain, trying to drive the hell out of the Indies, and to bring about that all those numberless multitudes of souls, redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ, shall not hopelessly perish forever; moved also by the compassion I feel for my fatherland, Castile, that God may not destroy it for such great sins, committed against His faith and honour and against fellow creatures. A few persons of quality who reside at this Court and are jealous of God’s honour and compassionate towards the afflictions and calamities of others, urged me to this work although it was my own intention which my continual occupations had never allowed me to put into effect. 2.2. I brought it to a close at Valencia the 8th of December 1542, when all the violence was more terrible, and the oppression, tyranny, massacres, robberies, destructions, slaughter, depopulation, anguish, and calamity aforesaid, are actually at their height in all the regions where the Christians of the Indies are; although in some places they are fiercer, and more abominable than in others. 3.3. Mexico and its neighbourhood are a little less badly off; there, at least, such things dare not be done publicly, because there is somewhat more justice than elsewhere, although very little, for they still kill the people with infernal burdens. 4.4. I have great hope, for the Emperor and King of Spain our Lord Don Carlos, Fifth of this name is getting to understand the wickedness and treachery that, contrary to the will of God, and of himself, is and has been done to those people and in those countries; heretofore the truth has been studiously hidden from him, that it is his duty to extirpate so many evils and bring succour to that new world, given him by God, as to one who is a lover and observer of justice, whose glorious, and happy life and Imperial state may God Almighty long prosper, to the relief of all his universal Church, and for the final salvation of his own Royal soul. Amen.

1. Since the above was written, some laws and edicts have been published by His Majesty, who was then in the town of Barcelona, in the month of November 1542 and in the town of Madrid the following year; these contain such provisions as now seem suitable to bring about the cessation of the great wickedness and sin committed against God and our fellow creatures, to the total ruin and destruction of that world. 2.2. After many conferences and debates amongst conscientious and learned authorities, who were assembled in the town of Valladolid, His Majesty made the said laws; acting finally on the decision and opinion of the greater part of all those who gave their votes in writing, and who drew nearer to the law of Jesus Christ, as true Christians. They were likewise free from the corruption and foulness of the treasures stolen from the Indies that soiled the hands, and still more the souls of many in authority who, in their blindness, had committed unscrupulous destruction. 3.3. When these laws were published, the agents of the tyrants, then at Court, made many copies of them; they displeased all these men who considered that they shut the doors to their participation in what was robbed and taken by tyranny: and they sent the copies to divers parts of the Indies. 4.4. None of those who there had charge of robbing the Indians, and of finishing their destruction by their tyranny, had ever observed any order, but such disorder as might have been made by Lucifer; when they saw the copies, before the arrival of the new judges who were to execute them, it is said and believed that they had been warned of what was coming by those in Spain, who have till now encouraged their sins and violence. They were so agitated, that when the good judges who were to carry out the laws arrived, they resolved to set aside shame and obedience to the King, just as they had already lost all love and fear of God. 5.5. They thus determined to let themselves be called traitors, for they are cruel and unbridled tyrants, particularly in the kingdoms of Peru, where at present, in this year of 1546, such horrible, frightful, and execrable deeds are committed, as have never been done, either in the Indies or in the world; not only do such things happen among the Indians whom they have already all or nearly all killed, but among themselves. In the absence of the King’s justice to punish them, God’s justice has come from heaven to bring dissension amongst them and to make one to be the executioner of the other. 6.6. Shielded by the rebellion of these tyrants, those in all the other regions, would not obey the laws and, under pretext of appealing against them, have also revolted; they resent having to abdicate the dignities and power they have usurped, and to losing the Indians whom they hold in perpetual slavery. 7.7. Where they have ceased to kill quickly by the sword, they kill slowly by personal servitude and other unjust and intolerable vexations. And till now the King has not succeeded in preventing them because all, small and great, go there to pilfer, some more, some less, some publicly and openly, others secretly and under disguise; and with the pretext that they are serving the king, they dishonour God, and rob and destroy the King.

The present work was printed in the most noble, and faithful town of Seville, at the house of Sebastian Truxillo book-printer. To our Lady of Grace.

The Year M.D.LII

What follows is part of a letter and report, written by one of those very men who went to these regions, recounting the deeds the captain did, and allowed to be done, in the countries he visited. When the said letter and report was given with other things to be bound, the bookseller either forgot or lost one or more pages containing frightful things, that had all been given me by one of those who did them, all of which I had in my possession; what follows is therefore without beginning or end. But as this piece that is left, is full of notorious things, it seemed well to me not to leave it unprinted: because I believe it will not excite less compassion and horror in Your Highness, than some of the irregularities already related, as well also as the desire to correct them.

LETTER

1. He allowed the Indians to be chained and put in prisons, and so it was done. And the said captain took three or four in chains for himself; by so doing and by robbing the Indians of their supplies instead of providing for necessary sowing and populating, the natives of the country were reduced to such want, that great numbers of them were found in the streets starved to death. 2.2. He killed about ten thousand souls by making the Indians carry the Spaniards’ baggage to and from the beach, because all who reached the coast died of the heat. 3.3. After this he followed the same trail and road as Juan de Ampudia, sending the Indians he had brought from Quito, a day in front, to discover the Indian towns and to sack them so that he and his people might avail themselves of them on their arrival. Those Indians belonged to him and his companions, one of whom had two hundred, another three hundred, according to the number each brought with him, and they carried whatever their masters robbed. And in this they treated children and women most cruelly. 4.4. He followed the same course in Quito, burning all the country and the stores of maize belonging to the lords; he consented to the killing of great numbers of sheep, all of which form the principal provision and maintenance of the natives and of the Spaniards; for the latter use two or three hundred just to eat the brains and fat alone, and waste the meat. 5.5. His friendly Indians who went with him, killed great numbers of sheep, just to eat the hearts, not eating anything else. And so two men in a province called Purua killed twenty-five sheep and pack-sheep, just to eat the brains and fat, although among the Spaniards they cost twenty and twenty-five pesos each. 6.6. By such excessive disorder, they killed more than a hundred thousand head of animals, which reduced the country to very great want, while the natives died of starvation in great numbers. Although there was more maize in Quito than can be told, this bad order of things brought such penury on the people that a measure of maize came to cost ten pesos, and a sheep the same. 7.7. When the said captain returned from the coast, he determined to leave Quito, to go in search of Captain Juan de Ampudia. He took more than two hundred foot and horsemen, among whom he led many inhabitants of the country of Quito. The said captain permitted the colonists who accompanied him to draw the lords from their departments and as many Indians as they liked, and this they did. 8.8. Alonso Sanchez Nuyta took a lord and more than a hundred Indians with their wives; Pedro Cobo and his cousin, more than a hundred and fifty with their wives and many of the children, who otherwise all died of starvation. And so likewise Moran, an inhabitant of Popayan, had more than two hundred persons; and all the other inhabitants and soldiers also took as many as each could. 9.9. And the said soldiers asked him if he would give them licence to put the Indians they brought with them, in prison; and he said yes, until they died, and when these were dead, also others; for if the Indians were vassals of His Majesty, they were also of the Spaniards, and they died in war. 10.10. In this way the said captain left Quito and went to a town called Otabalo, which he owned at that time by virtue of the distribution, and he demanded five hundred men for the war from its lord, who gave them to him with some Indian chiefs. He distributed some of these people among the soldiers and the rest he took with himself, some with packs, and others in chains, and some, who served him and brought him food, were free; the soldiers also took them, bound in this way with chains and cords. 11.11. When they left the province of Quito they took away more than six thousand Indians, men and women of whom not twenty men returned to their country: because they all died of the great and excessive labours imposed on them, in countries far from their native land. 12.12. It happened at this time, that one Alonso Sanchez was sent by the said captain in command of certain people in a province; on the way, he met a number of women and boys loaded with provisions who, instead of fleeing, waited for him, to give them to him; and he had them all put to the sword. 13.13. And a miracle happened when a soldier was stabbing an Indian woman; at the first blow the sword broke in half, and at the second only the handle was left, without his being able to wound her. Another soldier with a double bladed dagger wanted to stab another Indian woman, but at the first blow four fingers’ length of the point broke off, and at the second nothing remained but the handle alone. 14.14. When the said captain left Quito, leading away such a quantity of natives, separating them from their wives, giving some of the young girls to those Indians he took with him, and others to those who were left behind on account of their old age, a woman came behind him, with a little child in her arms, weeping and begging him not to take her husband away from her, because she had three little children whom she would not be able to bring up, and who would die of starvation; and seeing that he answered her roughly the first time, she came back a second with louder cries saying, that her children would die of starvation: and when she saw, that he commanded she should be driven away and that he would not release her husband, she threw the child on some stones and killed it. 15.15. When the said captain arrived in the province of Lili at a town called Palo near the great river, he found there the Captain Juan de Ampudia, who had gone in advance to explore and pacify the country; the said Ampudia had founded a town called Ampudia, in the name of His Majesty and of the Marquis Francisco Pizarro, and had appointed Pedro Solano de Quiñones and eight rulers as ordinary judges; and the greater part of the country was at peace, and divided. As soon as he knew that the said captain was at the river, he went to see him accompanied by many of the inhabitants and peaceful Indians, loaded with provisions and fruit; and from thenceforward all the Indians in the neighbourhood went to visit the said captain, and to bring him food. 16.16. These were the Indians from Namudi, Palo, Soliman, and Bolo; but because they did not bring as much maize as he wanted, he ordered many Spaniards to go with their Indians, men and women to get maize, wherever they found it. So they went to Bolo and to Palo, where they found the Indians, tranquil in their houses; and the said Spaniards and those who went with them, stole and carried off the maize, gold, stuffs, and all the Indians possessed, and they bound many of them. 17.17. When the Indians saw that they were treated so badly, they went to complain to the said captain of what had been done, and to request that the Spaniards should restore all they had taken from them. He would not have anything restored, but told them that his men would not go there a second time. 18.18. Within three or four days the Spaniards returned for maize, and to rob the Indians of the town. The Indians having seen that the said captain kept and observed his word so little, all the country revolted, which did much harm and disservice to God Our Lord, and to His Majesty. 19.19. So the whole country is left deserted, because the people have been destroyed by their enemies the Olomas and Manipos: these are a warlike people from the mountains, who descended every day to the plains to capture and despoil them, seeing that their towns and native country were left abandoned; and the most powerful among them ate the weaker, because they were all dying of starvation. 20.20. Having done this, the said captain returned to the said country of Ampudia, where he was received as General and seven days later he again left to go to the places called Lili and Peti, accompanied by more than two hundred men on foot and on horse. 21.21. Afterwards the said commander sent his captain in all directions, making cruel war on the natives; and so they killed great numbers of Indians, men and women, and burnt their houses and stole their goods: this lasted many days. 22.22. The lords of the country seeing that they were killing and destroying them, sent some peaceable Indians, with provisions. And the said captain having left for a settlement called Yce, he at once sent some Spaniards to rob, capture, and kill as many Indians as they could, commanding that many houses should be burnt; and so they burnt more than a hundred. 23.23. From there he went to another town, called Tolilicuy, (105) where the lord at once came forth peaceably with many Indians: and the said captain demanded gold of him and of his Indians. The lord said he had but little, but that he would give him what he had. They all immediately began to bring him what they could. 24.24. The said captain gave each of the Indians a ticket bearing the name of the said Indian who had given him gold, threatening that any Indian who did not pay and was without this ticket, should be thrown to the dogs. Terrified by this, all the Indians who had gold, gave him all that they could; and those who had none fled to the mountain and to other towns, for fear of being killed; for which reason a great number of natives perished. 25.25. The said captain forthwith ordered the lords to send two Indians to another town, called Dagua, to order the inhabitants to come peaceably to him, and bring him a quantity of gold. 26.26. On arriving at another town, he sent a number of Spaniards, and Indians from Tolilicuy to capture many Indians, and so the following day they brought back more than a hundred persons with them. He took all those capable of carrying loads, for himself and the soldiers, and put them in chains so that they all died; and the said captain gave the infants to the said lords of Tolilicuy to be eaten. And to-day in the house of the said Lord Tolilicuy there are the skins of the infants full of ashes. 27.27. Without saying anything, he departed from there for the provinces of Calili, where he joined Captain Juan de Ampudia, who had been sent by him to explore the country by another route; both the one and the other did much slaughter and much injury to the native people wherever they went. 28.28. The said Juan de Ampudia arrived at a place, the lord of which was called Bitacon; he had prepared some pits for his defence, into which two horses belonging to Antonio Redondo and Marcus Marquez fell; the latter died but the other not. In consequence of this the said Ampudia ordered as many as possible of the Indians, men and women, to be captured; more than a hundred persons were captured whom they threw into those pits alive where they killed them, and they burnt more than a hundred houses in that town. 29.29. Thus they joined one another at a large town and, without calling the Indians pacifically, nor sending interpreters to summon them, they made cruel war on them, and persecuted them, and killed great numbers of them. And as soon as they joined one another as has been said, the aforenamed Ampudia told the captain what he had done at Bitacon, and how he had thrown so many people into the pits; and the said captain replied that he had done very well; and that he himself had done the same at Riobamba, which is in the province of Quito, where he threw more than two hundred persons into the pits; both stayed here, making war throughout the country. 30.30. After this he entered the province of Birù or Anzerma, making cruel war of fire and blood, from this province to the salt ponds. From there he sent Francisco Garcia Tobar forward, making cruel war on the natives as is told above; and the Indians went to him two by two, making signs that they sought peace in the name of all the country, and asking what the Spaniards wished; for if they wanted gold or women or provisions, they should be given them, and begging that they should not be killed in this way: and this the Spaniards themselves have confessed to be true. 31.31. And the said Francisco Garcia told them to go away, that they were drunk, and that he did not understand them, after which he returned to where the said captain was and they set out to march through all the province, making most cruel war on the natives, plundering and killing them; and more than two thousand souls were carried off from there between him and his soldiers, all of whom died in chains. 32.32. Before they left the inhabited country, they killed more than five hundred persons. Thus he returned to the province of Calili; and if on the way some Indian, man or woman, became so tired that he could not walk, they stabbed him; if he was in chains they cut off his head, so as not to undo them and so that the others seeing this, should not feign being ill. 33.33. In this way they all died, and on this journey all the people he had brought from Quito, Pasto, Quilla, Cagua, Paria, Popayan, Lili, Cali, and Anzerma, perished in very great numbers. On his return march, as soon as he entered the large town, they killed all they could. And they captured three hundred persons in that day. 34.34. From the province of Lili, he sent the said captain, Juan de Ampudia, with many people to the place and dwellings of Lili, in order to capture all the Indians, men and women, that he could, for carrying the packs; because all the numerous people he had brought from Anzerma, had already died. And the said Juan de Ampudia brought more than a thousand persons, many of whom he killed. 35.35. The said captain took all the people he needed, giving the rest to the soldiers, who at once put them in chains, where they all died: after depriving the said country of the Spaniards, and of the natives in such great numbers, as is seen by the few that are left, he set out for Popayan. 36.36. On the way he left behind a live Spaniard, whose name was Martin de Aguirre, because he could not walk as much as the healthy ones. On his arrival at Popayan he dwelt in that town, and began to destroy, and rob the Indians of the surrounding country, with the same disorder as he had done in the others. 37.37. He made a royal stamp here and melted all the gold he had gathered, and that Juan de Ampudia had gathered before he came; and without any accounting or explanation, and without giving any part to any soldier, he took it all for himself, except that he gave what he chose to some whose horses were dead. This done, and after taking the fifths of His Majesty he said he was going to Cuzco to report to his Governor; so he set out for Quito, taking a great number of Indians, men, and women, all of whom died on the journey and in that place. And further the said captain returned to destroy the royal stamp he had made. 38.38. It is well at this point to relate a word that this man said of himself, showing that he very well knew the evil and cruelty that he did. He spoke thus: “In fifty years, those that pass by here and hear of these things, will say: ‘It was here that the tyrant so and so marched.’ ” 39.39. These in-comings and out-goings of this captain in those kingdoms, and this way of visiting those people living safely in their country, and these operations practised by him against them, Your Highness should know and be convinced, have always been done by the Spaniards everywhere in the same way, from the discovery of the Indies till the present day.

APPENDIX II. - THE BULL SUBLIMIS DEUS

Latin Text(106)

Paulus Papa tertius universis Christi fidelibus præsentes litteras inspecturis salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem. Sublimis Deus sic dilexit humanum genus, ut hominem talem condiderit qui non solum boni sicut cæteræ creaturæ particeps esset, sed ipsum Summum Bonum inaccesibile et invisibile attingere et facie ad faciem videre posset; et cum homo ad vitam et beatitudinem æternam obeundam, etiam sacrarum literarum testimonio, creatus sit, et hanc vitam et beatitudinem æternam, nemo consequi valeat, nisi per fidem Domini nostri Jesu Christi fateri necesse est, hominem talis conditionis et naturæ esse, ut Fidem Christi recipere possit, et quemqunque, qui naturam hominis fortitus est, ad ipsam Fidem recipiendam habilem esse. Nec enim quisque adeò desipere creditur, ut se secredat Fidem obtinere posse, et medium summe necessarium, nequaquam attingere.

Hinc veritas ipsa quæ nec falli, nee fallere potest, cum prædicatores fidei ad officium prædicationis destinaret, dixisse dignoscitur. _Euntes, Docete Omnes Gentes._ Omnes dixit, absque omni deletu, cum omnes fidei disciplinæ capaces existant. Quod videns ipsius humani generis emulus qui bonis operibus, ut pereant semper adversatur, modum excogavit ac temis in auditum, quo impediret, ne verbum Dei gentibus salve fierent, predicaretur, ac quosdam suos satelites commovit, qui suam cupiditatem ad implere, cupientes occidentales, et meridionales Indos, et alias gentes, quas temporibus istis ad nostram notitiam pervenerunt, sub prætextu, quod Fidei Catolicæ expertes existant, uti muta animalia ad nostra obsequia redigendos esse passim asserere præsumat.

Nos igitur qui eiusdem Domini Nostri vices, licet immeriti, gerimus in terris, et oves gregis sui nobis commissas, quæ extra eius ovile sunt, ad ipsum ovile toto nixu exquirimus. Attendentes Indos ipsos, ut potè veros homines, non solum Christianæ Fidei capaces existere, sed ut nobis innotuit, ad fidem ipsam promptissimè currere. Ac volentes super his congruis remediis providere, prasdictos Indos et omnes alias gentes ad notitiam Christianorum imposterum deventuras, licet extra Fidem Christi existant sua libertate àc rerum suarum dominio privatos, seù privandos non esse. Imò libertate et dominio huiusmodi, uti et potiri, et gaudere, liberè et licitè posse, nee in servitutem redigi debere. Ac si secùs fieri contigerit irritum et innane. Ipsosque Indos et alias gentes verbi Dei prædicatione et exemplo bonæ vitæ ad dictam Fidem Christi invitandos fore, et præsentium literarum transumptis manu alicuius Notarii publici subscriptis, àc sigillo alicuius personæ in dignitate Ecclesiastica constitutæ munitis, eamdem fidem adhibendam esse, quas originalibus adhiberetur auctoritate Apostolice per præsentes litteras decernimus et declaramus. Non obstantibus præmissis, cæterisque contrariis quibuscumque.

Datum Romæ Anno Domini millessimo quingentessimo trigessimo septimo. Quarto nonas Junii Pontificatus nostri, Anno tertio.

THE BULLSublimis Deus

Translation

Paul III Pope To all faithful Christians to whom this writing may come, health in Christ our Lord and the apostolic benediction.

The sublime God so loved the human race that He created man in such wise that he might participate, not only in the good that other creatures enjoy, but endowed him with capacity to attain to the inaccessible and invisible Supreme Good and behold it face to face; and since man, according to the testimony of the sacred scriptures, has been created to enjoy eternal life and happiness, which none may obtain save through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary that he should possess the nature and faculties enabling him to receive that faith; and that whoever is thus endowed should be capable of receiving that same faith. Nor is it credible that any one should possess so little understanding as to desire the faith and yet be destitute of the most necessary faculty to enable him to receive it. Hence Christ, who is the Truth itself, that has never failed and can never fail, said to the preachers of the faith whom He chose for that office “Go ye and teach all nations.” He said all, without exception, for all are capable of receiving the doctrines of the faith.

The enemy of the human race, who opposes all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the preaching of God’s word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the catholic faith.

We, who, though unworthy, exercise on earth the power of our Lord and seek with all our might to bring those sheep of His flock who are outside, into the fold committed to our charge, consider, however, that the Indians are truly men and that they are not only capable of understanding the catholic faith but, according to our information, they desire exceedingly to receive it. Desiring to provide ample remedy for these evils, we define and declare by these our letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and of no effect.

By virtue of our apostolic authority We define and declare by these present letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, which shall thus command the same obedience as the originals, that the said Indians and other peoples should be converted to the faith of Jesus Christ by preaching the word of God and by the example of good and holy living.

Given in Rome in the year of our Lord 1537. The fourth of June and of our Pontificate, the third year.

APPENDIX III. - ROYAL ORDINANCES PROVIDING FOR THE DEPARTURE OF LAS CASAS FROM SPAIN AND FOR HIS RECEPTION IN THE INDIES(107)

THE PRINCE. Our officials of India House, who reside in the city of Seville: Rev. Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the province of Chiapa, goes to this city in order to send off forty priests, who are now going to the province of Honduras; and also to give orders concerning their departure and other matters which he understands. I therefore wish the said bishop to be given every facility in these matters so that he may be enabled to arrange quickly, as is due to one in our service, and I command and order you that in the aforesaid, as in all things, you will offer him help, and assist him and the said priests; and in thus doing, you will be serving me. From Valladolid 13th day of the month of February 1544—I, the Prince, etc.

THE PRINCE. Our officials of India House, who reside in the city of Seville; as the bulls of the bishop of the province of Chiapa, the Reverend Father Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas have arrived and Diego Navarro, who brought them by our orders is entitled by the agreement made with him to be paid for the cost and the delivery of the said bulls, amounting, according to the declaration of Pedro de Tapia and of Diego de Gaona, apostolic notaries, and of certain money changers in Rome, to eighty-eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-five maravedis, and since this has to be deducted from the five hundred thousand maravedis, which the said bishop receives from us in New Spain, I order that out of whatever maravedis are in your charge, our treasurer shall pay the said Diego Navarro or his authorised representative the said eighty-eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-five maravedis. You will take care that they are collected according to the cedula which I send by him. Let me know what you do in this matter, and do not fail to do so.

Dated in Valladolid, etc.

Archives of the Indies, Council of Guatemala, register of property. Royal commands issued to the authorities, corporations, and private persons of the district, years 1529 to 1551. Desk 100, drawer 1st. Packet 1st.

THE PRINCE. By these presents I give permission and faculty to you, Rev. Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the province of Chiapa to leave our realms, and dominions and go to our Indies, Islands, and “Terra Firma” of the ocean sea, accompanied by four black slaves for your personal service and establishment, free of all duty, as well from the two ducats for their licences, as from the “almoxarifazgo” duties.(108) Whatever sum this amounts to, I exempt you; and we instruct our officials in those islands and provinces to which the said slaves are to be sent, to take charge of this original document and place it in the chest of the Three Keys, so that the said slaves shall be unable to make more than the one voyage for which we give you permission by this licence. Dated in the town of Valladolid 13th day of February 1544—I, the Prince, etc.

THE PRINCE. Reverend Father in Christ, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the province of Chiapa I have been informed that the province of Socousco is within the boundaries of your diocese. Knowing this and with the confidence I place in you, my will is to place the said province under your charge so that, as prelate you will have the care of the spiritual affairs in it, until, as aforesaid, a bishop is provided for it. I therefore order and entrust you as prelate to take charge of the spiritual welfare of the said province until as said, a prelate is provided for it. Of the tithes of the said province you are to take one fourth part, and the other three parts shall be distributed among the ecclesiastical ministers who at present serve in that province; and in the repairs and decorations of its churches. The fourth part, of which you have the use, shall be expended in your personal visits throughout the said provinces and in performing their pontifical functions until the prelate we shall appoint goes to reside in his bishopric. Dated in Valladolid 13th day of February 1544—I, the Prince, etc.

THE PRINCE. Reverend Father in Christ, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa. You already know that the Emperor King, my sovereign, having seen the necessity of providing and ordering certain things tending to the better government of the Indies, the better treatment of its natives, and the better administration of justice, and in order to fulfil the duties he owes to the service of God our Lord, and in the discharge of his royal conscience has, after much deliberation, ordered certain ordinances to be drawn up. As it afterwards appeared necessary and advantageous to explain certain clauses in the said ordinances and to further strengthen others, certain ordinances and declarations were made, many of whose articles have been rectified for the benefit, preservation, and good treatment of the natives of the said Indies, their lives and properties. They may all thus be well treated as free subjects and vassals of His Majesty (which they are) and instructed in the Holy Catholic Faith, as you will see by the copies of the said ordinances and declarations, which I order to be sent to you with this letter, signed by Juan de Samano, our secretary. And whatever I have commanded in our ordinances and in our cedulas and provisions, which I now renew, I send and order our viceroys, presidents and the auditors of our audiencias and royal chancelleries of the said Indies, our governors and our judges that with great zeal and diligence they obey, comply with, and have them proclaimed. They shall rigorously punish all who rebel against these ordinances, and many of the said ordinances shall be given to the priests who are in those parts that they may be made known to the natives, and procure obedience to them, and report those who do not fulfil them, to the said audiencia. I also think it advisable to mention this to you, feeling confident that as you are the pastor and protector of the native Indians in your bishopric, and are bound to be more zealous in procuring their better welfare and in preserving their spiritual and temporal development, you will, therefore, do this and take greater care to ensure the execution of what has been enacted for their benefit. Thus I charge you and I command you to see that this is carried out, and to exercise great vigilance and care to ensure the observance of the said statutes and the execution of their provisions. And should any person or persons violate these orders, you will notify the governors and judges in those parts so that they may punish them according to the provisions of the statutes. Should the latter prove remiss, neglectful, or inclined to dissimulate, you will report to the President and auditors of Our Audiencia and Royal Chancellery of the Confines, indicating those who have offended and in what way, so that they may order the guilty to be punished in conformity with the commands we have sent them. In case the said President and auditors fail to correct and punish them, after seeing your statement—a thing we do not believe—you will notify us of everything in order that we may have them punished as we may think fit. In doing this you will have fulfilled the duties you owe to the service of God, our Lord, and in the discharge of your conscience; moreover the Emperor my sovereign will also be served. Dated in Valladolid, 13th day of February 1544. I the Prince, etc.

DON CARLOS by Divine Grace, August Emperor, King of Germany; Doña Juana his mother, and the same Don Carlos by the grace of God, Kings of Castile and Leon, etc. To you, Rev. Father in Christ, Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa, health and grace. You well know that on account of the good reports that we had of your character, we presented you to our most Holy Father as bishop of the said diocese, and though the bulls have not been despatched, the service of God Our Lord, the instruction and conversion of the natives of the said bishopric and the good government and advancement of the Church and its divine teachings, require that you go with all haste to the said provinces to undertake the said teaching and conversion and the other matters with which we have charged you. Were you to await the arrival of the said bulls, certain misfortunes might in the meantime occur there which would displease God our Lord, and not be in accordance with our duties to His service in the Indies. It was therefore agreed that without awaiting the said bulls, you should go to the said province, and we approve it. Therefore we pray and command you that as soon as you receive this you will start for the said province of Chiapa, without awaiting the said bulls: you will enquire into and find out the state of the spiritual affairs of the province and also what churches and monasteries have been built. What tithes there have been and in what way they have been spent and distributed. If the necessary churches have not been built you will see that they are immediately erected in such places as you judge best, placing priests to administer the Holy Sacraments and to diligently instruct the natives of those towns in all matters relating to our holy Catholic Faith. In the meantime, we, as patrons of the said churches and the others in our Indies, command persons to be named to those benefices who will assume charge of them. You will likewise see that the divine services are carried out with the necessary reverence, decency, and decorum, and that the natives of the said district are instructed in the Holy Catholic faith; you will see that the said priests and others who reside in the said provinces live honestly, and that those who are charged with the education of the Indians in the teachings of our Holy Catholic Faith fulfil their duties. We command that the President and the auditors of our Audiencia and Royal Chancellery of the Confines, as well as all other judges and subjects of the said province of Chiapa, shall give you all the above mentioned, and shall favour and aid you in whatever you ask of them or is necessary. For all of which we name you and give you full power by this, our letter with all its incidents, dependencies, annexes, and connexes. You are notified by this letter that you are not authorised to exercise jurisdiction or other functions forbidden to bishops-elect before they are confirmed and consecrated. Dated in the town of Valladolid 13th day of February etc.

DON CARLOS, etc. To you, the Rev. Father in Christ, Bartholomew de Las Casas bishop-elect of the province of Chiapa, health and grace. Be it known to you that we have been informed that in your diocese, many Indians have been hunted and driven to the hills and mountains by the cruel treatment of Spaniards living there, and of others who have gone there of their own free will. And because we are desirous that the said Indians should be pacified and taught our Holy Catholic Faith, and should be brought back to the towns they used to inhabit to again live there and be taught the Christian doctrines, we have decided, on account of the great confidence we have in you, to beg you to endeavour to bring the said Indians to peaceful terms. We therefore charge and command you that upon your arrival there you will endeavour to procure peace, and to instruct all the Indians who have been driven out of the said bishopric, in the knowledge of the Holy Catholic Faith. And you will persuade them to return to the towns they used to inhabit or to the places indicated by you, which you think more suitable. And that they may come the more willingly, you will promise and assure them in our name that if they come and populate the said towns, they shall not be molested either now or at any time during our royal reign; neither they, nor their descendants, nor the towns they inhabit. By these presents we promise that should they come to peaceful terms as stated, we will not molest them neither during this reign nor at any other time. We moreover command that for a period of four years they shall neither be fined nor taxed by our officials nor by any other persons; and that they may be more relieved from work, our will is that they shall be free of all tribute. You will have special oversight of their good treatment and of their instruction and conversion, and you will advise us what number of Indians have become peaceful through these means and also what districts they have peopled. Dated in the town of Valladolid etc.

THE PRINCE. Reverend Father in Christ, Francis Marroquin, bishop of the province of Guatemala: I am informed by Our Council that you have interfered and are interfering in the spiritual affairs pertaining to the Diocese of Chiapa and know its affairs as though you were its bishop, being as it is the lawful church and having its chapter, and the see being at present vacant. The Emperor King, my sovereign, has presented to the said bishopric the Reverend Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, and we have despatched him thither without waiting for his bulls. You are aware that in a lawfully erected diocese it belongs to the chapter during the vacancy of the see, to take cognisance of what happens there. Therefore I command you that from the day that you receive this, you will henceforth, neither know nor try to find out and interfere as a bishop in anything pertaining to the said bishopric of Chiapa, and that you will leave the chapter of the vacant see to act as is customary during a vacancy. Dated in Valladolid etc.

THE PRINCE. Don Carlos, by Divine Grace august Emperor, King of Germany; Doña Juana, his mother and the same Don Carlos, by the grace of God, Kings of Castile and Leon etc. To you Rev. Father in Christ, Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa, health and grace be with you. You well know how we have sent you, without awaiting your bulls, to the said province to undertake the spiritual affairs there and, because our wishes are that pending the arrival of the said bulls, you shall be entitled to collect the ecclesiastical tithes of that bishopric and to distribute them according to and in the manner authorised by the foundation law of the diocese, we command you, pending the arrival of the bulls authorising you to take possession of the said bishopric, to collect all the ecclesiastical tithes of that bishopric. By these presents we command all persons who should pay them, to bring them to you or to whomever you authorise to receive them, just as though you had already taken possession of the diocese by virtue of the said bulls. The tithes thus collected you shall spend and distribute each year on the things and in such wise as the foundation charter provided, and for their collection we give you full power, with its incidents, dependencies, annexes, and connexes. We likewise order that our judges and the inhabitants of the said province shall not place nor allow to be placed any impediment whatsoever in your way and shall leave you free to collect the said tithes; and should necessity arise, they shall help and assist you, and shall compel the tithe-payers to pay you the tithes as beforesaid—Dated in the town of Valladolid 13th of February 1544—I the Prince—by command of His Highness, Juan de Samano; signed by the Bishop of Cuenca and the licentiates Gutierrez Velasquez; Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron. THE PRINCE. Venerable and devout Father, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect confirmed to the province of Chiapa; I saw your letter of the 21st ult. and the one you wrote to Juan de Samano, his Majesty’s secretary, and the cedula you ask for, authorizing the expenses of the forty friars who are going to Honduras, goes with this. About the two hundred and fifty ducats which I ordered to be given you by the officials of this chamber, seeing that there is no money wherewith to pay them, I have ordered them to be paid on account, and that they should pay them to you, as you will have understood when you receive this, and thus they will settle with you in full.

I have written to the Franciscan Provincial of the Province of Castile, that ten priests are going to the Indies instead of the twelve that I asked for, as you told me that two of them are already in that city, of which I am glad. The others who come will be provided with their passage and stores according to the cedula you possess.

Pertaining to your consecration, in another document which accompanies this, I am sending to give notice of the arrival of your bulls, charging you to arrange at once for your consecration. I therefore beg you to do this and to let me know how it was celebrated. Valladolid 1st day of April 1544. I, the Prince: countersigned by Samano, signed by the bishop of Cuenca, Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

DON CARLOS and Doña Juana etc. To you alcaldes and others and to our judges of the provinces of Chiapa, Yucatan, Cozumel and to all Aldermen, Judges, lawyers, gentlemen, esquires, officials and to all loyal subjects in every city, town, and village which lie within the boundaries assigned by our President and the auditors of our royal Council in New Spain to the bishopric of the city of Ciudad Real of this province of Chiapa, and to whatsoever other persons may be charged with the administration of the churches in the said cities, towns, and villages lying within the said boundaries and to whom this our letter may concern, health and grace. You well know or should know that we have presented to our very Holy Father, the Reverend Father in Christ, Fray Bartholomew de las Casas of the Dominican Order, for the bishopric of the said city of Ciudad Real in the province of Chiapa, to whom His Holiness, in virtue of our presentation, conveyed the said church and bishopric; and he ordered to be given and did give his bull for it, presenting it to us and begging us to grant our execution of the letter so that, in conformity with the said bulls, he would be given possession of the said bishopric and might receive its rents and income, to enable him to appoint his vicars and other officials of the said bishopric and that we might dispose as we saw fit. He sent the said bulls to be shown to our Council of the Indies and after they had seen them, we agreed that in the meantime or until we or our sovereign successors enlarge or diminish the boundaries of the said bishopric, the said Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas should preserve the boundaries assigned by the said President and auditors to the said bishopric of Chiapa; and that the tithes and other things which belong to him as bishop should be paid him; and that we should send this, our letter to you; and we approved. For that reason we order all and each one of you, who see the said bulls, which will be presented by the said Reverend Fray Bartolomew de Las Casas, conformably with their tenor and form to give or have given to him, or to whomever he authorises, the possession of the church and bishopric of the said city of Ciudad Real of the province of Chiapa, that he may hold it within the boundaries the said President and auditors have marked out. Meanwhile, and until we or the kings our successors enlarge or diminish the said boundaries as before stated, you shall hold him as your bishop and prelate, giving him the proceeds and incomes, tithes and revenues, and all things pertaining to him as bishop of that diocese. And you shall allow him to perform his pastoral duties and exercise his episcopal jurisdiction in person or through his officials or vicars, in whatever manner and in whatever form may be rightfully used according to the said bulls, and as the laws of our kingdom sanction; and in all things and cases belonging to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, you shall give him all help and assistance. And should he ask the aid of the secular arm, you will grant it in conformity with the law, and each one and all shall not fail him in any way, under penalty of our displeasure and of five hundred thousand maravedis, forfeit to our exchequer. Dated in the town of Valladolid 7th of March 1544—I, the Prince; legalised by Samano, signed by the Bishop of Cuenca, Gutierrez Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

THE PRINCE. Our officials in the province of Higueras and Cape of Honduras: know ye that on account of the good reports and information of the character and life of Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas of the Dominican Order, the Emperor King, my sovereign, has presented him to His Holiness as bishop of the province of Chiapa in place of Fray Juan de Arteaga, deceased, former bishop of the said diocese. As the said bishop has explained to me that in order to go to reside in the said diocese, he will be obliged to provide himself in the said province with a few things for his voyage, he has begged me to order you to lend him from your funds the sum of two hundred ducats, or what I am pleased to give; and I approve. I have therefore ordered in one of my documents, that five hundred thousand maravedis in excess of the fourth part of the tithes of the said bishopric, are to be yearly given from our purse. That he may have sufficient to maintain himself better, I command that out of whatever maravedis are in your care, our treasurer shall give and pay to the said Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, or to his authorised representative, the said two hundred ducats, amounting to seventy-five thousand maravedis, and shall note it on the back of the said document above mentioned; as you pay it on account and in part payment of the said five hundred thousand maravedis that we give him in this way each year, we have ordered that these and other maravedis, which in these countries are to be given him, shall be deducted from the five hundred thousand maravedis. You will take his receipt or that of his authorised representative to show that the said two hundred “ducats” have been received on account. Dated in Valladolid, thirteenth day of February 1544,—I, the Prince, countersigned by Samano—signed by the bishop of Cuenca, and Gre. Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

THE PRINCE. Our officials in the province of Guatemala, or any other persons who may have been appointed to collect the tithes of the Bishop of Chiapa, during the vacant bishopric. Know ye that the Emperor King, my sovereign, because of the good reports he had of the character and merits of the Rev. Father in Christ, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas of the Dominican Order, presented him to the Holy Father as bishop of the said diocese of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa, in place of the licentiate Rev. Juan de Arteaga, former bishop, deceased. The said bishop has begged me, in order to assist him in his many expenses until he starts to the said bishopric and to pay the expenses of his bulls, to graciously give him the tithes belonging to the church, that have accumulated since the decease of the said Rev. Juan de Arteaga, should I so wish, and I, agreeing to the above and to help him, do approve. I therefore command you to help and assist the said bishop or his authorised representatives with any tithes you may have collected or that remain in the said bishopric of Chiapa belonging to the church, from the day the said predecessor died until the day when he will enter and enjoy the five hundred thousand maravedis which we order to be given him. Dated in Valladolid thirteenth day of February 1544—I the Prince—by command of His Highness, Juan de Samano.

THE PRINCE. Forasmuch as the Reverend Father in Christ, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa has informed me that it may happen that in the Cathedral of your said bishopric, there may not be more than one or two incumbents, presented by us and installed by you in the dignities, canonries, and prebends of the diocese, and, that not being more numerous, they must divide amongst them all that pertains to the capitula mensa and promotes the service of God our Lord and increases the divine cult in the said church. Should this be the case, the persons who were installed and were present should take what was required for its establishment, and out of the remainder competent salaries should be given to some of the priests who serve in the said church so long as there are no more beneficiaries, as we desire that the above mentioned may be corrected. We order and charge by these presents that, when it happens that in the said church there are not at least four incumbents in residence, you will appoint up to the said number to fill the vacant places, and priests who lead exemplary lives and of the necessary abilities to serve in the said church, as its canons and priests should; you will give them a sufficient salary from the funds that belong to the Order of the Chapter; first paying those who reside there and are ordained as the foundation statutes provide. And what may be left over from this and from the said salaries, which you will order to be paid from the said funds, you will order to be divided among all those installed and named by you, according to what is due to each. But should it happen that four incumbents or more than are entitled to, reside in the said church, let them have from the funds of the said Order of the Chapter, according to the foundation. And you will endeavour to hold them to this and will report to our Council for the Indies by the first ships sailing, all particulars respecting the persons appointed, with their salaries as before mentioned, and their capabilities, so that we may judge what will be most useful to the service of God our Lord, and to Holy Church.

And take care to enlighten us when the funds increase, that we may appoint more persons for the service of the said church. And be careful that the salaries you have to fix, do not exceed the usual amount allowed in like cases. Dated in the town of Valladolid, thirteenth day of February 1544. I, the Prince, by command of His Highness, Juan de Samano, signed by the Bishop of Cuenca, by the licentiate Gre. Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

THE PRINCE. Our officials in New Spain; you already know how, on account of the good reports we have had of the character and merits of the Reverend Father, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, we presented him to the bishopric of the province of Chiapa in the place of Don Juan de Arteaga the late bishop; and as his bulls have been sent and their delivery cost eighty-eight thousand, nine hundred and twenty-five maravedis, which amount must be paid out of the five hundred thousand maravedis which we ordered in another document to be given to him yearly in that country, and because our officials of India House, who reside in the city of Seville, have by our order paid eighty-eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-five maravedis, I ordered them to send you this my cedula in order that you might repay it. I therefore command you that of the five hundred thousand maravedis which the said Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas receives from us in that country, the two first years in succession, you will collect the said eighty-eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-five maravedis which you will send to the aforesaid officials at Seville, that we may be repaid therefrom.

Dated, in Valladolid ist of April 1544, I, the Prince, countersigned by Samano, signed by the bishop of Cuenca, Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

THE PRINCE. Counsellors, judges, lawyers, gentlemen, esquires, officials, and all royal subjects of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa; know ye that the Emperor King, my sovereign, on account of the good reports he had of the character, life, and habits of the Reverend Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, has presented him to this bishopric. Because we hope our Lord will be well served by him, we have ordered him to start without waiting for his bulls and we have provided him with what we thought necessary. I charge and command you to honour him and treat him justly, and to ask his advice in whatever matters may occur and in accordance with the service of God our Lord and the good government of this city, for I trust that by his good works and example and the great zeal he shows for the service of God and for His Majesty, he will counsel and guide you in whatever may contribute to the best results. Valladolid, 23rd of February, etc.

THE PRINCE. Venerable dean and chapter of the Cathedral of the bishopric of Chiapa: know ye that the Emperor King, my sovereign, because of the good report he had of the character, life, and habits of Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, has presented him to this bishopric; and because we hope that our Lord will be well served by his mission and for the benefit of the Holy Church, we have ordered him to start without waiting for his bulls to be granted to him, and we have ordered what provision we thought necessary. I charge and command you to honour him and to treat him with respect and to take his advice in everything necessary for the government of the church during the time he is awaiting consecration, because I hope that with his wise teachings, good example, and the zeal he shows in the service of God and His Majesty, he will advise and direct what is most advantageous to the best results.

Valladolid 23rd of February 1544, Idem, etc.

THE PRINCE. Presidents and Auditors of Our Audiencia and Royal Chancellery of the Confines: know ye that the Emperor King, my sovereign, on account of the good reports he had of the character, life, and habits of the Reverend Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, has presented him to the bishopric of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa. With a view to the good results we hope he will achieve in instructing and converting the natives of his diocese, we have commanded him to depart without waiting for his bulls. Being the man he is and having had so much experience in the affairs of those parts, we have entrusted to him to let us know what is happening over there, and what is necessary for the service of God our Lord in that country and among its natives. Therefore I charge and command you that whenever the said bishop has anything to relate to you you will listen and endeavour to help him in the service of God, your Father and ours. And in whatever befalls him, you will help and favour and honour him, according as his dignity demands.

Valladolid, 13th of February 1544—I, the Prince—by command of His Highness Juan de Samano, signed by the Bishop of Cuenca and the licentiate Gutierrez Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

THE PRINCE. President and judges of our Council and of Our Royal Chancellery of the Confines; know ye that the Emperor King, my sovereign, presented the bishopric of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa to the licentiate Arteaga, and His Holiness, in response to the said representation, conferred it upon him. After his death, His Majesty, presented the said bishopric to Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, whom we have commanded to depart without waiting for his bulls, and to fulfil the good we hope he will accomplish among the natives of the said bishopric. And that he may know the limits of the said bishopric, dividing it from the bishoprics of Guatemala, Honduras, Tiascala, and Guascaco, I command that upon his arrival there, you show him the limits to which the said bishopric of Chiapa extends. Bearing in mind how the said Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas has served and will serve us, and the good he can do in the conversion of the natives in the said bishopric, the boundaries which will be pointed out to him must be quite distinct from the other bishoprics of the country, for as long as it is our wish—Dated in the town of Valladolid 13th day of February 1544—I, the Prince, etc.

THE PRINCE. President and judges of our Audiencia and Royal Chancery of the Confines. Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa, has informed me, and we all well know, that he and the other priests of his Order have worked hard to bring peace to the provinces of Teçulatlan, Lacandon, and others that were engaged in warfare; these provinces are situated within the limits of the bishopric and he beseeches me, since he and the said priests have understood and are endeavouring to bring peace to the said provinces, to be good enough to order that they shall be included within the limits of his diocese; thus included, he would work with more love and zeal than any former prelate to convert the natives to a knowledge of the Holy Catholic Faith, according to our wishes. Our Council of the Indies having considered this, it was agreed that I should send you this my cedula, and as I approved, I command you to see to the above. Should the said provinces of Teçulatlan and Lacandon be outside the limits of the said diocese of Chiapa, you will arrange that the said Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas has them under his charge as prelate, until His Holiness, upon our presentation, appoints a prelate over the said provinces. Let the said bishop-elect have charge of the spiritual affairs in those provinces and as prelate take a fourth part of the tithes which belong to him in the said provinces; the other three quarters shall be distributed among the ecclesiastical ministries already in existence in the said provinces and in the repairs and the decorations of the churches of them. Dated in Valladolid thirteenth day of February 1544—I, the Prince, etc.

[Illustration: Map: Scenes of Las Casas’s Labours]

Scenes of Las Casas’s Labours

[Illustration: Holograph of Las Casas]

Holograph of Las Casas Giving Directions for the Publication of his Work.

Reproduced from Thacher’s "Christopher Columbus".