practised vpon them during the tune that they trauayled of a trueth they can not bee recounted in a long season nor written in a great deale of paper and they shoulde bee euen to affright men withall It is to be noted that the destruction of these iles and lands beganne after the decease of the most gracious Queene daâ—e Isabell which was the yeere a thousande fiue hundreth and foure For before there were layed waste in this ile but certayne Prouinces by vniust warre and that not wholly altogether these for y e more part or in a maner al were coÌ„cealed froÌ„ the knowledge of y e Q. vnto whoÌ„ it may please god to giue his holy glory forasmuch as she had a great desire a zeale admirable y t those people might be saued prosper as we do know good examples the w c we haue seen w t our eies felt with our hands Further note here y t in what part of y e Indies y e Spanishe haue come they haue euermore exercised against y e IndiaÌ„s these innoceÌ„t peoples y e cruelties aforesaid oppressioÌ„s abominable inueÌ„ted day by day new tormeÌ„ts huger monstrouser becoÌ„ming euery day more cruel wherfore god also gaue theÌ„ ouer to fal headlong down with a more extreme downfal into a reprobate sense Of the two Iles S. Iohn and Iamayca THe Spanish passed ouer to y e Ile of S. Iohn to y t of Iamayca w c were like gardens for bees 1509. setting before-theÌ„ y e same end which they had in the Ile Hispaniola committing the robberies crimes aforesaid adioyning therunto many great notable cruelties killing burning rosting casting theÌ„ to y e dogs farthermore afterwards oppressing vexing them in their minerals other trauel vnto y e rotting out of those pore innoceÌ„ts w c were in these two Iles by supputatioÌ„ 6. C. M. soules yea I beleue y t they were more theÌ„ a milioÌ„ although there be not at this day in either Ile 200. persons and all perished without faith and without Sacramentes Of the Ile of Cuba IN the year 1511 they passed to y e Ile of Cuba which is as I haue said as long as there is distaÌ„ce froÌ„ Vallâ—dâ—lâ—â— to Rome where were great prouinces great multitudes of people they both begaÌ„ 〈…〉 in theÌ„ after y e 〈…〉 far more cruelly There came to passe in this IlaÌ„d matters worth y e noting A Câ—cique named Hathuey which had coâ—â—eyed himselfe froÌ„ y e Ile Hispaniola to Cuba w t many of his people to auoid the calamities 〈…〉 so vnnatural of y e spanish when 〈◊〉 certain Indians had told him 〈…〉 the Spaniards were coÌ„ming towards Cuba he 〈…〉 Nowe you know that the Spaniards 〈…〉 this 〈…〉 ye knowe also by experience how they 〈…〉 such the people of 〈◊〉 meaning 〈…〉 〈◊〉 they come to do y e like here Wot ye why they do it they answered no vnlesse 〈…〉 they are by nature void of humanitie He replied They do it not onely for y t but because they haue a god whom they honoâ— do demand very much to y t end to haue froÌ„ vs as wel as others to honor him w tall they do their vttermost to subdue vs. He had theÌ„ by him a litle chestful of gold Iewels said Behold here the God of the Spaniards let vs do to him if it so seeme you good Aâ—â—â—os which are windlesseâ— daunces thus doing we shall please him he wil command y e Spaniards y t they shal do vs no harme They answerd all with a loud voyce Wel said sir wel said Thus then they dauÌ„sed before it vntil they were wery theÌ„ quoth the L. Hathuey Take we heed howeuer y â— world go if we keep him to y e end y t he be takeÌ„ away froÌ„ vs in the end they wil kill vs wherfore let vs cast him into y e riuer whervnto they all agreed and so they cast it into a great riuer there This L. 〈◊〉 weÌ„t alwaies fleeing y e spanish incontinent as they were arriued at y e ile of Cuba as he w c knew theÌ„ but too wel defeÌ„ded himself wheÌ„ as he met theÌ„ In y e end he was takeÌ„ only for because that he fled froÌ„ a nation so vniust eâ—uel that he defended himself froÌ„ such as would kil him oppresse him euen vnto y e death w t all his folk he was burned aliue Now as he was fastned to the stake a religious maÌ„ of S. FraÌ„cis order a deuout persoÌ„ spoke to him somwhat of God of our faith which thinâ—â— this said L. had neuer heard of yet might be sufficieÌ„t for the time which y e hutchers gaue him that if he would beleue those things which were spokeÌ„ to him he should go to heauen where is glory rest euerlasting y t if he did not beleue he should go to hel there to be tormeÌ„ted perpetually The L. after hauing a litle paused to think of y e matter demanded of the religious man whether y t the spaniards went to heauen who answered yea such of them that were good The Cacik answered againe immediatly w tout any further deliberation that he would not go to heauen but that hee would go to hell to the ende not to come in the place where such people should be and to the end not so see a nation so cruell Lâ—â— here the praises and honour which God and our faith haue receiued of the Spaniardes which haue gone to the Iudes One tyme the Indians came to meete vs and to receiue vs with victualles and delicate cheere and with all entertaynmene ten leagues of a great city and beeing come at the place they presented vs with a great quantitie of 〈◊〉 and of bread and other meate together with all that they coulde doe for vs to the vttermost See incontinent the diuell whiche put him selfe into the Spaniardes to put them all to the edge of the sworde in my presence without any cause whatsoeuer more then three thousande soules which were set before vs men women and children I saw there so great cruelties that neuer my man liuing eyther haue or shall see the like Another tyme but a fewe dayes after the premisses I sente messengers vnto all the Lordes of the prouince of Hauana assuring them that they shoulde not neede to see are for they had hearde of my credite and that without withdrawing themselues they shoulde come to receiue vs and that there shoulde bee done vnto them no displeasure for all the countrey was afraide by reason of the mischiefes and murderings passed and this did I by the aduice of the Captayne him selfe After that wee were come into the Prouince one and twentie Lordes and Cacikes came to receiue vs whome the Captayne apprehended incontinent breaking the safe conduite whiche I had made them and intended the day next following to burne them aliue saying that it was expedient so to
is not one only creature For they haue bin all of them slayne after that they had drawen theÌ„ out from thence to labour in their minerals in the ile of Hispaniola where there were no more left of the inbornes natiues of that iland A ship riding for the space of three yeeres betwixt all these ilands to the ende after the inning of this kinde of vintage to gleane and cull the remainder of these folke for there was a good Christian moued with pitie and compassion to conuert win vnto Christ such as might be found there were not found but eleueÌ„ persons whiche I saw other iles more then thirtie nere to the ile of S. Iohn haue likewise bin dispeopled and marred All these iles contayn aboue two thousand leagues of lande and are all dispeopled and laide waste As touching the maine firme lande wee are certaine that our Spaniardes by their cruelties cursed doings haue dispeopled made desolate more then ten realmes greater then all Spaine comprising also therewith Aragon and Portugall and twise as much or more land then there is from Seuill to Ierusalem whiche are aboue a thousand leagues whiche realmes as yet vnto this present day remaine in a wildernes and vtter desolation hauing bin befor time as well peopled as was possible We are able to yeeld a good and certaine accompt that there is w tin y e space of y e said 40. yeeres by those said tyraÌ„nies diulish doings of the Spaniards â—â—â—n to death vniustly and tyrannously more then twelue Millions of soules men women and children And I verilie do beleeue and thinke not to mistake therein that there are dead more then fifteene Millions of soules Those whiche haue goe them out of Spaine into that countrey bearing them selues as Christians haue kept two generall and principall wayes to eradicate and abolishe from off the face of the earth those miserable nations The one is their vniust cruell bloodie and tyrannicall warre That other maner is that they haue slayne all those which coulde any kinde of wayes so muche as gaspe breath or thinke to set them selues at libertie or but to withdrawe them selues from the tormentes whiche they endure as are all the naturall Lordes and the men of valour and courage For commonly they suffer not in the warres to liue any saue children and women oppressing also afterwardes those very same with the most cruel dreadful and hainous thraldome that euer hath been layde vpon men or beastes Vnto these two kindes of tyranie diabolicall may be reduced and sorted as it were the issues one vnder another to their head all other their diuerse and infinite maners of dooing which they keept to lay desolate and roote out those folke without number The cause why the Spanishe haue destroyed suche an instnite of soules hath been onely that they haue helde it for their last scope and marke to gette golde and to enriche them selues in a short tyme and to mount at one leape to very high estates in no wise agreeable to their persons or for to say in a word the cause hereof hath been their auarice and ambition whiche hath seased them the exceedingest in the worlde in consideration of those landes so happie and rich and the people so humble so patient and so easie to be subdued Whom they haue neuer had any respect or made any more accompt of I speake the trueth of that whiche I haue seene all the tyme that I was there conuersant I say not then of beastes for woulde to GOD that they had entreated and esteemed them but as beastes but lesse then of the myre of the streetes and euen as muche care is it that they haue had of their liues and of their soules And by this meanes haue died so many Millions without faith and without sacramentes It is a certaine veritie and that which also the tyrants them selues knowe right well and confesse that the Indiens throughout all the Indes neuer wrought any displeasure vnto the Spaniardes but rather that they reputed them as come from heauen vntill suche tyme as they or their neighbours had receiued the first sundrie wronges being robbed killed forced and tormented by them Of the Ile of hispaniola IN the Ile Hispaniola which was the first as we haue said where the Spaniardes arriued beganne the great slaughters and spoyles of people the Spaniardes hauing begunne to take their wiues and children of the Indies for to serue their turne and to vse them ill and hauing begunne to eate their victualles gotten by their sweate and erauell not contenting them selues with that which the Indians gaue them of their owne good will euery one after their habilitie the which is algates very small forasmuch as they are accustomed to haue no more store then they haue ordinarily neede of and that such as they get with litle trauell And that which might suffice for three householdes reconing tenne persons for eche housholde for a moneths space one spaniarde woulde eate and destroy in a day Nowe after sundry other forces violences and tormentes which they wrought against them the Indians beganne to perceiue that those were not men discended from heauen Some of them therefore hid their victuals others hid their wiues and children some others fledde into the mountaynes to separate them selues a farre off from a nation of so harde natured and ghastly conuersation The Spaniardes buffeted them with their fistes and bastouades pressing also to lay handes vpon the Lordes of the Townes And these cases ended in so great an hazarde and desperatenes that a Spanishe Captaine durst aduenture to rauish forcibly the wife of the greatest king and Lord of this Ile Since whiche time the Indians began to searche meanes to cast the Spaniardes out of their landes and set them selues in armes but what kind of armes very feeble and weake to withstand or resist and of lesse defence wherfore all their wars are no more warres then the playings of children when as they play at Iogo di Canne or Reedes The Spaniardes with their Horses their speares and launces beganne to commit murders and straunge cruelties they entred into Townes Borowes and Villages sparing neyther children nor old men neither women with childe neyther them that lay In but that they ripped their bellies and cut them in pieces as if they had been opening of Lambes shut vp in their folde They layed wagers with such as with one thrust of a sworde woulde paunche or bowell a man in the middest or with one blowe of a sworde woulde most redily and most deliuerly cut off his head or that woulde best pearce his entrals at one stroke They tooke the little soules by the heeles ramping them from the mothers dugges and crushed their heades against the clifces Others they cast into the riuers laughing and mocking and when they tombled into the water they sayde nowe shift for thy selfe such a ones corpes They put others together with their mothers and all that they met to
mâ—â—â—es of his seruiâ—â—â— The Spaniardes â—ooke this king with great subtiltie and malice eâ—en as hee was in his owne house â—ouâ—â—â—ng him of nothing They 〈…〉 â—a shippe to 〈…〉 other shippe in the porte 〈…〉 vpsayle Beholde howe God by his iâ—st â—uâ—gâ—ment woulde declaâ—e that iâ— with other thingeâ— was an exceeding 〈◊〉 iniâ—uâ—tie and â—â—iust by sending the same night a 〈◊〉 which sunke and drenched that 〈◊〉 with the Spaniardes that were within There died also with them the 〈…〉 with â—oltes and irons This Prince 〈◊〉 three or foure brothers 〈…〉 and couragious Lorde and brother so against all equitie together with the wâ—â—â—s and slaughters which the Spaniardes made in other realmes and specially after that they had hearde that the king their brother was dead they put themselues in armes to â—â—â—ounter the Spaniardes and to auenge the 〈…〉 who 〈◊〉 the other side â—eeting with them â—n â—orsebacke 〈…〉 aboue all that may bee to 〈◊〉 the Indiaâ—â— with so they rage in discomfitures and massacres that the one 〈◊〉 of this Realme hath beene thereby desolate and dispeopled The fourth Realme iâ— the sâ—me whiche is 〈◊〉 of Xâ—â—agua This Realme 〈…〉 or to speake of 〈…〉 the other REalmes iâ— language and polished speech in 〈◊〉 and good maners the beâ—â— coâ—posed and ordered For as much as there were many noble Lordes and Gentlemen the people also beeing the best made and 〈◊〉 beâ—â—ifull The King 〈◊〉 to name 〈◊〉 which had 〈◊〉 called Anâ—â—â—ona 〈◊〉 two the brother and sister had 〈◊〉 great seruices to the kings of Castile and great 〈◊〉 to the Spaniardes deliuâ—ring them from sundrie daungers of death After the 〈◊〉 of Behâ—â—mo Anâ—â—â—â—na 〈…〉 Soâ—â—raigne of the Realme 〈…〉 the Gâ—â—â—â—nour of this Ile with threescore Horses and more then three hundreâ—â— footemen the horsemen alone had beene enough to spoyle and ouerrunne not this Ile alone but all the firme lande withal And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beeing called more then three hundreâ—â— Lordes 〈…〉 of whome the chiefest 〈…〉 caused to beâ— conueyed into a house of thatch and 〈…〉 â—owe on this wise were these Lordes 〈…〉 all the rest of the Lordes with other folk infinite were smitten to â—each with their speares and swordes But the Soueraigne Lâ—die Anacâ—ona to doe her honour they hanged It happened that certaine Spaniardes eyther of 〈◊〉 or of coâ—â—â—ousnesse 〈…〉 detayned certayne young 〈…〉 because they woulde not 〈◊〉 them slayne and 〈◊〉 them behinde them on their horse backes another Spaniarde came behinde whiâ—he stabbed them through with a speare If so bee any child◠〈◊〉 boy tombled downe to the grounde 〈◊〉 Spaniarde 〈◊〉 and â—utte off his legges Some certayne of these 〈◊〉 which coulde escape this 〈…〉 passed 〈…〉 Ile neere unto the 〈◊〉 within 〈◊〉 eyght leagues The gouenour condemned all those which had passed the 〈…〉 because they had 〈…〉 〈…〉 was called â—igney ouer the whiche raigne◠〈…〉 whome the Spaniardes hanged vp The people were inâ—â—nite whome I saâ—◠〈◊〉 aliue 〈◊〉 rent â—â— pâ—â—â—es and tormented 〈◊〉 and â—â—raungâ—â—y and whome I sawe made slaues euen so many as they 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 for as muche as there are so manye 〈…〉 those peoples that they can not conueniently be 〈◊〉 in writing yea I doe verily beleeue that of a 〈◊〉 of thinges to be spoken of there can not be disciphered of 〈◊〉 thousande â—â—â—tes one I wil only in that which 〈◊〉 the warres 〈◊〉 meâ—tioned conclude auerre and iustifie in conscience and as before God that of all others which I ouerpasse to speake of or shall bee able to speake of the Indians neuer gaue no more occasion or cause then might a conuent of good religious persons well ordered why they shoulde bee robbed and slayne and why those that escaped the death shoulde be retayned in a perpetuall captiuitie and bondage I affirme yet moreouer for ought that I can beleeue or coniecture that during all the time that all this huge number of these Islanders haue been murdered and made away vtterly they neuer committed against the Spaniardes any one mortall offence punishable by the lâ—â— of mâ—n And concerning offences of the which the punishment is reserued vnto God as are desire of reuengement 〈◊〉 and rancour which these people might beare against enemies so capitall as were the Spaniardes that very fewe persons haue been attached with the blemishe and lesse violent and forcible did I finde them by the good experience I had of them then 〈…〉 twelue yeeres of age And I knowe for certayne and infallible that the Indians had euermore most â—ust cause of warre against the Spaniardes but the Spaniardes neâ—er had any iust cause of warre agaynst the Indians but they were all 〈◊〉 and most â—nrighteous more then can bee spoken of any tyrant that is on the whole earth And I affirme the 〈…〉 other actes and gestes by them 〈…〉 The warres 〈◊〉 and all the men 〈◊〉 to death thereby reserued 〈◊〉 the young 〈◊〉 women and children the which they departed among them in giuing 〈…〉 to another fourtie and to another an hundreth or tow hundreth according as â—uery one had the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 Tyrant whom they called the 〈◊〉 they 〈…〉 Spaniardes vppon that condition and colour that they woulde teache them the Catholike faith they themselues who took vppon them this charge of soules commoÌ„ly all idiots or vtterly ignorant persons barbarous men extreemely couetous and vitious Nowe the carke and care that these had of them was to send the men vnto the mines to make them drein them out golde which is an intollerable trauell and the women they bestowed into the countrey to their farmes to manure and till the ground which is asore trauell euen for the very men the ablest and mightiest They gaue to eate neither to one nor other nought saue grasses and such like thinges of no substance in suche sorte as the milke of the brestes of the wiues newe deliuered of their childbyrth dryed vp and thus dyed in a small season all the litle creatures their young children Further by reason of the separation and not cohabiting of the men with their wiues the generation ceased betweene them The men died with toyle and famine in the mineralles these the women died of the same in the fieldes By these meanes were consumed and brought to their endes so huge a number of the folke of this Islande By the like might be abolished and exterpate all the inhabitantes of the worlde As touching loding they layde vpon them fourescore or an hundreth poundes waight which they shoulde carrie an hundreth or two hundreth leagues The Spanish also causing them selues to be carried in lytres vppon men armes or beddes made by the Indians in fashion of nettes For they serued their turnes with them to transporte their carriages and bagage as beastes wherby they had vpon their backes shoulders wâ—iâ—es and galles as poore galled beasts Also as touching whippings bastonading buffeting blowes with the fist cursing and a thousande other kindes of torments which they
exploites such as hath beene specified Moreouer theyr going thither is to become riche and great Lordes as well as others that which cannot bee done without spoyling robbinge slaying and extirping the Indians in maner and order holden by the others After the writing the abouesaid I haue vnderstood that of a truth they haue wasted and dispeopled great Prouinces and Realmes in that Countrie exercising strange slaughters cruelties vpon these poore people there for the whiche they haue abled themselues as forwarde in wickednesse or forwarder then any other as hauing the commoditie by the greater distance frō Spaine to sinne the Freer and by occasion ther of haue liued the more disordered and farthest off from iustice howbeit that in all the Indies there hath beene no regarde of Iustice as appeareth sufficiently by that which hath beene aboue saide Amongest an infinite sort of other thinges wee reade at the counsell table for the Indies these also which shall bee spoken of hereafter A tyrant gouernour gaue in commande to certaine his bands to goe assault the Indians and that if they gaue them not to eate they shoulde kill them al. They went armed w t this authoritie And for because the Indians would giue thē none as being open enemies more for feare of the sighte of them as flying from them then for want of liberalitie they put to the edge of the swoorde more then fiue thousande soules Item a certaine number of the folke of the Countrie came to put themselues into their handes and presented them their seruice whome at aduenture they had sent for and for because they came not so soone or for because they woulde after their accustomed fashion engraue in them an horrible and astonishable terrour the grouernour commaunded that they should put them into the handes of other Indians whome they holde for their enemies whereupon they came weeping and crying and beseeching them that they woulde slay them themselues and not deliuer them into the power of their enemies and hauing no mind to yeede out of their houses where they were they were cut in peeces crying and saying Wee come to serue you in peace and do you slay vs Our blood remaine imprinted on this wall for a witnesse against you of our vniust death and your barbarous crueltie Certes this was an act of speciall marke worthie to be remembred and much more to bee lamented Of the mightie Realmes and large Prouinces of Peru. IN the yeere 1531. went another great tyrant with certaine other consortes to the Realmes of Peru where entring with the same title and intention and with the same proceedings as all the rest before gone forasmuch as hee was one of them which had of long tune beene exercised in all kindes of cruelties and murders which had beene wrought in the firme lande sithence the yeere one thousande fiue hundred and ten hee tooke encouragement to accrewe in cruelties murders robberies beeing a man without loyaltie and truth laying waste Cities and Countries bringing them to nought and vtterly vndoeyng them by slaying the inhabitaunts and beeing the cause of all the euils whiche ensued in that Countrie that I am right well assured that there is not a man that can recounte them and represent them to the eyes of the Readers as is requisite vntill such time that wee shall see them and knowe them at the day of iudgement As touching my self if I woulde take vppon met to recounte the deformitie qualitie and circumstances of some one I were not able to decipher them acording to that which is conuenient Hee slue and laide waste at his firste arriuall with a mischiefe certaine boroughes from whome hee pillaged a greate quantitie of Golde In an Ilande neere to the same prouinces named Pagna well peopled and pleasant the Lord thereof with his people receiued them as it had been Angels from heauen and sixe monethes after when as the Spanishe had eaten vppe all theyr prouision They discouered also vnto them the corne whiche they kept vnder grounde for them selues their wiues and their children against a drie time and barren making them offer of all with teers plentiful to spende and eate at theyr pleasure The recompence in the ende whiche they made them was to put to the edge of the sworde and launce a great quantitie of those people And those whom they could take aliue they made them slaues with other cruelties great and notable which they committed dispeopling as it were all that Ile From thence they make to the pronince of Tumbala whiche is in the firme lande where they slay and destroy as many as they coulde come by And because all the people were fled as affrighted by their horrible acces they sayde that they made an insurrection and rebelled against the king of Spayne This tyraunt had this policie and kept this order of proceeding that vnto all those whom hee toake or vnto others which presented him with golde or siluer or other thinges which they had hee commaunded them to bring more vntill such time as hee perceiued that either they had no more or that they brought him no more And then hee woulde say that hee accepted them for the vassals and lieges of the kinge of Spaine and made muche of them and woulde cause it to bee proclaymed at sounde of two trompettes that from thence forth they woulde take them no more and that they woulde doe them no maner harme at all setting it downe for good and lawfull all that whatsoeuer hee had robbed from them And that hee put them in feare with newes so abhominable which hee spredde amongst them before hee receiued them into the safegarde and protection of the king as though that after they were receiued vnder the protection of the king they woulde not oppresse them robbe them lay them waste and desolate any more yea and as though he had not destroyed them A fewe dayes after the king Emperour of those realmes named Atabaliba came accompanied with a number of naked people bearing their ridiculous armour not knowing neyther howe swordes did carue nor speares did pearce nor horses did runne nor who or what were the Spaniardes who if the diuelles had any money woulde set them selues in enquest to goe robbe them Hee commeth to the place where they were saying Where are these Spaniardes Let them come I will not stirre a foote till they satisfie mee for my subiectes whome they haue slayne and my boroughs which they haue dispeopled and for my wealth which they haue bereeued mee The Spaniardes set against him and slue and infinite sorte of his people they tooke him also in person who came caried in a litter born vpon mens shouldiers They treat with him to the ende that hee shoulde raunsome himselfe The king offereth to perfourme foure millions of Castillans and performeth fifteene they promise to release him notwithstanding in the ende keeping nor faith nor trueth as they neuer kept any in the Indies vnto the Indians they layed
vnto his charge altogether vntruly that by his commaundement the people assembled The king answered that in all the countrey there mooued not a leafe of a tree without his good will that if there assembled any people they were to beleeue that it was by his commaundement and as touching himselfe that hee was prisoner and they might slay him All this not withstanding they condemned him to bee brent aliue but at the request of some certayne the Captayne caused him to bee strangled and beeing strangled hee was burned This king vnderstanding his sentence sayde Wherefore will you burne mee What trespasse haue I done yee Did not you promise mee to set mee at libertie if I gaue you the golde and haue I not performed more then I promised Seeinges you will needes haue it so sende mee to your king of Spayne speaking other thinges to the great confusion and detestation of the great wrongfulnesse that the Spaniardes vsed whom in the ende they burned Here let be considered the right and title of this warfare the imprisonment of this prince the sentence and the execution of his death and the conscience whereby they possesse great treasures as in deed they haue robbed in those realmes from this king and other seuerall lordes infinite As touching the innumerable cruelties and notable for y e mischiefes and enormities withall committed in the rooting out of those peoples by them who call them selues Christians I will here rehearse some certayne the which a fryer of S. Frauncis order sawe at the beginning and the same certified vnder his name and signe sending them into all those quarters and amongst others into this realme of Castile whereof I retayne a copie in my keeping in the which it is thus written I Frier Marke of the order of Saint Frauncis commissarie ouer the other friers of the same order in the prouinces of Peru and who was one of the first religious men w t entred into the saide prouinces with the Spaniardes doe say bearing true testimonie of certayne things the which I haue seene with mine eyes in that countrey namely concerning the entreating and conquestes made ouer the naturall inhabitaunts of the countrey first of all I am an eyed witnesse and haue certayn knoweledge that those Indians of Peru are a people the most kinde hearted that hath been seen among all the Indians beeing curteous in conuersation and friendly vnto the Spaniardes And I sawe them giue to the Spanishe in abundaunce golde siluer and precious stones and all that was asked them and that they had doing them all kinde of seruice lawfull And the Indians neuer yee ded foorth to warre but kept them in peace so long time as they gaue them not occasion by their euill entreating of them and their cruelties but contrariwise receiued them with all amitie and honour in their boroughes in giuing them to eate and as many slaues mankinde and women kind as they demaunded for their seruice Item I am witnesse that without that the Indians gaue occasion the Spanish as soone as they were entred the lande after that the greate Cacike Atabaliba had giuen to the Spanish more then two millions of gold and had put into their power the whole countrie without resistance incontinent they burned the said Atabaliba which was Lord of the whole countrie And after him they brent his captayne generall Cochilimaca who had come to the gouernour in peace with other Lords In the like maner also a fewe dayes after they burned a great Lorde named Chamba of the prouince of Quito without any fault at all and without hauing giuen the least occasion that might bee In like maner they burned vniustly Schappera Lorde of the Canaries Also they brent the feete of Aluis a great Lorde amongst all those which were in Quito and caused him to endure sundrie other torments to make him tell where was the gold of Atabaliba of the whiche treasure as it appeared hee knewe nothing Also they brent in Quito Cosopanga who was gouernour of all the prouinces of Quito which vpon the request to him first made by Sebastian of Bernalcasar Captayne vnder the gouernour was come to them in peace and onely because hee gaue them not golde so much as hee demaunded of him their burned him with very many other Caciks and principall Lorde And for ought that I can vnderstand the intente of the Spaniards was that there shoulde not bee lefte aliue one Lorde in the whole countrey Item I certifie that the Spaniardes caused to assemble a great number of the Indians and socked them vp in three great housen as many as coulde be pored in and setting to fire they burned them all without that they had done the least thing that might bee or had giuen to the Spanishe the least occasion thereof whatsoeuer And it came to passe that a priest who is named Ocanna drewe a young boy out of the fire in the which hee burned which perceiuing an other Spaniarde tooke from out of his handes the boy and flunge him into the middest of the flames where he was resolued into ashes together with others The which Spaniarde returning the same day to the campe fell downe dead suddenly and mine aduice was hee should not bee buried Item I affirme to haue seene with myne owne eyes that the Spanishe haue cutte the handes the noses and the eares of the Indians and of their women without any other cause or purpose saue onely that so it came into their fantasie and that in so many places and quarters that it shoulde bee too tedious to rehearse And I haue seene that the Spanishe haue made their Mastiues runne vpon the Indians to rent them in pieces And moreouer I haue seene by them brent so many houses and whole borughes or towneshippes that I am not able to tell the number Also it is true that they violently plucked the little infants from the mothers dugges and taking them by the armes did throwe them from them as farre as they coulde Together with other enormities and cruelties without any cause whiche gaue me astonishment to behold them and woulde be to long to rehearse them Item I sawe when as they sent for the Cacikes and other principall Indians to come see them in peace and assuraunce to them made promising them safe conduct and incontinent as they were arriued they burned them They burned two whiles I was present the one in Andon and the other in Tumbala and I coulde neuer preuaile with them to haue them deliuered from burning preached I vnto them neuer so muche And in God and my conscience for ought that euer I coulde perceiue the Indians of Peru neuer lift themselues vp nor neuer rebelled for any other cause but for the euill entreating of the other side as is manifest vnto euery one and for iust cause the Spaniardes destroying them tyrannously against all reason and iustice with al their countrey working vpon them so many outrages that they were determined to die rather then
audit vnto the gouernour But in deede he went to Quito taking by the way very many Indians men and women which all dyed by the way or at the place at Quito Ouer and besides that he altered the coyne royall of the mynt which he had made Here is to be remembred a word which this man spake of himselfe as one not ignorant of so many euils and mischieues which he wrought Fiftie yeres hence those the which shall passe by this way and heere speake of these things shall say This way went a Tyrant Your highnes may know and be well assured that these entries and assaults made vnto these realmes and this maner of visiting the Indians which liued in securitie in their regions and the vngraciousnesse which he did in those same haue been practised and executed by the Spaniards which haue alwayes followed the same traine and maner of doing from the time that they first began to discouer vnto this present day throughout all the Iâ—deâ— To the Reader AMong diuers the remedies by Fryar de lat Casas Bishop of the royal towne called Chiapa propounded in the assembly of sundrie prelates named Parsons by his maiesties coÌ„mandement gathered together in the towne of Valladolid the yeere of our Lord 1542 for order and reformation to bee obserued in the Indies the eight in order was this insuing which consisteth vpon twentie reasons motions whereupoÌ„ he did coÌ„clude That the Indies ought not to be giuen to the Spaniardes in Commendam fee farme or vasselage neither vnder any other title whatsoeuer if his maiestie will according to his desire ease them of such tyrannies and losses as they doe susteine deliuering them as it were out of the Dragons throate least they doe wholy consume and slay theÌ„ so all that world remaine desart voide of the naturall me habitants wherewith we haue seene it replenished THe eight remedie is among all other principall and most in force as without which all the rest are to no purpose for that they all haue relation therunto as euery motion to his proper end in whatsoeuer toucheth or is of any importaunce vnto your Maiestie which no man can expresse in as much as therupon dependeth at the least the whole losse or preseruation of the Indies And the remedie that I speake of is this that your Maiestie do determin decree coÌ„â—â—d soleÌ„nely in your soueraigne courts ordein by pragmaticall saÌ„ctions royal statuts y t all the Indies as well alreadie subdued as heereaâ—â—â—â— to bee subdued may bee inserted reduced and incorporate into the royal crowne of Castile Leon to be holden in chief of your maiestie as free subiects vassals as they are Likewise that they bee not giuen in commendaÌ„ vnto the Spaniards but that it stand as an inuiolable constitution determination and royall lawe that they neuer neither at this time neither hereafter in time to come may bee alienated or taken from the saide royall crown neither that they bee giuen commanded demised in see farme by depost commandement or alienatioÌ„ either vnder any other title or maner what soeuer and bee dismembred from the royall crowne for any whatsoeuer the seruice or desart of any either vpon any necessitie that may happen or for any cause or colour whatsoeuer that may be pretended For the inuiolable obseruation or establishement of which law your maiestie shall formally sweare by your faith and on your worde and royall crowne and by all other sacred thinges whereby Christian Princes doe vsually sweare that at no time neither your selfe neither your successours in these 10. Dominions or in the Indies so faire as in you shall he shal reuoke the same and you shall further set downe in expresse wordes in your royall will and testament that this decree be euer kept mainteined and vpholden also that so farre as in your self or in them shal lie they shall coÌ„firme and continue the same And for porofe of the necessitie hereof there bee twentie reasons to be alleadged out of which twentie we haue drawen and put in writing so many as may seeme to serue to our purpose Extract out of the second reason THe Spaniardes through their great auarice and couetousnes to get doe not permit any religious persons to enter into their townes and holdes which they possesse alleadging that they receiue double losse by them One and the principall is that religious persons do keepe the Indâ—es occupied when they gather them togethar to their Sermons so as in the meane time their worke is omitted while the Indians being 〈◊〉 laboureâ— yea it hath so fallen out that the Indians being in the Church at the Sermon the Spaniarde comming in in the face of all the people hath taken fiftie or a hundred or so many as he hath needed to carry his baggage and stuffe and such as would not goe he hath lâ—den with stripes spurning them foorth with his feete thereby to the great griefe both of the Indians and of the 〈…〉 persons â—â—oubling molesting all that were present so defeating theÌ„ al of the benefit of their saluatioÌ„ Their other hinderance that they say they doe susteine is that after the Indians are taught become Christians they take vppon them as masters pretending more knowledge then they haue therefore will not be so seruiceable as afore The Spaniards require no more of the Indians but authority to commaund them and that they worship them as Gods The Spaniards openly and of set purpose do hinder the course of the gospel and keepe the Indians from Christendome Sometime it falleth so out that a towne or borow is giuen betweene three or foure Spaniardes to one more to another lesse so as sometime one hath for his portion the husband another the wise and the third the childreÌ„ as they were swine Thus doe they possesse the Indians One appointeth them to labour a peece of lande another sendeth them to the mines loaden like beastes another hyreth them by two and two as they were moyles to carry burdens thirtie fortie fiftie a hundred or two hundred miles out right And this haue we seen to be a daily vse heereof commeth it that the Indians cannot heare Gods word or bee instructed in Christian faith they make them of free meÌ„ very strange bondslaues They haue subuerted and dispersed great townes and a whole worlde of people so as they haue not left any houses standing together no not so much as the children with the fathers The Spaniards make no more account neither haue any more regard of conuerting the Indians then if al those reasonable soules should perishe with the bodies and were not hereafter to receiue immortall life glory or paine no more then beastes Out of the thirde reason THe Spaniards are charged to instruct the Indians in our holy catholike saith whereupon on a time when we examined Iohn Colmenere of S. Mâ—râ—he a fantastical ignorant and foolish man who had gotten a great towne in commendam and had a
to suffer much an other time Item I say that by the reporte of the Indians themselues there is yet more golde hidden then is come to light the whiche because of the vniustices and cruelties of the Spaniardes they woulde not discouer neyther euer will discouer so long as they shall bee so euyll entreated but will those rather to die with their fellowes Wherein GOD our Lorde hath been highly trespassed agayinst and the kinges Maiestie euill serued hauing beene defrauded in that that his highnesse hath loste suche a countrey as hath been able to yeelde sustenaunce to all Castile for the recouerie of which countrey it will be a matter of great difficulty dispence and charges All these hitherto are the formall woordes of the sayde religious person the which are also ratified by the Byshoppe of Mexico which witnesseth that the reuerende father hath to his knowledge affirmed all the aboue saide It is heere to bee considered that the good father sayeth that he sawe those thynges For that that hee hath beene fiftie or an hundred leagues vp into the conntrey for the space of niene or tenne yeeres and that at the very beginning when there were not as yet but very fewe of the Spaniardes but at the ringing of the golde there were quickly gathered and fleeked thither foure or fiue thousande which shedde themselues foorth ouer many great realmes and prouinces more then fiue hundred or sixe hundred leagues the whiche countrey hath beene throughly destroyed they executing still the selfe same practises and others more barbarous and cruell Of a veritie from that day vnto this presente there hath beene destroyed and brought to desolation moe soules then hee hath compted and they haue with lesse reuerence of GOD or the King and with lesse plttie then before abolished a great part of the linage of mankinde They haue slayne vnto this day in these same realmes and yet dayly they doe slay them moe then foure millions of soules Certayne dayes passed they pricked in shooting with dartes of reedes to death a mightie Queene wife of Eling who is yet King of that Realme whom the Spaniardes by laying handes vpon him compelled to rebell and in rebellion hee persisteth They tooke the Queene his wife and so as hath beene sayde slue her against all reason and iustice beeing greate with childe as shee was as it was said onely to vexe her husband withall If it shoulde bee expedient to recounte the particularities of the cruelties and slaughters that the Spanishe haue committed and yet dayly doe committe in Peru without all doubt they shoulde bee so frightfull and in so great number that all that wee haue hitherto saide of the other partes of the Indies woulde bee shadowed and it woulde seeme a small matter in the respecte of the grieuousnesse and greate number hereof Of the newe realme of Grenado VVIthin the yeere 1539. there tooke their flight together sundry tyrantes flocking from Venesuela from Saint Martha and from Carthagene to search for the Perous and there were also others which came downe from Peru it selfe to assay to make a glade farther into the countrey And they found from beyond S. Marthas and Carthagene 300. leagues vp into the countrey fertile landes and admirable prouinces full of infinite people kinde hearted like the rest and verye riche as well of golde as of precious stones which they call emeraldes Vnto the whiche Prouinces they gaue the name of Newe Grenado For because that the tyraunt whiche came first into this countrey was a grenado borne in our countrey And for because that diuers wicked men and cruell of those whiche roaued ouer this parte were not orious butchers making it as occupation to shedde mans blood hauing the practise and experience of the great fellonies aforementioned in moste part of the other regions of the Indies it is the cause why their diuelishe woorkes haue beene suche and in so great number whiche the circumstaunces doe make appeare so monstrous and odious that they haue farre exceeded the others yea all the gests that haue gone before done by others or by them selues in other Prouinces I will recounte some one or other of an infinite whereof they are giultie as doone by them within these three yeeres and whiche yet they cease not to committe That is that a Gouernour for as muche as hee whiche robbed and slewe in the newe Realme of Grenado woulde not admitte him for consorte with him to robbe and sley as did hee hee procured an enquirie and thereby euidence came in agaynst him with sundrie witnesses vpon the fact of his slaughters disorders and murders which hee had done and doeth as yet vnto this day the processe of which enquirie together with the euidences was read and is kept in the recordes of the counsell of the Indies The witnesses doe depose in the same enquirie that the saide whole realme was in peace the Indians seruing the Spaniards giuing them to eate of their laboure and labouring continually and manuring the grounde and bringing them muche golde and precious stones suche as are emerauldes and all that which they coulde and had the townes and the Lordeshippes and the people being distributed amongst the Spaniardes euery one his share which is all that they studie for for that that it is their meane way to attayne to their last end and scope to witte golde And all beeing subdued to their tyrannie and accustomed bondage the tyrant the principall Captayne which commaunded ouer that countrey tooke the Lorde and King of the countrey and detayned him prisoner sixe or seuen monethes exacting of him golde and emerauldes without cause or reason at all The sayde king who was named Bogata for feare which they put him in sayde that he woulde giue them an house full of gold hoping that hee shoulde escape out of the handes of him whiche tormented him And hee sent Indians which shoulde bringe him golde and by times one after an other they brought in a great quantitie of golde and precious stones But bec ause the king did not giue an whole house full of golde the Spaniardes did kill him sethence that hee did not accomplishe that which he had promised The tyraunt commaunding that this king shoulde bee arraigned before him selfe They sommon and accuse in this order the greatest king of all that countrey and the tyraunt giueth sentence condemning him to bee racked and tormented if hee doe not furnishe forth the house full of golde They giue him the torture and the strapado with cordes they flinge burnyng seweâ— vppon his naked belly they lay on boltes vpon his feete which were fastened to one stake and gyrd his neck fast vnto another stake two men holding both his handes and so they set fire vnto his feete and the tyrant comming vp and downe nowe and then willeth him to haue his death giuen him by little and little if hee made not readie the golde Thus they dispatched and did to death that noble Lord in those torments