disordinate desire of those which thinke it nothing to do wrong to shed such aboundance of mans blood to make desolate these so large countries of their naturall inhabitants and owners by slaying infinite persons either to purloyne such incredible treasures doe dayly augment these tyraunts proceeding vnder all counterfet titles and colours in their instante and importunate sute namely to haue the said cōquests permitted and graunted vnto them Which in truth cannot be graunted without transgressing the lawe both of nature and of God and so consequently not without in curring mortall sinne worthie most terrible and euerlasting torments I thought it expedient to doe your highnesse seruice in this briefe Summarie of a most large historie that might and ought to bee written of such slaughters and spoyles as they haue made and perpetrated VVhich I beseeche your highnesse to receiue and reade ouer with that royall clemencie and courtesie wherewith you vse to accept and peruse the workes of such your seruants as no other desire but faithfully to employ thēselues to the common cōmoditie and to procure the prosperitie of the royall estate This Summarie beeing perused and the vildenes of the iniquity committed against these poore innocent people in that they are slaine and hewed in peeces without desart only through the auarice and ambition of those that pretend to the doing of such execrable deedes being considered It may please your highnesse to desire and effectually to persuade his Maiestie to denie any whosoeuer shall demaund or require so hurtfull and detestable enterprises yea euen to bury any suche suite or petition in the infernall pit of perpetuall silence thereby shewing suche terror dislike as hereafter no man may be so bold as once to name or speake thereof And this most mightie Lord is very expediēt necessarie to the ende God may prosper preserue and make the estate of the royall crowne of Castile for euer to florishe both spiritually and temporally A briefe Narration of the destruction of the Indes by the Spanyardes THe Indes were discouered the yeere one thousande foure hundred nientie two and inhabited by the Spanish the yeere next after ensuing so as it is about fourtie niene yeeres sithens that the Spaniards some of them wēt into those partes And the first land that they entered to inhabite was the great and most fertile Isle of Hispaniola which contayneth sixe hundreth leagues in compasse There are other great and infinite Iles rounde about and in the confines on all sides which wee haue seen the most peopled and the fullest of their owne natiue people as any other countrey in the worlde may be The firme lande lying off from this Ilande two hundreth and fiftie leagues and some what ouer at the most contayneth in length on the seacoast more then tenne thousande leagues which are alreadie discouered and dayly be discouered more and more all ful of people as an Emmote hill of Emmots Insomuch as by that which since vnto the yere the fourtieth and one hath beene discouered It seemeth that God hath bestowed in that same countrey the gulphe or the greatest portion of mankinde GOD created all these innumerable multitudes in euery sorte very simple without sutteltie or craft without malice very obedient and very faithfull to their naturall liege Lordes and to the Spaniardes whom they serue very humble very patient very desirous of peace making and peacefull without brawles and struglings without quarrelles without strife without rancour or hatred by no meanes desirous of reuengement They are also people very gentle and very tender and of an complexion and which can sustayne no trauell and 〈◊〉 die very soone of any disease whatsoeuer in suche sorte as the very children of Princes and Noble men brought vp amongst vs in all commodities ease and delicatenesse are not more soft then those of that countrey yea although they bee the children of labourers They are also very poore folke which possesse litle neither yet do so much as desire to haue much worldly goodes therefore neither are they proud ambitious nor couetous Their diet is such as it seemeth y t of the holy fathers in the desert hath not been more scarse nor more streight nor lesse daintie nor lesse sumptuous Their appareling is commonly to goe naked all saue their shamefast partes alone couered And when they be clothed at the most it is but of a mantell of bombacie of an elle and a halfe or a two elles of linnen square Their lodging is vpon a matte and those which haue the best sleepe as it were vppon a net fastened at the foure corners which they call in the language of the Ile of Hispaniola Hamasas They haue their vnderstanding very pure and quicke being teachable and capable of all good learning verye apt to receiue our holy Catholique faith and to be instructed in good and vertuous maners hauing lesse encombrances and disturbances to the atteyning there vnto then al the folke of the world besids and are so enflamed ardent and importune to knowe and vnderstand the matters of the faith after they haue but begunne once to taste them as likewise the exercise of the Sacraments of the Church the diuine seruice that in truth the religious men haue need of a singuler patience to support them And to make an ende I haue heard many Spaniardes many times holde this as assured and that whiche they could not deny concerning the good nature which they sawe in them Vndoubtedly these folkes shoulde be the happiest in the worlde if onely they knewe God Vpon these lambes so mecke so qualified endewed of their maker and creator as hath bin said entred the Spanish incontinent as they knewe them as wolues as lions as tigres most cruel of long time famished and haue not done in those quarters these 40. yeres be past neither yet doe at this present ought els saue teare them in peeces kill them martyre them afflict them torment them destroy them by straunge sortes of cruelties neuer neither seene nor reade nor hearde of the like of the which some shall bee set downe hereafter so farre foorth that of aboue three Millions of soules that were in the Ile of Hispaniola and that we haue seene there are not nowe two hundreth natiues of the countrey The Isle of Cuba the which is in length as farre as frō Vallodolyd vntil Rome is at this day as it were al wast S. Iohns ile and that of Iamayca both of them very great very fertil and very fayre are desolate Likewise the iles of Lucayos neere to the ile of Hispaniola and of the north side vnto that of Cuba in number being aboue threescore Ilandes together with those which they cal the iles of Geante one with another great and litle whereof the very wurst is fertiler then the kings gardē at Seuill and the countrey the healthsomest in the world there were in these same iles more then fiue hundreth thousand soules and at this day there
already saide Of newe Spayne IN the yeere one thousande fiue hundred and seuenteene was newe Spaine discouered at the discouerie whereof were committed great disorders and slaughters of the Indians by those which had the doing of that exployit The yeere a thousande fiue hundred and eyghteene there went Spanish Christians as they terme them selues to rob and slay notwithstanding that they sayde they went to people the countrey Sithence that yere a thousande fiue hundred eyghteen vnto this present the yeere a thousande fiue hundreth fourtie two the vniust dealings the violencie and the tyrannies which the Spaniardes haue wrought against the Indians are mounted to the highest degree of extremitie those selfe same Spaniardes hauing thorowly lost the feare of God and of the king and forgotten themselues For the discomfitures cruelties slaughters spoyles the destructions of Cities pillages violences and tyrannies which they haue made in so many realms and so great hath bin such so horrible that all y e things which we haue spokē of are nothing in comparison of those which haue bin done and executed frō the yere 1518. vnto the yere 1542. as yet at this time this moneth current of Septēber are in doing cōmitting y e most grieuousest the most abominablest of al in such sort y t the rule whiche we set down before is verified That is that from the beginning they haue alwaies proceeded frō euil to worse haue gone beyond thēselues in y e most greatest disorders diuelish doings In such wise as that since the first entring into new Spaine w c was on the eight day of April in y e 18. yeere vnto y e 13. yeere which make 12. yeeres complete the slaughters the destructions haue neuer ceased which the bloodie and cruel handes of y e Spaniardes haue continually executed in 400. and 50. leagues of land or there about in cōpasse roūd about Mexico the neighbour regions round about such as the which might contaynt 4. or 5. great realmes as great a great deale farre fertiler then is Spain All this countrey was more peopled with inhabitantes then Toledo and Seuill and Valadolyd and Sauagoce with Barcelona For that there hath not beene commonly in those cities nor neuer were such a worlde of people when they haue beene peopled with the most as there was then in the sayde countrey which contayneth in the whole compasse more then one thousande eyght hundred leagues during the time of the aboue mentioned twelue yeeres the Spaniardes haue slaine done to death in the sayd hundred fiftie leagues of land what men what women what young and litle children more then foure millions of soules with the dint of the sworde and speare by fire during I say the conquests as they call them but rather in deede during the routes of barbarous tyrantes suche as are condemned not onely by the law of God but also by alllaws of man and are worser then those which are done by the Turke to destroy the church of Christ Neyther yet doe I here comprise those whom they haue slayne and do slay as yet euery day in the aforesaid slauerie and oppression ordinary There is no tongue skill knowledge nor industrie of man which is able to recount the particularities of the dreadfull dooings which these arrand enemies yea deadly enemies of mankinde haue put in vre generally throughout and in diuers parts and at diuers times within the saide compasse of grounde specially some of the deedes done because of their circumstances whiche make them become the more haynous can not be well as it ought to be disciphred by any diligence leasure or quoting what soeuer that may be thereto employed Howebeit I will rehearse some things of certayne parties but vnder protestation as if I were sworne solemnly to tell the trueth that is that I doe beleeue that I shal not when I haue all done touch one only point of a thousande Of newe Spaine in particular Amongst other murderers massacres they committed this one which I am now to speak of in a great citie more thē of a thirtie thousande householdes which is called Cholula that is that comming before them the Lords of the countrey and places nere adioyning and first and formost the Priestes with their chiefe high priest in procession to receiue the Spaniardes with great solemnitie and reuerence so conducting them in the middest of them towardes their lodgings in the citie in the housen and place of the Lorde or other principall Lordes of the Citie the Spaniardes aduised with themselues to make a massarre or a chastise as they speake to the ende to raise and plant a dread of their cruelties in euery corner of all that countrey Nowe this hath been alwayes their customary maner of doyng in euery the regions which they haue entred into to execute incontinent vpon their first arriuall some notable cruell butcherie to the ende that those poore and innocent lambes should tremble for feare whiche they should haue of them in this wise they sent first to sommon all the Lordes and Noble men of the citie and of all the places subiect vnto the same citie who so soone as they came to speake with the captyne of the Spaniardes were incontinent apprehended before that anye bodye might perceiue the matter to bee able therevppon to beare tydinges thereof vnto others Then were demaunded of them fiue or sixe thousande Indians to carry the loadings and carriages of the Spaniardes which Indians came forth with and were bestowed into the base courtes of the Housen It was a pitifull case to see these poore folke what time they made them redy to beare the carriages of the Spaniarde They come all naked onely their secrete partes couered hauing euery one vpon their shoulder a nette with a small deale of victuall they howe them selues euery one and hold their backes cowred down like a sort of silly lambes presenting them selues to the swords and thus being all assembled in the base court together with others one part of the Spanishe all armed bestowe them selues at the gates to hemme them in whiles the rest put these poore sheepe to the edge of the sworde and the speares in such sort that there coulde not scape away one onely person but that hee was cruelly put to death sauing that after a two or three dayes you might haue seene come forth sundry all couerred with blood whiche had 〈◊〉 and saued them selues vnder the dead bodies of their fellowes and nowe presenting themselues before the Spaniardes asking them mercy and the faiung of their liues they founde in them no parte nor compassion any whit at all but were all hewed in peeces All the Lordes whiche were aboue and vnderneath were all bounde the Captayne commaunding there to hee brent quicke being bounde vnto stakes pitched into the grounde Howe be it one Lorde which might bee peraduenture the principall and king of the countrey saued him selfe and cast him selfe with thirtie
would cleaue for sorrowe ware he neuer so flintie They haue slaine within these eleuen yeeres more then two Millions of soules hauing not left in more then an hundreth leagues of the countrey square but two thousande persons whome they slay as yet dayly in the sayde ordinarie bondage Nowe let vs returne to write of the great tyraunt and Captayne which went to Guatimala who as hath been sayde exceeded all the aforepassed and is comparable to all those which are at this day from the prouinces neere to Mexico according as him selfe wrote in a letter to the principall tyraunt whiche had sente him distaunte from the realme of Guatimala 400. leagues keeping y e way by him traced as he went slu robbed burned and destroyed all the countrey wheresoeuer he be came vnder the shadow of title aboue mantioned saying y t they should submit themselues vnto thē that is to say vnto men so vnnatural so wicked and so cruell in the name of the king of Spaine who was vnto them vnknowen and of whom they had neuer hearde speake and the which those nations there esteemed more vniust and more cruell then they his men were And the tyrauntes giuing vnto them no respect of time to deliberace they fling vpon the poore folke in a maner as soone as the message was done putting all to fire and blood Of the Prouince and realme of Guatimala NO sooner arriued hee into this saide realme but that he beganne with great slaughter of the inhabitaunces This notwithstanding the chiefe Lorde came to receiue him being caried in a lighter with trumpettes and tabours reioycinges and disportes accompanied with a great number of the Lordes of the citie of Vitlatan head citie of the whole realme dooing them also seruice with all they had but specially in giuing them foode abundantly whatsoeuer they demaunded besids The Spanish lodged this night without the citie forasmuche as the same seemed vnto them strong and there might bee thereby daunger This Captayne called to him the next morrowe the chiefe Lorde with other great Lordes who beeing come as meeke sheepe hee apprehended them al commaunded thē to giue him certayne summes of golde They answering that they had none forasmuch as the countrey yeelded none hee commaundeth incontinent to burne them aliue without hauing committed any crime whatsoeuer and without any other forme of proces or sentence As the Lordes of all these prouinces perceiued that they had burned their soueraigne Lordes onely because they gaue them no golde they fledde all to the mountaynes commaunding their subiectes to goe to the Spaniardes and to serue them as their Lords but that they should not discouer them nor giue thē intelligence where they were With this loe all the people of the countrey presenting them and protesting to bee theirs and to serue them as their Lordes The Captayne made answere that hee woulde not accept of them but that hee woulde kill them if they tolde not where were their Lordes The Indians answered they could not tell ought but as touching them selues they were content that they shoulde employ them to their seruice with their wiues and children and that they should vse their housen and that there they might kill or doe what so euer them pleased It is a wonderfull thing that the Spaniardes went to their villages and borrowes and finding there these silly people at their worke with their wiues and children neyther misdoubting any thing they pearsed them with their Borespeares and hackled them to peeces They came to one borrowe great mightie which helde it selfe more assured then any other because of their innocencie whome the Spanishe layde desolate in a maner all whole in the space of two houres putting to the edge of the sword children with women and aged persons and all those which could not escape by flying The Indians seeing that by their humilitie by their presentes and patience they could not pacifie nor mitigate the madmoode and enraged heartes of their enemies and that without any reason or shewe of reason they were hackt in peeces and seeing likewise that they were sure to die ere long they deuised to assemble and realye themselues to die all in warre and auenge themselues the best that they could vpon enemies so cruel and diuelishe knowing also well enough them selues without weapons starke naked weake and on foote and suche as coulde by no meanes preuayle or carrie away the victory but that in the ende they shoulde be destroyed they aduised between them to digge certayne ditches in the middest of the wayes to make their horses tomble into and pearcing their bellies with pikes sharpned and brent at one ende there bestowed of purpose and couered ouer so orderly with greene turfe that it seemed there was no such matter There fell in horses once or twise for the Spaniardes afterwardes coulde beware of them But nowe to auenge them they made a law that as many Indians as might be taken aliue shoulde bee flong into the same pittes Hereuppon they cast in women with child and women newe deliuered of childbirth and olde folke as many as they coulde come by vntyll that the ditches were filled vp It was a lamentable thing to beholde the women with their children stabbed with these pickes All besides they slue with thrust of speares and edge of swoorde They cast of them also to fleshe fraunching dogges which tare them and deuoured them They brent a Lord at a great fire of quicke flames saying they woulde herein doe him honour And they persisted in these butcheries so vnnaturall about seuen yeeres from the yeere 24. vntill the yeere 31. Let any esteeme what may bee the number of people whome they might haue slayne Amongst an infinite of horrible actes which this cursed tyraunt did in this realme with his bandes of souldiers for his vnder captaynes were no lesse mischieuous and insensate then himselfe and withall likewise those that were vnder them again to serue their turne this one was notable That where as in the prouince of Cuzcatan where is at this houre or neere there aboutes the citie of Saint Sauiour a countrey very fertile with all the sea coaste on the Southe contayning fourtie or fiftie leagues and likewise in the Citie of Cuscatan the mother Citie of the prouince there had been made him a very great entertaynement of more then twentie or thirtie thousande Indians attending him all laden with poultrie and other victuals this Captayne arriuing and hauing receiued the presentes hee commaunded that euery one of the Spaniardes shoulde take of this great number of people such as shoulde please him to serue him all the time that they shoulde make their abode there and that they shoulde constrayne them to beare for them of their carriage all that should bee needefull Euery man tooke vnto him other an hundred or fiftie or as many as it seemed suffised him to bee well serued These poore lambelike innocentes serued the Spaniards with all their power that
innermoste partes of the realme to search where hee might tyrannize at his ease and drewe by force out of the prouince of Mexico 15. or 20. Millions of men to the ende that they shoulde carrie the loades and carriages of the Spaniardes whiche went with him of whom there neuer returned agayne two hundred the others being dead on the high wayes Hee came at the prouince of Mechuacam which is distant from Mexico fourtie leagues a region as blissefull and full of inhabitauntes as is that of Mexico The king and Lorde of the countrey went to receiue him with an infinite companie of people which did vnto them a thousande seruices and curtisies Hee apprehended him by and by for that hee had the brute to be very rich of gold and siluer and to the ende that hee shoulde giue him great treasures hee beganne to giue him the torments and put him in a payre of stockes by the feete his body stretched out and his handes bounde to a stake hee maketh a flashing fire against his feete and there a boy with a basting sprinkle loked in oyle in his hande stoode and basted them a litle and a litle to the ende to well roaste the skynne There was in one side of him a cruell man the whiche with a crossebowe bente aymed ryght at his heart on the other side an other which helde a dogge snarling and leaping vp as to renne vppon him which in lesse then the tyme of a Credo had beene able to haue torne him in pieces and thus they tormented him to the ende hee shoulde discouer the treasures which they desired vntyll suche tyme as a religious man of Saint Frauncis order tooke him away from them notwithstanding that hee dyed of the same tormentes They tormented and slue of this fashion very many of the Lordes and Cacikes in these Prouinces to the ende that they shoulde giue them gold and siluer At the same time a certayne tyrant going in visitation to visite the powches and to robbe the godes of the Indians more then for any care hee had of theyr soules founde that certayne Indians had hid their Idolles as those which had neuer been better instructed by y e cursed Spaniards of any better god he apprehended and detayned prisoners the Lordes vntyll suche time as that they woulde giue them their Idolles Supposing all this while they had beene of golde or of siluer Howebeit they were not so wherefore hee chastised them cruelly and vniustly But to the ende hee woulde not remayne frustrate of his intent which was to spoyle hee constrayned the Cacikes to redeeme their sayde Idolles and they redeemed them for such gold siluer as they coulde find to the ende to worship them for Gods as they had bin wont to do aforetime These be the examples deedes which these cursed Spaniardes do and this is the honour which they purchase to God amongst the Indians This great tyraunt and Captayne passed farther from Mechuacham to the Prouince of Lalisco the which was all whole most full of people and most happie For it is one of the moste fertillest and most admirable countrey of the Indies whiche had borrowes coutaining in a maner seueÌ„ leagues As he entred this couÌ„trey the L. with y e inhabitants according as al y e Indians are accustomed to do weÌ„t to receiue him w t preseÌ„ts ioyfulnes Hee begaÌ„ to coÌ„mit his cruelties mischieuousnes w c he had learned all the rest had bin accustomed to practise w c is to heap vp gold w c is their god He burned townes he tooke y e Cacikes prisonners and gaue them torments Hee made slaues all that hee tooke Whereof there died an infinite number tyed in chaynes The women newe deliuered of childe byrth going laden with the sâ—uffe of euill Christianâ— and being not abie to beare their owne children because of trauell and hunger were fayne to cast them from them in the wayes whereof there dyed an infinite An euill Christian taking by force a young Damsell to abuse her the mother withstoode him and as shee woulde haue taken her away the Spaniarde drawing his dagger or rapier cutte off her hande and slue the young gyrle with flashes of his weapon because shee woulde not consent to his appetite Amongst manye other thinges hee caused vniustly to bee marked for slaues foure thousande fiue hundred soules as free as they men women and sucking babes from of a yere and a halfe olde vnto three or foure yeeres olde which notwithstanding had gone before them in peace to receiue them with an infinite number of other thinges that haue not beene set downe in writing Hauing atchieued the diuelishe warres innumerable and hauing in the same committed very many slaughters hee reduced all that countrey into the ordinary seruitude pestilential and tyrannicall into the which all the tyrant Spaniardes whiche are in the Indies are accustomed or pretende to cast those people In the which countrey hee consented also and permitted his Stewardes and all others to execute tormentes neuer hearde of before to the ende to drawe from the Indians golde and tribute His Stewardes slewe very many of the Indians hanging them and burning them aliue and casting some vnto the dogges cutting off their feete handes head and tongue they being in peace onely to bring them into a feare to the ende they shoulde serue him and giue him golde and tributes all this knowing and seeing this gentle tyrant euen to come to the whippes bast onads blowes with other sorts of cruelties wherewith hee vexed and oppressed them dayly It is sayde of him that hee hath destroyed and burned in this realme of Xalisco eyght hundred borroughes whiche was the cause that the Indians being fallen desperate and seeing those which remayned howe they perished thus cruelly they lift vp themselues and went into the mountaynes slaying certayne Spaniardes howe be it by good right And afterwardes because of the wickednesses and outrages of other tyrauntes now being which passed by that way to destroy other prouinces that which they call discouering many of the Indians assembled fortifying them selues vpon certayne rockes Vpon the whiche rockes the Spanishe haue made and yet at this present and a freshe doe make so many cruelties that they almost made an end of laying desolate all this great countrey slaying an infinite number of people And the wretched blinderers forsaken of God and giuen ouer into a reprodate sense not seeing the causes most iust which the Indians haue by the lawes of nature man and God to hewe them in peeces if they had strength and munimentes and so to cast them out of their countrey and not seeing the wickednes of their owne cause ouer and besids so many violents and tyrannies which they haue committed in that sort to mooue warre a newe they thinke speake and write of the victories which they haue ouer the poore Indians leauing them in desolation that it is GOD which giueth the same vnto them as though their warres
remayning of the butcheries and tyranuous murders which the Spanish had bin perpetrating seuen continuall yeres And I beleeue that these same were those religious persons the which in the yeere 34. certaine Indians of the Prouince of Mexico sending before them messengers in their behalf requested them that they woulde come into their countrie to giue thē knowledge of that one onely God who is God and very Lorde of all the worlde and for whose occasion the Indians helde a councel sundrie times parlementing and informing themselues in their folke motes to wit what kinde of men those might be which were called by the speciall name of fathers and brethren and what it was that they pretended and wherein they differed from the Spaniardes of whom they had receiued so many outrages and iniuries according in the ende to admit them with condition that they should enter themselues alone and not the Spaniardes with them that which the religious promised thē For it was permitted them yea commaunded them so to doe by the Viceroy of new Spaine and that there shoulde no kinde of displeasure bee done vnto them by the Spaniardes The Religious men preached vnto them the Gospell of Christe as they are accustomed to doe and as had been the holy intention of the kinges of Castile that shoulde haue been done Howbeit that the Spaniardes in all the seuen yeres space past had neuer giuen thē any such notice of the truth of the Gospel or so much as that there was any other king sauing himselfe y t so tyrannised ouer them and destroyed them By these meanes of the religious after the ende of fortie dayes that they had preached vnto them the Lordes of the countrie brought vnto them and put into their handes their idols to the end that they shoult burne them After also they brought vnto them their young children that they should catechise them whom they loue as the apple of their eye They made for them also Churches and Temples and houses Moreouer some other prouinces sent and inuited them to the ende that they might come to them also to preache and giue them the vnderstanding of God and of him whom they saide to be the great king of Castile And beeing perswaded and induced by the religious they did a thing which neuer yet before hath been done in the Indies For whatsoeuer the tyrants some of those which haue spoyled those Realmes great Countries haue contriued to blemishe and defame the poore Indians withall they are mockeries and leasings twelue or fifteene Lordes which had very many subiecets and great dominion assembling euery one for his owne part his people and taking their aduise and consent of their owne voluntarie motion yeelded themselues to the subiection and to bee vnder the domination of the kinges of Castile admitting the Emperour as king of Spain for their liege Soueraigne Wherof also they made certaine instrumentes by them consigned which I keepe in my charge together with the testimonies thereunto of the said religious The Indians being thus onwarde in the way of the faith with the great ioy and good hope of the Religious brethren that they shoulde bee able to winne vnto Iesus Christe all the people of the Realme that were the residue beeing but a smal number of the slaughters and wicked warres passed There entred at a certaine coaste eighteene Spaniarde tyrantes on horse backe and twelue on foote driuing with them great loades of Idols which they had taken in the other Prouinces of the Indians The Captaine of those thirtie Spaniards called vnto him a Lorde of the countrie there aboutes as they were entred and commaundeth him to take those idols and to disperse them throughout al his countrie selling euery idol for an Indian mā or an Indian woman to make slaues of them with threatening them that if hee did not doe it hee woulde bidde them battaile That saide Lorde beeing forced by feare distributed those Idols throughout all the countrie and commaunded all his subiectes that they should take them to adore them and that they shoulde returne in exchaunge of that ware Indies and Indisses to make slaues of The Indians beeing affeard those which had two children gaue him one and he that had three gaue him two This was the ende of this sacrilegious trafficke and thus was this Lord or Cacick faine to content these Spaniards I say not Christians One of these abhominable chafferers named Iohn Garcia beeing sicke and neere his death had vnder his bed two packs of Idols and commaunded his Indish maide that serued him to looke to it that she made not away his idols that there were for Murlimeus for they were good stuffe and that making bent of them she should not take lesse then a slaue for a peece one of them with another and in fine with this his Testament and last will thus deuised the caytife dyed busied with this deep goodly care and who doubteth but that he is lodged in the bottome of hell Let it nowe bee considered and well weyed what kinde of aduancement of religion it is and what are the good examples of Christianitie of the behalfe of the Spanishe that sayle to the Indies What honour they doe vnto God how they paine themselues to haue him knowen and adored of those nations what carke and care the haue of the doing of it that by their meanes the rather the sacred faith shoulde bee dispersed encreased and enlarged in the free passage thereof amongest those silly creatures And let it with all bee discerned if the sinne of these men be any whit lesse then the same of Ieroboam Which made Israel to sinne by making two golden Calues for the people to fall downe before and worshippe or otherwise if it bee not like to the treason of Iudas and which hath caused more offence These bee the iestes of the Spaniardes whiche goe to the Indies whiche of a truth very many times yea an infinit sort of times for couetyse and to scratche golde haue solde and do sell haue reneaged and do reneage as yet hitherto and at this present day Christ Iesus The Indians perceiuing that that which the religious had promised them was as good as nothing namely that the Spaniardes shoulde not enter those Prouinces and seeing the Spaniards whiche had laded thither idols from other places there to make vent of them they hauing put al their idols afore into the handes of the Fryars to the ende they shoulde bee burned and to the ende the true God shoulde bee by them adored all the Countrie was in a mutinie and a rage against the religious Fryars and the Indians comming vnto them say Why haue you lyed vnto vs in promising vs by deceites that there should not enter any Spaniardes into these Countries And why haue you burnt our gods seeing the Spaniards doe bring vs other gods from other nations Were not our gods as good as the gods of other prouinces The fryars pacified them in the best maner
of many ouer whom those treasures and auarice haue got the maisterie and where hence hath proceeded the blinding which hath caused so to marre all without remorse These lawes being published the creatures of those tyrantes who then were at the court drew out sundrie copyes thereof for it grieued them at the hearts for that it seemed them that thereby there was a doore shut vp vnto them agaynst their rauine and extortion afore rehearsed and dispersed them into diuers quarters of the Indies Those which had the charge to robbe roote out and consume by their tyrannies euen as they had neuer kept any good order but rather disorder such as Lusifer himselfe might haue helde as they read those copies before the new iudges might come to execute their charge knowing it as it is sayd and that very exediblie by those who vntill this time haue supported and mayntayned their crimes and outrages to be likely that such execution shoulde bee vsed of those laws they ran into a mutinie in such wise as that when the good Iudges were come to doe their duties they aduised with them selues as those which had lost the feare and loue of God to cast off also all shame and obedience which they owe to the king and so tooke vnto them the name of open and arrant traytours behauing them selues as most cruell and gracelesse tyrantes and principally in the realme of Peru where presently this yeere 1442. are committed actes so horrible and frightfull as neuer were the like neither in the Indies nor in all the worlde besides not onely agaynst the Indians the which all or in a maner all are slayne all those regions being dispeopled but also betwixt themselues by a iust iudgement of God who hath permitted that they shoulde bee the butchers one of an other of them By meanes of the support of this rebellion none of all the other partes of this newe worlde would obey those lawes But vnder colour of making supplication to his Maiestie to the contrary they haue made an insurrection aswell as the others For that it irketh them to leaue their estates and goodes whiche they haue vsurped and to vnbinde the handes of the Indians whome they detayne in a perpetuall captiuitie And there where they cease to kill with the swoorde redily and at the instant they kill them a little and a little by personall slaueries and vniust charges and intollerable That which the king could not hither vnto let for because that they all great and litle roue and robbe some more some lessâ— â—ome ouertly and some couertly and vnder the pretence of seruing the king dishonour God and rob the king The Authour his wordes farder to king Philip then at the time of writing thereof Prince of Spayne THat which followeth hereafter immediatly is a part of a Missiue or letter sent written by one who him selfe was a partie in these voiages recounting the works the which a captayne did and consented to the dooing in the countrey all the way as hee passed And albeit so that the saide missiue being put to binding in one booke with other papers the binder eyther forgot or lost a leafe or two notwithstanding forasmuch as the said missiue contayned things fearefull euen to astonishement the which one of them that had done them had giuen me and that I had them all in my keeping I thought good to present you therwithall such as it is nowe though without beginning or ending For that this fragment remayning of the whole is full of notable pointes and therefore being resolued that it shoulde bee so printed trusting that it will cause no lesse compass on and horror in your highnesse minde then the other matters afore mentioned with a desire forthwith to prouide for the redresse The Missiue HEe gaue licence to put them to the Chaine and in bondage That which they did and the Captayne led after him three or foure droues of these persons enchayned and in this doing he procured not y t the countrey shoulde bee inhabited and peopled as had been conuenient shoulde haue been done but robbing from the Indians all their victuals they had the inbornes of the countrey were reduced to suche an extremitie that there were founde great numbers dead of famine in the high wayes And the Indians comming and going too and fro the coast laden with the carriage of the Spaniardes hee was the death by these meanes of about ten thousande For not one that arriued at the very coast escaped death by reason of the excessiue heate of the countrey After this following the same tract and way by the whiche Iohn of Ampudia was gone hee sent the Indians which hee had purchased in Quito a day before him to the ende they should discouer the bourges of the Indians and shoulde pillage them that when hee came with his maynie hee might finde his bootie readie And those Indians were his owne mates of the whiche such a one had two hundred such a one three hundred and suche a one a hundred according to the haggage that euery one of them had which Indians came to yeelde them selues to their maisters with all y t they had robbed At dooing whereof they committed great cruelties towarde young children and women and so had hee vsed before to doe in Quito in burning the whole countrey and namely the garners where the Lordes kept their Mahis in prouision Hee suffered to bee done great outrages in slaying the sheepe with the which they nourished and entertayned for the most part both the Spanishe and the naturall inhabitauntes of the countrey And onely to haue the braynes and the sewet hee permitted that there shoulde bee killed two or three hundred wethers of the whiche the flesh was fayne to bee cast away And the Indians friendes to the Spaniardes and the whiche went with the Spaniardes onely to eate the sheepes hearts killed a great number for as much as they eate none other thing And two men in one prouince named Purua killed 25. wethers and sheep fit for carriage like our horse the which were worth amongst the Spaniardes twentie and fiue and twentie duckates a peece only to haue to eate the braines and the sewet So as by this disorder of exceeding slaughter of beastes haue been lost aboue an hundred thousande head of cattell By occasion whereof also the countrey came into a great necessitie the natiue of the lande miserablie dying of famine And Quito which was furnished of so great store of Mahis that it can not bee well spoken was by this meanes so assaulted with famaine that a strike or bushell of Mahis was raysed to the prise of 10. duckets and a sheepe to as muche After that the sayde Captaine was returned from the coast hee determined to depart from Quito and to goe seeke the Captayne Iohn de Ampudia leauing thereto moe then two hundred of foote men and horse men amongst whome were a great many inhabitauntes of the citie of Quito Vnto those inhabitaunts the
captaine gaue licence to carrie with them the Cacikes that were escheated them in sharing with as many Indians as they would That which they did and Alfonso Sanches Nuita caried forth with him his Cacike with moe then an hundred Indians besids and in like maner Peter Cibo and his cousin and they led out more then an hundred and fiftie with their wiues and sundrie also sped out their children because that in a maner euery one died for hunger Also Moran inhabitant of Popaian caried out moe then two hundred persons And the like did all the rest citizens and souldiers euery one after his abilitie the souldiers crauing that they might haue licence giuen them to captiue those Indians men and women which they carried forth the which was graunted vnto them vntyll the death of the sayde captiues and those deceased to take as many more for if the Indians were subiectes of his Maiestie so likewise were the Spaniardes that died in the warres as well as they And after this maner departed the sayde Captayne of Quito going to a citie called Otaba the which he held at that houre for his share and demanded of the Cacike that there shoulde bee giuen him fiue hundred men to lead to the warres which were giuen him with certayne principall persons of the Indians Hee departed some of those people amongst his souldiers and ledde forth the rest with him some laden and some chayned and some vnbounde to serue him and to bring him meate Thus carried hee his souldiers some pinniond in chaynes and some in coardes When they departed out of the Prouince of Quito they carried out moe then sixe thousande Indians men and women and of al those there neuer returned home into their countrey twentie persons For they dyed all thorough the great and excessiue trauell which they made them endure in those brâ—â—ling countreys contrary to their nature It happened at that tyme that one Alfonso Sanches whom the saide Captayne sent for chieftayne ouer a certayne number of men into a Prouince there met with a good company of women and young boyes laden with victuals who stayed wayting for them without mouing from the place to giue them of that which they had and hauing so done the captaine commaunded that they should bee put to the sharpe of the sworde There happened here a mayuailous thing which was that a souldier striking an Indesse woman his sworde brake a two in the middest at the first blowe and at the seconde blowe there remayned nought in his handes but the pomell hauft without that the woman was hurt And an other souldier willing to strike another Indesse woman with asquare dagger he had the dagger brake at the first choppe the length of foure fingers and at the seconde there remayned vnto him no more saue the hauft At the same tyme the sayde Captayne yeeded foorth of Quito and drewe out a great number of the naturall inbornes vnmarriyng them and giuing their young wiues vnto his Indians whom hee ledde along and the others wiues hee gaue to others which remayned in the citie for that they were too olde There followed out of Quito a woman with a litle childe in her armes crying after him and entreating him that her husbande might not bee forced to goe with him for that shee had three little children the whiche shee coulde not nourishe but were ready to dye for hunger And as the Captayne gaue her a churlishe answere at her first sute shee returned the seconde time with greater cries saying that her children dyed for hunger And seeing that the Captayne gaue her the repulse and that hee woulde not restore her her husbande shee beat the childes head agaynst the stones and slue it It came to passe also that at the tyme that the sayde Captayne came into the prouice of Lili to a towne called Palo neere vnto the great riuer where hee founde the Captayne Iohn de Ampudia which was gone before to discouer and pacifie the countrey the saide Ampudia kepte a citie by him prouided of a garrisoÌ„ in the name of his maiesty and of the marques Frauncis of Pizarro and had set ouer them for gouernours ordinarie one Petre Solano of Quennoues and 8. counsellours all the rest of the countrey was in peace shared out amongst them And as he knew that the sayd captaine was in the said riuer he came to see him with a great number of the inhabitantes of the countrey and peaceful Indians laden with victuals and fruites Shortly after also all the neighbour Indians came to see him bringing him food There were the Indians of Xamundi and of Palo and of Soliman and of Bolo Nowe because that they brought no Mahis which he would haue hee sent a great number of Spaniardes with their Indians to go search for Mahis commaunding them to bring some wheresoeuer they founde any So went they to Bolo and to Palo and founde the Indians men and women in their housen in peace and the sayd Spaniards with those that were with them tooke them and robbed their Mahis their golde and couerings and all that they had and bounde many The Indians seeing that they entreated them so euill went to complaine vnto the sayde Captayne requesting that all which had been bereft them might be restored them But the Captain woulde restore them none and forbidde them to come at him any more Notwithstanding foure or fiue dayes after the Spaniardes estsoones returne to fetche Mahis and to pilladge the Indians natiue of the soyle as before time Wherefore they seeing that the Captayne kepte no faith with them all the Countrie arose and reuolted from the Spanishe whereof ensued greate dammage and GOD and the kings maiestie offended and by this meanes the countrie remained dispeopled for y t the Olomas the Manipos their enemies which are mouÌ„taine people warlike descended dayly to take and rob them when they perceiued the citie and places of their abode left destitute And amongst them hee who was the stronger did eate vp his fellowe for all dyed for famine This done the captaine came to the citie of Ampudia where hee was receiued for generall and seuen dayes after from thence hee departed to goe towards the harbour of Lili and Peti with more then two hundred horsmen and footemen After this that saide is the saide chiefe gouernour sent his captaines of one side and other to bid cruell battayle to the natiue IndiaÌ„s staying a great number of them as wel men as women burning also their houses and spoiling their goods This indured a good many dayes And the saide captaine was gone towardes a citie named Yee withall the Indians whome they had taken in Lili without releasing any one and beeing come to the saide Yee hee sent incontinent Spaniardes to pilladge take and stay all the Indians men and women that they coulde take thus they burned moe then an hundred From this place they goe to a Citie called Tukilicui from whence the
that they could not knowing what to answere them and went to seeke out those thirtie Spaniards to whom they declared the euill which they had done praying theÌ„ to get them thence That which the Spaniards would not doe but saide to the Indians that those religious men had caused them to come thither themselues of their owne accorde whiche was rightly an extreeme maliciousnesse In the end the Indians deliberated to kill the religious men By occasion whereof the Fryars fled away in a night hauing aduertisement of the case by some of the Indians But after that they were gone the Indians better infourmed of the innocencie of the religious meÌ„ and of the vngraciousnesse of the Spaniardes the sent messengers after them neere hand fiftie leagues of beseeching them to come againe and crauing pardon of them The religious as the seruants of God and zealous for the winning of their soules beleeuing them returned to them and were receiued as it had been Angels And the Indians doyng them a thousand seruices abode with them foure or fiue monethes And for because the Spaniards would neuer departe that Countrie and that namely the Viceroy with all that he could doe could not draw them thence newe Spaine beeing farre of howbeit hee had caused them to bee proclaimed traitours And for as muche as they neuer ceased to commit their outrages and griefes accustomed amongst the Indians the religious perceiuing that sooner or later they should smell of the smoke and peraduenture the euill light vpon their heades and specially that they coulde not preach vnto the Indians with quiet and assurance of the IndiaÌ„s of themselues by reason of the continuall assaultes and lewde deportments of the Spanish they deliberated to leaue y e realme which in this maner was destitute of the light and the doctrine and those soules abode vnder the darknesse of ignorance and in the miserie they were in the remedie and the watering of the knowledge of God being bereaued them alreadie euen at their best and when as they began to receiue it with exceeding willingnes altogether like as if one should withdraw the watring from tender plants and new set into a drie ground at a hot time of the yeere and this by the cursed vngraciousnesse of the Spanish Of the Prouince of Saint Martha THe prouince of Saint Martha was a countrie where the Spaniardes gathered golde in all plentie the land beeing with the regions adiacent very rich and the people industrious to drawe out the golde Wherefore also from the yeere one thousand fiue hundred fortie two infinite tyrants haue made thither continually with their ships ouerrunning and raunging along the countrie killing and spoyling those the inhabitants and ramping from them that gold that they had with speedie return euer to their ships which went and came oftentimes And so wrought they in those prouinces great wasts and slaughters and cruelties horrible that most commonly on the Sea coast and certaine leagues within the countrie vntill the yeere one thousand fiue hundred and three At what time there wente Spanish tyrants to inhabite there And for as much as the countrie was exceeding riche as hath been said there euer succeeded Captaines one in anothers roome euerie one more cruell then other in such sort that it seemed that euerie one inforced himselfe for the masterie in doing of euilles and cruelties more haynous then had been done by his predecessour Wherefore herein is the rule verified that we haue giuen before The yeere one thousande fiue hundred twentie and nine there went a great tyrant very resolute with great troupes but without any feare of God or compassion of the nature of man who wrought suche wastes and slaughters so greate that hee exceeded all others that had gone before him himselfe robbing for the space of sixe or seuen yeares that he lyued great treasures saue after beeing deceased without confession and fledde from the place of his residence there succeeded him other murdering tyrantes and theeues which made an ende of the rest of the people whome the embrewed handes with blood and the caruing swoordes of the tyruntes his forerunners coulde not extyrp They set themselues so forwarde in the countrey in inuading and laying desolate very manye prouinces with killing and taking prisoners those people after the fashion before practised in other Prouinces causing the Lordes together with their Subiectes to suffer grieuous torments both to make them discouer the golde and the places where golde might bee had surmounting as is sayde euery way in number of mischieuous doinges and in the maner of dooing all that had passed before that from the yeere one thousande fiue hundred twentie and niene vnto this day they haue reduced into a wildernesse in those same quarters more then foure hundred leagues of lande which was no lesse peopled then the other countreys which wee haue spoken of Verily if I had to make a bedrolle of the vngraciousnesses of the slaughters of the desolations of the iniquities of the violencies of the massacres and other greate insolencies whiche the Spaniardes haue done and committed in those Prouinces of Saint Martha agaynst God the king and agaynst those innocent nations I shoulde write an historie very ample But that maye bee done if God spare mee lyfe hereafter in his good tyme onely I will sette downe a fewe woordes of that which was written in a letter by a Byshoppe of this Prouince to the king our Soueraigne and the letter beareth date the twentieth of May 1541. The whiche Byshoppe amongst other woordes speaketh thus I say sacred Maiestie that the way to redresse this countrey is that his Maiestie deliuer her out of the power of Stepfathers and giue vnto her an husbande whiche may intreate her as is reason and according as shee deserueth otherwise I am sure hereafter as the tyrauntes whiche nowe haue the gouernment doe torment and tormoyle her shee will soone take an ende c. And a little belowe hee sayeth Whereby your Maiestie shall knowe clearely howe those whiche gouerne in those quarters doe deserue to bee disamounted and deposed from their gouernment to the ende that the common weales maye bee relieued That if that be not done in mine aduise they can neuer be cured of their diseases His maiestie shal vnderstand moreouer that in those regions there are not any Christians but diuels that there are no seruantes of God and the king but traitors to the state and their king And in truth the greatest encombraunce that I finde in reducing the Indians that are in warre and to set them at peace and to lead those which are at peace to y e knowledge of our faith is vnnaturall cruell entreaty w c they y t are in peace do receiue of y e spanish being so deeply altered lauÌ„â—ed y t they haue nothing in more hatred horror theÌ„ the name of christiaÌ„s y e which in al these countreys they cal in their laÌ„guage yares y t is to say diuels For
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