nights is to set them by the heeles their bodies requoyling on the coulde grounde in a payre of stockes for feare of running away Sometymes they are drowned in the sea and at their fishing and trauayle of piking of pearles and neuer rise vp agayne aboue the water because the Bunches and Whirlepooles they call them Tuberones and Maroxos two kinde of monsters of the sea most cruell which deuour a man all whole and those doe kill them and eate them Let it nowe here be considered whither in this purchase of Pearles the commaundements of God touching the loue of God and our neyghbours be kept or not when they throwe those people into daunger of bodyes and soules For they slay their neighbours by their couetousnesse without that they receiue or fayth or sacramentes or els they prolonge them in a state of life so horrible that they bring them to their ende and consume them in a few dayes For it is impossible that men should be able to liue any long seasoÌ„ vnder the water without taking breath the continuall cold percing them so they die commoÌ„ly parbraking of blood at y e mouth because of the kitting together of their chestes or bulke of the breast arising thereof that they are so continually without breathing vnder the water and of the blooddy fluxe caused by the cold Theyr haires which by nature are cole blacke alter and become after a branded russette like to the haires of the seawolues The salt peeter breaketh out of their shouldiers in such sort that they seeme to bee a kind of monsters in the shape of men or els some other kinde of men They dispatched in ridding about this insupportable trauayle or rather to speake rightly this diuelish torment all y e Lucayan Indians which were in the Iles hauing sauoured this gaynes and euery Indian was worth vnto them a fiftie or an hundred Castillans They made an open marte of them notwithstauding it were inhibited them by the magistrate otherwise vnmercifull for the Lucayens were good swimmers They also about these thinges haue slayne a number of the people of other prouinces Of the riuer Yuia Pari. THere runneth through the prouince of Paria a riuer named Yuia Pari more then two hundred leagues within land from the head There entred the same riuer an vnluckie tyraunt a great manie leagues vpwarde in the yeere one thousande fiue hundred twentie and niene with a foure hundred menne or more whiche there wroght greate slaughters burning aliue and putting to the edge of the swoorde an infinite sorte of Indians whiche were in their landes and houseâ— doing hurt to no creature and therefore secure and mistrusting nothing In the ende hee dyed an euill death and his Nauie was disperaged albeic that other tyraunts there were which succeeded him in his mischieuousnesses and tyrannies and yet at this day thither they goe destroying and staying and plunging into hell the soules for whom the sonne of God shed his blood Of the realme of Venesuela THe yeere 1526. the king our Soueraigne being iuduced by sinister informations and perswasions dammageable to the state as the Spaniardes haue alwayes payned them selues to conceale from his Maiestie the dammages and dishonours which GOD and the soules of men and his state doeth receiue in the Indies graunted and committed a great realme greater then all Spayne that Venesuela with the gouernement and entier iurisdiction vnto certayne Dutch Marchaunts with certayne capitulations and conuentions accorded beetweene them These same entring the countrey with three hundred men they found the people very amiable meeke as lambes as they are all in those parties of the Indies vntill the Spanish do outrage them These see vpon them w tout comparison a great deale more cruelly then any of the other tyrauntes of the whiche wee haue spoken before shewing them selues more vnnaturall and fierce then raging tygars or wolues or ramping Lions For they had the iurisdiction of the whole countrey possessing it with more freedom and vsing it with a greater care and starker blinde madnes of couetyse seruing their owne turnes with all practises and cheuisaunees to get and gather golde and siluer more then all they of whom hath bin spoken heretofore hauing wholly shaken off all feare of God and of the king yea hauing forgotten themselues to bee men These diuels incarnate haue saide desolate and destroyed more then foure hundred leagues of most fertill lande and therein of prouinces exceeding and wonderfull fayre vayles to the breadth of fourtie leagues and hournes verye great full of people and of golde They haue slayne and wholly discomfited great and diuers nations so farre foorth as to abolishe the languages wonted to bee spoken not leauing aliue that could skill of them vnlesse some one or other who had hid them selues in the caues and bowels of the earth flying the dint of the sworde so raging and plaging They haue slayne destroyed and sent to hell by diuers and strange maners of cruelties and vngodlynesses moe I supposse then foure or fiue millions of soules and yet at this present they cease not to doe the same by infinite outrages spoyles add slaughters which they haue committed and doe commit dayly vnto this present I will onely touch three or foure by the which it may bee iudged of others which they vsed to accomplish their destructions and disolations aboue mentioned They tooke the Lord soueraigne of all the prouince without all cause onely to bereeue him of his golde giuing him also the torture which Lorde vnbounde himselfe and escaped from them into the mountaynes wherefore also the subiectes rose and were in a mutinie hiding theÌ„ selues vpoÌ„ the mountaynes amongst the hedges and bushes The Spaniardes make after to chase them and hauing founde them commit cruell massacres and as many as they take aliue they sell them in port sale for slaues In diuers prouinces yea in all where they became before that they tooke the Soueraigne Lorde the Indies went to receyue them with songes and daunces and with presents of gold in great quantitie The payment made them was to bee put to the edge of the sworde and hewen in peeces One time as they went to receyue the Spanishe in the fashion abouesayde the Dutche Captayne tyraunt caused to bee put in a thatched house a greate number of people and hackled in peeces And beeing on high neere the top of the house certayne beames which diuers had got vpon auoyding the blooddy handes and swordes of those people O mercilesse beastes the diuelishe man sent to put to fire wherby as many as there were were burned aliue By this meanes the couÌ„trey remained very desert y e people flying into the mountaines where they hoped to saue theÌ„selues They came into another great prouince in the confines of the prouince and realme or Saint Martha where they found the Indians peaceable in their boroghs in thâ—ir houseÌ„ doing their busines they continued a long time with them eating their store and
so many cruelties so many slaueries and iniquities that there is no humane tongue is able to discipher them He sent fiftie horsemen and caused to slay all the people of this prouince which is greater then the countye of Rossillon with the swoorde in such sort as that he left aliue nor man nor woman nor olde nor young for the least cause in the world as if they came not incontinent at his commaunde or if they did not bring him so many load of Mahis which signifieth in that country bread corne or if they did not bring him so many Indians to serue him and others of his company for the countrey lay leuell as was sayde and no creature coulde escape his horses and diuelishe rage He sent Spaniardes to make out rodes that is to say to go a thieuing into other prouinces and gaue leaue to those rouers to carrie with them as many Indians of this peaceable people as they listed and that they shoulde serue them whome they put to the chayne to the ende they shoulde not giue ouer the burdens of three or fourescore poundes weight wherewith they loded them whereof it came to passe oftentimes that of foure thousand Indians there returned not home to their housen sixe on liue but euen fell downe starke dead in the high way and when any were so wearie that they coulde march no farther for the lieaft of their burdens or that some of them fell sicke or fainted for hunger or thyrst because it should not neede to stande so long as to vnlocke the chaine and to make the speedier dispatch hee cut off the head from y e shoulders and so the head tumbled downe one way and the bodie another Now consider with your selues what the other pore soules might thinke the whiles Certainely whē as he vsed to speede out such voiages y e Indians knowing y t none in a maner euer returned home again at parting one frō another they would weep and sigh saying such waies are y e same where as we were wont to serue y e christians howbeit we traueiled sore there yet that notwithstanding we came home again to our housen our wiues and our children but nowe wee goe without hope euer to returne againe to see thē to liue together with them At a time when he woulde make a newe sharing forth of the Indians because his pleasure was such yea men say that it was in deede to ridde the Indians as those to whome hee meant no good at all but to giue them away to whome he sawe good hee was the cause that the Indians sowed not their groundes one whole yeeres continuance So as nowe when they wanted bread the Spaniards tooke away from the Indians their Mahis which they had in store for prouision to nourishe them and their children whereby there dyed of famine more then twentie or thirtie thousande soules And it came to passe that a woman fallen madde with the famin slue her sonne to eate him Forasmuch as euery towneshippe and all other places inhabited that the Spaniardes had in their subiection was none other then a very garden of pleasure as hath bin sayd they kept them selues euery one forsooth in the place escheated to him in partition or as they vse to speake giuen him in commaund and did their affayres nourishing themselues with the goods and prouisions of the poore Indians In this wise did they take the landes and inheritaunces perticuler wherewith they sustayned themselues so as the Spaniardes kept in their owne houses all the Indians Lords old men women and children causing them to serue them day and night without rest euen to the infantes as soone as they coulde but goe to put them to the greatest thing they were able to doe yea and to greater thinges then they were able to doe And thus haue they cousumed and abolished and doe yet euery day vnto this present consume and abolish the few remayning behind not permitting thē to retayn house nor ought els that is their owne Wherein they may vaunt to haue surmounted them selues in their owne iniquities and vnrighteousnesses by them wrought in Hispaniola They haue discomfited and oppressed in this prouince a great number of people and hastened their death in cawsing them to beare boordes and tymber vnto the hauen thirtie leagues distance to make shippes with and sent them to goe seeke honnie and waxe amiddest the mountaines where the Tigres deuoured them Yea they haue laden women with childe and women new deliuered or lying in with burdens enough for beasts The greatest plague whiche hath most dispeopled this prouince hath beene the licence which the gouernour gaue to the Spaniardes to demaunde or exact of the Cacikes and Lordes of the countrey slaues They did giue them euery foure or fiue moneths or as often times as euery one coulde obtayne licence of the gouernour fiftie slaues with threatninges that if they gaue them not they woulde burne them aliue or cause them to bee eaten with dogges Nowe ordinarily the Indians doe not keepe slaues and it is muche if one Cacike doe keepe two three or foure Wherefore to serue this turne they went to theyr subiectes and tooke first all the Orphelius and after wards they exacted of him that had two children one and of him that had three two and in this maner was the Carike fayne to furnishe still to the number that the tyrane imposed with the great weeping and crying of the people for they are people that doe loue as it seemeth tenderly their children And for because that this was done continually they dispeopled from the yeere 23. vnto the yeere 33. all this realme For there went for sixe or seuen yeeres space fiue or sixe shippes at a time carrying foorth great numbers of those Indians for to sell them for slaues at Ioanama and Peru where they all dyed not long after For it is a thing prooued and experimented a thousande times that when the Indians are transported from their naturall countrey they soone ende their liues besides that these giue them not their sustenance neyther yet dimmish they of their toyle as neyther doe they buy them for ought else but to toyle They haue by this maner of doing drawen out of this prouince of the Indies whome they haue made slaues being as free borne as I am more then siue hundreth thousande soules And by the diuelishe warres which the Spanishe haue made on them and the hidious thraledome that they haue laid vpon them they haue brought to their deaths other fiftie or threescore thousande persons and doe yet dayly make hauocke of them at this present Al these slaughters haue been accomplished within the space of fourteene yeeres There may be left at this day in all this prouinces of Nicaragua the number of a foure or fiue thousande persons whiche they also cause to die as yet euery day through bondages and oppressions ordinarily and personall hauing bin the countrey the most peopled in the worlde as I haue
brent aliue the great Lords After these great and abhominable tyrannies committed in the Citie of Mexico and in other cities and the countrey renne fifteene and twentie leagues compasse of Mexico this tyrannie and pestilence aduaunced it selfe forwarde to waste also infect and lay desolate the prouince of Panuco It was a thing to bee wondered at of the worlde of people that there were and the spoyles and slaughters there done Afterwarde they wasted also after the selfe maner all the prouince of Tuttepeke and the prouince of Ipelingo and the prouince of Columa eche prouince conteyning more grounde then the realme of Leon of Castile It shoulde bee a thing very difficulte yea impossible to speake or recount the discomfitures the slaughters and the cruelties which they there committed and woulde cause a great remorse vnto the hearers Here is to be noted that the title wherewith they entred and beganne to make hauocke of all these harmelesse and silly Indians and haue dispeopled that countrey which shoulde haue caused a great reioycing to all those which shoulde bee in trueth Christians beyng so peopled as they were was to say that they shoulde come and put them selues in subiection to serue the king of Spain otherwise that they woulde kill them or make them slaues And those which came not incontinent to satisfie their demaundes so vniust and did not put them selues into the handes of men so vniust cruell and beastly they called them rebelles as those which had lift vp them selues agaynst the kinges Maiestie and for such they accused them to the king our soueraigne Lorde the blinde vnderstandings of those which gouerned the Indians beeing not able to comprehende nor perceyue this much which in their lawes is more cleerely taught then any other principle of Lawe that is that none can bee reputed a rebell if first hee be not a subiect Nowe let Christians and those which haue any perceyuerance consider with them selues if suche cases can prepare and informe the mindes of any nations whatsoeuer liuing in their countrey in assurance and not thinking to owe any thing to any person hauing their owne naturall liege Lordes whom they serue and obey suddenly to come and tell them tydings Put you vnder the obeysance of a king a stranger whom ye neuer sawe nor neuer hearde of before otherwise knowe yee that wee will rent yee incontinent all to peeces specially when it is knowen by experience that they doe it in deede as soone as it is but sayde And that which is farre more frightfull they take those which doe yeelde them selues to obey to put them into a moste grieuous bondage in the whiche there are toyles incredible and tormentes greater and of longer continuance then those same of them which are excuted by the swoorde for in the ende they perishe they their wiues their children and their whole generation And put the case that through the threates and frightes aforesaide those peoples or any others whosoeuer doe come to obey and acknowledge the dominion of a straunger king doe not these blunderers see being altogether benummed with ambition and deuelish couetousnes that they winne not a mite of right forasmuche as so it is that it is caused vpon frightes and terrours which might bee able to slake men the constantest and the best aduised and that by the lawes of nature man and God it hath no more force then a handfull of winde to make any thing auaylable to any purpose whatsoeuer sauing the punishment and obligation which abideth them in the bottom of hel I passe ouer the losses and dammages which they doe to the king when as they spoyle his realmes and bring to nought as much as in them lyeth all the right which they haue in the Indies These are nowe the seruices whiche the Spaniardes haue done and as yet doe at this houre vnto the aforesaide kinges and soueraigne Lords vnder the colour of this gallant title so rightfull and so smoothly garnished This Captayne tyraunt with this gorgeous and pretended title dispatched two other Captaynes as very tyrauntes and farre more cruell and lesse pitifull then him selfe into greate realmes most flourishing and most fertile and full of people to witte the realme of Guatimala which lieth to the seawarde on the South side and the same of Naco and Honduras otherwise called Guaymura which coasteth on the sea on the North side confronting and confining the one with the other three hundred leagues distaunce from Mexico Hee sent the one by land and the other by sea both the one and the other carried with them a maynie of trowpes to serue on horse backe and a foote I say the trueth that of the mischieues which these two haue wrought and principally hee whiche went to Guatimala for that other dyed soone after of an euill death there might be made a great booke of so many villanies of so manie slaughters so many desolations and of so many outrages and brutishe vniustices as were able to affright the age present and to come For certayne this man surpassed all the others present and gone before in quantitie and in number as well for the abominations whiche hee committed as for the peoples and countreys whiche he layde waste and desert All the which thinges were infinite Hee which went by sea committed exceeding pillinges cruelties disorders amongst the people on the sea coast before whō some comming with presents from the realme of Yucatane whiche is the high way to y e aforesaid realme of Naro Guaimura towards the which they went when he came vnto them he sente captaynes a many of men of armes through all that land whiche went sacking slaughtering destroying as many people as there were to be foūd principally one who with three hundred more hauing mutined and rebelled and setting himselfe into the countrey towardes Guatimala went spoyling and burning all the towns that he found in killing and robbing the people inhabitants of them That which he did of a set purpose in more then an hundred and twentie leagues of the land to the end that if any had sent after him those which should come shoulde finde the countrey dispeopled and debelled and that they were so slain of the Indians in reuenge of the dammages and spoiles by them made After whome haue succeeded sundry others most cruell tyrantes the which with their slaughters and dreadful cruelties and by bringing the Indians into thraldrome whom afterwards they soulde vnto those who carried them with their shippings of wine garments and other things and by reason of the tyrannicall seruitude ordinary since the yeere a thousande fiue hundred twentie foure vntill the yeere 1535. haue layd waste those same prouinces and realmes of Naro and Honduras the which resēbled a paradise of pleasures and were more peopled frequented and inhabited then any countrey of the worlde and nowe of late we comming a long thereby haue seene them so dispeopled and destroied that who so should see them his heart
there wanted nothing vnlesse they shoulde doe vnto them godly honour Meane while this captayne demaunded of the Lordes very much golde for they were principally commen for that purpose The Indians answered that they were ready to giue them all the golde they had and layed together a great furniture of batchets of copper and gylt where with they seruè their owne turnes the same resembling golde as in deede it hath in it some litle deale The Captayne causeth to put to the touch and as he sawe it was copper hee sayde to the Spaniardes nowe the diuell take such a countrey let vs bee gone hence seeing here is no golde heere and euery man put the Indians whiche hee hath retayned to serue him to the hotte irons and so to marke them for slaues That which they did branding with the kinges marke all that they might I sawe the sonne him selfe of the principall Lorde of this citie to bee so branded The Indians which escaped with all other of the Countrey seeing all the mischiefes of the Spanishe beganne to assemble and put them selues in armes wherevppon the Spaniardes woorke great discom fitures and slaughters returning to Guatimala where they builded a citie the which God of a iust iudgement hath renuersed with three ouer whelmings falling all three together the one was with water the other with earth and the thirde with stones of the bignesse of tenne or twentie oxen By suche like meanes all the Lordes and the men that were able to beare armes being slayne those which remayned were reduced into the diabolicall seruitude afore saide being made tributaryslaues or villayns regardant but giuing for their tribute sonnes and daughters for they will haue none other kind of bondimen And so the Spaniards sending whole ships laden with them to Peru to sell thē w t their other slaughters haue destroyed laide desert an whole Realme of an hundred leagues square or about a countrey the most blesseful and peopled the most that might be in the worlde For the tyraunt him selfe wrote hereof that it was more peopled then Mexico and herein hee sayde the trueth Hee hath done to death with his consortes and confrayryes more then foure or fiue Millions of soules in fifteen or sixteen yeeres space from the yeere twentie foure vnto the fourtieth yeere and yet at this houre they slay and destroy those that remayne This tyraunt had a custome when as hee went to make warre vpon any Citie or Prouince to carrie thither of the Indians alreadie vnder yoked as many as hee coulde to make warre vpon the other Indians and as hee gaue vnto a ten or twentie thousande men which he ledde along no sustenaunce he allowed them to eate the Indians whiche they tooke And so by this meanes hee had in his campe an ordinarie shambles of mans fleshe where in his presence they killed and roasted children They killed men onely to haue off from them their handes and their feete which partes they helde to be the dayntiest morcels When the nations of other countreys vnderstoode of all those vnnaturall doings they could not tel what to do for frightfulnesse He was the death of an infinite sorte of the Indians in making of shippes the which hee carried from the North sea vnto the South which are an hundred and thirtie leagues He transported after this rate great store of artillerie which he loded vpon the shoulders of these poore folke going naked whereby I haue seene very many fall downe in the high way by reason of their great burdens Hee vndid whole housholdes by taking from the men their wiues and daughters the which afterwardes hee dispersed in gyftes to his marriners and souldiers to please them withall who led them along with them in their nauies He stuffed all the shippes with Indians where they dyed for thryst and hungar Certaynely if I shoulde stande to tell the particularities of these cruelties I shoulde make a great booke thereof whiche shoulde astonishe the worlde Hee made two nauies eyther of a great number of shippes with the which hee consumed as with fire and lightning flashing from heauen all those peoples O howe many poore children hath hee made fatherlesse Orphans howe many men and women widowers and widowes bereeuing thē also of their childrē How many adulteries whoredoms and rapes hath he been the cause of How many hath he of free made villanyes Howe many anguishes and calamities by him haue nombers suffered Howe many hath hee caused to shedde teares sighes and groninges Of how many desolations hath he been the occasion in this life and the meanes for others to sall into euerlasting damnation in the life to come not onely of the Indians which are innumerable but of the miserable Spaniardes with whose ayde he hath serued himselfe in villanies so excessiue and sinues so enormous and abominations so execrable I wishe in God that hee had taken pitie of him and that hee had been pleased in so euill an ende as he sent him Of newe Spaine and Panuco and Xalisco AFter the exceeding cruelties and slaughters aforesayd and the others whiche I haue omitted whiche haue been executed in the prouinces of newe Spayne and Panuco there came to Panuco an other tyraunt cruell and vnbrideled in the yeere 1525. Who in committing very many cruelties and in branding many for slaues after the maner aforesayde which were all free and in sending very many shippes laden to Cuba and Hispaniola where they might best make Marchandise of them hee archieued the desolation of this prouince And it hath come to passe in his tyme that there hath been giuen for one Mare eyght hundred Indians soules partakers of reason And this man from this roome was promoted to bee president of Mexico and of all the prouince of new Spaine and there were promoted with him other tyrauntes to the offices of Auditorshippes in the which dignities they committed so many vngracious turnes so manie sinnes so many cruelties robberies and abhominations that a man can not beleeue them to be such And they set forwarde also this countrey into so extreme a desolation that if God had not kept them by meanes of the resistance of the religious men of Saint Francis order and if that there had not been prouided with all speede a court of audience and the kings counsayle in those partes friende to all vertue they had laide wast all newe Spayne as they haue done the Ile of Hispaniola There was a man amongst those of the company of this captayne who to the end to enclose a gardē of his w t a wal kept in his workes eight thousande Indians without paying them ought nor giuing them to eate in maner that they dyed falling down suddēly he neuer tooke the more thought for the matter After that the chiefe Captayne which I spake of had finished the laying waste of Panuco and that hee vnderstoode the newes of the comming of the kinges court of Audience hee aduised with him selfe to proceede farther into the
y e acts which they coÌ„mitted here are neither of christians nor of meÌ„ which haue the vse of reasoÌ„ but of diuels Whereof it commeth to passe y t the Indies which doe see these behauiors to be generally so far estraÌ„ged froÌ„ all humanity w tout and mercy aswell in y e heads as in y e meÌ„bers they esteem y t the christians do hold these things for a law that their God their K. are y e authors thereof And to endeuor to perswad theÌ„ otherwise were to endeuor in vaine to minister vnto theÌ„ y e more ample matter to deride and scorne Iesus Christ his law The Indians that are in warre seeing the intreatie vsed toward the Indians that are in peace woulde chuse rather to die once for all then to endure sundrie deathes beyng vnder the command of the Spanish I knowe this by experience most victorous Cesar c. He sayth for a surcharge in a chapter a lttle lower His M. hath in these parts more seruants then it supposeth For here is not one souldier of so many as are of them that dare not say openly publikly y t if he roue rob wast stay or burne the subiects of his M. to the ende y t they giue him some gold he serueth there in your M. w t this title y t he saith therof redoundeth to his M. his part Wherfore most christiaÌ„ Cesar it should be good that youre M. gaue them to vnderstand by chastising some seuerely that it receiueth no seruice in ought whereby God is disobeyed and dishonoured All the abouesayde are the formall woordes of the saide Bishoppe of Saint Martha by the which may bee seene clearly what is done at this day amongest these poore innocent peoples in those countreys He calleth the Indians in warre those which saued them selues by flying into the mountaines from the slaughters of the mischieuous Spaniardes And hee calleth the Indians in peace those which after hauing lost an infinite of their people by the massacres haue been thralled into the tyrannicall and horrible seruitude aforesayde and whereof in the ende they haue been fined out desolated and slayne as appeareth by that which hath been saide by the Bishoppe which notwithstanding speaketh but litle in comparison of that which they haue suffered The Indians in that countrey haue accustomed to say if when they are trauayled and dryuen vp the mountaynes loden they happen to fall downe and to fainte for feeblenesse and for payne for at that tyme they lay on vpon them blowes with their feete and with their statues and they breake theyr teethe with the pomelles of their swordes to make them rise and march on without taking of breath with these wordes out vpon thee what a villanie art thou they I say the Indians for their partes are wont to say I can no more kill mee heere right I doe desire to die heere and this they say with great sighes and beeing scarce able to speake for hauing their heart drawen together declaring a great anguishe and dolour But who were able to giue to vnderstande the hundreth parte of the afflictions and calamities that these innocent people doe suffer of the cursed Spaniardes God make them to take knowledge of it that are able and bounde to redresse it Of the Prouince of Carthagene THis Prouince of Carthagene is situate vnder and a fiftie leagues distant from the same of Saint Martha towardes the West confining with the prouince of Ceu vnto the gulph of Araba which are a hundred leagues all along the Sea side and is a great countrie within land towardes the South These Prouinces since the yeere 1498. or 99. vntill nowe haue beene euill entreated martyred massacred desolated like vnto that of Saint Martha and there hath beene in these same done by the Spaniardes such cruelties ransackinges and pillagings enormous as the which to make an ende the rather of this briefe Summarie as also to make way to the rehearsall of their euill doinges in other Prouinces I will not stande to touch in particuler Of the Coaste of Perles and of Paria and of the Isle of the Trinitie FRom the coast of Paria vnto the goulph of Venesuela without foorth which are two hundred leagues the Spanishe haue wrought great and straunge destructions rioting vppon that people and taking aliue as many as they coulde to the ende they might sell them for slaues and oftentimes making them prisoners against the assurance and the promise of friendshippe made vnto them neither keeping with them their faith plighted vnto them y e friendly entertainement which they had receiof those good people notwithstanding hauing beene entertained and entreated in their houses as parents and children vsing them to serue their turn withall and inioying all that they had and that that they were able to doe for them It cannot bee well told nor particularly exprest the sundrie kindes and greeuous vexations wronges hurtes and spoyles which those people endured at the Spaniardes handes from the yeere 1510. vntill this present I will onely rehearse two or three actes by the whiche it may bee iudged of the rest innumerable and excessiue and worthy all tormentes and fire In the Ile of the Trinitie whiche is farre greater and more fertile then the Isle of Scicile and ioyneth with the firme lande of the coaste of Paria and where the people are the dest disposed and moste enclined to vertue in their kinde of all the Indians as they went there a captaine Rouer in the yeere 1510. accompanied with 60. or 70. other pâ—tâ—â— theeues well appointed they published among the Indians by proclamations and other publike sonmoÌ„s that they should come and dwell and liue with them in that Ile The Indians receiued them as their owne bowels and babes and as well the Lordes as subiectes serued them with exceeding readines bringing them to eate froÌ„ day to day as much as might suffice to feede as manie moe people For this is the liberality of all these Indians of the new world to bestow on the Spaniards of al that they haue in great abundance The Spanish build a great house of timber in the which the Indians should dwell all together for the Spanishe would haue it so that there should be one only house for all and no more to compasse that which they had alreadie premeditate to do did it When they laid the thetch vpon the binding slaues or sparres and had alreadie couered to the height of two mens length to the end that those that were within might not see those that were without vnder colour to hasten forward the woorke y t it might be the sooner dispatched they set a great number of people within the Spaniards deuiding themselues the one part of them being bestowed without compassing the house round about with their weapons because of those that might get forth the other part of them presse into the house Thus laying hands on their swordes they began to threaten the Indians
empeached and remedied There is none other cause of putting all these Indians vnder yoke of bondage saue the only peruerse wilfully blinde and obstinate greedines and insatiable wretchednesse of these most couetous tyrants and all to haue and heape vp goods like as hath had all the rest throughout all the Indies ramping these silly lambes and sheepe out of their houses and carrying their wiues and children in the maners of proceeding so cruel and execrable as hath been said branding them with the kings marke to make them vendible for slaues Of the Prouinces of the firme lande or quarter that is called Florida INto these Prouinces went three tyrantes at three diuers times since the yeere 1510. or 1511. there to put in vre the actes which others and two of them from among themselues haue committed in other quarters of the Indians to the end to aspyre to high degrees in no respect conuenient to their persons higher then their merites in the cōmon wealth could conceaue with the blood destruction of their neighbours and they are dead all three of an euill death their houses likewise haue been destroyed with them the which they had builded in times past with the blood of mankinde as I can be a sufficient witnes of all three and their memorie is nowe abolished from of the face of the earth as if they had neuer beene in this worlde They left all this Countrie in disorder and confusion and their owne manners in infamie and horror for certaine slaughters whiche they did there notwithstanding not so manie for as much as God plagued them with death before they coulde doe any more and kept them from this outrage in this place for the euils for I knowe and haue seene that they did in other partes of the Indies The fourth tyrant that came last in the yere 1538. cunningly aduised and beeing fully furnished it is three yeeres since there is no tidinges concerning him Wee are certaine that incontinent after his entrie thither hee hath behaued himself cruelly and since hath beene as a man vanished That if he be aliue hee and his mainies haue destroyed these three yeeres a great many mightie peoples if hee hath found any in his enquest as hee hath gone for sure he is one of the notoriousest and best experimented amongest them that haue done the most hurts mischieues and destructions in many Realmes with their consorts wherefore I beleeue that God hath giuen him like end vnto the others Three or foure yeeres after the writing of the aboue written came out of the Florida the head of the petie tyrants which went thither with this captaine tyrant that there left his bones of whome wee vnderstood the cruelties and euilles whiche there during his life time principailly and vnder his conduct gouernment and since after his cursed death the vnnaturall men haue executed against the Indians innocent and harmeful to none to verifie that which I had prognosticate before they being so excessiue that they haue the more confirmed the rule by mee set downe before at the beginning that the farther they proceeded to discouer destroy and to waste countries and lands the more cruelties and notorious wickednesses they woulde doe against God and against their neighbours It loatheth mee to recount those actes so cursed ghastly and bloodie not of men but of sauage beastes and therfore I would not trouble my head to stand rehearsing those which followed afterwards They found many great nations and wise common weales well instituted for pollicie and ordinances They executed vpon them great slaughters after their custome to the ende to imprint in their heartes an awe They martyred and murdered them and loded them with weightie packes like beastes And when any was foreweeried or forespent to the ende they shoulde not need to loose the chain in the which they were giued in collers before they come at him that fainted they pare off the head from the collar brymme the Troncke tombling one way and the chaine another as we haue before recounted to haue beene vsed otherwise Entring a borough where they were receaued with ioy and the Indians giuing them to eate their fill and giuing them of Indians more then sixe hundred to carry their fardels carrying the heafte of beastes in their seruice and dressing theyr horses the tyrants being departed thence a captaine kinsman of the principall tyrant returned to rob the people being without distruste without feare and slue with the thrustes of Launce the Lorde and Kyng of the Countrie executing besides other cruelties In another borough forasmuch as it seemed them that they were a little too neere neighbours stood more on their warde for the actes villanous and infamous which they had hearde of them they put to the edge of the sworde and launce young olde great and little subiect and soueraigne taking to mercy no creature whosoeuer The head tyrant caused to pare off the nose and lips downe to the chin of a great number of Indians yea more then 200. as is said y t they had caused to bee sent for from a certaine borough or it may bee came of their owne good will And thus in this estate so rufull and in these sorrowes and anguishes of blood streaming downe they sent them away to the end they might go carry newes of the holy woorkes and myracles which these preachers of the sacred catholike faith baptised had wrought Let it nowe bee iudged what kinde of people these were what loue they beare to the Christians and howe they doe beleeue that God is whome they say to bee perfectly mercifull and righteous and that the lawe and the religion of the whiche they make profession and doe vaunt themselues is without blemish The mischiefes are exceeding sore strange which those vngracious caytiues children of perdition there committed And thus the desperate and vnluckie Captayne dyed without confession and we neede not to doubte but that he lyeth buried in hell if algates God of his infinite mercy secretly dispensed in his hidden wisdome hath not preuented him not dealing with him after his demerites in respect of his vngracions lewdnes Of the riuer of la Plata that is to say of siluer SIthence the yeere one thousande fiue hundred and two or three and twentie certaine Captaines made three or foure voyages vppe the Riuer of Plata where there are great Prouinces and Realmes and nations well ordered and endued with vnderstanding In generall we vnderstood that they haue made there greate butcheries and inuasions but like as this Countrie is farre discoasted from the Indies most famous so we are not able to quote the notablest points in particuler Wee doubt no whit notwithstanding but that they haue done and doe keepe as yet at this houre the same order of proceedings as hath beene kept and are in other quarters for they bee the selfesame Spaniardes and there are amongest them of those same whiche haue trauersed in other actes and
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
during the execution whereof God manifested by a signe that those cruelties displeased him in consuming with fire all the towne where they were committed All the Spaniardes to the ende to followe their good Capataine and hauing none other thing to doe but to hackle in peeces those poore innocents doe the like tormenting with diuers and sauage torments euery Indian both Cacike or Lorde of euery people or peoples with all their flocks that were committed to their charges those said Lordes with all their subiects seruing them and giuing them golde and emerauds as many as they coulde and as muche as they had Tormenting them onely to the ende they shoulde giue them more golde and rich myneralles thus they broyled and dispatched all the Lordes of that Countrie For the great feare of the notorious cruelties that one of the petie tyrants did vnto the Indians there transported himselfe vnto the mountaines in flying so great crueltie a great Lorde named Daytama with many of his people For this they holde for their last remedie and refuge if it might haue preuailed them ought and this the Spaniardes call insurrection and rebellion Which the Captaine head tyrant hauing knowledge of he sendeth supplie of souldiers vnto the said cruel man for whose cruelties sake the Indians that were peaceable and had endured great tyrannies and mischiefes were nowe gone into the mountaines to the ende hee should pursue them Who because it sufficed not to hide them in the entrals of the earth finding there a great multitude of people slue and dispatched thē aboue 500. soules what mē what womē for they receiued none to mercy Also the witnesses depose that the said Lord Daytamā before that the Spaniards put him to death came to the cruell man and brought him foure or fiue thousand Castillans the which notwithstanding he was murdered as is aboue saide Another time manie Indians beeing come to serue the Spaniardes and seruing them with such humilitie and simplicitie as they are accustomed to doe reputing themselues assured behold the captaine of the towne where they serued who commeth by night commaunding that those Indians should be put to the edge of the sworde when they had supped and whiles that they were a sleepe taking their rest after the toyle which they sustained the day time And this hee did for that it seemed him necessary to do this massacre to the end to engraue an awe of himself in the heartes of all the peoples of that countrie Another time the captaine commaunded to take an othe of the Spaniardes to wit howe many euery one had in his seruice of the Caciks and principall Lords and Indiās of the meaner sort that incontinent they shoulde bee brought to the moste open place of the citie where he commaunded that they shoulde be beheaded thus were there at that time put to death a foure or fiue hundred soules Moreouer these witnesses depose concerning another of the petty tyrants that he had exercised great cruelties in slaying chopping off the hands and noses of many persons aswell men as women and destroying very much people Another time the captaine sent the self same cruell man with certaine Spaniardes into the Prouince of Bogata to bee informed by the inhabitants what Lorde it was that was successour vnto the chiefe Lorde whom he had made to die y e cruell death in those torments spoken of before Who running along the countrie throughout sundrie places tooke as many Indians as he could come by And for that he could not learn of them what he was that succeeded that Lorde he mangled off some handes he bid cast others men and women vnto hungrie mastiues who rend them in peeces And in this maner haue been destroyed very many Indies and Indesses One time at the fourth watch of the night he went to ouerrunne Caciks or gouernours of the lande with many of the Indians which were in peace and helde themfelues assured for he had giuen them his faith assurance that they shoulde receiue no harme nor damage vpon credit wherof they were come foorth of their holes in the mountains where they had been hid to people the plaine in the which stoode their citie thus being commen without suspition trusting the assurance made he tooke a great number aswell men as womē and commanded to holde out their handes stretched against the ground himselfe with a woodknife cut of their hands telling them that he did on them this chastisement for that they woulde not confesse where their new Lorde was which had succeeded in the charge of gouernement of the Realme Another time for that the Indians gaue him not a cofer full of golde that this cruel captaine required them he sent men to warre vpon them who cut off the handes and noses of men and women without number They cast others before their dogs being hunger bitten and vsed to the feate of feeding on flesh the which dispatched and deuoured them Another time the Indians of that Realme perceiuing that the Spaniards had brent 3. or 4. of their principall Lordes they fled for feare vp into a mountaine from whence they might defende themselues against their enemies so estraunged from all humanitie There were of them by the testimonie of the witnesses a foure or fiue thousande Indians This aboue saide Captaine sent a great and notable tyrant which exceeded farre most of those to whom he had giuen the charge to ransacke and waste together with a certaine number of Spaniardes to the ende that they should chastise the Indian rebels as they would seeme to make them for that they were fled from a pestilence slaughter so intollerable and as though it apperteined vnto them to chastice and punish them as malefactors themselues in deede being worthie of all torment without that any body should haue of them pitie or compassion being so deuoid thereof as appeareth by the handling of those poore innocents of that fashion Well so it is that the Spanish by force preuailed to get vppe to the mountaine for the Indians were naked without weapons And the Spaniardes cryed peace vnto the Indians assuring them that they would do them no harme and that they of their partes shoulde not war any longer Streight way as the Indians stinted from their owne defense the vile cruel man sent to y e Spaniardes to take the fortes of the mountaine and when they shoulde get them to enclose within them the Indians They set then like vnto Tigers and Lions vpon these lambes so meeke and put them to the edge of the sworde so long that they were faine to breath and rest themselues And after hauing rested a certaine season the captaine commaunded that they shoulde kill and cast downe from the mountaine the which was very highe the residue that were aliue that which was done And these witnesses say that they sawe as it were a cloude of the Indians cast downe from the mountaine to the number by estimation of seuen hundreth men
childbed men of countenance and commons the naturall Lords of the towns and countreys he parted them among those to whom he wished most wealth and commoditie vsing in his letters of commaund this speech following To you such a man are giuen so many Indians with their Cacique them to vse in your mines and affayres So as all great and small young and olde that could stand on their feete men women with childe or in childbed one or other trauailed and wrought so long as they had any breath in their bodies He gaue leue to take away maried men and to make them drawe golde ten twentie thirtie fourty or eightie leagues or farther The women remayned in farme houses and graunges in great labours about gathering of great heapes for the making of the bread that they doe eate which is to heape together the earth whiche they doe digge and rayse foure handfull hie and twelue foote square that is a giaunts labour namely to digge the hard earth not with mattockes or shouels but with In other places they spinne cotten and doe such other worke as are most meete for gaine and raysing of coyne so that the man and wife should not see one another in 8. or 10. monethes or a whole yere And at their meeting they were so worne with labour and hunger that they had no minde of cohabitation whereby their generation ceased their poore children perished because the mothers through hunger and trauaile had no milke wherewith to nourish them This was a cause that in the Ile of Cuba one of vs being there there perished in the space of three moneths for hunger 7000 children some desperate women strangled and killed their owne children others finding them selues with childe did eate certaine hearbes thereby to loose their fruit so that the men died in the mines the womeÌ„ perished in the farme houses their whole generatioÌ„ in a short space decayed and all the countrey lay desolate The saide gouernour to the ende without release to keepe them in continuall labour stil gaue them away and yet besides their great labours he suffered them rigorously very austerely to be misused For the Spaniardes that had them in commaund appointed certaine hangmen ouer them some in the mines whom the termed Miniero other in the farmes that were called Estanciero vnnaturall and pitilesse persons that beate them with slaues and cords boxing them pricking them with needles and still calling them dogs neither did they euer shewe any signe of humanitie or clemencie but all their dealings did consist of extreame seueritie rigor and bitternesse so as in troth it might be thought great crueltie so to entreat or gouerne the verie Moores being the cruellest of all others for all the damage that they haue done to the Christians where the Indians are more treatable curteous gentle and obedient then any other nation in the worlde Farther when because of these Estancieros and Minieros together with such labours as they put them vnto some of them fled into the mountaines as making full accoâ—mpt to bee killed the Spaniardes chose certayne officers whoÌ„ they termed Alguazil del Campo that shoulde pursue and hunt them out of the mountaines The gouernour had also in the Spanish townes and fortes certayne of the moste honourable and principall persons about him whome hee called Visitors vnto whome also besides their other ordinarie portions that he had giuen them he gaue in respect of their offices 100. Indians to serue them These in the townes were the greatest executioners as being more cruel then the rest before whom Athuaziles del campo brought all suche as had bin taken in this chase The accuser hee that had them in commaund was present and accused them saying This Indian or those Indians are dogs wil do no seruice but do dayly run to the mountaines there to become loyterers vagaboundes And therfore required they might be punished Then the visitor with his own hands bouÌ„d theÌ„ to a pale taking a pitched cord in the Gallies called an Eele which is as it were an iron rod gaue them so many stripes bet them so cruelly that the blood running downe diuers parts of their bodies they were left for dead God is witnesse of the cruelties committed among those lambs I am perswaded that of the thousaÌ„d part I can not rehearse one neither can any other tell it as it ought The labour that they were put vnto was to drawe golde whereto they had need haue men of iron For they must turne the mountaines 1000. times vpside downe digging and hewing the rockes and washing and clensing the gold it selfe in the riuers where they shall continually stand in the water vntill they brust and rent their bodies eueÌ„ in pieces Also wheÌ„ the Mines peradueÌ„ture doe flow with water then must they also besides all other laboures drawe it out with their armes To be briefe the better to comprehend the labour that is emploid about gathering golde and siluer it may please your Maiestie to consider that the heathen Emperours except to death neuer condemned the Martyres to greater tormentes then to mining for mettall sometimes they were kept a whole yeere at the mines but afterward perceiuing howe manie perished there they decreed that they mine for golde but fiue moneths which was fourtie dayes in melting during which time they tooke some rest And what was their rest They during those fourtie dayes made heapes of that which they shoulde eate that is they digged the earth and cast it on heapes as is aforesaide whiche labour doeth exceede dressing of vines or tilling of the earth Throughout the yere they neuer knew holiday neither might be suffered from labour little or much Besides that during all this toyle they neuer had sufficient food no not of Cacabi whiche is the common countrie bread and being made of rootes doth but smally nourish except there be some fish or flesh to eate withal Moreouer they gaue them of that countrie pepper and Aies which be rootes like vnto nauetes rosted or sodden But some Spaniarde peraduenture meaning to seeme liberall in their diet woulde weekely kill a hogge for 50. Indians whereof the Aliniero would consume two quarters and part the other two among the Indians giuing daily to euery man as great a peece as the Iacekins doe giue of holy bread in their Churches Some there were that through nigardlinesse wanting meate to giue them woulde send them two or three dayes abroade into the fieldes and mountaines to feed where they might satisfie themselues with such fruite as hang on the trees and then vppon the force of that which they brought in their guttes woulde force them to labour two or three dayes more without giuing theÌ„ any one morsell to eate For the loue of God therefore let your Maiestie thinke what substance or strength those bodies naturally so delicate and feeble and nowe almost consumed and oppressed with these trauailes could gather of this food also how it were
possible for those that liued so sorowfull heauie and woeful alife in such labour without food shoulde liue long The gouernour commanded they shoulde bee paide their day wages and expences for any labour or seruice that they shoulde doe to the Spaniarde and their wages was three blanckes euery two dayes whiche in the yeere amounted to halfe a Castelin that is worth 225 Maruedies wherewith they might buye a Combe a looking glasse and a paire of blew or greene beades Yea many yeeres they had nothing at all paide them but hunger and stripes did so abound that the Indians regarded none of this neither sought any more but euen once to get a good meales meat or to die for all as wishing to forsake so desperate a life He depriued them of their libertie suffering the Spaniards to keepe them in such bitter bondage and prison as no man that had seene it would or coulde once thinke for not leauing them any thing in this worlde free to vse at their pleasures yea notwithstanding the beastes haue some time rest and bee suffered to feede abrode in the fieldes yet woulde not these Spaniards that we speake of graunt the Indians any time or leasure so to doe but the gouernour himselfe would force them to an obsolute perpetuall forced vnwilling bondage For they neuer had their free wil to do any thing at al of themselues because the Spaniards couetousnes crueltie and tyrannie was stil forcing them to some labour not as captiues but as beasts that are led bound to do whatsoeuer man will appoint Againe if at any time they were suffered to depart to their houses to rest them then should they there find neither wife children nor food as also although they had there found any meat yet should they not haue had time to make it readie so that there was no remedie but death Thus grew they into sicknes through long and grieuous trauailes and that was sone caught among theÌ„ as being as is aforesaid of a very delicate and tender coÌ„plection much against their nature it was to be thus sodenly contrary to their wont vnmercifully put to such labours to be beateÌ„ with staues spurned at besides the calling of theÌ„ at euery word Villacos vpbraiding theÌ„ that they counterfeated sicknesse like loytering losels because they would not labour When the Spaniards perceiued the sicknes increase so as there was no profit or seruice to be looked for at their hands then would they send theÌ„ home to their houses giuing theÌ„ to spend in some 30 40. or 80. leagues trauaile some halfe dosen of Radish or Refortes that is a kinde of nauet roote a little Cacabi where with the poore men trauailed not far before they shold desperately die som went 2 or 3. leagues some 10. or 20. so desirous to get to their owne home there to finish their hellish life that they suffered that they eueÌ„ fel down dead by the waies so as many times we haue fouÌ„d som dead others at deaths doore others groning pitifully to their powers pronouncing this word hunger hunger Then the gouernour seeing that the Spaniard had in this wise slaine half or two 3. parts of these Indians whoÌ„ he had giuen them in commaund he came a fresh to drawe new lottes and make a newe distribution of Indians still supplying the number of his firste gift and this did hee almost euery yeere Pedrarias entred into the firme land as a woolfe that had long beene starued doth into a flocke of quiet and innocent sheepe lambs as Gods wrath and scourge committing infinit slaughters robberies oppressions cruelties together with those spaniards whom he had leuied and laid wast so many townes and villages which before had bin replenished with people as it were anâ— hilles as the like was neuer seene heard of or written by any that in our dayes haue delt in histories Hee robbed his maiestie subiects with those whom he tooke with him and the harme that he did amounted to aboue four yea sixe millions of gold he laid aboue 40. leagues of land desart namely from Darien where he first arriued vnto the prouince of Nicaraga one of the fruitfullest richest and best inhabited lands in the world From this cursed wretch sprang first the pestilence of giuing the Indians in commaund which afterward hath infected al those Indies where any Spaniards doe inhabite and by whom all these nations are consumed so that from him and his commandes haue proceeded the certaine waste and desolation that your maiestie haue susteined in these so great lands and dominions since the yeere 1504. When we shall say that the Spaniards haue wasted your maiesties and laid you desolate seuen kingdomes bigger then Spaine you must conceaue that we haue seene theÌ„ wonderfully peopled and now there is no body left because the Spaniards haue slaine all the naturall inhabitants by meanes aforesaid and that of the townes houses there remaineth only the bare walles euen as if Spaine were all dispeopled and that all the people being dead there remained only the walles of cities townes and castles Out of the 13. reason YOur maiestie haue not out of al the Indies one maruedie of certaine perpetuall set rent but the whole reuenewes are as leaues and straw gathered vpon the earth which beeing once gathered vp do grow no more Euen so is all the rent that your maiestie hath in the Indies vain of as smal coÌ„tinuaÌ„ce as a blast of wind y t proceedeth only of y t the spaniards haue had y t Indi in their power and as they doe dayly slay and rost the inhabitants so must it necessarilie ensue that your maiesties rights and rentes doe waste and diminishe The kingdome of Spaine is in great danger to bee lost robbed oppressed and made desolate by forraigne nations namely by the Turks and Moores because that God who is the most iust true and soueraigne king ouer all the worlde is wrath for the great sinnes and offences that the Spaniardes haue committed throughout the Indies by afflicting oppressing tyrannous dealings robbing and slaying such and so many people without law or equititie and for the wasting of such and so large landes in so short a space whose inhabitants had reasonable soules and were created and framed to the image and likenesse of the soueraigne trinitie and beeing gods vassals were bought with his most precious blood who keepeth account and forgetteth not one of them but had chosen Spaine as his minisâ—er and instrument to illuminate and bring them to his knowledge and as it had bin for a wordly recompence besides the eternal reward had graunted her so great natural riches and discouered for her such so great fruitfull and pleasant landes and with al such artificial treasure together with so many incomparable mines of gold siluer stone and precious pearle with infinite other commodities the like whereof were neuer seene ne heard of all which notwithstanding shee hath