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
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
is not one only creature For they haue bin all of them slayne after that they had drawen theÌ„ out from thence to labour in their minerals in the ile of Hispaniola where there were no more left of the inbornes natiues of that iland A ship riding for the space of three yeeres betwixt all these ilands to the ende after the inning of this kinde of vintage to gleane and cull the remainder of these folke for there was a good Christian moued with pitie and compassion to conuert win vnto Christ such as might be found there were not found but eleueÌ„ persons whiche I saw other iles more then thirtie nere to the ile of S. Iohn haue likewise bin dispeopled and marred All these iles contayn aboue two thousand leagues of lande and are all dispeopled and laide waste As touching the maine firme lande wee are certaine that our Spaniardes by their cruelties cursed doings haue dispeopled made desolate more then ten realmes greater then all Spaine comprising also therewith Aragon and Portugall and twise as much or more land then there is from Seuill to Ierusalem whiche are aboue a thousand leagues whiche realmes as yet vnto this present day remaine in a wildernes and vtter desolation hauing bin befor time as well peopled as was possible We are able to yeeld a good and certaine accompt that there is w tin y e space of y e said 40. yeeres by those said tyraÌ„nies diulish doings of the Spaniards â—â—â—n to death vniustly and tyrannously more then twelue Millions of soules men women and children And I verilie do beleeue and thinke not to mistake therein that there are dead more then fifteene Millions of soules Those whiche haue goe them out of Spaine into that countrey bearing them selues as Christians haue kept two generall and principall wayes to eradicate and abolishe from off the face of the earth those miserable nations The one is their vniust cruell bloodie and tyrannicall warre That other maner is that they haue slayne all those which coulde any kinde of wayes so muche as gaspe breath or thinke to set them selues at libertie or but to withdrawe them selues from the tormentes whiche they endure as are all the naturall Lordes and the men of valour and courage For commonly they suffer not in the warres to liue any saue children and women oppressing also afterwardes those very same with the most cruel dreadful and hainous thraldome that euer hath been layde vpon men or beastes Vnto these two kindes of tyranie diabolicall may be reduced and sorted as it were the issues one vnder another to their head all other their diuerse and infinite maners of dooing which they keept to lay desolate and roote out those folke without number The cause why the Spanishe haue destroyed suche an instnite of soules hath been onely that they haue helde it for their last scope and marke to gette golde and to enriche them selues in a short tyme and to mount at one leape to very high estates in no wise agreeable to their persons or for to say in a word the cause hereof hath been their auarice and ambition whiche hath seased them the exceedingest in the worlde in consideration of those landes so happie and rich and the people so humble so patient and so easie to be subdued Whom they haue neuer had any respect or made any more accompt of I speake the trueth of that whiche I haue seene all the tyme that I was there conuersant I say not then of beastes for woulde to GOD that they had entreated and esteemed them but as beastes but lesse then of the myre of the streetes and euen as muche care is it that they haue had of their liues and of their soules And by this meanes haue died so many Millions without faith and without sacramentes It is a certaine veritie and that which also the tyrants them selues knowe right well and confesse that the Indiens throughout all the Indes neuer wrought any displeasure vnto the Spaniardes but rather that they reputed them as come from heauen vntill suche tyme as they or their neighbours had receiued the first sundrie wronges being robbed killed forced and tormented by them Of the Ile of hispaniola IN the Ile Hispaniola which was the first as we haue said where the Spaniardes arriued beganne the great slaughters and spoyles of people the Spaniardes hauing begunne to take their wiues and children of the Indies for to serue their turne and to vse them ill and hauing begunne to eate their victualles gotten by their sweate and erauell not contenting them selues with that which the Indians gaue them of their owne good will euery one after their habilitie the which is algates very small forasmuch as they are accustomed to haue no more store then they haue ordinarily neede of and that such as they get with litle trauell And that which might suffice for three householdes reconing tenne persons for eche housholde for a moneths space one spaniarde woulde eate and destroy in a day Nowe after sundry other forces violences and tormentes which they wrought against them the Indians beganne to perceiue that those were not men discended from heauen Some of them therefore hid their victuals others hid their wiues and children some others fledde into the mountaynes to separate them selues a farre off from a nation of so harde natured and ghastly conuersation The Spaniardes buffeted them with their fistes and bastouades pressing also to lay handes vpon the Lordes of the Townes And these cases ended in so great an hazarde and desperatenes that a Spanishe Captaine durst aduenture to rauish forcibly the wife of the greatest king and Lord of this Ile Since whiche time the Indians began to searche meanes to cast the Spaniardes out of their landes and set them selues in armes but what kind of armes very feeble and weake to withstand or resist and of lesse defence wherfore all their wars are no more warres then the playings of children when as they play at Iogo di Canne or Reedes The Spaniardes with their Horses their speares and launces beganne to commit murders and straunge cruelties they entred into Townes Borowes and Villages sparing neyther children nor old men neither women with childe neyther them that lay In but that they ripped their bellies and cut them in pieces as if they had been opening of Lambes shut vp in their folde They layed wagers with such as with one thrust of a sworde woulde paunche or bowell a man in the middest or with one blowe of a sworde woulde most redily and most deliuerly cut off his head or that woulde best pearce his entrals at one stroke They tooke the little soules by the heeles ramping them from the mothers dugges and crushed their heades against the clifces Others they cast into the riuers laughing and mocking and when they tombled into the water they sayde nowe shift for thy selfe such a ones corpes They put others together with their mothers and all that they met to
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
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
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