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
doe for that otherwise those Lordes one day woulde doe vs a shrewde turne I founde meâ— selfe in a great deale of trouble to saue them from the fire howbeit in the ende they escaped After that the Indians of this Islande were thus brought into bondage and calamitie like vnto those of the Ile of Hispaniola and that they sawe that they dyed and perished all without remedie some of them began to flie into the mountaynes others quite desperate hanged them selues and there hung together huâ—sbandes with their wiues hanging with them their litle children And through the crueltie of one onely Spaniarde whiche was a great tyraunt and one whom I knowe there hunge them selues more then two hundred Indians and of this fashion died an infinitie of people There was in this Ile an officer of the kinges 〈◊〉 whome they gaue for his share three hundred Indians of whome at the ende of three monethes there died by him in the trauayle of the mynes two hundred and sixtie in suche sorte that there remained nowe but thirtie which was the tenth part Afterwardes they gaue him as many more and more and those also be made hauocke of in like maner and still as many as they gaue him so many hee flewe vntill hee dyed him selfe and that the diuell carried him away In three or foure monethes mee selfe beeing present there died more then sixe thousande children by reason that they had plucked away from them their fathers and mothers whiche they sent into the mines I behelde also other things frightfull Shortly after they resolued to climbe after those whiche were in the mountaynes where they wrought also ghastly slaughters and thus laide waste all this Ile which wee behelde not long after and it is great pitie to see it so dispeopled and desolate as it is Of the firme lande IN the yeere one thousand fiue hundred and foureteene there landed in the maine a mischieuous gouernour a most cruell tyraunt which had neyther pitie nor prudencie in him being as an instrumeÌ„t of the wrath of God fully resolued to set into this land agreat nuÌ„ber of Spaniards And howbeit y t aforetime certayne other tyrauntes had entred the lande and had spoyled murdered and cruelly entreated very many folke yet was it not but on the sea coast that they spoyled and robbed and did the worst that they could But this surpassed all the others whiche came before him and all those of all the Ilandes howe cursed and abhominable soeuer they were in all their doings He not onely wasted or dispeopled the sea coast but sacked also great realmes and countreys making hauockes by slaying and murdering of peoples infinite to bee numbred and sending them to hell He ouer ranne and herried most of the places in the land from Darien vpwarde vnto the Realme and Prouinces of Nicaragua within being which are more then fiue huÌ„dred leagues of the best and most fertile grounde in the whole worlde where there were a good number of great Lordes with a number of townes borrowes and villages and store of gold in more abundaunce then was to bee founde on the earth vntyll that present For albeit that Spaine was as it were replenished with gold of the finest that came from the Ile Hispaniola the same had been only drawen out of the entrals of the earth by the Indians of y e mines aforesaid wher they died as hath been sayde This gouernour with his men found out newe sorts of cruelties and torments to cause them to discouer and giue him golde There was a captayne of his which flue in one walke and course which was made by his commaundement to robbe and roote out more then fourtie thousand soules putting them to y e edge of the sword burning theÌ„ giuing theÌ„ to y e dogs tormeÌ„ting them diuersly w c also a religious man of the order of S. Francis who went w t him beheld w t his eies and had to name frier Francis of S. Romaine The most pernicious blindnes w c hath alwaies possessed those who haue gouerned the Indians in stead of the care w c they shold haue for the conuersion saluation of those people w c they haue alwaies neglected their mouth w t painted fables speaking one thing but their heart thinking another came to y e passe as to coÌ„mand orders to be set down vnto y e Indians to receiue the faith render theÌ„selues vnto y e obedieÌ„ce of the K. of Castile or otherwise to bid theÌ„ battel w t fire sworde to slay theÌ„ or make theÌ„ slaues As if y e sonne of God which died for euery one of theÌ„ had coÌ„manded in his law wher he saith Go teach al nations y t there should be ordinaÌ„ces set down vnto infidels being peacefull quiet in possession of their proper lande if so be they receiued it not foorth with w tout any preaching or teaching first had if y t they submitted not theÌ„selues to y e dominioÌ„ of a king whoÌ„ they neuer sawe whom they neuer heard speake of namely such a one as whose messengers meÌ„ were so cruel so debarred froÌ„ all pitie such horrible tyraÌ„ts y t they should for y e lose their goods lands their liberty their wiues childreÌ„ w t their liues Which is a thing too absurd fond worthy of al reproch mockery yea worthy of hel fire in such sort as wheÌ„ this wicked and wretched gouernour had accepted the charge to put in execution the sayde ordinances to the end to make them seeme y e more iust in appearance For they were of theÌ„selues impertinent against all reason law he commanded or peraduenture y e thieues whom he dispatched to doe y e executioÌ„ did it of their own heads wheÌ„ they were purposed to go a rouing robbing of any place where they knewe y t there was any gold y e Indians being in their towns dwelling houses w tout mistrusting any thing y e wicked Spaniards would go after y e guise of thieues vnto within halfe a league neere some town borowe or village and there by themselues alone by night make a reading publication or proclamation of y e said ordinances saying thus Oyes Caciques Indians of this firme land of such a place Be it knowen vnto you that there is one God one Pope one king of Castile which is L. of these landes make your appearance al delay set aside here to do him homage c. Which if you shall not accomplish Be it knowen vnto you y t we wil make war vpoÌ„ you and we wil kil you make you slaues Hereupon at the fourth watch in y e morning the poore innocents sleeping yet with their wiues and children these tyrantes set vppon the place casting fire on the houses which commonly were thatched so burn vp all quick men womeÌ„ children more sodainely theÌ„ that they could of a great many be perceiued They massacred at the
as afore time neither are they sory for the contrition of Ioseph The other is that in maner euery man generally hath an eye to his owne priuat affaires no 〈…〉 the common vnlesse it bee to reproove but not to help â—atrâ—â— possesseth many of their heartes and which is more strange although there bee many in these Countries that haue heretofore felt the manifest iniuries of the spaniards yet as if their memoâ—y wholy failed them they be redy to compound with the 〈◊〉 they suppose to the destruction of their confederates 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 to the generall subuersion of the whole countrie To the end therfore they may at the least 〈◊〉 in a â—able behold the nature of their enimie his purpose intent here â—asueth a true history written by one of their owne nation wherein they may learne not that which is yet fully executed in these low countries but which had not god stopped their course they had long since put in execution and hereby I hope al good men wil 〈◊〉 to be resolute and â—mending their liues 〈◊〉 ioyâ—◠〈◊〉 not in wordes only but in deedes also to repell so arrogant and 〈◊〉 an enemie But there needeth no other admonitioÌ„ then the same which the authour hath set down and therefore I pray you reade him as diligently as he 〈…〉 graue and worthy 〈…〉 himselfe to his owne so cruell and barbarous nation and let vs render thanks to god for sending vs so good maisters to instructe vs in our dueties in this so miserable and wretched time in hope â—hat we not quailing in our office he will also finally graunt vs happie deliuerance The Argument of this present Summarie THe state of thinges happened in the Indies euen from the time they were most wonderfully discouered also since the Spaniards for a while began to enhabite those places and afterward successiuely vnto these daies haue in all degrees bin so maruailous incredible vnto such as haue not seen theÌ„ that they may seeme sufficient to darken and burie in obliuion and silence whatsoeuer els haue passed in all former ages throughout the world howe great so euer is hath been amongst which the slaughters and murders of these innocent people together with the spoiles of townes prouinces kingdomes which in those parts haue bin perpretated as also diuers others no lesse terrible matters are not the least These things wheÌ„ doÌ„ Bartâ—â—â—w de las Casaâ—s being made of a monke a bishop at his comming to the court there to enforme our â— M. the Emperor as hauing 〈◊〉 an eiewitnes of the same had rehearsed to sundry persons who as yet were ignorant thereof thereby hauing driuen the hearers into a kind of extasie maze he was importunately requested briefly to set down in writing some of them 〈◊〉 of y e last which he did But afterward seeing sundry persons who deuoyd of remorse and compassion being through auarice ambition degenerate froÌ„ all humanitie and who by their execrable deedes were grown into a reprobate sence not being satisfied with such fellonies mischiefs as they had committed in destroying such a part of y e world by all straÌ„ge kinds of cruelties were now again importunate vppon the King to the ende vnder his authoritie and consent they might once more returne to committe the like or worse if worse might be he determined to exhibite the saide Summarie which he had in writing and record vnto our Lorde the prince to the ende his highnesse might finde meanes that they shoulde be denied which he thought best to put in print to the ende his highnesse might with more ease reade the same This therefore was the cause of this present Summarie or briefe information The Prologue of the Bishop Frier Bartholomewe de las Casas or Casaus to the most high and mightie prince Our Lord Don Philip Prince of Spaine MOst high and mightie Lorde as god by his prouidente hath for the guiding and commoditie of mankinde in this world in Realmes and Prouinces appointed kings to bee as fathers and as Homer nameth them shepheardes and so consequently the most noble principall meÌ„bers of coÌ„mon weales so can we not iustly doubt by reason of the good willes that kings and princes haue to minister iustice but that if there be any thinges amisse either any violences or iniuries committed the only cause that they are not redressed is for y t princes haue no notice of the same For certainely if they knew of them they would imploy all diligence and indeuour in the remedie thereof Whereof it seemeth that mention is made in the holy Scripture in the Prouerbes of Salomon where it is said Rex qui sedet in solio Iudicii dissipat omne malum intuitu suo For it is sufficiently to be presupposed euen of the kindly and natural vertue of a king that the only notice that he taketh of any mischiefe tormenting his kingdome is sufficient to procure him if it bee possible to roote out the same as being a thing that hee cannot tollerate euen one only moment of time Considering therefore with my selfe most mightie Lord the great mischiefes dammages and losses the like wherof it is not to be thoght were euer coÌ„mitted by mankind of so large and great kingdoms or to speake more truely of this so large new world of the Indies which God and holy Churche haue coÌ„mitted coÌ„meÌ„ded vnto the K. of castile to the end they might gouern coÌ„uert procure their prosperitie as well temporally as spiritually I therefore I say being a man of experience and filtie yeeres of age or more considering these euils as hauing seene them committed at my being in those countreys Also that your highnes hauing information of some notable particularities might be mooued most earnestly to desire his Maiestie not to graunt or permit to those tyrantes such conquestes as they haue found out and which they do so name whereinto if they might be suffered they would returne seeing that of themselues being made against this Indian peaceable lowly milde nation which offendeth none they be wicked tyrannous and by all lawes either naturall humaine or diuine vtterly condemned detested and accursed I thought it best least my selfe might become also guiltie by concealing the losse of an infinite number both of soules bodies whiche are so coÌ„mitted to cause a few of their dealinges which of late I had selected froÌ„ amoÌ„g infinit others and that might truely bee reported to bee printed to the ende your highnes might with more ease peruse and reade them ouer Also whereas your highnes maister the Archbishop of Toleto when hee was bishop of Carthagena required them at my handes and then presented them to your highnes peraduenture by reason of such great voiages as your highnes tooke vpon you both by sea and by land for matters of estate wherein you haue bin busied it may be you haue not perused either haue forgotten them and in the meane time the rash and
disordinate desire of those which thinke it nothing to do wrong to shed such aboundance of mans blood to make desolate these so large countries of their naturall inhabitants and owners by slaying infinite persons either to purloyne such incredible treasures doe dayly augment these tyraunts proceeding vnder all counterfet titles and colours in their instante and importunate sute namely to haue the said cōquests permitted and graunted vnto them Which in truth cannot be graunted without transgressing the lawe both of nature and of God and so consequently not without in curring mortall sinne worthie most terrible and euerlasting torments I thought it expedient to doe your highnesse seruice in this briefe Summarie of a most large historie that might and ought to bee written of such slaughters and spoyles as they haue made and perpetrated VVhich I beseeche your highnesse to receiue and reade ouer with that royall clemencie and courtesie wherewith you vse to accept and peruse the workes of such your seruants as no other desire but faithfully to employ thēselues to the common cōmoditie and to procure the prosperitie of the royall estate This Summarie beeing perused and the vildenes of the iniquity committed against these poore innocent people in that they are slaine and hewed in peeces without desart only through the auarice and ambition of those that pretend to the doing of such execrable deedes being considered It may please your highnesse to desire and effectually to persuade his Maiestie to denie any whosoeuer shall demaund or require so hurtfull and detestable enterprises yea euen to bury any suche suite or petition in the infernall pit of perpetuall silence thereby shewing suche terror dislike as hereafter no man may be so bold as once to name or speake thereof And this most mightie Lord is very expediēt necessarie to the ende God may prosper preserue and make the estate of the royall crowne of Castile for euer to florishe both spiritually and temporally A briefe Narration of the destruction of the Indes by the Spanyardes THe Indes were discouered the yeere one thousande foure hundred nientie two and inhabited by the Spanish the yeere next after ensuing so as it is about fourtie niene yeeres sithens that the Spaniards some of them wēt into those partes And the first land that they entered to inhabite was the great and most fertile Isle of Hispaniola which contayneth sixe hundreth leagues in compasse There are other great and infinite Iles rounde about and in the confines on all sides which wee haue seen the most peopled and the fullest of their owne natiue people as any other countrey in the worlde may be The firme lande lying off from this Ilande two hundreth and fiftie leagues and some what ouer at the most contayneth in length on the seacoast more then tenne thousande leagues which are alreadie discouered and dayly be discouered more and more all ful of people as an Emmote hill of Emmots Insomuch as by that which since vnto the yere the fourtieth and one hath beene discouered It seemeth that God hath bestowed in that same countrey the gulphe or the greatest portion of mankinde GOD created all these innumerable multitudes in euery sorte very simple without sutteltie or craft without malice very obedient and very faithfull to their naturall liege Lordes and to the Spaniardes whom they serue very humble very patient very desirous of peace making and peacefull without brawles and struglings without quarrelles without strife without rancour or hatred by no meanes desirous of reuengement They are also people very gentle and very tender and of an complexion and which can sustayne no trauell and 〈◊〉 die very soone of any disease whatsoeuer in suche sorte as the very children of Princes and Noble men brought vp amongst vs in all commodities ease and delicatenesse are not more soft then those of that countrey yea although they bee the children of labourers They are also very poore folke which possesse litle neither yet do so much as desire to haue much worldly goodes therefore neither are they proud ambitious nor couetous Their diet is such as it seemeth y t of the holy fathers in the desert hath not been more scarse nor more streight nor lesse daintie nor lesse sumptuous Their appareling is commonly to goe naked all saue their shamefast partes alone couered And when they be clothed at the most it is but of a mantell of bombacie of an elle and a halfe or a two elles of linnen square Their lodging is vpon a matte and those which haue the best sleepe as it were vppon a net fastened at the foure corners which they call in the language of the Ile of Hispaniola Hamasas They haue their vnderstanding very pure and quicke being teachable and capable of all good learning verye apt to receiue our holy Catholique faith and to be instructed in good and vertuous maners hauing lesse encombrances and disturbances to the atteyning there vnto then al the folke of the world besids and are so enflamed ardent and importune to knowe and vnderstand the matters of the faith after they haue but begunne once to taste them as likewise the exercise of the Sacraments of the Church the diuine seruice that in truth the religious men haue need of a singuler patience to support them And to make an ende I haue heard many Spaniardes many times holde this as assured and that whiche they could not deny concerning the good nature which they sawe in them Vndoubtedly these folkes shoulde be the happiest in the worlde if onely they knewe God Vpon these lambes so mecke so qualified endewed of their maker and creator as hath bin said entred the Spanish incontinent as they knewe them as wolues as lions as tigres most cruel of long time famished and haue not done in those quarters these 40. yeres be past neither yet doe at this present ought els saue teare them in peeces kill them martyre them afflict them torment them destroy them by straunge sortes of cruelties neuer neither seene nor reade nor hearde of the like of the which some shall bee set downe hereafter so farre foorth that of aboue three Millions of soules that were in the Ile of Hispaniola and that we haue seene there are not nowe two hundreth natiues of the countrey The Isle of Cuba the which is in length as farre as frō Vallodolyd vntil Rome is at this day as it were al wast S. Iohns ile and that of Iamayca both of them very great very fertil and very fayre are desolate Likewise the iles of Lucayos neere to the ile of Hispaniola and of the north side vnto that of Cuba in number being aboue threescore Ilandes together with those which they cal the iles of Geante one with another great and litle whereof the very wurst is fertiler then the kings gardē at Seuill and the countrey the healthsomest in the world there were in these same iles more then fiue hundreth thousand soules and at this day there
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
practised vpon them during the tune that they trauayled of a trueth they can not bee recounted in a long season nor written in a great deale of paper and they shoulde bee euen to affright men withall It is to be noted that the destruction of these iles and lands beganne after the decease of the most gracious Queene daâ—e Isabell which was the yeere a thousande fiue hundreth and foure For before there were layed waste in this ile but certayne Prouinces by vniust warre and that not wholly altogether these for y e more part or in a maner al were coÌ„cealed froÌ„ the knowledge of y e Q. vnto whoÌ„ it may please god to giue his holy glory forasmuch as she had a great desire a zeale admirable y t those people might be saued prosper as we do know good examples the w c we haue seen w t our eies felt with our hands Further note here y t in what part of y e Indies y e Spanishe haue come they haue euermore exercised against y e IndiaÌ„s these innoceÌ„t peoples y e cruelties aforesaid oppressioÌ„s abominable inueÌ„ted day by day new tormeÌ„ts huger monstrouser becoÌ„ming euery day more cruel wherfore god also gaue theÌ„ ouer to fal headlong down with a more extreme downfal into a reprobate sense Of the two Iles S. Iohn and Iamayca THe Spanish passed ouer to y e Ile of S. Iohn to y t of Iamayca w c were like gardens for bees 1509. setting before-theÌ„ y e same end which they had in the Ile Hispaniola committing the robberies crimes aforesaid adioyning therunto many great notable cruelties killing burning rosting casting theÌ„ to y e dogs farthermore afterwards oppressing vexing them in their minerals other trauel vnto y e rotting out of those pore innoceÌ„ts w c were in these two Iles by supputatioÌ„ 6. C. M. soules yea I beleue y t they were more theÌ„ a milioÌ„ although there be not at this day in either Ile 200. persons and all perished without faith and without Sacramentes Of the Ile of Cuba IN the year 1511 they passed to y e Ile of Cuba which is as I haue said as long as there is distaÌ„ce froÌ„ Vallâ—dâ—lâ—â— to Rome where were great prouinces great multitudes of people they both begaÌ„ 〈…〉 in theÌ„ after y e 〈…〉 far more cruelly There came to passe in this IlaÌ„d matters worth y e noting A Câ—cique named Hathuey which had coâ—â—eyed himselfe froÌ„ y e Ile Hispaniola to Cuba w t many of his people to auoid the calamities 〈…〉 so vnnatural of y e spanish when 〈◊〉 certain Indians had told him 〈…〉 the Spaniards were coÌ„ming towards Cuba he 〈…〉 Nowe you know that the Spaniards 〈…〉 this 〈…〉 ye knowe also by experience how they 〈…〉 such the people of 〈◊〉 meaning 〈…〉 〈◊〉 they come to do y e like here Wot ye why they do it they answered no vnlesse 〈…〉 they are by nature void of humanitie He replied They do it not onely for y t but because they haue a god whom they honoâ— do demand very much to y t end to haue froÌ„ vs as wel as others to honor him w tall they do their vttermost to subdue vs. He had theÌ„ by him a litle chestful of gold Iewels said Behold here the God of the Spaniards let vs do to him if it so seeme you good Aâ—â—â—os which are windlesseâ— daunces thus doing we shall please him he wil command y e Spaniards y t they shal do vs no harme They answerd all with a loud voyce Wel said sir wel said Thus then they dauÌ„sed before it vntil they were wery theÌ„ quoth the L. Hathuey Take we heed howeuer y â— world go if we keep him to y e end y t he be takeÌ„ away froÌ„ vs in the end they wil kill vs wherfore let vs cast him into y e riuer whervnto they all agreed and so they cast it into a great riuer there This L. 〈◊〉 weÌ„t alwaies fleeing y e spanish incontinent as they were arriued at y e ile of Cuba as he w c knew theÌ„ but too wel defeÌ„ded himself wheÌ„ as he met theÌ„ In y e end he was takeÌ„ only for because that he fled froÌ„ a nation so vniust eâ—uel that he defended himself froÌ„ such as would kil him oppresse him euen vnto y e death w t all his folk he was burned aliue Now as he was fastned to the stake a religious maÌ„ of S. FraÌ„cis order a deuout persoÌ„ spoke to him somwhat of God of our faith which thinâ—â— this said L. had neuer heard of yet might be sufficieÌ„t for the time which y e hutchers gaue him that if he would beleue those things which were spokeÌ„ to him he should go to heauen where is glory rest euerlasting y t if he did not beleue he should go to hel there to be tormeÌ„ted perpetually The L. after hauing a litle paused to think of y e matter demanded of the religious man whether y t the spaniards went to heauen who answered yea such of them that were good The Cacik answered againe immediatly w tout any further deliberation that he would not go to heauen but that hee would go to hell to the ende not to come in the place where such people should be and to the end not so see a nation so cruell Lâ—â— here the praises and honour which God and our faith haue receiued of the Spaniardes which haue gone to the Iudes One tyme the Indians came to meete vs and to receiue vs with victualles and delicate cheere and with all entertaynmene ten leagues of a great city and beeing come at the place they presented vs with a great quantitie of 〈◊〉 and of bread and other meate together with all that they coulde doe for vs to the vttermost See incontinent the diuell whiche put him selfe into the Spaniardes to put them all to the edge of the sworde in my presence without any cause whatsoeuer more then three thousande soules which were set before vs men women and children I saw there so great cruelties that neuer my man liuing eyther haue or shall see the like Another tyme but a fewe dayes after the premisses I sente messengers vnto all the Lordes of the prouince of Hauana assuring them that they shoulde not neede to see are for they had hearde of my credite and that without withdrawing themselues they shoulde come to receiue vs and that there shoulde bee done vnto them no displeasure for all the countrey was afraide by reason of the mischiefes and murderings passed and this did I by the aduice of the Captayne him selfe After that wee were come into the Prouince one and twentie Lordes and Cacikes came to receiue vs whome the Captayne apprehended incontinent breaking the safe conduite whiche I had made them and intended the day next following to burne them aliue saying that it was expedient so to
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
naked as they were to kill them if they did stirre and then bound them And those which fled they hewed them in peeces Howbeit som of the Indies which fled both of the hurt not hurt with others that had not come within the house toke their bowes arrowes and assembled themselues in another house about an hundred or two hundred persons And as they kept the gate the Spaniards set fire on the house burned them aliue After with their purchase which might bee of an hundred or fourescore persons of them which they had bounde they get them to the Ile of saint Iohn where they solde the one moitie and thence to the Ile of Hispaniola where they solde the other moity As I reprehended the captaine for this notable treason at the same time and at the same Ile of Saint Iohn hee made an answere Syr quiet your selfe for that matter So haue they commanded me to doe and giuen me instruction which sent mee that if I coulde not take them by warre I shoulde take them vnder countenance and colour of peace And in truth the Captaine tolde mee that in all his life he neuer had founde father nor mother but in this Isle of the Trinitie in respect of the friendly courtesies the Indians had shewed him And this hee spake to his owne greater cōfusion and aggrauating for the surcharge of his owne offences They haue done other things semblable vnto these infinite in this firme lande apprehending the poore people contrary to the safe conduct promised Let it now be weighed what maner of doings these are and whether the Indians in this wise taken might iustly be made slaues At another time the religious Fryars of saint Dominicks order being determined to goe preache and to conuert those nations who had not the light of the doctrine for to saue their souls as is the case at this day of the Indians they sent a religious man licentiate in diuinitie a mā vertuous holy with a laie man of his order his companion to the ende hee shoulde take a viewe of the Countrie to trauerse acquaintance with that people and search out a place commodious to builde monasteries The religious being arriued they receiued them as Angelles commen from heauen and hearde with great affection attention and willingnesse such wordes as the religious at that time were able to giue them to vnderstand more by signes thē otherwise for they knew not the tongue It came to passe that there arriued there another ship after that the ship in whiche the religious men came was departed thence and the Spanish in this vessell keeping their diuelish custome by suttelty without the knowledge of the religious carried away the Lord of the countrie called Alfonso were it y ◠Friars had giuē him this name or els others For the Indians loue desire to beare the name of y e Christiās desiring incōtinēt y t it may be giuen them euen before they know any thing y t they may be baptized They induced fraudilētly this Don Alfonso to come aboord their ship with the lady his wife other persōs making sēblāce to go about to feast thē In the end there entred seuenteene persons together w t the Lord and his Lady the Lord trusting that the religious persons being entred into his Countrie woulde keepe the Spaniardes from doyng any wrong for otherwise hee woulde neuer haue put himselfe in the handes of the Spanish The Indians therfore thus being in the ship the traiterous Spaniards hoysed sayles and away they went to Hispaniola with them there selling them for slaues All the Countrie seeing that their Lorde soueraigne Lady were carried away they run to the religious men purposing to kill them The poore men seeing so great a villany were of themselues at apoint to dye for sorrowe and it is well to be beleeued of them that they woulde rather haue gyuen their lyues in the quarrell then to haue accorded that anye such iniury should haue been committed specially considering that was enough to hinder the course begun so as those poore Heathens should neuer neither heare nor hearing beleeue the worde of God Howbeit they appeased the Indians in the best maner they could saying that they woulde write to them at Hispaniola by the first ship that went would take suche care and order in the matter that their soueraigne should be restored them againe with those that were in his companie God sent immediately vpon a ship thither no doubt for the greater confirmation of the damnation of those which there gouerned and they wrote to the Spanishe religious men that were in the Isle of Hispaniola They cry out and call heauen and earth to witnesse against them both first sundrie times after But the Iudges of the audience would neuer giue them audience to do thē iustice for because thēselues had part in the bootie of the Indiās which the tyrants had so against all right reason takē The two religious men which had promised the Indians of the countrie that their Lord Don Alfonso with others shold come home with the rest within foure moneths seeing y t they came not neither in 4. nor 8. made thēselues redy to the death to giue their life whiche they had gaged before they came out of Spaine if neede shoulde bee and in that sort the Indians tooke vengeance on thē in killing them iustly notwithstanding that they were innocent for because that they thought that the religious men had beene the occasion of this treason and for because they sawe that that whiche they had certified and promised them tooke not effect to witte that within foure monethes they shoulde haue home their Lorde and for that at that time they knewe not and nowe as yet they knowe not in that countrey that there is any difference betweene the religious well disposed and the tyrants theeues and robbers the Spaniardes Those religious men therefore right happie suffered vniustly and for the wrong so suffered there is no doubt but they are very martyres and doe raigne at this day with God in the kingdome of heauen in blisse who woulde that by their obedience they shoulde be sent thither and should haue an entent to preache and spredde the holy faith and saue all those soules and suffer those afflictions and death it selfe when it shoulde be presented vnto them for Iesus Christe his sake crucified An other time by reason of the great tyrannies and execrable actes of the cursed ones bearing the name of Christians the Indians slewe other two religious men of Saint Dominickes order and one of Saint Frauncis Whereof I ran be a good witnesse for that I escaped at the time miraculously from the same death of the which it shoulde be a harde matter to entreat and woulde bee to amase men by reason of the grieuousnes and horiblenesse of the case Wherefore I will not lay it abroad for being too tedious vntil his tyme and at the day
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
of many ouer whom those treasures and auarice haue got the maisterie and where hence hath proceeded the blinding which hath caused so to marre all without remorse These lawes being published the creatures of those tyrantes who then were at the court drew out sundrie copyes thereof for it grieued them at the hearts for that it seemed them that thereby there was a doore shut vp vnto them agaynst their rauine and extortion afore rehearsed and dispersed them into diuers quarters of the Indies Those which had the charge to robbe roote out and consume by their tyrannies euen as they had neuer kept any good order but rather disorder such as Lusifer himselfe might haue helde as they read those copies before the new iudges might come to execute their charge knowing it as it is sayd and that very exediblie by those who vntill this time haue supported and mayntayned their crimes and outrages to be likely that such execution shoulde bee vsed of those laws they ran into a mutinie in such wise as that when the good Iudges were come to doe their duties they aduised with them selues as those which had lost the feare and loue of God to cast off also all shame and obedience which they owe to the king and so tooke vnto them the name of open and arrant traytours behauing them selues as most cruell and gracelesse tyrantes and principally in the realme of Peru where presently this yeere 1442. are committed actes so horrible and frightfull as neuer were the like neither in the Indies nor in all the worlde besides not onely agaynst the Indians the which all or in a maner all are slayne all those regions being dispeopled but also betwixt themselues by a iust iudgement of God who hath permitted that they shoulde bee the butchers one of an other of them By meanes of the support of this rebellion none of all the other partes of this newe worlde would obey those lawes But vnder colour of making supplication to his Maiestie to the contrary they haue made an insurrection aswell as the others For that it irketh them to leaue their estates and goodes whiche they haue vsurped and to vnbinde the handes of the Indians whome they detayne in a perpetuall captiuitie And there where they cease to kill with the swoorde redily and at the instant they kill them a little and a little by personall slaueries and vniust charges and intollerable That which the king could not hither vnto let for because that they all great and litle roue and robbe some more some lessâ— â—ome ouertly and some couertly and vnder the pretence of seruing the king dishonour God and rob the king The Authour his wordes farder to king Philip then at the time of writing thereof Prince of Spayne THat which followeth hereafter immediatly is a part of a Missiue or letter sent written by one who him selfe was a partie in these voiages recounting the works the which a captayne did and consented to the dooing in the countrey all the way as hee passed And albeit so that the saide missiue being put to binding in one booke with other papers the binder eyther forgot or lost a leafe or two notwithstanding forasmuch as the said missiue contayned things fearefull euen to astonishement the which one of them that had done them had giuen me and that I had them all in my keeping I thought good to present you therwithall such as it is nowe though without beginning or ending For that this fragment remayning of the whole is full of notable pointes and therefore being resolued that it shoulde bee so printed trusting that it will cause no lesse compass on and horror in your highnesse minde then the other matters afore mentioned with a desire forthwith to prouide for the redresse The Missiue HEe gaue licence to put them to the Chaine and in bondage That which they did and the Captayne led after him three or foure droues of these persons enchayned and in this doing he procured not y t the countrey shoulde bee inhabited and peopled as had been conuenient shoulde haue been done but robbing from the Indians all their victuals they had the inbornes of the countrey were reduced to suche an extremitie that there were founde great numbers dead of famine in the high wayes And the Indians comming and going too and fro the coast laden with the carriage of the Spaniardes hee was the death by these meanes of about ten thousande For not one that arriued at the very coast escaped death by reason of the excessiue heate of the countrey After this following the same tract and way by the whiche Iohn of Ampudia was gone hee sent the Indians which hee had purchased in Quito a day before him to the ende they should discouer the bourges of the Indians and shoulde pillage them that when hee came with his maynie hee might finde his bootie readie And those Indians were his owne mates of the whiche such a one had two hundred such a one three hundred and suche a one a hundred according to the haggage that euery one of them had which Indians came to yeelde them selues to their maisters with all y t they had robbed At dooing whereof they committed great cruelties towarde young children and women and so had hee vsed before to doe in Quito in burning the whole countrey and namely the garners where the Lordes kept their Mahis in prouision Hee suffered to bee done great outrages in slaying the sheepe with the which they nourished and entertayned for the most part both the Spanishe and the naturall inhabitauntes of the countrey And onely to haue the braynes and the sewet hee permitted that there shoulde bee killed two or three hundred wethers of the whiche the flesh was fayne to bee cast away And the Indians friendes to the Spaniardes and the whiche went with the Spaniardes onely to eate the sheepes hearts killed a great number for as much as they eate none other thing And two men in one prouince named Purua killed 25. wethers and sheep fit for carriage like our horse the which were worth amongst the Spaniardes twentie and fiue and twentie duckates a peece only to haue to eate the braines and the sewet So as by this disorder of exceeding slaughter of beastes haue been lost aboue an hundred thousande head of cattell By occasion whereof also the countrey came into a great necessitie the natiue of the lande miserablie dying of famine And Quito which was furnished of so great store of Mahis that it can not bee well spoken was by this meanes so assaulted with famaine that a strike or bushell of Mahis was raysed to the prise of 10. duckets and a sheepe to as muche After that the sayde Captaine was returned from the coast hee determined to depart from Quito and to goe seeke the Captayne Iohn de Ampudia leauing thereto moe then two hundred of foote men and horse men amongst whome were a great many inhabitauntes of the citie of Quito Vnto those inhabitaunts the
charge of soules he could not 〈◊〉 how to blesse himselfe and asking him what doctrine he taught the Indians coÌ„mitted to his charge he said he gaue theÌ„ to the diuell also that it was enough for him to say Per signim sanctin Cruces Howe can the Spaniardes that trauaile to the Indies howe noble or valiant so euer they bee haue any care of the soules when the most of them are ignorant of their Creede and ten commandements know not the matters perteining to their owne saluation neither doe trauaile to the Indies for any other purpose but to satisfie their owne desires and couetous affections being for the most Parte vicious corrupt vnhonest and disordinate persons so as he that would way them in an equal ballance compare them with the Indians shoulde finde the Indians without comparison more vertuous and holy then them For the Indians what infidels soeuer they bee doe neuerthelesse keepe them to one and their own wife as nature and necessitie teacheth and yet we see some Spaniarde haue foureteene or more which Gods commandementes do forbid The Indians deuoure no mans goods they doe no man wrong they doe not vexe trouble or slay any where them selues doe see the Spaniardes commit all sinnes iniquities and treacheries that man can commit against all equitie and iustice To bee briefe the Indians doe not beleeue any thing but doe mocke at all that is shewed them of God beeing in trueth fully rooted in this opinion of our God that he is the worst the most vniust and the most wicked of all Gods because he hath such seruants also concerning your maiestie they thinke you the most vniust and cruell of all kinges because you doe both sende thither and keepe heere such euill subiectes supposing that your maiestie doth feed vpon humane flesh and blood We know these things to be very new and strange to your highnes but yet there they be very vsuall and auncient Many like matters which with our eyes we haue seene might we speake of but they would be offensiue to your maiesties eares and would besides feare men forcing theÌ„ to wonder that euer God staied so long from plaging Spaine in the bottomlesse pit This title to giue the Indians to the Spaniards in coÌ„medaÌ„ was neuer inuented to any other end but only to finde occasion to bring them into bondage One Spaniard being Lorde or hauing the charge of some towne or village will do more harme by his example and wicked life then a hundred good religious persons can do good by edifiyng or conuerting Out of the fourth reason THe Spaniardes hauing authoritie to commaunde or particular interest in the Indies can not by reason of their great couetousnes abstaine from afflicting troubling disquieting vexing or oppressing the Indians taking away their goodes landes wiues or children and vsing among them many other kindes of iniquitie for the which they can haue no redresse sanction or warrant at your Maiesties chiefe iustice because the Spaniardes doe make them afraide yea sometimes doe kill them least they shoulde complaine as wee haue had certaine notice and therevpon it is euident that they can haue no rest or quiet to tende to matters pertaining God but doe sustaine a thousande lets anguishes tormentes sorowes afflictions heauinesses and cares hating your Maiestie and abhorring Gods lawe which they finde so heauie bitter and intollerable as also your Maiesties yoke and dominion so insupportable tyrannous worthie to bee reiected and cast off that they curse God and fall into desperation attributing to him all the aforesaide euils because that vnder the colour and title of his lawe they do receiue such mishappes which hee doth beare withall and doth not correct or chastice those which boasting to be his seruanntes doe put them to all this They doe night and day mourne after their gods thinking them to bee better then ours at whom they sustaine suche harmes while contrary wise of their owne they reape there so many commodities and there is nothing that troubleth them so much as the Christians Out of the fifth reason VVE can shewe to your Maiestie that the Spaniardes haue within 38. or 40. yeeres slaine of iust accompt aboue 1â— Millions of your subiectes I will not say howe mightily this worlde of people mighâ— haue multiplied This countrey being the fertilest whether for cattel or mankinde that is in the worlde the foile being for the most part more temperate and fauourable to humaine generation All these innumerable 〈◊〉 and all these people haue the Spaniards slaine to the end to 〈◊〉 sway gouerne coÌ„maund ouer the rest when in iniust wars they haue slaine them then doe they vse the rest who 〈◊〉 â—aue withstood them in drawing gold siluer yoking them together like beasts to make them carry their burdens 〈…〉 burdening them withall that they can gaine and 〈…〉 one to them so that they may 〈…〉 but the truth and yet do leaue out much vnspoken oâ— thâ—t 〈◊〉 world knoweth and whosoeuer woulde otherwâ—â—e perswade your Maiestie or would endeuour to excuse those offences wee will euen by force of the truth drâ—ue him to knowledge 〈…〉 guilty of treason that he is partaker in these murders roberies committed in the Indies or els 〈◊〉 so to be What plague of pestilence or mortalitie could there haue fallen from heauen that had been able to consume or make wast about 2500 leagues of flat countrey replenished with people and would not haue left either trauailer or inhabitant Out of the sixt reason THe Spaniardes only for their temporall commoditie haue blemished the Indies with the greatest infamie that any man euen among the most horrible and villanous persons in the world could be charged withal whereby they haue sought to take theÌ„ out of the degree of mankinde namâ—ly that they all were polluted with the abhominable sinne against nature which is a wretched and false slaunder For in all the great Iles. Hispaniola S. Ioâ—â— Cuba Lamaâ—â—a Also in the 60. Iles of 〈◊〉 whiche 〈…〉 inhabited with an infinite nomber of people the same was neuer thought vpon or once mentioned as ourselues 〈…〉 who made diligent inquisition search euer from the beginning Moreouer through all Peru there is no such 〈◊〉 neither is there any one IndiaÌ„ thoughout y e whole realm that crime neither generally throughout all the Indies sauing that in some other part there is a voice of a few for whose 〈…〉 all that world is not to be 〈◊〉 We may say as much of the eating of mans flesh which likewise those places that I haue named are free of although that in other places they do it in deed They be also charged with their idolatrie as if for being idolaters men should take vpon them to punish them not referre them to God only against whoÌ„ they sin whiles they haue both lands dominions seuerall to them selues which they hold not of any other theÌ„ their natural Lords besides that our ancesters
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
Turke doth nowe adaies inuade trouble and oppresse christendome and yet haue not any of them once approched the spanish tyrannies How far those men that do pronounce such a sentence do euill seruice and offend the sincertie and loue of the king of Castiles iustice is here very easie to be iudged Who for proofe of their matters doe commit error vpon error and so doe heape together other things both absurd wicked and vnworthie to bee once hearde from these men which bee taken either for Christians or for reasonable persons For vsually such as stray from vertue and truth in excusing one fault or mainteining one errour doe runne headlong into many Others there are that do colour them with fairer honester titles who also deserue to be reiected reproued laughed at as those that say because we haue more wit or that we border neerest vp on them either for that the Indians are infected with suche and such vices we may subdue them with other like colours wherwith they bee so far from vpholding or confirming that which they weene to strengthen and fortifie that finally they lay all in the dust To the end therefore that his maiestie may bee certified of all aforesaid and as a most ChristiaÌ„ and iust prince may discerne betweene the pure and corrupt also betwene right wronge and withall that he may knowe who serueth him faithfully and those that hange vppon him only to satisfie their owne affections and for their priuate profit doe inuent and deuise new titles for his Indies which be neither probable nor of any effect so do hope to come to do their duties before that I were able Further for that offering this treatise to your highnes his maiestie shall bee serued thereby sith himselfe shall haue such lettes there as he goeth I doe most humbly beseech your highnesse in his name to accept it also to examine discerne and vnderstande it with such wisedome and clemencie as you holde of his maiestie and as himselfe would doe seeing it is so that Gods prouidence hath appointed your highnesse to inherite as we doe hope the same right in the empire principalitie of theÌ„ besides if it seeme necessary to be published in other places out of this realm I will if your highnes so command me put it in latin although it should not deserue to bed spersed either in latin or otherwise yet were not the losse great in that I caused it to be printed onlie to the end your highnesse might with more ease reade the same whose glorious life and royall estate the Lorde increase and prosper Amen The summe of the disputation between Fryer Bartlemewe de las Casas or Casaus and Doctor Sepulueda DOctor Sepulueda the Emperors chronographer hauing information being perswaded by certayne of those Spaniardes who were most guiltie in the slaughters and wastes committed among the Indian people wrote a booke in Latine in forme of a Diologue very eloquently and furnished with all floures and precepts of Rhetoricke as in deede the man is verie learned and excellent in the saide tongue which booke consisted vpon two principall conclusions The one that the Spaniardes warres against the Indians were as concerning the cause and equitie that moued theÌ„ thereto very iust also that generally the like war may ought to be coÌ„tinued His other conclusion that the Indians are bound to submitte them selues to the Spaniards gouernment as the foolishe to the wise if they will not yeelde then that the Spaniards may as he affirmeth warre vpon them These are the two causes of the losse and destruction of so infinite numbers of people also that aboue 2000. leagues of the maine lande are by sundrie newe kindes of Spanish cruelties and inhumaine dealinges bin lefte desolate in the Ilands namely by conquestes and commaundes as he nowe nameth those which were wont to be called Partitions The sayde Doctor Sepulueda coloureth his treatise vnder the pretence of publishing the title which the kinges of Castile and Leon doe chalenge in the gouernment and vniuersall soueraigntie of this Indian world so seeking to cloake that doctrine whiche he endeuoureth to disperse and scatter as well in these lands as also throughout the kingdomes of the Indians This booke he exhibited to the royall counsaile for the Indies very earnestly and importunately lying vpon them for licence to print it which they sundry times denied him in respect of the offence dangers manifest detriment that it seemed to bring to the common-wealth The Doctour seeing that heere hee coulde not publishe his booke for that the counsaile of the Indies woulde not suffer it he delte so farre with his friendes whiche followed the Emperours court that they gotte him a patente whereby his Maiestie directed him to the royall counsayle of Castile who knewe nothing of the Indian affaires vpon the comming of these letters the court and counsaile being at Aranda in Duero the yeere 1547. Fryer Bartholomewe de las Casas or Casaus Bishoppe of the royall towne of Chiapa by happe arriued there comming from the Indians and hauing intelligence of Doctor Sepulueda his driftes and deuises had notice also of the contentes of his whole booke but vnderstanding the authours pernitions blindnes as also the irrecouerable losses that might ensue vpon the printing of this booke with might maine withstood it discouering reuealing the poyson wherewith it abounded and whereto it pretended The Lordes of the royall counsell of Castile as wise and iust iudges determined therefore to sende the sayde booke to the Vniuersities of Salamanca Alcala the matter being for he most part therein Theologically handled with commaundement to examine it and if it might be printed to signe it which Vniuersities after many exact and diligent disputations concluded that it might not be printed as contayning corrupt doctrine The Doctour not so satisfied but complayning of the Vniuersities aforesayde determined notwithstanding so many deniaâ—les and repulses at both the royall counsailes to sende his treatise to his friends at Rome to the ende there to print â—â— hauing first transformed it into a certayne Apologie written â—o the Bishop of Segouia because the same Bishoppe hauing perused the treatie and booke aforesaide had brotherly and charitablie as his friende by letters reprooued and counsayled him The Emperor vnderstanding of the impression of the sayde booke and Apologie did immediatly dispatche his letters patents for the calling in and supression of the same commaunding likewise to gather in agayne all copies thereof throughout Castile for the said Doctour had published also in the Castilean language a certaine abstract of the saide booke thereby to make it more common to all the lande and to the ende also that the commons and such as vnderstood no latine might haue some vse thereof as being a matter agreeable and toothsome to suche vs coueted great riches and sought wayes to clyme to other estates then eyther themselues or their predecessors coulde euer attaine vnto without great cost