m 
 
 ■
 
 POPERl 
 
 r 
 
 JUDGED BY ITS FRUITS: 
 
 AS liUOUCillT TO VIEW IX THE DIARY OF TWO DISTINGUISHED 
 SCHOLARS AND rHILANTHROPISTS. 
 
 JOHN AND ANTHONY ULLOA, 
 
 DURiyO A SOJOURy OF SEVERAL TEARS /Y THE 
 STATES OF COLOMBIA AXD PERU. 
 
 Translated from the Spanish by a Member of the Principia Club. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ALBERT J. WKIGIIT, PRINTER, 
 
 >'o. 79 Mii-K Stkeet. 
 
 1878
 
 
 3i 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Tho following explanations may be found useful : — 
 
 The Spanish -word curd, translated curate, properly signifies 
 rector, or one who is subject only to the bishop of his diocese, 
 or to the provincial of his Order. The curates or rectors receive 
 no fixed salary, but oulj' a contingent revenue, estimated by the 
 number of masses, responses, and fees for baptisms, marriages, 
 and interments. 
 
 Meta, or Afita, signifies an annual conscription of Indians, 
 ■who are drawn by lot, to be placed under the absolute control 
 of the proprietor of a mine. 
 
 Metaijo is the ludiau who performs the meta service. 
 
 Alcabala is an excise duty on goods despatched into the in- 
 terior provinces. 
 
 The courts, or the tribunals of justice, in Peru, are called 
 " Audiences; " and the members of them, or the judges, are called 
 oydors. 
 
 The term Provincial is applied to the superior of a metropolitan 
 convent, who has under his jurisdiction all tlio minor convents 
 of his order, comprehended within tho limits of a particular 
 state or province.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cruelty of the Magistra,tes and Clergy to the Indians. — 
 Miserable Condition to vrliich the latter are rednced. — 
 Jlethod used in auditing the Accounts of the Governors 
 and Corregidors, 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The same Subject continued, 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The same Subject continued. — Sequestration of Lands be- 
 longing to the Indians, 56 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Extortions which the Indians suffer from the Parish Priests. 
 — Corrupt Morals and Scandalous Life of the Clergy, 
 hoth secular and regular, 71 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Showing that the Unwillingness of the Gentile Indians to 
 receive tiic Gospel and to submit to the Authority of tlio 
 Kings of Spain, is to be attributed to the extreme Suf- 
 ferings of the Civilized Indians, as will appear from the 
 Limited Influence and Partial Success of the Catholic 
 Missions, 01
 
 6 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Prevalence of Party Spirit between Europeans and Creoles. 
 — Its chief Source, and the Evils resulting from it in 
 the Cities and large Tov^us, 114 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Gross Licentiousness of the Clergy in general, and particu- 
 larly of the Monks. — Tumults attending the Capitulary 
 Elections. — Their Principal Cause, .... 129
 
 POPERY IN COLOMBIA AND PERU. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Cruelty of the Magistrates and Clergy to the Indians. — Misera- 
 ble Condition to wbicli the latter are reduced. — Method used 
 in auditing the Accounts of the Governors and Corregidors 
 
 Subjects of speculation become interesting to the 
 mind in proportion as it contemplates them, especially 
 when genius and industr}' lend their aid to render them 
 more luminous and fascinating ; but they appear, and not 
 without reason, to possess peculiar attractions for those 
 who devote themselves to the pursuit of knowledge as a 
 means of rational entertainment. Of the truth of this 
 we can furnish the best evidence, inasmuch as it has 
 been the result of our own experience. After we had 
 collected in one volume the astronomical and physical 
 observations made in the kingdom of Peru, illustrating 
 the figure and magnitude of the earth, and had published 
 in two others historical notices of those countries, it 
 seemed as if all the satisfaction we had experienced in 
 writing those works was exceedingly augmented when 
 we came to draw up this Report ; and the mind, absorbed 
 in its speculations, now enters upon the subject, not with 
 fatigue, but rather alacrity, as it reaches this point of its 
 inquiries, enabling us to present a more animated picture 
 of wluit has been ah-eady brought to view in those works : 
 and, if our readers have been inclined to attribute any- 
 thing to neglect or omission, it should be regarded as 
 the dictate of prudence on our part, that we may now 
 have an opportunity to speak with more freedom, reserv 
 ing for this place what it would have been inexpedient 
 to introduce in the history of our travels.
 
 8 
 
 Having conclucled our remarks relative to the marine, 
 the fortifications, and the commerce of Peru, we shall 
 now proceed to discuss a subject of a more delicate 
 nature, and which relates almost exclusively to the 
 moral and religious condition of the civilized Indians of 
 Peru, and the character and conduct of their rulers, both 
 civil and ecclesiastical. Unbiased by prejudice or by 
 any personal consideration whatever, we have made the 
 most diligent inquiry in respect to everything suggested 
 in the instructions of his Majesty's secretaries, and we 
 now lay before them the result of our observations ; and 
 as the details embodied in this part of our Report are 
 communicated for the Information of those whose duty 
 it is to know them, and not as pastime for the idle, nor 
 to afford matter of scandal to the mischievous, they are 
 brought to light with entire frankness, in order that the}'' 
 may be duly considered, and the best means of reform 
 devised. 
 
 The subject to be discussed in this chapter is of such 
 a nature that we cannot enter upon it without emotions 
 of sorrow ; much less can we pause to reflect upon the 
 circumstances of its details, without heartfelt pity for the 
 miseries of a race of men who, for no other crime than 
 their simplicity, and for no other pretext than their nat- 
 ural ignorance, have become the victims of a kind of 
 bondage so oppressive that, in view of the sufferings in- 
 flicted upon them, the colonial negro slaves may be 
 regarded as comparatively happy — the state of servi- 
 tude to which the latter are brought being justl}^ envied 
 by those who are nominally free, and whom our sover- 
 eigns have taught us to regard as such ; for the condition 
 of the Indian is far more degraded and miserable than 
 that of the African slave. 
 
 Our first object will be to describe the kind of tyranny 
 exercised by the corregidors over the Indians ; and, 
 although it is difficult to find a beginning, we shall avail 
 ourselves of a division in the departments of Peru which 
 has existed from the time of the conquest. These de- 
 partments are of two kinds : the first are those in 
 which the distribution system is not established ; and
 
 the second, those iu which it ma}' hiwfall}' be prac- 
 tised. 
 
 The oppression "which the Indians suffer arises from 
 the insatiable thirst for wealth, which is characteristic of 
 those who go over to govern them ; and, as they have no 
 means of etfecting their object except b}- a S3'stem of 
 tyranny, they never fail to practise it in every shape ; 
 and, by goading the Indians on every side with the 
 utmost cruelty, they exact more service from them than 
 the}' would be able to do from the meanest slave. It is 
 true that the distribution sj'stem is unknown in Quito ; 
 but, although it is the good fortune of the Indians of that 
 province to be exempted from that species of oppression, 
 they are not the less subject to burdens so intolerable as 
 to reduce them to the lowest degree of wretchedness 
 that can be imagined. 
 
 A great variety of expedients are adopted by the cor- 
 regidors to enrich themselves at the expense of the In- 
 dians. The first to be mentioned is the mode of collect- 
 ing the tribute mone}', — an iniquitous S3'stem carried on 
 in contempt of the principles of justice and the dictates 
 of humanity. The fees for collection are enumerated b}' 
 the corregidors among the perquisites of their office ; 
 and, if they were actuated by a sense of justice in the 
 discharge of their duty, the}^ would neither aggrandize 
 themselves, nor wrong the Indian, nor defraud the treas- 
 urj' : but tlieir unprincipled conduct begets all these evils ; 
 for they have such an inordinate love of wealth that they 
 spare no pains to accumulate it, and have recourse to the 
 most oppressive measures, in entire confidence that, 
 when their term of office expires, they shall be absolved 
 from ever}' charge, by holding out the offer of a bribe to 
 the judge oa whom it devolves to audit their accounts. 
 
 With a view to collect this tax, the corregidor makes 
 two ar.iiual visits to all the villages and estates comprised 
 within his jurisdiction. 8t. John's day and Christmas 
 day are appropriated to this object, — a judicious meas- 
 ure, if, in carrying it into effect, the avarice of the col- 
 lector did not overstep all bounds in oppressing that un- 
 fortunate race, whom our sovereign regards with so much
 
 10 
 
 pity that he has issued a decree in order to hghten their 
 burdens as much as possible ; enjoining the magistrates 
 not to collect tribute from them until they have com- 
 pleted their eighteenth year, and to exempt them from 
 paj-ment after the age of fift3"-five, on the ground that, 
 as their strength fails, they are incapable of sustaining 
 any other exertion than that which is necessary for their 
 own maintenance. The greater part of the tribute 
 money was designed to be expended for their own bene- 
 fit. Out of it they are required to pay not only the 
 curate's fees, but the charges of the fiscal protector who 
 defends their suits. The chief, by right of the chiefship, 
 as well as the Indian governors, are exempt from every 
 kind of impost ; so also are the crippled, the blind, the 
 demented, and the deformed, of which last two there are 
 great numbers among the Indians ; neither is the obliga- 
 tion to pay tribute binding upon the eldest sons of the 
 chiefs, nor upon those who hold the office of sextons in the 
 churches, or who belong to the choir of music, nor upon 
 any Indian magistrate who holds an office in the Indian 
 towns and villages. Under such a system, it appears as 
 if the tribute of the Indians cannot be more moderate, 
 unless we exempt them from contributions of every kind. 
 But what matters it that it should appear so, when viewed 
 from a distance, if the best laws are trampled upon in 
 practice, and rendered inoperative b}" a system of cruelty 
 and injustice? The corregidors not only oblige the 
 young to pay tribute before the time specified, but exact 
 it of those who are exempt by law, having attained the 
 age of fift^'-five ; and, although the}' are so far advanced 
 in 3'ears as to beg, for want of strength to labor, their 
 names are not erased from the list of the collector ; and, 
 as the Indians are remarkable for longevit}', they fre- 
 quentl}' pa}' tribute till they have passed the age of sev- 
 enty. The same practice obtains in respect to all, when 
 they are not wholly disabled from work by infirmity ; so 
 that none are exempt except such as are incapable of 
 earning a livelihood. If the chiefs, the governors, and 
 sextons escape the contagion of miser}', it is because 
 they are beyond the reach of the arbitrary power of the
 
 11 
 
 coiTcgicIors ; for, in case the}^ were as defenceless as the 
 rest, the same thing would happen to them. 
 
 It might appear that the injustice done the Indians by 
 the corregidors, in obliging them to pa}' when they are 
 exempted by roj'al favor, is not so great as our last re- 
 mark would impl}', because it falls exclusivel}' on those 
 who are nominall}- a privileged class, and not upon the 
 whole community of Indians. This conclusion, however, 
 is incorrect, for the injury- is felt by all : by some, in 
 being compelled to pay tribute, b}' the mere caprice of 
 the corregidor, prior to the competent age, as is the case 
 with the greater part of them, who contribute two or 
 three years before the}' are bound to ; and b}^ others, in 
 continuing to pay after having passed the age prescribed 
 by law. It also happens that, the young not having 
 cnjo^'ed a season of repose sufficient to enable them to 
 labor with the requisite assiduity, being made subject to 
 tribute illegall}-, fathers and elder brothers are bound, if 
 they would not see a son or brother punished with the 
 whip, to unite their efforts to help him earn the tribute 
 money ; and, if the}' fail to do so, daughters and wives 
 must put their hands to the work, in order to make up 
 the deliciency in the amount due : hence it is that the 
 age in which they have a right to enjoy some repose is 
 that in which their burdens are heaviest. The same 
 takes place in respect to idiots, deformed persons, and 
 other unfortunate creatures, who ought to be of the priv- 
 ileged class ; but, so far from it, the burden is made to 
 fall upon the rest, who, in addition to the labor necessary 
 to pay their own contribution, have to perform a twofold 
 task to pa}' the tribute of tliose who are unable to work. 
 The Indian women, especially, are obliged to task them- 
 selves the whole year round, in order to meet, by unre- 
 mitting toil, the unjust demands of the corregidor. 
 
 Nor is the rapacity of the corregidor content with 
 obliging those to pay tribute who arc exempted by law ; 
 but it is often can-ied to such an extreme as to enforce 
 the payment of a twoloM contribution. This is practised 
 towards the field Indians, which are those who neither 
 perform the meta service nor live in the Indian villages.
 
 12 
 
 These poor laborers pay the tribute to the corregidor or 
 his suljnltcrns, who are numerous, and who give them a 
 receipt for the monc}^ ; but, as the Indians are an un- 
 taught race, and have not sagacit}- to foresee the conse- 
 quences of neglect, besides not having in their huts 
 either box or shelf where to place an}' thing for security, 
 it sometunes happens that the receipt is lost, and pa}'- 
 ment is demanded a second time ; and when another 
 collector, or perhaps the same, comes to enforce the 
 demand, the Indian goes to look for the receipt, and, as 
 he is unable to read, he brings the first paper that comes 
 to hand, or perhaps an old receipt, and presents it without 
 fear of being suspected. The collector is not satisfied 
 with it ; and, although the Indian weary himself in con- 
 vincing him that he has paid his portion of the tribute, 
 he charges him with fraudulent designs, and, after abus- 
 ing him, carries off whatever he can find in his hut, and, 
 if there is nothing there of any value, he puts him into 
 a factory (which is the usual method), where he is kept 
 at work until the debt is paid. The wi'etched Indian, 
 finding himself grievously oppressed, and siii!i;ing under 
 the weight of want and of a sense of injustice, dies in a 
 short time : unless his wife or daughters have been able 
 to raise the amount required, or unless some individual, 
 more compassionate than the rest, comes forward to 
 advance the money, on condition of recovering it by 
 hiring the Indian out to service. The meta Indians do 
 not pay tribute personally ; but the masters whom they 
 serve pay for them, and collect and preserve receipts for 
 all those who are under their charge, and b}^ this means 
 they arc shielded from injustice. Those who live in 
 small villages pay the cacique, who delivers the whole 
 amount, when collected, to the corregidor. 
 
 Besides the privilege granted to those who are ex- 
 empted from tribute, another not less reasonable has 
 been conceded in favor of those Indians who have been 
 absent for a certain term, perhaps for one or two j'ears, 
 without having paid tribute in the department to which 
 they belong; which is, that, on their return, they are 
 liable for only one-third of the contribution — a very
 
 13 
 
 merciful provision in behalf of that race, and which has 
 iu its support two important arguments — one that, as 
 all the eorreo;idors collect tribute of transient Indians in 
 the same waj- as they do of those who reside iu the vil- 
 lages, it is to be supposed that, although the Indian may 
 not have paid the corregidor of his district, he has paid 
 some other ; the second reason is, that, although the In- 
 dian should have paid no corregidor in two or three 
 years, and although in the lapse of this period he may 
 have earned a great deal, at the close of it he has no 
 more stock or estate than that which was left him after 
 having made his last payment ; so that, being insolvent, 
 he is naturallly discharged from the debt. But this is 
 not the case in practice ; for, as soon as the Indian 
 appears, he is made debtor for all the time that has 
 elapsed since the corregidor came into office for which 
 he cannot show receipts. Hence he is treated in the 
 manner above mentioned ; if he possess anything of 
 value, it is deducted on account of the debt ; but he is 
 not discharged from the factory until the whole amount 
 has been paid. 
 
 All these acts of extortion, which are committed under a 
 false pretence of zeal in the service of the Icing and of the 
 royal exchequer, are in reality nothing but artifices used 
 to augment the revenue of the corregidors themselves ; 
 who basely assume this mask to justif}' their iniquity, 
 which, however it may be disguised under one form of 
 0[)pressiou, never fails to come to light by means of 
 another. 
 
 The Indians of those countries are in reality slaves, 
 and happy Avould it be for them had the}' onlj- one 
 master to whom to contribute the avails of their hard 
 earnings ; liut these are so numerous, that, in view of 
 the obligations they are under to all of them, they can- 
 not claim as their own the smallest portion of all they 
 have acquired with so much care and industry. But, 
 this chapter having for its subject the extortions of the 
 corregidors, we sliall afterwards treat of those which are 
 practised upon them by other classes of magistrates, both 
 civil and ecclesiastical.
 
 14 
 
 The departments of the Province of Quito are of vari- 
 ous kinds : some of trade, others of husbandry, and 
 others of manufactures. In them all, a large portion of 
 the revenue reverts to the corregidors. In the trading 
 districts, they absorb the greater part : for they take into 
 their own service the very Indians whom they deprive 
 during the whole year. The only individuals excepted of 
 the benefit of trade ; and, by giving them what is barely 
 necessary for their support, they secure to themselves 
 the profits which they have usurped from them ; and, bj'' 
 requiring them to labor on alternate clays, they keep 
 them always emplo3'ed in their service. In these dis- 
 tricts, where all the Indians included in their precincts 
 are weavers, thej^ compel them to manufacture differend 
 articles ; and, by giving them the materials only, and 
 ver}^ reduced wages, they keep them constantly em- 
 ploj'cd for their benefit, as they would do if they were 
 slaves. Should they, in return for so hard labor, remit 
 to them their tribute monej^ the burden might be made 
 tolerable ; but, far from doing them this kindness (and 
 it would be only an act of justice), they exact it with as 
 much severity as if they had rendered them no service 
 from this service are those who live in districts where 
 there are estates for agriculture or grazing ; and if, to 
 their sorrow, the case should occur that the corregidor 
 has an estate of his own, or a hired one, it comes to be 
 the rendezvous of all the Indians who have not paid their 
 tribute promptly ; and thus, on every hand, that people 
 have no more freedom than the corregidor pleases to 
 grant them, nor any more fruit of their labor than what 
 is conceded to them as a mere gratuity. 
 
 Still greater iniquity is practised in suits at law ; for their 
 judges desii'e nothing so much as some occasion of dispute 
 or difference to complete their ruin : so that, be the motive 
 what it will, it is always sufficient to secure their object ; 
 for, what with fines, and what with costs of suit, they lay 
 hold of a mule, cow, or any animal the Indian may jdos- 
 sess, and which constitutes the whole estate of the richest 
 among them. These acts of extortion, which have no 
 limit, have reduced them to a condition so deplorable
 
 15 
 
 that the state of the most miserable beings that can be 
 conceived is not to be compared with that of these In- 
 dians. Let us now take a view of what obtains in the 
 districts in which the distributions are made ; and we 
 shall witness greater enormities, although of a different 
 nature. 
 
 It is from the department of Loja that the distribution 
 sj-stem {reparlimieyitos) commences, — a sj'stem so ini- 
 quitous that it appears to have been imposed upon that 
 race b}' way of punishment, for nothing more oppressive 
 can be imagined. It must be admitted that, if it were 
 properly managed, as it appears to have been intended 
 in its origin, no evil would result ; for with a view to the 
 greater convenience of the Indians, and that they might 
 not be destitute of the means of clothing themselves and 
 of carrying on their husbandry or trade, corregidors were 
 allowed to purchase a quantity of such articles as were 
 suited to each department, and to distribute them among 
 the Indians at moderate prices, in order that, having im- 
 plements for labor, the}* might shake off the apathy which 
 is innate in their constitution, and use the exertion re- 
 quisite for paying their tribute and earning a livelihood. 
 Were it continued on this principle, and were the cor- 
 regidor content with moderate profits, it would be a judi 
 cious S3'stem ; but, as it is now practised, it deserves no 
 other epithet but that of the most dreadful tyi'anny that 
 could be invented. 
 
 Tlie articles of distribution are chiefly mules, foreign 
 and domestic goods, and produce ; and, as this S3'stem 
 was commenced at an early period, it is already under- 
 stood what articles are suited to each department. The 
 corregidors who are attached to the vicero3'alty of Lima 
 must necessarily go to that city to take out a license, 
 and to receive their despatch from the vicero3% in order* 
 to be inducted into office ; and, as Lima is the grand depot 
 of the trade of Peru, it is in that cit3^ that an assortment 
 of artiflcs for distribution is to l»e made, and for this pur- 
 pose the3' taiie the goods required fruui the shop of soma 
 merchant or trader on credit, at an exorbitant price ; and, 
 as the traders are aware of the enormous profits the cor-
 
 16 
 
 regidors make in the sale, they raise the prices of the 
 goods, in order to have a share in the speculation. The 
 corregidors have no money before they come into office ; 
 and, being unable to purchase for a ready sum, they are 
 obliged to submit to any terms which the creditor may 
 prescribe, as they are in duty bound, on account of the 
 money which the merchant is to lend him for the pur- 
 chase of the mules required for transportation. 
 
 As soon as the corregidor comes within his jurisdiction, 
 the first act of his administration is to take a census of 
 the Indians, according to their towns and villages. Pro- 
 ceeding to this duty in person, and taking with him the 
 articles of merchandise to be distributed, he goes on, ap- 
 portioning the quantity and kind he selects for every In- 
 dian, and affixing to each article its price, just as suits 
 his caprice ; the poor Indians being wholly ignorant of 
 what is to fall to their lot, or how much it is to cost 
 them. As soon as he has finished distributing in one 
 village, he transfers the whole assortment to the cacique, 
 with an exact inventory of the articles belonging to each 
 individual, from the cacique himself to the most humble 
 of all those who are to pay tribute ; and the corregidor 
 proceeds to another village, in order to continue the dis- 
 tribution. It is a time of anguish, both to the cacique 
 and the Indians, when they look at the quantity, quality, 
 and prices of the goods. In vain does the cacique re- 
 monstrate, and to no purpose do the Indians raise their 
 clamors. On the one hand, they maintain that their 
 means are not adequate to such a quantity of merchan- 
 dise as is assigned them, being absolutely unable to pay 
 for it; again, they urge that goods of such a description 
 are utterly useless to them, and that the prices are so 
 exorbitant as to exceed any thing they had ever paid be- 
 fore. The corregidor remains inexorable, and the In- 
 dians are obliged to take wliatever has l)een allotted 
 them, however repugnant it may be to their wishes, and 
 however straitened they are for want of means to make 
 the payments ; for these payments become due simul- 
 taneously with the tribute money, and a failure to meet 
 one or the other with promptness makes them liable to a
 
 17 
 
 pcualt}' equally severe. The whole cost of the first dis- 
 tribution must be paid within two years and a half, to 
 malce room ibr the second, which commences at the close 
 of that period, but which does not contain so great an 
 assortment as the first. 
 
 In addition to these supphes, which are usually the 
 most important, whenever the corrcgidor make a Aisit to 
 collect debts (and he never does it for any other motive) , 
 he takes with him an assortment of goods, to apportion 
 an additional (luantit}' to those who have made their pay- 
 ments most promptly' ; and, as the Indians have received 
 in the first division those articles which are of least value 
 to them (such as are of absolute necessity being kept 
 back for this occasion) , all who are in want are obhgcd 
 to take them under the denomination of a voluntary sale ; 
 and, although they are at liberty on this occasiun to select 
 such articles as they lake, they are not so as to the bar- 
 gain : to set the price is a prerogative reserved to the cor- 
 rcgidor ; which is so well understood that the poor In- 
 dians no longer think it strange that they must submit to 
 it without nun-muring. 
 
 It is not left to the choice of the Indians to supply 
 themselves elsewhere, even, with the necessary articles 
 furnished by the coiTcgidor : hence they are obliged to 
 purchase them at his hands ; for, in the towns that are 
 exclusivel}' Indian, they do not license any shop but 
 their own, and they have one in every village, to which 
 all must of necessity go to purchase. The latter obtains 
 Likewise in the departments of the Province of Quito, 
 where goods are also sold at exorbitant prices ; but not so 
 much so as in the rest of Peru, where the distribution 
 system prevails. Nor can the Indian decline receiving 
 the goods at the price stipulated l)y the corrcgidor, even 
 though he pa}' in ready money, it IjcLng left to his choice 
 to pay or buy on credit ; and, when he offers tlic money 
 in advance, no a])atemeut is made, as would be equi- 
 table. 
 
 Among the tyrannical acts practised by means of the 
 distribution, some of which we shall present to view, that 
 which prevails in apportioning mules ou^ht to have the
 
 18 
 
 first i)lace. Of these auimals, the greatest number are 
 iutroduccd into those departments which cany on some 
 other trade than that which is required for the transport 
 of their own produce, being thoroughfares for the com- 
 merce of the interior. The corregidors of these districts 
 purchase droves of mules, consisting of five or six hun- 
 dred each, according to the demand for them, and have 
 them driven from the pastures where they ai-e bred. Each 
 mule placed in his department costs him from fourteen to 
 sixteen dollars, and when they are most in demand they 
 do not exceed eighteen ; and to bring this price they 
 must be very scarce, or of a superior qualit}'. The cor- 
 regidor afterwards distributes them among the Indians ; 
 allotting to some four, to others six, and to all more or 
 less, according to the supposed abilit}' of each one to pay 
 for them : and the usual price at wliich they are chaj'ged 
 to them is from forty to fort3'-four dollars, and even more 
 if they are good, the cost of which must be paid within a 
 prescribed term. The Indians who receive these mules 
 are not permitted to make use of them as they please ; for 
 they are strictly prohibited from hiring them out, unless 
 it be y.'ith the consent of the corregidor liims(,'lf, who 
 adopts this course under pretext of avoiding contraband 
 trade, when the only ground of this injustice is that 
 they shaU not'hire them out without allowing him a por- 
 tion of the profits, and the privilege of takuig the re- 
 mainder to his own account in payment of the mules. 
 
 As soon as travellers reach these departments, the first 
 thing to be done is to apply to the corregidor for mules, 
 and to make known to him the number they require. 
 The latter looks at his list to see which of the Indians is 
 most indebted to him on account of the mules apportioned 
 them, and sends for them to come frpm their villages to 
 perform the journey. The corregidor himself collects the 
 amount of freight, keeps back one-half on account of the 
 debt, delivers a quarter part to the owner of the mides to 
 pay what ma}- be needed for the purchase of hay to feed 
 the animals On the I'oad, and with the remaining fourth 
 part he pays the peons, whose office is to drive and lade 
 the mules ; so that, in consequence of this arbitrary dis-
 
 19 
 
 tribution, the owner is left not only without any profit, 
 but even without the means of paying his expenses on 
 the journe}'. In this distribution we ma}^ notice another 
 circumstance, which shows the care taken b}- these cor- 
 regidors not to lose any part of what they extort from 
 the Indians ; for, although the wages of the peons are at 
 such a low rate, the}- deduct one-half for account of what 
 the}' owe for the supply of the articles of clothing they 
 have received, though the term allowed for payment has 
 not 3-et expired. 
 
 The Indian sets out on his journey with his drove, and, 
 as travelling in those countries is attended with hardship, 
 it frequentl}- happens that the mules tire on the wa}', and 
 that one or more of them die ; but, as the drivers are 
 obliged to prosecute their journe}', and have no money 
 to hire another mule, the owner is obliged to sell one at 
 a ver}- low price, in order to hire two others with the 
 proceeds, at a high price, to make up the deficiency of the 
 mule that died, as well as of that which was sold. Hence, 
 when the owner reaches his journey's end, he finds he has 
 two mules less than before, and has received no indem- 
 nity for the loss ; but is more indebted than ever, and 
 without the means of pa3-ing for his own maintenance. A 
 single circumstance might enable him to bear his disap- 
 pointment, and that is, the finding some return freight in 
 the village to wliich he is going, — a thing which is ver}' 
 rare ; and even in this case he can take onl}- a light load 
 for the mules which he has left, and at a reduced freight, 
 esteeming himself very fortunate if he can make up his 
 loss with the avails of the return freight, although he 
 should have realized no profit after a journey of many 
 months. 
 
 Cruel as are the details of wrong exercised in the ap- 
 portioning of mules 1)3' the corregidors of Peru, others 
 still more oppressive are practised towards the Indians. 
 When, b}' dint of journeyings and hard labor, the pur- 
 chaser has paid the full amount duo for the mules allotted 
 to him, the corregidor never thinks it worth a thought to 
 give him excursions on which he might realize a profit ; 
 nor docs it avail him to seek for them himself, inasmuch
 
 20 
 
 as he is not at liberty to hire out his mules to an}' one. 
 The rigor practised in this respect is so extreme that, al- 
 though the purchaser of mules may be indebted to the 
 corregidor for other articles which he has allotted him, 
 this is not deemed a sufficient reason why he should have 
 an opportunity to work out the debt with his drove of 
 mules ; for this debt is to be paid by another species of 
 labor, such as the produce of his garden, the earnings 
 of his wife at the loom, the cattle which he has reared, 
 or something equivalent. At other times, the corregidor 
 assigns a new supply of mules to the Indians who have 
 paid for the first, even when they do not need them, in 
 order to have a pretext for emplo^'ing them continually 
 in a trade the entire benefit of which remains for his 
 account. 
 
 In view of all this, it will not be denied that the Indians 
 are in a more pitiable condition than African slaves ; for 
 the most that can be done with the latter is to give them 
 a task in some department of labor, that they may work 
 for the benefit of the master, the latter incurring the risk 
 of loss or gain ; but this is not the case with the Indians, 
 for they must bear the loss of the mules that die, from 
 the moment they are delivered to them, while the cor- 
 regidor claims the earnings of them all : thus leaving the 
 Indians a useless possession after having paid for it three 
 times over ; for they are not at liberty to use them, nor can 
 they be of an}' service to them, except by enabling them 
 to pay for others which the corregidor is to furnish them 
 in the following distribution. A slave is employed in one 
 branch of labor, and, when his task is done, another is 
 given him ; each slave has his particular trade or work, 
 and, if necessity should require him to suspend it, it is 
 the master who loses his hire. But it is otherwise Avith 
 the Indians ; for, while they pursue one steady occupa- 
 tion, their wives and children must busy themselves in as 
 many more to fulfil the obligations imposed upon them 
 by the corregidors. 
 
 The repartition of mules is attended with so much rigor 
 that it seems as if one must be forsaken of God to be 
 capable of such flagrant injustice ; and, to make this still
 
 21 
 
 more evident, we shall cite one of those examples which 
 occur continuall}-, having been ourselves witnesses of it. 
 In the year 1 742, while on our way a second time to Lima, 
 at the request of the viceroy, we arrived at a village in 
 which the distribution had been completed the day pre- 
 vious, and of this distribution four mules had been allot- 
 ted to the owner of the house where we had taken up our 
 quarters. The latter would not receive them, neither by 
 dint of entreaties nor threats made by the corregidor ; 
 for he apprehended from their bad condition that they 
 would die without having rendered him any service. He 
 differed with the corregidor, not on account of their high 
 price, although they were charged at forty-four dollars 
 each, but on account of their extreme leanness : begging 
 him to give him good mules, and he would not refuse to 
 take them ; but that they were in a dying condition, and 
 that it was only their slcin that would be of any value. 
 Having made these complaints, he returned home, con- 
 fident that he should obtain others in their stead : but he 
 was quite mistaken in this ; for that same niglit the^Mvere 
 tied to his gate by a sheriff, who told him from without 
 that he had left the mules there by order of the corregi- 
 dor. His dooi's being closed, he did not take the pre- 
 caution to go and bring them in, and the next morning 
 he found one dead. He was obliged, however, to pay for 
 all four. This occurs frequently', owing to the fact that 
 the animals are taken from the pastures where they are 
 bred wliile they are 3-oimg, and, in passing over the dis- 
 tance of a hundred and more leagues, to reach the differ- 
 ent departments, they travel through climates to which 
 they are not accustomed, and, m consequence of chang- 
 ing their pastures, many of them become sick and die ;, 
 and, that tlie loss ma}' not fall upon the corregidor, he 
 makes the distribution as soon as they arrive in the 
 province, and compels the Indians to receive them in 
 that state. Were this purchase voluntary on the i)art of 
 the Indians, or even were they content with what is allot- 
 ted them, there would be no ground of complaint ; but 
 that they should be compelled to take what is neither 
 useful nor to their liking, and pa}' for it so exorbitantly,
 
 22 
 
 appears to be the highest point to which oppression can 
 be carried. 
 
 Passing now from the distribution of mules, we shall 
 proceed to that of manufactures and produce, which will 
 occasion no less surprise than the preceding. "We have- 
 already remarked that articles of manufacture are distri- 
 buted to the Indians at prices so exorbitant as to exceed 
 any idea that could be formed of it by any other than an 
 ej-e-witness ; and this will be corroborated by an occur- 
 rence which took place in a town not far distant from 
 Lima, in the j'ear 1743. The corregidor took home, 
 among other articles, some woollen stuffs, manufactured 
 in Quito, which are sold by retail, in the Lima shops, 
 from twenty-eight to thirty reals, when they are of a 
 very superior quality ; but the ordinary woollens, which 
 are purchased for the supply of the interior, seldom bring 
 twent3'-four reals, and the usual price by wholesale is from 
 eighteen to twenty. This corregidor had them transported 
 forty leagues or n>ore from Lima ; and charged them to the 
 Indians at such enormous prices that, if the fact were not 
 notorious, it would be thought incredible. Although the 
 goods had been purchased at very advanced prices, on a 
 credit of two years and a half, the whole value of the 
 articles distributed amounted to sevent}^ thousand dollars ; 
 and, after all the returns had been made by the Indians, 
 the amount which the corregidor had realized from them 
 exceeded three hmidred thousand dollars. 
 
 The Indians of this department, finding themselves 
 more cruelly oppressed by this corregidor than they had 
 been by his predecessor, entered a complaint before the 
 viceroy ; taking to him samples of the distribution, with a 
 list of the prices affixed to each article. We do not re- 
 late this as a matter of hearsay, for we happened to be 
 present when the Indians entered their protest. The 
 viceroy listened to them, and directed them to lay the 
 subject before the audience ; and the result was, that a 
 writ was executed to have the Indians taken and pun- 
 ished as seditious persons. The fact was, that as soon 
 as the mayor learned that those Indians had disappeai-ed 
 from within his jurisdiction, entertaining no doubt that
 
 2 
 
 f» 
 
 llie}' had gone to enter a complaint against him, he in- 
 dicted them for sedition, and set forth in the indictment 
 that they had absented themselves from fear of punish- 
 ment. This summary he immediate!}' remitted to the 
 audience, at the same time seeking to interest the friends 
 he had in that city in the business ; and through their in- 
 fluence he succeeded in acquitting himself of the charges 
 made ao-ainst him, becoming in his turn the accuser, in 
 order not only to rob the Indians of their rights, but also 
 to intimidate them, that they might not venture to make 
 a complaint against him in future. 
 
 The cruelty of the system of distribution is not confined 
 to the enormous prices at which the Indians are obliged 
 to purchase, but is even much greater in respect to the 
 articles distributed, which usually consist of goods that 
 are of no use to the purchaser. In Spain, we arc wont 
 to speak of this as partaking more of fiction than of 
 truth ; nor are we accurately informed of what takes 
 place there, as the communications reach us in a dimin- 
 ished shape, and the fear of having them regarded as im- 
 probable curtails them, and gives them another coloring, 
 Idv confining them to generalities ; but to make it evi- 
 dent, that Avhat the corregidors do there exceeds what 
 we have an^' account of here, it will be proper to de- 
 scribe in detail the method used by them to furnish them- 
 selves with the goods which thc}'^ need for distribution. 
 It is well known that a corregidor who goes to the shop 
 of a tradesman, whom he does not know except b}'^ hav- 
 ing heard his name (while the latter does not know the 
 former, except as corregidor of such a department, who 
 is going to purchase on credit, for want of money), 
 is compelled to receive whatever is given him ; which is 
 usually the most unsalable part of his slock, and it is 
 perhaps with a view to rid himself of such trash that he 
 runs the risk of letting him take it on credit : but, al- 
 though the dealer offer him the goods as he would on 
 condition of payment in ready money, he is still obhged 
 to receive an assortment of all he has in his shop, as it 
 does not stand the dealer in account to have him pur- 
 chase onl}' the most salable articles, and it has hence be-
 
 24 
 
 come customary, in making large purchases, to take an 
 assortment of the whole stock. 
 
 80 much being premised, the corregidor receives a part 
 of all which the dealer has for sale, takes it to his depart- 
 ment, and distributes it collectively, as it is not to be sup- 
 posed he would lose those things which are useless to the 
 Indians. Of what possible service can three quarters or 
 a yard of velvet, at forty or fifty dollars, be to one of those 
 serfs, who might be compared to the most clownish and 
 wretched peasants of Spain, and who is employed in dig- 
 ging the ground, or travelling on foot behind his master's 
 mule to earn a da3-'s wages, which scarcely suffice for his 
 bare wants ? And of what value to him would be a simi- 
 lar amount of sillt or satin ? What use could he make of 
 a pair of silk stockings, when he would thank God if he 
 could be allowed woollen ones, even of the coarsest text- 
 ure ? What occasion has an Indian for mirrors, whose 
 hut is the abode of poverty, and in which nothing but 
 smoke is visible ? How can he be in want of a padlock, 
 if, even when all his family are absent, by simply turning 
 a door made of reeds or skins, he protects a habitation 
 whose jewels are safe, because they^ are of no value? 
 But even this could be passed over, in comparison of 
 what is more worthy of notice. The Indians, by their 
 peculiar constitution, are wholly destitute of beard, nor 
 do thej' ever shaAC their hair ; and yet they are furnished 
 with razors, for which they pay a very handsome price". 
 Surely this looks like making sport of that unfortunate 
 race. And what shall we say of the practice of compell- 
 ing them to buy pens and blank paper, Avhen the greater 
 part do not understand Spanish, and when their own lan- 
 guage has never been reduced to writing ? Playing-cards, 
 likewise, are distributed for their use, when they do not 
 even know their figures, nor has that people any inclina- 
 tion for gambling ; as also cases for toljacco, when the 
 instance is not known of any one who has ever used 
 them. Not to burden the narrative with details, we 
 shall pass over the combs, rings, buttons, books, pla3's, 
 lace, ribbon, and such like, as useless for them as the 
 foregoing ; and it will suffice to say that the only things
 
 25 
 
 which are of service to them are confined to the cotton 
 cloth, niannfiic'tured in Quito, woollen stuffs, or trousers, 
 baize, ami hats, all of domestic manufacture. All the 
 rest, whether the}' be fabrics, hardware, or other com- 
 modities of Europe, are utterly valueless to them, al- 
 thougii they are made to pay for them at exorbitant 
 prices. 
 
 There are some districts where domestic produce is 
 distrilnited, and this is done in those which afford the 
 greatest facilities for it. The articles furnished them 
 are demijohns of wine, brandy, olives, and oil, most of 
 which the Indians never consume, nor even taste of; 
 hence, when they receive a bottle of brandy, which is 
 charged to them at the rate of seventy or eighty dollars, 
 they go in search of some mestizo or grocer, who will 
 bu}' it of them, and they think themselves fortunate if 
 the}' can get ten or twelve dollars for it. The_y do the 
 same with every other article, when despair and indigna- 
 tion are mitigated by a sense of sorrow, and they are 
 restrained from throwing it down and dashing it to 
 pieces. 
 
 This oppressive treatment of the Indians b}^ the cor- 
 regidors was the occasion of the insurrection of the 
 Chunchos, who renounced their allegiance to the king, 
 and, possessing themselves of the tract of country in the 
 vicinity of Tarma and Jauja, east of the chain of the 
 Andes, have made war upon the Spaniards ever since 
 the year 1712, nor have they been able as yet entirely to 
 quell the insurrection ; and these are the tyrannical 
 measures wliich their leader assured them he would re- 
 form, by withdrawing them from under the Spanish 3'oke. 
 It was this which so much alarmed the viceroy, who was 
 apprehensive lest the whole Province of Tarma should 
 take part with the rebels, to extricate themselves from a 
 state of bondage which was becoming every da}^ more 
 intcjlerable ; and it was full}' ascertained that many In- 
 dian families deserted their villages, and retired to the 
 grounds occu^jied by the Chunchos, to follow a party 
 which had made a beginning under such favorable au- 
 spices, having become the terror of their oppressors. 
 
 3
 
 26 
 
 Another instance occurred in tliose provinces very 
 much hke the preceding ; and, although distinct in its 
 results, it serves to show how little their complaints 
 are regarded, and how much they suffer from tyranny'. 
 In' one of the provinces, not yet burdened with the 
 distribution S3'stem, inasmuch as it had but recently 
 &nbmitted to the Spanish authorities, the inhabitants, 
 acquainted with what was taking place in towns where 
 it was practised, had refused to admit it, although some 
 corregidors had attempted to introduce it. It fell at 
 kngth into the hands of a more determined and advent- 
 urous individual than an}' of his predecessors had been, 
 owing perhaps to the favor of the principal magistrates 
 in the capital. This man, together with the curate, — 
 whose interest it was to bargain with the corrcgidor, — 
 determined to introduce the S3'stem into his district ; and, 
 being aware that the Indians would make resistance, in- 
 vented a scheme fitted to secure his object. A number 
 of Spaniards used to pass through his district, to whom, 
 for selfish ends, he had made himself very obsequious ; 
 and, having detained in his house those whom he needed 
 for the occasion, under pretence of enjoying their society', 
 he summoned the chiefs and magistrates of the villages 
 to meet him on a day appointed, with a view to adopt 
 some more expeditious method of collecting the tribute 
 money of the Indians, intimating that it was his wish to 
 render their burdens as light as possible. The chiefs 
 entertained no suspicion, and met accordingly in the 
 principal village, where the corrcgidor had the Spaniards, 
 his guests, in readiness ; to whom he had made a false 
 accusation concerning these Indians, stating that they 
 were so fierce and incorrigible that, besides having at- 
 tempted an insurrection on various occasions, the}- had 
 formed an extensive conspiracy to take away his life, 
 and the lives of all the curates and Spaniards they could 
 meet with. The guests listened to him with credulit}', 
 and promised to assist him with their persons and arms. 
 
 The hour of summons being come, the corrcgidor gave 
 notice to the Spaniards to conceal themselves in the most 
 remote corner of the house ; apprising them that, at a
 
 27 
 
 preconcerted signal, the}' should sally forth and fall upon 
 the Indians, and make them prisoners. The chiefs, 
 alcaldes, and other magistrates of that district pi-esented 
 themselves at the corregidor's with great promptness and 
 obedience ; and, when the latter observed them all assem- 
 bled, he gave the signal, and instantly the Spaniards, 
 their servants, and some mestizoes of that village, rushed 
 forth and made them all prisoners, without meeting the 
 slightest resistance, as they were confounded by this 
 sudden and unlooked-for occnrrence. After they had 
 been properly- secured, he entered a suit against them as 
 disturbers of the peace ; and alleged that, being the mag- 
 istrates of the towns, they had stirred up the Indians to 
 mutiny, b}' persuading them to revolt and refuse obedi- 
 ence to the king ; and he despatched them very soon after 
 to Lima, loaded with irons. The Audience investigated 
 the case ; and, although it was universally known that 
 every article contained in the indictment was false, the 
 chief's, and those who had been taken with them, were 
 sentenced to hard labor in the king's quarries, — some on 
 the Island of St. Lawrence, others at Callao, and others 
 in Valdivia. This unjust exile and chastisement of the 
 most respectable individuals of that district filled the 
 remaining Indians with fear and terror ; and the corregi- 
 dor, able now to effect whatever his caprice suggested, 
 entered upon the distriliution, which was at once the 
 ob'°ct of his desire and the reward of his iniquity'. 
 
 This circumstance was so well known in Lima that no 
 reasonalile man could fail to express his horror of it ; 
 and, although the notoriety of the fact and the opinion of 
 impartial persons were suflicicnt to warrant its perfect 
 credibilit}', we should not venture to record it, had it not 
 been communicated to us l)y an individual personally 
 known to us, and a man of undoubted verac^it}', and who 
 was present in the house, lending aid to the corregidor, 
 and whose account agrees in every particular witli that 
 which we heard from the V\\)S of the unfortunate chiefs, 
 at the time we were superintending tlie pul)Iic works of 
 that fortress, where we saw them emploj'cd as galley 
 slaves.
 
 28 
 
 The individual who gave us the information, and who 
 was an e^'e-witness of the occurrence, was a Frenchman, 
 engaged in commerce in that district, and, as he had 
 made many journeys thereabouts, and was well ac- 
 quainted with the corregidor, he was fully aware that the 
 pretext used for seizing the Indians was false, and that 
 the result was unwarrantable as well as villanous. But, 
 as he has said himself, he had occasion to humor him, 
 lest, by seeking a quarrel against him, he should throw 
 obstacles in ids way whenever he had occasion to travel 
 in that direction. This made it necessary for him to 
 unite with the Spaniards who were present on that occa- 
 sion ; although no one was ignorant that the whole 
 process was utterly false, and was contrived b}' the cor- 
 regidor for no other purpose than to drive the Indian 
 chiefs from his district, that the rest might not resist the 
 ne\t impost, as the mestizoes themselves and other in- 
 habitants of the town had intimated to him. 
 
 No sooner had the corregidor commenced the distribu- 
 tions than he destined a part of the Indians to labor in 
 the gold washings of that province, that they might pay 
 the cost of the articles distributed in that metal. These 
 gold washings had never been thought valuable, from the 
 fact that they were situated in barren heaths, remote from 
 any town or village, and exposed to embarrassments 
 arising from excessive cold and extreme moisture ; and, 
 what is more than all, the quantity of gold obtained at the 
 cost of so much labor was very inconsiderable. At the 
 same time, he had others emplo3'ed in supplying him with 
 large and small cattle for the consumption of a neigh- 
 boring city, where he had entered into contracts ; and, to 
 comply with them, he took the cattle from the Indians at 
 a paltry price ; therebj'^ depriving them of an opportunity 
 to sell them on their own account, either in the city or 
 without leaving their houses, to pui-chasers who might go 
 in search of them, and who would pay the price they 
 had usually demanded : by these means he began to 
 straiten them to such a degree that they were reduced to 
 the most deplorable condition. 
 
 This is the kind of government maintained by the
 
 29 
 
 corregidors in those kingdoms ; to this end all their 
 efforts are directed ; nor has their S3'stem of economy 
 any other object than to secnre the greatest possible in- 
 come from their office. Even if these statements were 
 not presented in proof of their avarice, it might be 
 inferred from the consideration, that all of them go from 
 Spain to the Indies so destitute that, instead of carrying 
 anything tliither, the}' are in debt on account of obliga- 
 tions contracted from the time they leave Spain until 
 thej' reach the district allotted to them ; and that, during 
 their brief term of office, which is limited to five years, 
 the}' mnke a gain of at least seventy thousand dollars, 
 and sometimes accumulate even more than two hundred 
 thousand. This is to be understood of the net profits, 
 after having paid their previous debts and fees of settle- 
 ment, and after having spent and squandered be3'ond all 
 bounds during the whole term of their administration ; 
 for the salar}- and emoluments of their office are so scanty 
 as to be almost inadequate for their current expenses. 
 There are, indeed, corregidors whose salary, including 
 the collection of the tribute, amounts to four or five 
 thousand dollars a 3'ear ; 3'et the greater part do not 
 realize more than two thousand : and, although it were 
 based u[)on an allowance of four thousand dollars annu- 
 all}', this salar}' would only suffice for a decent mainten- 
 ance, allowing a surplus of one-half by living with econ- 
 omy. It is true they have occasion to pass from one 
 settlement to another ; but this is at the expense of the 
 Indians themselves, who furnish them mules, and pay 
 their travelUng expenses during the time they are 
 dela3'ed in each village. 
 
 Having closed our observations on the cruel treatment 
 of the Indians by their corregidors, we shall describe in- 
 cidentally the manner in which tlie latter render an account 
 of their administi-ation at the expiation of its term ; clearly 
 showing th;it this (nifortunate race are left without appeal, 
 and even without a hope that justice should ever enter 
 their doors to plead in their ])ehalf. 
 
 The office of corregidor is sometimes in the gift of the 
 Council of the Indies, and sometimes in that of the
 
 30 
 
 viceroy's : but it is the exclusive perogative of the vice- 
 roy's to nominate notaries when the term of adminis- 
 tration has expired, and no successor to the office has 
 been elected in Spain ; and even in this event the notary 
 named by the council must present his despatches to the 
 vicero}', in order to obtain his passport. As soon as the 
 appointment of a notary comes to the ears of the corre- 
 gidor, he avails himself of his friends in Lima to pay 
 court to him in liis name, and to give him the necessary 
 instructions, that, when he should leave the city, he 
 should come, alread}' gained over, and without any motive 
 for delay. It should be observed that, in addition to the 
 iisual pay allowed the notary', at the expense of the cor- 
 regidor for a term of three months, although only forty 
 days are required to audit the accounts, the amount to be 
 paid is in proportion to the revenue of the district, or more 
 properly to that of the amnesty or bribe which the cor- 
 regidor gives the notary to acquit him of all charges which 
 may be alleged against him. This is so notorious and so 
 s^'stematized in practice that everybody knows what it 
 costs to audit the accounts of this or that district. At the 
 same time, if the corregidor has offended his Spanish 
 neighbors, or if any suspicion is entertained that they 
 might bring in evidence against him, the price is raised 
 for extra costs ; but the settlement is alwa^'s brought 
 about, and the corregidor acquitted, although at a some- 
 what increased expense. 
 
 As soon as the notary arrives in the principal town of 
 his district, he gives public notice of his business, goes 
 through the usual forms, receiving testimony from the 
 friends and domestics of the corregidor that he has ruled 
 well, that he has injured no man, that he has treated the 
 Indians kindly ; and in this wa}' he collects all the evidence 
 which may redound to his interest. But, lest such a de- 
 gree of rectitude and benevolence might excite surprise, 
 three or four persons are employed to present charges 
 against him of a trivial nature, which are magnified by 
 summoning witnesses to testify to their truth ; and the 
 accused, being brought in guilty, is fined in an amount 
 proportioned to the nature of the offence. In the course
 
 31 
 
 of these proceedings, an immense mass of writs and 
 docnraents is collected : and the time prescribed for 
 auditing the accounts graduall}^ slips awaj', when they 
 are closed and presented to the Audience for approba- 
 tion, and the corregidor is as legall}^ innocent of the 
 charges as he was at the time his administration com- 
 menced, and the notary- who audited the accounts is a 
 gainer to the amount of what the settlement has been 
 worth to him. These bargains are made with such 
 ctirontery, and the costs of settlement of accounts are 
 so reduced to sj'stem, that, in the jurisdiction of Valdi- 
 via, a district remote from all intercourse with those 
 kingdoms, the newlj'-appointed governors audit the 
 accounts of their predecessors ; and, as the gratuity 
 bestowed is transmitted from one to another in succes- 
 sion, the governors had the precaution to reserve and 
 conceal under the bed on which they slept four bags of 
 monej', containing each one thousand dollars, — an 
 amount which none of them had occasion to use. The 
 acting governor, on the arrival of a successor, invited 
 him ver\- politely to occupy his own apartment, and, on 
 showing him to his room, he directed his attention to the 
 bags of money ; assuring him that no mistake could 
 occur in the amount, as he had not opened the bags : 
 he stated, moreover, that his predecessor had received 
 his discharge for that sum, and that he would transfer it 
 to him on the same terms. This mode was practised 
 until after we had left that kingdom, as was said by the 
 residents there ; but we do not know if it still continues. 
 "Whether the four bags remain untouched or not, after 
 having changed owners so frequently, is of little impor- 
 tance, provided their nominal value remains unchanged. 
 If, at the time the judge is investigating the proceed- 
 ings of the corregidors, any one of the Indians should 
 allege against them acts of tyranny and injustice which 
 they have committed, the judges either repel the charge, 
 b\' advising them not to involve themselves in lawsuits, 
 which will bring on them disagreeable results, Ijccause 
 the corregidor has proved the reverse of all they have 
 alleged ; or the corregidor, by giving them a trilling sura
 
 32 
 
 of money, just as we would hush a troublesome child, 
 induces them to withdraw the complaint : but if the In- 
 dians refuse to receive mone}', and insist on demanding 
 justice, the judge reproves them with severity, intimating 
 to them that he has shown them too much lenity in not 
 having inflicted chastisement upon them for the crimes 
 alleged against them by the corregidor ; and the judges 
 themselves, assuming the office of mediators, persuade 
 them, after having suffered such complicated abuse, that 
 they are indebted to them for having escaped the punish- 
 ment they deserve : so that it is the same to the Indians 
 whether the corregidors are required or not to give an 
 account of their administration. 
 
 If the charges are adduced by the Spaniards relative 
 to other matters, tlie judge seeks to act as umpire, and 
 urges them to settle their differences amicabl}', and forget 
 injuries that are past ; but, if this method fails, the suit 
 goes on, and, as the judge is biased in favor of the cor- 
 regidor, he alwa3-s labors to acquit him ; and, if he can- 
 not do it by himself, he appeals to the Audience ; and, 
 as all his investigations are so arranged as to present the 
 best evidence in his favor, a little exertion on his part is 
 quite sufficient to have the corregidor acquitted, and his 
 accounts settled agreeably to his wishes. In proof of 
 this we have only to examine the penalties inflicted for 
 such long-continued excesses, and scarcely one will be 
 found : hence the conclusion is inevitable, that no occa- 
 sion for imposing them exists, according to the accounts 
 rendered ; while there is so much to warrant them in the 
 conduct of those corregidors, as has alread}- been shown 
 and as will further appear in the following ci^apter.
 
 OO 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The same Subject continued. 
 
 TViTnouT supposing facts not well ascertained, or ex- 
 aggerating statements which might place our narrative 
 beyond tlie bounds of truth, we may assert, without fear 
 of contradiction, that all the wealth produced by the In- 
 dies, and even their very colonial existence, is due to the 
 sweat and toil of the natives. It is by them the gold and 
 silver mines are wrought, by them the soil is tilled, and 
 liy them the cattle are reared and tended; in a word, 
 there is no servile labor in which they are not tasked. 
 And such is the recompense awarded to them b}^ the 
 Spaniards, that, should we investigate the natm-e of it, 
 it would be found to be nothing more than a protracted 
 and unrelenting punishment, less restrained by j)ity than 
 that inflicted ui)on a galley slave. The gold and silver 
 acquired b}' their hardships and labor never lodges in 
 their hands ; rarely does the day come round which 
 allows them to partake of the fruits the earth yields l)y 
 dint of their etlbrts, or of the meat of the animals they 
 rear and keep ; and never does the occasion offer when 
 the}' might use the warm clothing or couvenicMit articles 
 of manufacture introduced from Spain; since their whole 
 maintenance consists of maize, and herbs which grow 
 wild, and their whole scant}' wardrobe is limited to the 
 coarse fal)rics woven b}- their wives, and wliich are not 
 superior to such as they wore in their uncivilizi'd condi- 
 tion. Religion itself, as we shall afterwards show, is 
 made a plausible jjretext for strii)piiig them of the poor 
 remnant of their Ibrtune, which has escaped the rapa- 
 ciousness of their masters and magistrates; in return for 
 which they have; imi)arted to them no spiritual l)i'nelit, 
 iuasmuch as it is not the spirit of religion which is taught 
 
 2»
 
 34 
 
 them, nor is anything of Christian applicable to them 
 but the empty name. In short, it is evident, wherever 
 we turn, that the whole produce of the Indies is the fruit 
 of their labor, being contributed by them : while it is 
 they who least enjoy it, and who derive the least consid- 
 erable benefit from their incessant toil. 
 
 In order to form a correct judgment both of what we 
 have already stated and of what remains to be said, it is 
 necessary to observe, that the mode of life and the labors 
 of the Indians are adapted to the nature of the districts : 
 for in those where there are mines to be worked, and not 
 plantations, a portion of the Indians perform the meta 
 service ; and in those which embrace both plantations and 
 mines, a part of the Indians are reserved alternately for 
 each species of labor. The meta Indians are drawn by 
 lot for both purposes ; the one to bring the minerals from 
 the veins, and the other to plough and till the ground. 
 The districts which comprise only plantations and work- 
 shops (by which are meant cotton manufactories) are 
 those in which all the meta Indians are emploj'ed ; and 
 there are some districts where the Indians do not per- 
 form the service of the meta, because the plantations are 
 cultivated by negro slaves. 
 
 The meta service prescribes that all the villages are to 
 furnish the estates withiu their precincts a certain num- 
 ber of Indians, to be employed in cultivating them, and 
 that another company be destined for the mines, when 
 their owners find, on examination, that they can be 
 worked more conveniently by adopting the method pre- 
 scribed by the meta. These Indians were bound to per- 
 form this service for one j^ear only ; and at the close of it 
 are allowed to return to their villages, where, their places 
 being filled by others, thej^ are to remain at liberty until 
 their turn comes again in course. But this precedent, so 
 wisely established by the laws, has ceased to be observed : 
 on which account it is indifferent to the Indian whether 
 he labor iu the meta service, for the benefit of the miner, 
 or as nominally free for that of the corregidor ; for in 
 each species of labor the bondage is the same. All the 
 districts of Quito, and those which extend to the other
 
 35 
 
 mountainoiis provinces of Peru, towards the south, prac- 
 tise the meta : and all those comprehended in the Yalle3's, 
 as far as the jurisdictions of Pisco and Nasca, do not 
 adopt it ; because no miners are found there, and all or 
 nearly all the plantations situated in the valleys are 
 cultivated b}' negro slaves ; but those which rise from the 
 valleys are tilled exclusively by Indians subject to the 
 meta. Having premised so much, we will relate what 
 occurs in Quito, from which we may deduce by compar- 
 ison what takes place in all the others in which the same 
 system obtains ; and, to do it more method icall}', we 
 shall divide the estates into four different classes : 1 . 
 The plantations for growing breadstuffs ; 2. The grazing 
 estates; '6. The wool-growing estates ; 4. The manufact- 
 ories. 
 
 On the estates of the first class, a meta Indian earns 
 from fourteen to eighteen dollars a 3'ear, according to 
 the nature of his emploj-ment ; and, besides this, the 
 estate allows him a piece of ground from twenty to thirty 
 j-ards square, to make a garden for himself. On these 
 conditions, the Indian is bound to labor three hundred 
 days in the j'ear, completing his full daily task ; and is 
 exempted from labor the remaining sixty-five, on account 
 of Sundays, holidays, illness, or any other casualty which 
 may prevent him from working ; the overseers of the 
 plantations taking care to mark, every week, the number 
 of daj-s which each Indian has labored, in order to settle 
 his account at the end of the 3'ear. 
 
 The tribute of eight dollars, paid by the owner of the 
 estate, is to be deducted from the salary of the Indian ; 
 and estimating this at eighteen dollars, which is the 
 maximum, there are ten dollars remaining. From this 
 sum, two dollars and two reals are to be deducted, to ])uy 
 three yards of baize, at six reals a yard, that he may 
 make a shirt for himself, as decency requires ; and he 
 will have remaining seven dollars six reals, to maintain 
 himself and his wife and children, if he have any, l)esides 
 clothing them, and paying such contributions as the curate 
 may levy upon him. Nor is this all : for the piece of 
 ground allowed him is so confined that it becomes im-
 
 36 
 
 possMe for him to raise all the corn required for the 
 scanty support of his family-, and he is obliged to receive 
 of the owner of the estate half a bushel of corn monthly, 
 which is charged to him at six reals (which is double the 
 usual price) , because the Indian cannot purchase of any 
 one else ; thus twelve times six reals make nine dollars, 
 which is one dollar and six reals more than the Indian 
 can earn. So that the wretched serf, after toiling three 
 hundred days in the 3'ear, besides cultivating a garden of 
 vegetables in the remaining sixt^'-five, having received 
 only a coarse baize shirt and six bushels of corn, becomes 
 indebted to his master one dollar and six reals, on ac- 
 count of the labor he has to perform the following 3-ear. 
 Were it no more than this, the patient Indian would 
 endure it all ; but his sufferings are j-et greater. It fre- 
 quentl}' happens (as we have witnessed) that an animal 
 dies in the paramo, or heath ; the master has it brought 
 to the farm, and, in order not to lose its value, has it cut 
 in pieces, and distributes it to the Indians at so much a 
 pound, — a price w^hich, however reasonable, an Indian 
 cannot pa}' ; and hence his debt is augmented by being 
 forced to receive meat which is unfit to be eaten, owing 
 to its bad condition, and which he is consequently obliged 
 to throw to the dogs. 
 
 If, as the climax of misfortune, the unfortunate mitaj'o 
 should lose his wife, or one of his children, his cup of 
 anguish is full, when he reflects how he shall pa}' the in- 
 exorable fee of interment ; and he is driven to enter into 
 a new contract with the owner of the estate, to furnish 
 him the money extorted by the church. If he escapes 
 the anguish of losing any of his family, the curate orders 
 him to celebrate a church festival in honor of the Virgin, 
 or one of the saints, and he is obliged on this account 
 to contract a new debt ; so that, at the close of the year, 
 his debts exceed his earnings, while he has neither han- 
 dled money nor got in his possession an}' articles of value 
 whatever. His master claims the right of his person, 
 obliges him to continue in his service until the debt is 
 paid ; and, as payment can never be made by the poor 
 Indian, he becomes a slave for life ; and, in defiance of
 
 37 
 
 all natural and national law, children are required to pay, 
 b}' their personal service, the unavoidable debts of their 
 parents. 
 
 There are some Indians who pay a heavier tribute 
 than others ; and, in this respect, those who belong to the 
 encomiendas are least burdened : but this does in no way 
 redound to the advantage of the Indians, as it should, 
 but to the benefit of their masters ; for they pay them 
 less for the mcta service, on the ground that they are 
 parlially exempted from paying tribute, in direct opposi- 
 tion to the royal grant, in which this privilege is conceded 
 to the patrons, with a view of lightening the burden of 
 the impost levied upon the Indians. 
 
 Another species of cruelty is inflicted upon that race, 
 which would be deemed barbarous if practised upon the 
 brute creation. AVhen an unfruitful season occurs, and 
 corn is valued at three or four dollars, all produce rises 
 in the same proportion, but the mitayo is not entitled to 
 higher wages : and, although he subsists exclusively upon 
 maize, the landholders will not furnish it to him at twelve 
 reals, which is the regular price, although it sometimes 
 produces more ; and the wages of the Indians not being 
 adequate to pay for it at so high a price, and having no 
 means of purchasing it except such as they derive from 
 their personal labor, they are deprived of sustenance, 
 because their masters sell all the maize in the villages, to 
 convert it into mone}' — a cruel expedient, which leaves 
 the helpless Indian, who labors in their houses and for 
 them, al)andoned without mercy to perish with hunger. 
 This occurred in the Province of Quito in the years 1743 
 and 174-1, during our residence there. The scarcity of 
 maize was unprecedented, and such was the unfeeling 
 barljarity of the masters towards the Indians, that they 
 cut otf the usual supply of their only sustenance, for the 
 purpose of selling it at exorbitant prices : from hence 
 resulted a fearful mortality of Indians on all the estates, 
 besides that which itrevailed in all the villages, many of 
 which were nearl}' depopulated. 
 
 The produce of the vegetable gardens cultivated by 
 the Indians is limited to a little corn and a few potatoes,
 
 38 
 
 and is so inconsiderable that they are consumed during 
 the process of ripening. The only occasion in the year 
 when they are allowed to taste meat is when some animal 
 dies, and is taken up before the condors and vultures 
 have devoured it. We may conjecture what its quality 
 must be ; since, besides the circumstance of the animal 
 having died in the field, it has usually so bad an odor 
 as to render it intolerable ; and in this case the arbitrary 
 rule of the master is carried to such an extreme as to 
 force it upon the Indian, under the penalty of chastise- 
 ment if he refuse to receive it. 
 
 The Indians who perform the meta service on the 
 grazing estates, which are those of the second class, 
 usually earn somewhat more than the da}^ laborer ; l)ut 
 their labor is also greater. On these estates, an Indian 
 has assigned to him a certain number of cows, that he 
 may take care of them and of their milk. He is to 
 make the number of cheeses usually required for each 
 cow ; and on the last day of every week they are deliv- 
 ered to the overseer, who receives them by weight, and 
 with such rigid scrupulousness that the least deficienc}' in 
 the weight required is charged to the account of the In- 
 dian, — a manifestl}' unjust course of proceeding ; for, if 
 the failure of milk might occasionally be attributed to 
 the Indian, it proceeds in general from the quantity and 
 quality given by the cows, which is not alwa^'s uniform, 
 or some neglect might occur, allowing the calves to take 
 more than their usual portion. Exclusive of these 
 causes, which are independent of the will of the Indians, 
 the charges against them augment so rapidly, that, at 
 the close of the 3'ear, when they have worked out the 
 term of the meta, and are to be released, they find them- 
 selves in greater bondage than before ; for, as they have 
 not the means of paying that fictitious debt, they are 
 compelled to bind themselves to protracted service on 
 the estate, which, in these circumstances, is their last 
 resource. 
 
 It may be argued that the debts incurred b}' the Ind- 
 ians, whether in one species of labor or another, are 
 merely imaginary, as the whole race is insolvent, and
 
 30 
 
 that no injury results from them. In solitary instances 
 it miti'ht be so ; but in general it is otherwise. It is prej- 
 udicial to the Indian to be indebted to the estate, because 
 the owner of it deducts, on account of the debt, all that 
 he has been able to earn b}- dint of care and toil during 
 his hours of repose ; and, if pa3'ment be made grudgingly, 
 the task is augmented, even when no hope is entertained 
 that the debt will be paid in full. It is true that, in the 
 hopeless condition of the Indian, to be reduced to sla- 
 ver}- on the estates where they live is no additional burden ; 
 for, in case they should be restored to their villages, they 
 would be no less oppressed by the imposts of the cor- 
 regidors. "Were it otherwise, it would be gross injustice 
 not to alternate their labor annually ; for while living in 
 their villages they would enjoj" their freedom, and would 
 earn enough to maintain themselves comfortabl3-, whether 
 by working as da}- laborers, or busying themselves in the 
 same tasks in which they would be employed if they 
 remained in them : and there is no doubt that tlieir 
 gains would be sufficient to bear, without too much hard- 
 ship, both the impost of the tribute and the meta ; but 
 the}' ai'e deprived of this consolation by the insatiable 
 avarice of those who rule over them. 
 
 On the wool-growing estates, which compose those of 
 the fluid order, every Indian earns eighteen dollars, 
 when he has the care of an entire flock ; and if he has two 
 he earns something more, — but not twice the amount, as 
 would seem equitable. Those Indians who are apparently 
 the most fortunate, are not less subject to oppression than 
 othei's ; fur they are made responsible for the flock, and 
 are accounted debtors for all the sheep that are missing 
 at the end of the month, unless they deliver them dead. 
 At first sight tliis condition appears reasonable ; but, in 
 realitv, local as well as other causes, not depending on 
 the Indian, render it impossible for him to put it in prac- 
 tice. The tracts where the Indians pasture and live with 
 their flocks are situated in the heart of the wilderness, 
 among tiie ravines formed by the mountains, which are 
 wholly uninhabited, and at a distance of three or four 
 leagues from the principal farm-house. On these estates,
 
 40 
 
 wheat fields are also cultivated, and for this purpose the 
 same Indians are employed who have the care of the 
 sheep ; and, being under the necessity of tilling the soil 
 for the benefit of their masters, the sheep are intrusted 
 to the care of a woman, who is sometimes nursing, or to 
 that of children five or six years old ; for, as soon as the 
 latter are capable of doing service, they are obliged to 
 labor for the benefit of the master. Hence it sometimes 
 happens that a sheep sickens or goes astray over the 
 wild, uncultivated extent of those paramos ; and, should 
 he be so unlucky as not to be able to find it, as soon as 
 it is missing, it is charged to his account at the close of 
 the month, when the flock is counted. 
 
 Even if the owner should not require him to intrust the 
 sheep to his wife's keeping, it would be unjust to make 
 the loss fall upon him ; for it is only one who tends the 
 sheep ; and such is the nature of that broken surface 
 that it would be impossible to trace the sheep by the 
 e3-e, as they wander over ravines, morasses, and de- 
 chvities of the mountains, nor is it in the power of the 
 keeper to rescue them from tlie talons of the condors. 
 What passed under my own observation frequently takes 
 place : for, on one occasion, while descending a precipice, 
 I saw a condor pounce upon a flock, and earryotfa lamb 
 in his claws, and, rising to a certain height, let go his 
 hold, as if to kill it b}' the fall ; and, seizing it a second 
 time, he carried off his pre^', while neither the cries of the 
 shepherd boy, nor the barking of the dogs, could avail 
 any thing to prevent it. 
 
 In order to point out more clearly the injustice prac- 
 tised towards the Indians, we may be permitted to draw 
 a comparison between the Indian and the Spanish shep- 
 herd, and the contrast between them will serve to cor- 
 rol)orate v>'hat we have asserted. 
 
 In Spain, a flock of sheep usually contains about five 
 hundred head ; and to tend it the owner maintains a shep- 
 herd and a swain, who are both males. In Andalusia, 
 the shepherd earns twenty-four dollars a year, and the 
 swain sixteen dollars, amounting in all to forty dollars. 
 Besides their wages, the owner is bound to furnish thera
 
 41 
 
 bread, oil, vinegar, and salt, besides what the dogs eat ; 
 he is also to furnish them an ass to drive the herd, and, 
 when the number is augmented to three flocks, an over- 
 seer is appointed to keep watch over them all, who earns 
 higher wages than the shepherd, and the master provides 
 him with a horse. In Peru, a flock usually consists of 
 eight hundred or a thousand head, and is tended by a 
 single individual, who bears in that country the name of 
 sheep-keeper. This man earns only eighteen dollars a 
 j'ear ; from which sum, after deducting the tribute, only 
 ten dollars remain ; and with these he is to provide for 
 himself, for liis wife and children, and for the dogs which 
 are to aid him in taking cai'e of the flock, because his 
 master allows him nothing more. The low rate of wages 
 should not be attributed to the cheapness of provisions ; 
 for, on the contrary, every thing there is incomparablj' 
 dearer than it is in Spain. The same is true of other 
 branches of industry ; and it is difficult to imagine how 
 those people subsist, until we become acquainted with 
 their frugal mode of living. The hut the^^ inhabit has 
 scared}' space sufficient for them to stretch themselves, 
 although it contains not an article of furniture ; their bed 
 is a raw sheepskin, one being provided for each mem- 
 ber of the famil}-, and they never use a pillow ; their 
 food consists of two or three spoonfuls of oatmeal, which 
 the}' force into their mouths, and, after stirring it with the 
 tongue, they swallow it and instantly drink a large quan- 
 tity of water or c/u"c7ia, which is a kind of malt liquor, 
 whenever the}- can get it ; occasionally they substitute 
 for oatmeal a handful of maize, boiled in water until 
 the gi-ain swells and l)ursts. This constitutes the whole 
 of an Indian's sustenance. 
 
 It is in the fourth and last department of industry, 
 namely, the '■'■ obrages" or factories, — that it appears 
 as if all the scourges that afflict humanity were concen- 
 trated. -All these sufferings are accumulated upon the 
 head of the wretched Indian ; and bitter lamentations 
 are heard on every side under tlu! inflictions of the rod 
 of oppression. Several of his Majesty's ministers have 
 been fully aware of this, and have endeavored to take
 
 42 
 
 veiy decisive measures in respect to it ; but it must be 
 confessed that the regulations of government in regard 
 to the colonies are seldom enforced, as will appear in the 
 sequel. 
 
 The workshops are a combination of the other three 
 classes of estates : they are the factories where the 
 cloths, baizes, and woollen stuffs known in Peru by 
 the name of home fabrics, are woven by the hand-loom. 
 In former .years, the woollen manufactory was confined 
 to the Province of Quito : but, it has been recently intro- 
 duced into other districts ; although the articles manufact- 
 ured in the provinces south of Quito are nothing but 
 coarse cloths, of very ordinary texture. In Cajamarca, 
 there are looms for the manufacture of cotton goods. 
 
 To form an accurate idea of these factories, the}' might 
 be compared to a galley, always in motion, being con- 
 stantly propelled by the oars ; while the harbor is so re- 
 mote that it can never be reached, how hard soever the 
 seaman toil in anticipation of rest. The management of 
 those factories, the labors performed in them b}' the Ind- 
 ians, to whose unhappy lot this service falls, and the 
 merciless punishment inflicted upon those miserable ob- 
 jects, surpass every thing which it is possible for us to 
 describe. 
 
 The labor of the workhouses commences before the 
 day dawns, at which time every Indian takes his place 
 at the piece which is in process of weaving, and the 
 tasks of the day are distributed as may be expedient ; 
 and, when this process is concluded, the owner of the 
 house closes the door, and leaves them immured as in 
 a prison. At mid-da}' the door is opened for the women 
 to go in with their scant allowance of food, which is 
 soon partaken, and they are again locked up. When 
 the darkness of night no longer permits them to labor, 
 the owner goes round to gather up the stints : those who 
 have not been able to finish, in spite of apologies or 
 reasonings, are punished with indescribable cruelty ; 
 and those unfeeling men, as if transformed into merci- 
 less savages, inflict upon the wretched Indians lashes by 
 hundreds, for they use no other method of counting ; and,
 
 43 
 
 to complete the punishment, thcj- remand them again to 
 the workshop ; and, although the whole bnilding is a 
 prison-house, a portion of it is reserved for fetters, and 
 instruments of torture, where they are punished- with 
 greater indignity than could be practised towards the 
 most delinquent slaves. 
 
 During the day, every apartment is visited by the 
 owner, his assistant, and his overseer, and the Indian 
 who is chargeable with any neglect is chastised at the 
 time with the whip ; and afterwards goes on with his 
 work, until the time an-ives to put away his work, when 
 the punishment is frequently repeated. 
 
 This process is carried on every day, in respect to the 
 meta Indians ; and the punishment inflicted is so much 
 the more cruel as it does b}' no means exempt them 
 from the obligation of completing the task ; for all their 
 delinquencies are noted in a register, to be charged to 
 their account at the close of the year : and thus the debt 
 incurred is augmenting from year to 3'ear, until, finding 
 it impossible to make up their arrears, the master ac- 
 quires a right, however unfounded, to reduce to slavery 
 not only the meta Indian, but all his sons. The treat- 
 ment of these Indians will appear to be gentle in com- 
 parison with that experienced by those who are sen- 
 tenced by the corregidors to the same work-houses, for 
 having failed to pay the tribute at the time it was de- 
 manded, and frequently (as we have said) when they 
 were not under any obligation to pa}' it. These Indians 
 earn a real a day : one-half is kept back to pay the cor- 
 regidor, and the remaining half is applied to their main- 
 tenance, which is inade(|uate for a man who labors 
 incessantly the whole day ; and, in proof of it, imagine 
 if any article could be bought, that would suflice for his 
 nourishnient, for half a real, when it is not enough to 
 supply him with chicha, — a beverage to which the Indians 
 are strongly addicted, and which lias become so nuich a 
 part of their nature that it nourishes and strengthens 
 them as much as what they eat. Besides, as the Indian 
 is unal)le to escape from that bondage, he is obliged to 
 take what his master will give him for that half real.
 
 44 
 
 The inhnman owner of the factory, in order to lose noth- 
 ing by waste, turns to account for their use the maize or 
 barley which has been damaged by keeping, or the cattle 
 which die and contaminate the atmosphere, as well as all 
 the worst and most worthless of his produce. 
 
 As a result of this course of treatment, these Indians 
 fall sick, after remaining a short time in that condition; 
 and their constitutions being exhausted partly for want 
 of nourishment, partly by repeated punishment, as well 
 as by diseases contracted from the bad quality of their 
 food, they die before they have been able to pay the trib- 
 ute with tlie avails of their labor. The Indian loses his 
 life, and the country that one inhabitant, whence proceeds 
 the great diminution which is observed to be taking place 
 in that kingdom. Such is the spectacle exhibited when 
 they are taken out dead that it would excite compassion 
 in the most unfeeling heart. Only a mere skeleton remains 
 of them to publish the cause which doomed them to per- 
 ish ; and the greater part of these die in the very facto- 
 ries, witli their tasks in their hands ; for although the 
 ynay be indisposed, as the countenance would indicate, 
 that is no inducement to their cruel taskmaster to ex- 
 empt them from labor or to seek their remedy. Ac- 
 customed to look upon them with utter aversion, they do 
 not imagine a sick Indian to be a worthy inmate of a hos- 
 pital until his strength is so far exhausted that he dies 
 before reaching the charitable asylum, and those are for- 
 tunate who have suflicient power of resistance left to go 
 and die within the hospital. To be condemned to the 
 factories occasions to the Indian greater consternation 
 than all other punishments that malice can invent. The 
 married Indian women and aged mothers begin to bewail 
 the death of their husbands or their children from the 
 moment the}' are sentenced to this punishment. Children 
 do the same in respect to their parents, nor is there any 
 method the latter will not devise to rescue their children 
 from the labor of the workshop ; and tlieir sorrow is ex- 
 treme when all expedients fail to produce the desired 
 effect. The anguish which, with so much reason, over- 
 whelms them, finds vent, in view of the place of punish-
 
 45 
 
 mcnt, as they raise to Heaven their cries ; since all on 
 earth combine against tliora, and, restrained by no tri- 
 bunal of justice, abandon them to such hopeless raiserj-. 
 
 Some will maintain that it is necessary to put the In- 
 dians into the workshops, if they do not pay the triliute, 
 in order to compensate the loss ; hence it is that the 
 governors or other individuals are allowed to do it, in 
 order to collect the debt. But neither the laws of the 
 Indians, nor the express commands of our sovereigns, 
 permit the Indians to be treated with such cruelty as is 
 practised there ; but, on the contrary-, they inculcate 
 compassion and kindness towards these inoffensive sub- 
 jects. We ma^- readily suppose that the statements which 
 gained their assent to the low rate of wages given were 
 either false or inaccurate, inasmuch as the king and his 
 council were led to believe that the pay allowed the Ind- 
 ians in the workshop was sufficient for their mainten- 
 ance, besides leaving a surplus for the pa3'ment of the 
 tribute. Under the S3'stem now adopted, neither object 
 is obtained. 
 
 The expedient of condemning the Indians to these fear- 
 ful places has become so general as to render them the 
 gi'ave of their freedom for a great variety of delinquen- 
 cies. A trifling debt, even to a private individual, is suf- 
 ficient ground for any one invested with authority to 
 inflict this punishment upon them. AYe frequently meet 
 Indians on the highway, tied b}' the hair to the tail of a 
 horse, on which a mestizo is mounted, who is conveying 
 them to the workshops, and perhaps for the trivial offence 
 of having evaded the tyranny of the overseer from fear 
 of punishment. Let what will be said of the cruelty prac- 
 tised by the patrons towards the Indians at the com- 
 mencement of the conquest, we cannot persuade our- 
 selves, after what we have witnessed, that it could ever 
 have been carried to the extent it now is by the Span- 
 iards and mestizoes. And, if at that period tliey were re- 
 garded as slaves, the}' had but one master in the patron ; 
 but now they are subject to the governors, the owners of 
 workshops, the proprietors of estates, the overseers of 
 the cattle, and, what is most scandalous of all, the very
 
 46 
 
 ministers of the altar: all these, including the priest- 
 hood, treat the defenceless Indians with more cruelty 
 than they exercise towards African slaves. 
 
 Not onl}^ the meta Indians are employed in the cultiva- 
 tion of the estates, but also their wives and children, when 
 they are capable of doing any thing, who are treated with 
 as much severit}' as if they were all subject to the meta 
 service. They keep the women and children employed 
 in planting corn, potatoes, and other seeds, in weeding 
 the beds of vegetables, in gathering the harvest and shell- 
 ing the corn, and in the various occupations pertaining 
 to the farm ; so that it is no small convenience to masters 
 to have, with an Indian so badly paid, so many to labor 
 obsequiously in his service. 
 
 It is a prevailing opinion in all those countries, and 
 especially in the mountainous districts, that if the Ind- 
 ians were not subject to the meta, they would become 
 idle, and the plantations would cease to be cultivated ; 
 but this is a mistaken notion, as we shall presently show. 
 But what ma}' we suppose will not be urged by those 
 whose interest it is to defend the meta? They say that 
 the Indies could not be held by us without it ; that, were 
 it not for this restraint, the Indians would revolt ; and 
 that the fact that they have not done so is chiefly owing 
 to the oppressed condition in which the}' are held by the 
 Spaniards. These and other like calumnies are invented 
 b}' malice, as an apology for cruelty ; and, even admitting 
 what they assert to be true, can there exist any law or 
 reason why they should be deprived of what is necessary 
 for their support, if they are forced to labor with unparal- 
 leled rigor? We cannot imagine a S3'stem of discipline 
 so barbarous as to authorize such a degree of oppression. 
 The truth being concealed under the disguise of erroneous 
 statements (some of which we have detected) , measures 
 are adopted on the supposition that these statements ai'e 
 true, and that they have in view the common welfare and 
 preservation of those kingdoms. 
 
 In order to expose more clearly the malignant charac- 
 ter of the communications which come to us from tlience, 
 exaggerating the indolence and dilatorj^ habits of the Ind-
 
 47 
 
 ians, let iis direct our attention to tliose plantations 
 which do not have the benefit of the meta, or in which 
 the number of meta Indians is comparatively small. Do 
 they on this account fail to be cultivated ? By no means ; 
 for, at a small additional expense, they have as many Ind- 
 ians as are required, and with no other difference than 
 that of hiring them on wages ; and although tlie rate 
 does not exceed one real a daj", — a sum scarcely ade- 
 quate to their daily wants, — they do not despise it, be- 
 cause they avail themselves of the assistance of their 
 ■wives ; and, when they have no work in hand for their 
 own account and benefit, they are prompt to labor for a 
 real a da}'. This makes it evident that they would labor 
 even were the}- not compelled to it by the cruel expedient 
 of the meta. But the fact is that the Indian, being em- 
 plo3"ed on the plantations at a real a day, even at this re- 
 duced rate of wages, the three huxidred da^'s of the year 
 would require thirtj'-seven dollars and a half, and with 
 this sum the owner of the plantation would have but one 
 person to work for him ; while under the meta s^'stem, 
 which allows only one-half this sum, estimating the wages 
 at eighteen dollars a 3"ear, they have, besides the re- 
 duction of wages, which is so considerable, the advan- 
 tage of securing the services of a whole familj-. 
 
 What we have just remarked is not at variance with 
 the statement made in the first volume of the history of 
 our tour, respecting the nature, peculiarities, and cus- 
 toms of the Indians ; for there can be no doubt that they 
 are phlegmatic, and that it requires exertion to make 
 them labor ; but this proceeds in a great measure from 
 the fact that all that tribe are so irritated and aggrieved 
 by the treatment they receive from the Spaniards that it 
 is no wonder if whatever they do should be done rcluc- 
 tantl}'. Let us suppose a system to be established in 
 Spain, by which the rich should oblige the poor to labor 
 for their l)enefit without an}' equivalent, — would they be 
 disposed to do so? Let iis reflect, then, how much less 
 inclined to lal>or those unlbrtunate Indians would be, who 
 are rendered mart3-rs by incessant punishment, such as 
 would not be endured bj- any but a simple race of men.
 
 48 
 
 or by those who wear their chains as a matter of neces- 
 sity, and as the penalty which their crimes have merited. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the Indians of the present day 
 discover very little inclination to labor, for they are nat- 
 urally sluggish and dilatory ; but it is likewise true that, 
 when their own interest is at stake, natural indolence 
 presents no obstacle to exertion. The system of econ- 
 omy and government adopted in those countries is based 
 upon so bad a footing, that, whether the Indian labor or 
 not, the result is the same as regards his own benefit ; 
 hence it is not strange that his love of ease should make 
 him lean to the side of indolence, rather than to that of 
 activity. Nor is this a weakness exclusively Indian : it 
 is inherent in all men. Look at the most civilized na- 
 tions on the globe, and none will be found among them 
 all who are disposed to exert their skill and strength with- 
 out the incentive of gain, and their activity is in propor- 
 tion to the benefit which is to I'esult from it. But it is 
 the same to the Indian whether he earn money at the 
 cost of sweat and toil, or not, for the gain is so transient 
 in passing through his hands that he never knows what 
 it is to enjoy it : the more he labors and strives, the more 
 rapidlj' it passes from his possession to that of the cor- 
 regidors, curates, and owners of the plantations. In view 
 of this, who will tax the Indian with sloth, and not rather 
 the Spaniard with impiety, avarice, and oppression? 
 
 It might seem to be carrying the defence of the Indians 
 too far to exculpate them entirely, and to attribute to 
 the Spaniards the cause of their want ofindustrj' ; but the 
 examples furnished by antiquityjustify such a conclusion, 
 and testimonies of modern date corroborate it with every 
 possible degree of conviction. If we turn our e^-es to the 
 period prior to their conversion, we shall be astonished 
 at the grandeur of their public works, which deserve our 
 admiration to such a degree that we are at a loss to com- 
 prehend how such wonders could have been accomplished. 
 Let us throw out of the account those which are described 
 in histor}^, lest their very magnificence should lead to a 
 suspicion of falsehood or exaggeration, and take as our 
 model what even now the eye can trace in the ruins of
 
 49 
 
 those Tvorks which still remain ; and we shall find ma- 
 terials sufficient not onl^- to disprove the injurious opinion 
 in which the}- are held, but to furnish evidence of extraor- 
 dinarj' activity and exertion. Is not this apparent in the 
 patient industry' b}' which they have constructed a multi- 
 tude of aqueducts ? They have brought under cultivation 
 a piece of ground which was useless without the benefit 
 of irrigation : by opening a w^ater-course from a remote 
 source, and continuing it along the declivities of the 
 towering Andes, to escape the fearful ravines which im- 
 peded its course in a right line, they caused the water to 
 run a circuit of more than thirty leagues, as the nature 
 of the soil required, until they had attained their original 
 purpose of cultivating that piece of ground and rendering 
 it fruitful. These works, which are truly grand, re- 
 mained from that period in such perfection as to be ser- 
 viceable to the Spaniards in a later age ; nor can we omit 
 what it shames us to sa}^ that the Spaniards themselves 
 of that countr}' have suffered man}^ of them to go into 
 decay, by their lamentable neglect ; and, much as they 
 feel the want of them now, they are unable to repair them, 
 nor is there a single undertaking of the kind which has 
 been attempted since the conquest. 
 
 The bridges, the causeways, and the roads of all Peru 
 were constructed by Gentile Indians, with astonishing 
 perseverance ; of which, however, the greater part have 
 been ruined by the neglect of the new colonists. AVhere 
 but in Peru, without excepting even the most celebrated 
 kingdoms, are to be seen roads more than four hundred 
 leagues long, of a solid foundation, of uniform breadth, 
 and their sides protected throughout by walls of suflicient 
 breadth and thickness ? Vestiges remain to announce the 
 immensity of this work ; and its decay will always bear 
 witness to the neglect of the Spaniards who settled in 
 the empire of the Incas. Arc not the Tambos, or 
 spacious inns, which still exist through the whole extent 
 of the Province of C^uito, as well as in all the mountain- 
 ous countr}', infallible indications that the Indians did 
 not live so abandoned to indolence that they could not 
 
 3
 
 50 
 
 shake it off for the accomplishment of any object which 
 might minister to their convenience? The palaces, the 
 temples, and the other works mentioned in the first part 
 of the history of our travels, do not permit us the injustice 
 of imputing to that people the love of ease, when they 
 all bear evidence to the contrary. Let us now examine 
 their manner of life at the present time, and we shall find 
 that they are not indisposed to labor. 
 
 All the free Indians cultivate the lands belonging to 
 them with so much care that they leave no portion of 
 them fallow. It is true that their arable lands are circum- 
 scribed ; but it is because they are not allowed to possess 
 more, and not for want of care and toil to render them 
 productive. The caciques, who have a larger portion 
 assigned them, lay out extensive planting-grounds, rear 
 cattle according to their means and opportunities, and 
 husband all they can, without being compelled by force, 
 and without using compulsion towards those w'ho labor 
 for them. 
 
 When the Indians who are not employed in the work- 
 houses have any leisure time, and have finished the 
 heavy task assigned them by their overseers, the}'' labor 
 at home on their own account. All the Indian women 
 do the same, when opportunit}^ offers. This is not con- 
 sistent with the charge alleged against them, that they 
 are idle ; for any other people whatever would detest la- 
 bor, could they once know that the avails of it were to 
 be applied, not to their own benefit, but to the benefit of 
 others. 
 
 The facts adduced are sufficient to show that the Span- 
 iards of those counti'ies have exaggerated the indolence 
 of the Indians, in order to render the use of the meta in- 
 dispensable, applying it to their own emolument, — a 
 measure which tends directl}' to the injury of the Indians, 
 and to the exhaustion of the royal treasury ; because a 
 vast number perish under a system beyond measure rig- 
 orous, as well as from want of sustenance, and the total 
 neglect of the aged and infirm. In proportion as the 
 number of the Indians decreases, the amount of tribute
 
 51 
 
 falls short, and the towns become depopulated. These 
 results are so palpable that they are felt and acknowl- 
 edged even l\y those who are blinded by prejudice. 
 
 Notwithstanding what we have said of the punishment 
 inflicted upon the Indians in the workhouses, it is not 
 sufficient to give an exact idea of the sj^stem as it is 
 practised in them ; and hence we are obliged to present 
 some further particulars. 
 
 As there are in the workhouses three taskmasters, 
 who have the constant supervision of the Indian weavers, 
 so there are three emploj-ed on the plantations, which 
 are the overseer, his assistant, and second ; but, as the 
 latter is alwa3-s an Indian, he is not accustomed to inflict 
 blows on the rest. He is permitted, however, to carry a 
 whip, like the rest, to make his authority respected. 
 Each one holds his own scourge, without letting it fall from 
 his hand the whole dav long. This instrument of torture 
 resembles a rope's end, about a yard long, and a little 
 less than a finger in thickness, and is made of cow's hide 
 twisted like cord. In case the Indian has been guilt}^ of 
 any wrong or neglect, he is required to lie flat on his 
 face, when his thin drawers, which make up his whole 
 dress, are taken off, and he is scourged with the rod ; be- 
 ing himself obliged to count the lashes that are inflicted 
 upon him, until the number prescribed in the sentence 
 has been completed. He then gets up, and is required 
 to kneel in presence of the man with the whip, and, kiss- 
 ing his hand, to say to him, " May God bless you ! " the 
 trembling lips of the wretched Indian thus giving thanks 
 in the name of God for the stripes inflicted upon liim, al- 
 most alwa^-s unjustl}'. Nor are vien alone subject to 
 punishment, but their wives and children, and even the 
 caciques, whose rank and dignit}^ entitle them to consid- 
 eration. 
 
 The practice of scourging the Indians so unmercifully 
 is not confined to the workhouses, plantations, and racta 
 Indians ; l)ut the priests cliastisc their parishioners, and 
 exact any service from them whatever by dint of blows. 
 For, if the Indian should not do promptly what is required
 
 52 
 
 of him, it is deemed sufficient motive to make him lie 
 down, and to inflict stripes upon him with a whip, or with 
 the reins of the horse, until his strength is exhausted. This 
 enormity reaches such a pass that even negro slaves and 
 the vilest sort of persons practise it continually on their 
 own responsibility, with no other reason or pretext than 
 their own caprice. Nor is the suffering mcrcl,y causal, nor 
 confined to this or that individual ; but it is the lot of the 
 whole family of Indians, as an evidence of which we shall 
 mention what took place during our residence in some 
 villages, and even in our own house. 
 
 In the city of Cuenca, we took a house in company 
 with the French gentlemen associated with us ; and some 
 of the servants employed by the latter were Europeans, 
 others mestizoes, and others negro slaves, which the 
 French company had brought with them from St. Do- 
 mingo. When it became requisite to clean the 3'ard and 
 outhouses, — a service belonging to the mestizoes and ne- 
 groes, — the latter, to rid themselves of it, passed to the 
 street, and compelled the Indians who were travelling by 
 to enter the houses, and then obliged them to perfoi'm all 
 the labor. We reprimanded the former, and ordered the 
 slaves to be punished ; but, as they were corrupted by 
 the precedent which had been introduced in other houses, 
 they waited till we had gone out of doors, in order to ac- 
 complish their purpose. HowcA^er, the fear which the 
 servants entertain towards their masters restrained them 
 from treating the Indians with cruelty, and at length they 
 gave them the leavings of the kitchen, which in some de- 
 gree compensated their labor. But their being whipped 
 by negro slaves, or made to run bound to the tail of a 
 horse, as is practised by mestizoes and Spaniards, is so 
 common an occurrence as scarcely to attract notice. 
 
 The punishments already described are those which are 
 usually inflicted upon the Indians ; but when the rage of 
 the master or overseer is not appeased, they scald them 
 likewise, as is done in the negro colonies, although by a 
 different method. Their mode is to take two pieces of 
 the spunk of maguey, which is the light pith of the stalk
 
 53 
 
 of the agave plant, and, after having been set on fire, 
 they strike them together, that the sparks may fall on 
 the flesh simultaneously with the inflietion of the rod. 
 
 The patient Indian submits without murmuring to im- 
 prisonment, hunger, stripes, and every species of torture ; 
 but an alfront is to him intolerable. The greatest degree 
 of ignominy is that of having the head shaved by way of 
 chastisement ; and, as the disgrace of this punishment is 
 more permanent than that of bodil^^ suffering, the abashed 
 Indian seeks in Aain for consolation under this misfor- 
 tune ; notwithstanding, whenever his crime is one of an 
 aggravated nature, and the wrath of the master is im- 
 placable, he is shorn of his hair, and left to inconsolable 
 grief and anguish.* In a word, the most insatiable 
 spirit of revenge has never been able to invent an}' spe- 
 cies of punishment which the Indian does not receive at 
 the hand of the Spaniards. 
 
 It is a common remark of the most sober and thought- 
 ful men of those countries, that if the Indians suffer for 
 God's sake the hardships through which the}' pass dariug 
 their whole lives, they would be worth}', at the moment 
 of their death, to have their names inscribed in the cal- 
 endar. The perpetual hunger, and nakedness, and pov- 
 ert}', as well as the interminable oppression and barbarous 
 chastisements which they suffer, from the period of their 
 birth to their death, are penances more than sufficient to 
 make amends in this life for all the sins which can be im- 
 puted to them. 
 
 The natives have become so accustomed to chastise- 
 ment that they not only cease to fear it, but even regard 
 an occasional truce from it with apprehension and alarm. 
 The Indian boys (choUtos) who wait upon the curates and 
 other individuals are w'ont to look sad, and even to flee 
 awa}', after a long interval of exemption from punish- 
 ment ; and, if questioned as to the cause of their sadness 
 
 * This punishment was inflicted upon an Indian man and wo- 
 man wliilc, I was at Cliillo, in 1857. The ownor of the ostato on 
 which till! Indians lived jravo the order; but liis conduct was 
 severely reprobated. — Tu.
 
 54 
 
 or fliglit, they reply, in their simpheit}', that their masters 
 do not appear to love them, because they no longer 
 chastise them. The source of this error is not to be 
 looked for in their simplicity, nor in any partialit}' the 
 mature Indian may have to chastisement in itself; but, 
 having been accustomed to ill-treatment ever since the 
 conquest, they have conceived the idea that the Spaniards 
 are a class of people whose very caresses and fond- 
 nesses are stripes and blows ; and this is either no mis- 
 take, or, if it be one, it is pardonable in the Indians ; 
 for their masters, after having chastised them with merci- 
 less cruelt}', alwaj's say to them that they punish them 
 becaijse they love them, and the simple Indian has 
 learned to give to this barbarous expression its literal 
 import. Parents teach it to their children, and the un- 
 suspecting innocence of the latter is easily made to 
 believe that it is doing them a kindness to make them 
 weep and bathe themselves in tears of anguish. Hence 
 it is that they are accustomed to give thanks to their 
 tormentor, kneeling before him and kissing his hand, 
 although it be that of a negro, with expressions of 
 gratitude for an act of cruelty, as if it had been the 
 dictate of mercj'^. 
 
 Such is the terror occasioned by the very name of 
 Spaniard, or Viracocha (a term comprehending all who 
 are not Indian) , that when mothers woukl frighten their 
 little ones, or make them hush when they cr}^, or hide 
 themselves in the corner of their clay huts, by merely 
 saying to them that the Viracocha is going to catch 
 them, they are struck with horror, and run without 
 knowing where to find a place of refuge. We have our- 
 selves experienced this continually ; and, although it be- 
 came necessary on some occasions to speak to them to 
 make inquiries concerning the road, it was impossible to 
 do so, as we could not get them to stop and hear the 
 question put to them. So timid are they, that, when one 
 of them begins to run, all the rest who can see him, 
 however remote they may be, do the same ; and, should 
 they be accidentally impeded by any ravine, they prefer
 
 55 
 
 to throw themselves down, at the hazard of their lives, 
 rather than expose themselves to the more imminent 
 danger of the approach of the Viracocha. All this has 
 no other source or pretext than the uuheard-of cruelt}' 
 with which all, Avithout exception, are treated. But we 
 have entered into more minute details than we intended, 
 as it is a subject of which no important particular should 
 be left unnoticed.
 
 56 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The same Subject continued. — Sequestration of Lands belong- 
 ing to the Indians. 
 
 So various are the expedients invented by malice to 
 nmltiply the means used to oppress the Indians, that we 
 find materials on every hand for entering into further 
 details of their extreme sufferings ; and, although the 
 particulars brought to view in the preceding chapters 
 might suffice to show the tyranny practised towards that 
 unfortunate people, we cannot omit what we have to re- 
 late in this, as the subject is one of great importance. 
 The advantages resulting to all classes, at the expense of 
 the care and personal labor of the Indians, have already 
 been mentioned : we are now to speak of the power 
 which the spirit of avarice exercises in stripping them 
 not only of the means necessary for their own support, 
 but even of acquiring a sufficient sum to pay the tribute 
 money, — the only impost to which they are subject, 
 agreeably to the considerate policy of our sovereigns ; 
 and which is so just and reasonable, that, if nothing 
 else were exacted, this burden would not fall heavily 
 upon them. Such is the opinion of the Indians them- 
 selves, as we have heard them say on various occasions ; 
 and not of their caciques onl}', but of others who were 
 present with us in the uninhabited deserts where we 
 abode ; on which account, in addition to the circum- 
 stance of having taken up our quarters sometimes in 
 their very houses or huts, at others on the different 
 plantations, and at other times in their villages, we had 
 sufficient opportunit}' to become witnesses of their com- 
 plaints, and to hear them recount the acts of violence 
 and injustice with which they are harassed. 
 
 The king's envoys, bearing a commission from him to
 
 57 
 
 those parts, have given these subjects only a superficial 
 examination : some because they wanted opportunity^ ; 
 and others because their attention was directed exclu- 
 sively to their own interest, as they were intent only on 
 discovering new methods of amassing a fortime. These 
 circumstances did not obtain in us, inasmuch as our 
 ambition did not reach beyond acquiring a treasure of 
 useful information, nor had we any other end in view 
 than to investigate the truth, to render our report as ac- 
 curate as possible, so that we may say with confidence 
 that we have secured our object to our entire satisfoc- 
 tion. Our small and unimposing suite did not inspire 
 such terror among the Indians that the sight of it should 
 make them shun the familiar intercourse we desired and 
 sought ; but the affability of our manner, indicating a 
 disposition to regard them as beings of our own species, 
 set them at liberty-, and inspired courage in their timid, 
 pusillanimous hearts to communicate their sentiments to 
 us freely. The kindness with whicli we treated them (as 
 did also the French gentlemen, our companions) embol- 
 dened thorn to make known to us their complaints. The 
 conscientious strictness with which we paid the hire of 
 those who waited upon us gave them occasion to speak 
 of the different manner in which their services were 
 usually recompensed ; in a word, the constant routine of 
 passing from one province to another furnished us occa- 
 sions more than sufficient to confirm whatever thej'' had 
 disclosed to us, and even to observe many things of 
 which we had been ignorant. 
 
 One circumstance which, more than any other, awakens 
 our s^'mpathy for that unfortunate people, is to see them 
 entirely stripped of their lands ; for although, at the 
 period of the conquest and of the laying out of town- 
 ships, certain portions had been reserved for the purpose 
 of being allotted to the caciques and Indians belonging 
 to the township, avarice has gradually curtailed them to 
 such a degree that the tracts wliich remain to them are 
 circumscribed within narrow limits, and the greater part 
 has been wrested from fliem altogether. Some Indians 
 have been despoiled of their lands by violence ; others,
 
 K 
 
 8 
 
 because the owners of the neighboring estates have com- 
 pelled them to sell at any price they may choose to give ; 
 and others, because they have been induced to surrender 
 them under false pretences. 
 
 The first cacique whose acquaintance we made in the 
 Province of Quito was of the town of Mulalo, in the 
 district of La Tacunga. His name was Sanipatin, a very 
 worthy individual, and so much attached to the king that 
 he could not disguise his sentiments of loyalt}*. On one 
 of the many occasions we had to pass through his 
 village, always taking lodgings at his house, the subject 
 of the " repartimientos," or division of lands, was intro- 
 duced, and, among other grounds of complaint, he in- 
 formed us that having two lots of ground which belonged 
 to him, and in which he sowed his wheat fields, a neigh- 
 boring Spaniard, owner of an estate, wishing to enlarge 
 his own by usurping what belonged to another, entered 
 his name before the Audience of Quito as purchaser of 
 one of those lots ; and, although the cacique immediately 
 presented himself in support of his claim, he could not 
 substantiate it, but was afterwards stripped of his plan- 
 tation, in spite of entreaties, remonstrances, representa- 
 tions, and urgent appeals to his patron to undertake his 
 defence. It is in this way that the lands of the Indians 
 are alienated every daj^, in case the claim should be per- 
 sisted in with resolution. The illegality proceeds from 
 the fact that, as the Indians have no other title to them 
 than the right of possession (for, even were documents 
 in existence, they are incapable of pointing out tlie oflflce 
 or archives where they are deposited) , they are claimed 
 as unoccupied lands, and sold as such ; injustice shelter- 
 ing itself iinder this false pretext. In this way, the 
 greater part of the estates owned b}' the Spaniards indi- 
 vidually, or in a corporate capacity, have been gradually 
 augmenting ; while the cultivated grounds which belonged 
 to the Indians have proportionally diminished, and the 
 number of inhabitants has decreased in the same pro- 
 portion. 
 
 On the estate of Guachala, we were eye-witnesses of 
 another of those instances of usurpation to which the
 
 59 
 
 Indians of that country are alwa3's exposed, "We 
 happened to arrive on the plantation at the time the pro- 
 prietor was there ; and, not long after we came into the 
 house, he sent for an Indian who possessed lands in his 
 vicinit}'. and, inventing a ridiculous stor}^ relative to the 
 motive of our arrival, induced him to abandon his lands 
 in his favor for a very trifling consideration ; and as he 
 entered at once into possession, having concluded the 
 bargain with the Indian, he himself gave us an account 
 of the transaction. It appears that the Spaniard had 
 been pressing the Indian for a long time to part with his 
 lands, but he would not consent ; and not being in favor 
 with the Audience, so as to get them adjudged to him as 
 unoccupied lands, he was eagerl}^ pursuing other measures 
 to secure his object, when his malicious heart suggested 
 to him that he would intimate to the Indian that we, in 
 company with the French gentlemen, had arrived with 
 orders from the king to reconnoitre all the lands which 
 the Indians had usurped from the Spaniards, to wrest 
 them from their hands, and to restore them to their law- 
 ful owners. He then informed him that the lands which 
 he claimed did not belong to him ; for there could be no 
 doubt the}' were usurped, situated as they were in the 
 immediate vicinity of his estate. lie advised him to 
 give them up of his own accord, and he would bestow on 
 him some trifling charit}' in consideration of their value ; 
 but if he refused to listen to his advice, as we were 
 there on his estate, and as this was the express object of 
 our tour, he would present a complaint against liim, by 
 means of wliich he would not only be deprived of his 
 lands by a legal process, but would be punished as a 
 usurper of another man's property. The Indian, whose 
 siraplicit}' (whicli is natural to the whole race) could not 
 penetrate the depraved design of tlie man who deceived 
 him, supposing that artfully contrived falsehood to be 
 true, did not liesitate to abandon them, and leave them 
 free from encumbrance ; and in order to make it im- 
 possible tliat they should revert to him, should he dis- 
 cover the fraud, the Spaniard purchased the seeds which 
 had already been sown.
 
 60 
 
 Others avail themselves of measures still more iniqui- 
 tous than the preceding : instigating the overseers of 
 their estates to persecute them ; stirring them up to 
 anger, in order to find an occasion for oppressing them ; 
 and inducing them by these means (driven as they are 
 to desperation by the proximity of the Spaniards) to 
 sell their lands for any thing they are wilUng to give 
 them, and to retire to some more remote district, where 
 they may enjoy repose. 
 
 The owners of estates secure to themselves two im- 
 portant ends in despoiling the Indians of their lands : 
 the first is, that they enlarge thereby their own estates, 
 as we have just seen ; and the second, that those Ind- 
 ians who have been thus disabled from working on 
 their own account may be compelled to perform a volun- 
 tary meta service. On the other hand, it is scarcely 
 known to the governor and curates that the Indian has 
 received the proceeds of a forced and profitless sale, 
 than they devise means — the former by fomenting 
 quarrels, and the latter by celebrating saints' days — 
 to get that mone^- into their own hands ; the poor Indian 
 beitig stripped of his lands, as well as of the paltry price 
 he had received for them. The persecuted wretch, find- 
 ing himself destitute of means to support his family and 
 pay the tribute money when it becomes due, to escape 
 famishing in a factory, is compelled to sell himself on 
 an estate, that his master may assume the debt ; hence 
 has resulted the unpeopling of the whole country, inas- 
 much as poverty, anguish, and unremitting toil waste 
 away the health of Avhole families, until they die worn 
 out with fatigue and hunger. 
 
 In the same way as the Indians are stripped of their 
 lands when they are weak and defenceless, they are also 
 deprived of whatever pertains to them in the form of an 
 inheritance ; an evidence of which may be found in what 
 is actuall}^ taking place in Quito. Among the nunneries 
 erected in that city, there is one of St. Clair, a royal 
 foundation, which was instituted in behalf of the daugh- 
 ters of the caciques, that the}' might take the veil in it ; 
 for, although noble by birth, the}' were refused admittance
 
 61 
 
 into the other corporations until their eomphiiuts came to 
 the knowledge of his Majest}', when he decreed that this 
 should be built for their benefit. Few Indian women 
 were inclined to take the veil ; and, to augment the num- 
 ber of the nuns, it was proposed to receive those who 
 belonged to Spanish families ; but, as the number of 
 the latter gradually augmented, thej' took the control of 
 the convent, and refused to receive, in the character of 
 nuns, any more inmates of Indian extraction ; and it is 
 only in case of great importunity that they condescend 
 to receive them as laics, that is, as maid-servants, with 
 the privilege of wearing the habit of the order. Several 
 caciques (and among them one who would not consent 
 that his daughter should take the habit of a laic, instead 
 of the black veil, and who met with opposition from the 
 other nuns) presented their complaints to the Audience, 
 entreating the protector to defend their suit ; but they 
 failed to obtain redress, not being able to find either in 
 the courts or in the protector the justice and protection 
 they desired. In this way they lost the privilege of 
 ha^ing their daughters admitted as nuns in the only 
 convent that had been constructed for their benefit. 
 The result is the same in everything relative to their 
 privileges and immunities, for the disadvantage is 
 always on their side ; this infringement of their rights 
 depending on the want of patronage on the part of 
 the protector. 
 
 In proof of our assertion that it Ls against the Indian 
 that the persecution is directed, and upon him that the 
 weight of injustice falls most heavilj', although we regard 
 the statements already made as quite sufficient to con- 
 vince ever}' one of the facts in question, we think it 
 proper to add what took place in respect to the Indians 
 under our own observation. 
 
 In 1741, when Vice- Admiral Anson laid waste Pa^'ta, 
 with a view to defend the port of Atacames and to pro- 
 tect the road just opened to Esmeraldas, felons and cul- 
 prits were released from prison, and sent thither from 
 Quito; and, l)eing divided into several companies, some 
 were destined for Guayaquil, and others for Atacames
 
 62 
 
 aixT Esmeraldfls.* In order to transport these troops 
 and carry the necessary supphes, the mules were seized, 
 with their drivers, for this purpose ; and, as the end pro- 
 posed was the service of the king and the common cause 
 of the country, it was determined that no compensation 
 should be made to the owners. This measure would not 
 have been ill judged, if, as it comprised the Indians, it 
 had been made to extend equally to all the inhabitants 
 of Quito and other wealthy towns, where large droA'es 
 are pastured on the estates to carry the produce to 
 market : but, although it might have been so intended, 
 it was not executed in that equitable manner ; for not 
 only the clerg}' , but those of the laity who had a greater 
 interest than other classes in the defence and safety of 
 their country and wealth, resisted the order, and excused 
 themselves, — some alleging their immunities as ecclesi- 
 astics, and others the dignity of their rank, the whole 
 burden falling ultimately upon the Indian, to aggravate 
 his misery. These poor men, whose whole stock con- 
 sists of four or six mules distributed to them b}' the cor- 
 regidor, and whose service furnishes them a support, as 
 well as the means of paying the tribute, were by these 
 measures deprived of this trifling source of profit. They 
 were compelled to perform the journey; and, owing to 
 the roughnesses of the road, the mules Ijecame exhausted 
 and incapable of travelling. To this result the change of 
 
 * It is still customary to employ the mules of the Indians at 
 a reduced price iu the service of the government. When Mr. 
 Pickett, late commii^siouer to Quito, arrived at Babahoyo, in 
 1838, he applied to the governor for pack-mules to facilitate his 
 journey to Quito. The same evening, he observed that the 
 number he had asked for were placed in an enclosure near his 
 lodgings; but, having noticed the muleteers standing at the 
 gate, ho vront out to ascertain the cause of it. He was told that 
 they had sokl their vegetables in the port, and were to take in 
 exchange a quantity of salt, — an article which some in the inte- 
 rior never taste, on account of its scarcity. The commissioner, 
 moved with pity, informed the governor that he should not 
 accept the mules on such conditions, but should restore them to 
 their owners. The result was that they were immediately laid 
 hold of for the benefit of a less scrupulous traveller. Even 
 unsuccessful efibrts to do justice are worth recording. — Tr.
 
 63 
 
 climate contributed not a little, for those animals, being 
 accustomed to tlie cold paramos, or heaths, of the Prov- 
 ince of Quito, had to undergo the heat and continual 
 moisture of the forests which lay on their route. So 
 great was the destruction of mules on that occasion, that 
 not a twentieth part of those who set out on their jour- 
 ney reached their destination ; and those which returned 
 from the coast perished in passing through the forests of 
 Esmeraldas, some before and others after they had 
 reached the paramo : so that the loss to the owners was 
 total, and without any indemnit}' for their hire, or for 
 the expense of the journe}'. It is easy to imagine in 
 what conditiou these wretched men were left ; for, as they 
 have no other occupation than that of mule-drivers, and 
 possess no other resources than the hire of their mules, 
 they were deprived even of the hope either of recovering 
 their loss, of supporting their families, or of paj'ing their 
 annual contribution. 
 
 The existence of these evils being admitted, it remains 
 to be seen whether any remedy can be devised ; and, 
 as it is undcnial)le that they originate in the xuifaithful- 
 ness of the Indian protectors, we shall consider the two 
 causes from which, in our opinion, this want of fidelity 
 proceeds. The first is, the fixed determination of all 
 who go to America, holding pubhc stations, to amass a 
 fortune, witliout scruple as to the means used ; for the 
 Indian advocates are not in general less eager than others 
 in their desires to accumulate wealth. The second cause 
 is, that these functionaries are not ordinarily acquainted 
 with the language of those tribes in whose behalf they 
 are employed, — an acquisition quite as necessary to them 
 as it is to the parish priests ; nor will a superficial knowl- 
 edge l)e suflieient, for, as the language of the Indians 
 abounds in figures and allegory', in order to the right 
 understanding of these a thorough knowledge of their 
 idiom is indispensable. Such being the case, only 
 one resource occurs to us, which will excite surprise, 
 merely because it has never been reduced to practice ; 
 and this is, tliat the vacancies of the fiscal advocates, 
 together with the titles, authority, and privileges annexed
 
 64 
 
 to them, should he filled by the eldest sons of the ca- 
 ciques. This idea, which at first view may appear mon- 
 strous, as it has never before been suggested, and as 
 it is apparently liable to serious objections, will, when 
 viewed more nearl}", be stripped of its imaginary teiTors ; 
 for, after mature reflection, it will be found to have so 
 much weight as not onl}- to remove ever}' objection, but 
 to recommend itself as the onl}' effectual means of secur- 
 ing the due accomplishment of the laws so wisely enacted 
 by our sovereigns in favor of the Indians. By this means 
 only would they be protected against the unrestrained 
 warfare now carried on against them by their corregidors, 
 as well as from the lawless impositions of the parish 
 priests, and the inhuman outrages committed upon them 
 by landholders, mestizoes, and other petty t^-rants. We 
 shall be met at once with the first objection and the most 
 powerful one which the avarice of their oppressors has 
 to advance against so admirable a provision ; for, as it 
 in no wise tends to their emolument, they would be eager 
 to assail it with atrocious falsehoods, in order to perpet- 
 uate their tyranny. 
 
 The first measure employed to displace these protect- 
 ors would be, to allege that the Indians, availing them- 
 selves of the authority and protection conceded to them, 
 would cast off" fear, and rise in rebellion, constituting to 
 themselves a king of their own nation. Tliis is the 
 phantom invented to intimidate, in order that no innova- 
 tions should be made in the government which they have 
 so iniquitously instituted ; but these imaginary fears 
 would have no influence in the minds of the secretaries 
 in Spain, if they had an accurate idea of the peculiari- 
 ties, the nature, and genius of the Indians, who are by 
 no means predisposed to riots or insurrections. Nothing 
 proves this assertion more clearly than a view of the 
 imposts heaped upon them b}^ caprice, to which they 
 submit without having their minds irritated, or affected 
 by any other emotion than that of grief, which is inher- 
 ent in beings of a mild and childlike disposition. True 
 it is that, when once got into the fray, — as the phrase is 
 there, — they are not intimidated by chastisement or
 
 G5 
 
 death ; all means of reconciliation are unavailing, nntil 
 thc}- are exterminated : but this arises from the fact that, 
 when the}' are driven to these desperate resolutions, they 
 count it a greater happiness to die in the onset than to 
 return again to a state of bondage. Hence it is that 
 those who once rebel, and abandon their villages, cannot 
 be reconquered or held again in subordination ; the truth 
 of which we experience in the Araucanian Indians of 
 Chih, the inhabitants of Quixos and Macas, frontiers of 
 the Province of Quito, and, lastly, in the Chunchos, — all 
 of whom have thrown off their allegiance to their sover- 
 
 ^o*- 
 
 eign. 
 
 In order to ascertain the firm basis on which this opin- 
 ion is founded, we have only to look back to the last 
 rebellion of the Indians of the modern missions, bordering 
 on the Provinces of Ja^ija and Tarma. Although it had 
 been in contemplation for forty 3'ears, it was confined at 
 its commencement to two thousand Indians, and the grand 
 motive which induced them to throw off their allegiance 
 was to rid themselves of the vexations and persecutions of 
 the parish priests ; for, not having been as yet subject to 
 tribute, the argument employed b}^ their chief to entice 
 them was, that he wished only to rescue them from the 
 oppression of the Spaniards. Had they been a people 
 inclined to revolt, not an Indian would have remained in 
 all the settlements of Peru ; but they would all have gone 
 over to tlie rebel party, so much have they to undergo, 
 and such is the cruelty and contempt with which the}' are 
 treated. Should an}' doubt still remain on this point, let 
 the masses of that nation be compared with those in 
 Europe, where there is scarcely a demagogue who raises 
 a cry in any province but he is instantly joined by a greater 
 part of the population ; and we shall see how diverse from 
 this is the spirit of the Indians, in spite of the oppres- 
 sion they are made to suffer. But to form a more accu- 
 rate idea of what we have just advanced, we shall relate 
 an occurrence which took place during our residence in 
 (^uito, and which will be sulllcient to confirm the truth of 
 it. 
 
 In the jurisdiction of Ibarra, in the town of Mira, 
 
 6
 
 (j6 
 
 there lived a parish priest, with whom we had some de- 
 gree of friendly intercourse. lie was also one of the 
 many in whom the passion of avarice predominates with 
 unbridled excess ; and, although recently presented to 
 the benefice, he sought to oppress the Indians by 
 attempting to strip them of all their lands, and to make 
 them over to himself. His aml)ition appears to have 
 had no bounds, inasmuch as he obliged the owners 
 of the lands to cultivate them, by converting their per- 
 sonal labor to his own emolument. The Indians became 
 so straitened by these and man}' other acts of extortion, 
 and the cacique, finding that the tyranny of the priest 
 had driven the people to desperation, went to Quito to 
 present a complaint to the bishop. It appeared to that 
 prelate, who had a sense of justice, that a severe admo- 
 nition would suffice to put a stop to the encroachments 
 of the priest : but quite the contrary took place ; for, 
 being enraged at the rebuke, he hurled his vengeance 
 upon the cacique, and accused him of a project of re- 
 bellion, with a view to proceed with other Indians to the 
 mountains, and thus depopulate the village. He sent up 
 this false summary to the Audience ; and, hoping to 
 provoke the cacique to some imprudent act which would 
 justify the measure, he laid hold of his eldest son, and 
 made him a servant, sending him out to do the office of 
 stable-bo}^ The cacique was exceedingly wounded by 
 this insult, but did not vent his anger in the way the 
 curate supposed he would ; but, anxious to avenge his 
 honor b}' a legal process, he proceeded to Quito, pre- 
 sented himself before the Audience, taking with him 
 some Indians as witnesses, and acquitted himself of 
 the charge so maliciously preferred against him by the 
 priest. He complained before the tribunal of the dread- 
 ful outrages committed by the priest, not only against 
 him, but against all the Indians of his chiefdom, and of 
 that which ho had just been guilty of in degrading his 
 eldest son to such a low station. The Audience referred 
 these just complaints to the bishop, that he might enter 
 a suit against the priest. The bishop summoned him to 
 appear, and rebuked him with still greater severity ; com-
 
 G7 
 
 manding him to give satisfaction to the offended cacique, 
 and to reform his conduct. The revengeful priest prom- 
 ised so to do ; and the bishop, behe\ing his feigned 
 show of repentance to be sincere, gave him a license, 
 after some days, to return to his curac}'. 
 
 The priest set out to go to his village, and had scarcely 
 arrived when he sent for the cacique to execute upon 
 him his premeditated vengeance. The cacique promptly 
 appeared before him ; and the priest, bursting with rage, 
 ordered him to lie down on the floor, as he would a slave 
 whom he was going to punish, — insulting, by such vile 
 treatment, the person, the dignit}', and the advanced age 
 of the cacique, — telUng him afterwards that he did all 
 that to let him know the consequences of having pre- 
 sented complaints against the priesthood. The abashed 
 cacique removed from that town to another of the same 
 department, and despatched several Indians to Quito to 
 lay before the Audience the inefficacy of the measures 
 they had adopted. About this time we arrived at Mira, 
 and the Indians of the town communicated to us all that 
 had taken place : but nothing wounded the cacique more 
 deeply than having had imputed to him, falsely, the charge 
 of rebellion, thereby fastening upon him the infamous 
 blot of treason ; and he inquired with great discretion 
 for what cause he was to offend his lord the king by an 
 act of rebellion, when he had received such favors from 
 his ro3-al clemenc}', and when it was the curate only who 
 did the Avrong ; or how he could commit a base act to 
 compx-oraise his honor and fidelity, that the curate might 
 triumph at the expense of his reputation and good con- 
 duct. This he repeated to us again ; and uniformly held 
 the same language to his townsmen, as we have heard 
 them frequently sa}'. In view of the last complaint 
 made b}' the injured cacique, and of others presented 
 b}'- the Spaniards and mestizoes of the town, the 
 Audience named a judge to make an investigation and 
 substantiate what had there occurred, the bishop having 
 previously named a sul)stitute for that curacy. The 
 attorney came to reside at the farm-house where we had 
 taken u^j our quarters, and the proceedings were in-
 
 68 
 
 stituted with great formality, inasmnch as the whole 
 vicinity were comprised in the aggressions of the curate ; 
 for, had the Indians alone been the sufferers, there is no 
 doubt but injustice would have triumphed. We returned 
 to Quito ; and, as we enjoyed the confidence and esteem 
 of the bishop, he begged us, when we visited him, to 
 acquaint us with the truth. We did so, and that prelate 
 was deeply affected with the extreme sufferings of the 
 Indians ; assuring us that, while he held the office, that 
 priest should return neither to the curacy of Mira nor to 
 any other, notwithstanding many proofs of consideration 
 which the bishop had shown him previous to that un- 
 righteous act. In fine, the cacique and the Indians owed 
 their acquittal to the accidental visit we made there, 
 having been ourselves eye-witnesses of his bad conduct, 
 
 — a circumstance without which, notwithstanding the 
 excess to which he carried his tyranny, the priest would 
 have repelled all the charges alleged against him, the 
 Indians would have remained in a worse condition than 
 before, and the cacique under the odious imputation of 
 treasonable designs. 
 
 Let us reflect, now, whether the suffering undei'gone 
 by this cacique and his Indians would not have been 
 sufficient, in any other tiT.be less unresisting and more 
 warlike and turbulent, to stir them up to insurrection, 
 and to take vengeance on the priest for themselves ; and, 
 the more so, when there was no one in that village who 
 could withstand them ; and, should not this be the case, 
 would it be possible to impede their penetrating as far 
 as the Andes, had they wished to do so, especially as this 
 chain of mountains is so contiguous to that village, that, 
 within four hours' time, they could have made their 
 escape to a free country, inhabited by Gentile Indians, 
 
 — a distance which would be to those natives only what 
 it is to us to cross a street ? No doubt can remain that 
 their not having done it at that time was the effect of 
 their passiveness and loyalty. Being then no longer 
 able to submit to such injustice and cruelt}^ they aban- 
 doned their villages and wretched huts, and spread them- 
 selves over others belonging to the same jurisdiction,
 
 69 
 
 allowing time for the fearful tempest which had been 
 raised against them to subside. lu view of this, we 
 cannot entertain the belief that the}^ would be guilty of 
 treason under a less rigorous S3'stem of government, 
 when we find the}' are not so in spite of so many in- 
 juries and provocations ; for how can we believe that 
 cruelty or severity should inspire them with sentiments 
 of loyalty' and love to their king, and that kind treat- 
 ment should transform them into rebels : above all, 
 when thc3' are so fond of attention and caresses that 
 they account it an excess of kindness on the part of a 
 master when he throws them the fragments of what he 
 has partaken of himself; esteeming as they do a morsel 
 of bread bitten b^- his mouth, or the licking of a plate 
 from which he has eaten, more than a handful of viands 
 which he has not touched ? It is regarded by them as a 
 mark of esteem, on the part of those whom they serve, 
 to have assigned them a place near to themselves, to 
 enjoy the privilege of lying upon the floor, near to the 
 foot of their master's bed : even any circumstance, how- 
 ever trivial, which argues a feeling of regard, is to them 
 a matter of satisfaction and boasting. 
 
 If, on the other hand, we turn our attention to their 
 loj-alty, we shall find no nation in the world who speak 
 of their sovereign with more respect and veneration. 
 The}' never take his name into their mouths without pre- 
 fixing the title of Lord, as we have already observed : at 
 the same time uncovering their heads, — a ceremon}' which 
 neither the parish priests nor the governors have taught 
 them ; for these do not put it in practice, nor have they 
 seen the example in an}' Spaniard, and yet they never 
 fail to be scrupulous in the observance of it. Their 
 usual mode of address is, "the Lord King," and some- 
 times, agreeably to the subject, "our Lord the King," 
 as if it were irreverent to speak of the soA'ereign in any 
 other manner. Doubtless this is owing to the fact, that, 
 liaAing heard the titles. Lord Viceroy, Lord President, 
 Lord Bishop (this being an established usage in those 
 countries), they have persuaded themselves, and not 
 without reason, that, if such respect is due to subjects, it
 
 70 
 
 is much more becoming to observe it towards a sovereign. 
 All this manifests the veneration, esteem, and love with 
 which they treat his Majesty ; and it is a thing worthy of 
 admiration in a tribe so rude and so destitute of mental 
 culture, and who have come to know only by informa- 
 tion from a distant soui'ce that they have a king ; and 
 hence it is that they become more entitled to have their 
 loj'alty and love to their prince rewarded by kind and 
 humane treatment, as well as by marks of esteem, when 
 they have not rendered themselves unworthy of it by any 
 improper behavior. 
 
 Should any apprehension of a rebellion exist on the 
 part of any of the inhabitants of the southern countries, 
 it ought to fall on the Creoles or mestizoes, who are the 
 chief cause of tumults, addicted as they are to idleness, 
 and wholly abandoned to vice ; but, as we are to treat of 
 this subject more in detail, we shall leave it for the 
 chapter to which it corresponds.
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Extortions which the Indians snffer from the Parish Priests. 
 — Corrupt Morals and Scandalous Life of the Clergy, both sec- 
 ular and regular. 
 
 In view of all that has been said relative to the rapac- 
 ity of the corregidors in their unjust rej^artlmientos, the 
 barbarity of the meta, the sequestration of landed prop- 
 erty, want of protection in the courts of justice, and the 
 rapid diminution of the Indians, occasioned by unrejnit- 
 ted toil while they are in health, and in the utter want of 
 resource in time of sickness, it appears as if a greater 
 degree of wretchedness could not fall to the lot of this 
 people, or that the burdens under which they already 
 groan would be sufficient to crush them. But as they 
 are found to have strength to suffer in necessity, and a 
 disposition, owing to the simplicity of their nature, to 
 submit to authority, the resources of avarice are never 
 exhausted, and the desire of domineering is never satis- 
 fied ; and the result is, that even those from whom they 
 ought to receive consolation, and to whom they are to 
 look for redress, impose upon them still heavier burdens, 
 render their sufferings more acute, and drive them to the 
 very verge of despair. 
 
 AH these calamities are brought upon the Indians by 
 their parish priests ; who, while they should be their 
 spiritual fathers and their i)rotectors against the unright- 
 eous extortions of the corregidors, do themselves go hand 
 in hand with the latter to wrest from the poor Indian the 
 fruit of his incessant toil, even at the cost of the blood 
 and sweat of a tribe whose condition is so deplorable that, 
 while they have abundant means to enrich and aggrandize 
 others, are destitute of a scanty allowance of bread for 
 their own meagre sustenance. In the preceding chapter
 
 72 
 
 we mentioned incidental!}' the avarice of that unfeeling 
 priest who not onl}- oppressed his parishioners initil his 
 tyrann}' became insupportable, obliging them to abandon 
 their wretched hovels as soon as he learned the complaints 
 which the chief had modestly laid before the bishop and 
 Court of Audience, but forged to this prelate, for mali- 
 cious purposes, a heap of charges, the very idea of which 
 made that noble and respectable Indian shudder. This 
 is the reason why the corregidors accuse the chiefs with 
 impunity, when they endeavor to resist the endless ex- 
 tortions made upon their villages ; namel}', that the cu- 
 rates cannot confront them at the tribunal, because they 
 are even more guilty than they, by using artifices no less 
 iniquitous, and imposing taxes no less unjust. 
 
 The curacies of Peru are of two sorts — some of them 
 being superintended by a bishop, and others by the pro- 
 vincial of one of the religious orders. In the former, 
 appointments are made by wrangling or a public dispu- 
 tation, and the disputants are required to undergo an 
 examination in the language of the Inca, by which is 
 meant the language of all the Indians of Peru. The 
 wrangling for presentation to vacant curacies being con- 
 cluded, the proceedings of which are h. Id in the palace 
 of the bishop, in presence of the dignitaries of the church, 
 who sit as Judges, the votes are taken, and the bishop 
 makes a list of those who have most distinguished them- 
 selves ; of which number he selects three for each curacy, 
 one of whom is afterwards nominated by the viceroy or 
 president, who delivers him the credentials or despatches 
 to which he is entitled. 
 
 As soon as the parish priests are promoted to their 
 cures, they usualh' bend all their efforts to amassing 
 wealth ; and for this purpose they have devised various 
 measures, by which the}^ appropriate to themselves the 
 pittance which may have remained to the Indian, and 
 which has escaped the rapacity of the corregidor. One 
 of their devices is that of the fraternities ; and they have 
 formed such a number of them in every village that every 
 corner of the churches is filled with images, and each of 
 these has its corresponding fraternity ; and, in order not
 
 73 
 
 to withdraw the Indians from their tasks, the celebration 
 of those saints' days which occur during week-time is 
 postponed to the following Sunda_y. 
 
 The Sunday at length arrives on which a saint's festi- 
 val is to be celebrated : and the sum of four dollars and a 
 half is to be collected b}- the OA-erseers, which is the fee 
 for high mass ; and an equal amount for the sermon, which 
 consists in merel}' repeating four words in praise of the 
 saint, without any other labor or study than enunciating 
 in the Peruvian language the first thing that suggests 
 itself to the mind ; and, when this is over, the Indians are 
 required to defray the expense of the procession, the w^ax, 
 and the incense. All this is to be paid in ready money, 
 as soon as the festival is over (for church fees are al- 
 wa3-s to be paid instantl}') . To this is to be added the 
 customar}^ ofi'ering which the overseers are compelled to 
 make to the curate on every saint's festival ; w^hich con- 
 sists of two or three dozen hens, as man}' chickens, guinea- 
 pigs, eggs, sheep, and a hog if thej' happen to have an}' ; 
 so that, when the saint's day arrives, the curate sweeps off 
 all that the Indian has been able to collect in money 
 during the whole 3'ear, and also all the fowls and animals 
 which his wife and children have reared in their huts : so 
 that his family are left wholly destitute of food, or have 
 no other aliment than wild roots, or plants which they 
 cultivate in their small gardens. The Indian who has not 
 been able to rear a sufiicient number of animals for the 
 customary offei-ing is bound of necessity to purchase 
 them ; and should he not have the money, as is usually 
 the case, he is to take it upon a pledge, or hire it for the 
 time required, in order to obtain it and pay it without de- 
 lay. As soon as the sermon of the day is concluded, the 
 curate reads a paper on which he has inscribed the names 
 of those who arc to be masters of ceremonies for the fes- 
 tival of the following year, and, if anyone docs not accept 
 it of his free-will, he is forced to give his consent by dint 
 of blows ; and, when his da}' comes, there is no apology 
 that can exonerate him from having the money ready ; 
 for, until it is all collected and delivered to the curate, 
 mass is not saitl, the sermon is not preached, and the 
 
 4
 
 74 
 
 whole service is deferred until three or four in the after- 
 noon, if necessary, to allow time to collect the amount, 
 as we have had occasion to observe repeatedly. 
 
 In order to be more thoroughl}' acquainted with the 
 excess to which this is carried, and the enormous profits 
 made by the curates at these festivals, it seems proper to 
 mention here what a curate of the Province of Quito told 
 us as we were passing through his curacy ; which was, 
 that, including the festivals and the commemoration of 
 departed souls, he collected every j'car more than two 
 hundred sheep, six thousand hens and chickens, four 
 thousand guinea-pigs, and fifty thousand eggs, the record 
 of which is preserved as it was originally written in our 
 manuscript. It should be remarked that this curacy was 
 not one of the most lucrative. Let an estimate, then, be 
 made on these data of the amount of money that might 
 be obtained, and on the supposition that the w^hole is 
 raised from a nation or tribe who have no other means of 
 gain than their personal labor, or a very reduced salary 
 when they labor for others, — how is it possible that such 
 stipends should be paid to the curates ? We are forced to 
 the conclusion, that such contributions could be sustained 
 in no way but by tasking to the utmost not onh' men and 
 women, but a whole famil}^ in order to exact the pay- 
 ment of the sum total of their earnings during the whole 
 year.* 
 
 Besides the feast of the fraternity (for some saint's fes- 
 tival never fails to be celebrated every Sunday and hol- 
 
 * The same custom prevails still throughout the Proviuce of 
 Quito. Wliile 1 was at Otavalo, a gentlemau informed me that 
 the parish priest of tliat town had sold the otferings for the dead 
 (collected iu November) for three hundred dollars. 
 
 Being on a tour in the country iu the year 1835, I observed 
 that the offerings of bread and various articles of food (sucli as 
 had been most to the taste of the d(,'ceased) were deposited near 
 the grave. On further inquiry, I learned that they were after- 
 wards collect(Hl and sold by the curate, although the deceased 
 was supposed to have partaken of the substance of them. A 
 gentleman informed me that ho had seen a bull tied near the 
 grave of a man who had distinguished himself at bull-lighting, 
 as if such a testimony of remembrance would solace his departed 
 spirit. — Til.
 
 75 
 
 iday), they bave that of All-Souls' month, -when it is 
 required of every Indian to carr^' his offering to the church, 
 which consists of the same articles as those of the ordi- 
 nary' feasts ; and, after they are placed on the graves, the 
 curate passes round to sa}' a response over each of them^ 
 while his servants collect the offerings. This continues 
 the whole month of November ; and, in order to have no 
 "daj' omitted, the curate divides them among the estates 
 and villages annexed to his curacy ; the Indians of such 
 estates or villages meet on the day allotted them, and, 
 besides the offerings, they are to pa}' the alms gift usual 
 at mass. What takes place with regard to the wine de- 
 serves more particular mention, wine being one of the 
 customary offerings for the dead ; but that climate does 
 not produce it, and it is ver}' difficult to obtain it in those 
 provinces which are so remote from the coast. Ingenuity, 
 however, has devised means of supplying the want of it. 
 For the purpose in question, the curate orders a portion 
 of that which is used at mass to be put in one or two 
 bottles ; and it is hired out, at two or three reals (ac- 
 cording to the quantity), to the first Indian woman who 
 stands waiting with her offering to have a response said ; 
 and, when this is done, the offering is collected in bas- 
 kets : but the wine (being again hired out) passes to 
 another grave, and so continues to make the whole cir- 
 cuit of the church, earning as many fees as there are 
 gi'aves, this process going on every day during the whole 
 month of November. 
 
 On all the 8unda3's on which the " doctrine " is pre- 
 scribed to be read to the people prior to mass, every Ind- 
 ian woman is to carry an egg to the curate, as the 
 statutes require, or something equivalent : but in addition 
 to this, which is the whole extent of their obligation, the 
 curates compel the Indians to bring to them each a bundle 
 of sticks ; while the Indian boys and girls, who come 
 every afternoon to the " clodriiie" are to bring a truss of 
 haj', according to the measure of their feeble abilit}^, to 
 feed the horses and cattle which belong to the parish 
 priest. By having recourse to such methods, they have 
 no occasion to spend money for anything : and, while
 
 76 
 
 tliey are maintained by the Indians, they become rich at 
 their expense ; for all the offerings they can accumulate 
 are sent to market to the neighboring cities, hamlets, and 
 mining towns, and are converted into money. By these 
 means they augment the revenue of a curacy to such a 
 degree, that, although the customary fees might not ex- 
 ceed seven or eight hundred dollars, it gives them an 
 income of five or six thousand dollars annually ; and there 
 are many which greatly exceed that amount. But all 
 which has been said hitherto scarce deserves to be named 
 in comparison of what takes place in curacies held by 
 monks ; for it appears as if in these the spirit of oppres- 
 sion had been carried to its utmost bounds. This arises 
 in part from the fact that, as these priests are subject to 
 be removed, they endeavor to raise in the mean time the 
 greatest amount possible, having no other object in view 
 than to retire upon an estate, after their term of office 
 has expired. 
 
 As it respects rotation in office, two methods are 
 adopted : one is practised in the province of Quito, which 
 is that of declaring vacancies and filUug them up_ at the 
 meeting of every chapter ; the other obtains in all the rest 
 of Peru, where the curates are allowed to hold their office 
 as long as they wish, unless some good reason be as- 
 signed which may make it necessary to depose one and 
 substitute another. To supply these vacancies, ^no ex- 
 amination is requisite, but merely the form of presenting 
 the names of three candidates to the provincial, who 
 makes choice of one, as he does in the case of the secular 
 clergy ; but, in what way soever the vacancy be filled, the 
 curate who comes into office, or who continues in office, 
 must always contribute to the provincial of his order the 
 amount stipulated for each curacy ; and, should any one 
 come forward and offer more, the resident curate is 
 obliged to make up the amount, or otherwise the vacancy 
 will be filled by his competitor. The sum given for each 
 curacy is so enormous as to exceed all credilnlity. At 
 present it will suffice to say that this is based upon the rev- 
 enue that it can be made to yield. This tax falls directly 
 upon the Indians ; for, in addition to what the curate
 
 77 
 
 expects to raise for his own benefit, he ninst likewise 
 raise the amount to be contributed to the provincial ; and 
 as this is repeated at the meeting of eA^ery chapter, it is 
 impossible to giva an adequate idea of the burdened con- 
 dition of the Indians ; for the monks are more cruel and 
 oppressive than the secular clerg}'. The measures which 
 they resort to in order to accumulate wealth, and which, 
 however painful the task, we are about to describe, 
 may offend the ear, and exceed the bounds of credibility, 
 so diflicult is it to yield our assent to them. We do 
 therefore protest, that, in regard to every statement we 
 have to make, nothing has been added, and nothing has 
 been exaggerated ; and we have always scrupulously ob- 
 served a distinction between what we have ourselves 
 seen and what we have learned b}' report. 
 
 It is natural to suppose, that, after the curates have 
 availed themselves as far as possible of the service of the 
 Indians, the}' would do the same with the Indian women 
 and children ; for which purpose, while the priest on his 
 part keeps the ' ' mill at work " (this is another phrase 
 for tjTanny, as used b}' the curates), he instructs his 
 concubine to do the same on her part. This woman, who 
 is known as such, and without exciting surprise, because 
 it is everj'where so common, takes under her charge all 
 the Indian women and children ; and, converting the whole 
 Aillage into a manufactory, she assigns to some tasks in 
 spinning wool or cotton, and to others, pieces for weav- 
 ing ; and to the aged, and to those who are incapable of 
 performing this service, she gives hens, and imposes on 
 them the obligation of delivering to her, within a definite 
 time, ten or twelve chickens for each one ; it being their 
 duty to feed them at their own expense, and, if the}^ 
 should die, to replace them with others : and by these 
 means no one is exempted from contributing something 
 to the revenue of the curate. 
 
 His own farm is to be cultivated on Sundays and hol- 
 ida3's, and for this purpose some one of the Indians must 
 be present with his cattle, and those who have none must 
 appear in person ; and they perform the operations of 
 sowing, harrowing, and reaping, at no greater cost than
 
 78 
 
 a mere word of command. Thus, on those days which 
 God requh-es to be whollj^ devoted to his service and 
 adoration, that all may rest from the labors of the week, 
 the curate relaxes the obligation of a solemn precept for 
 his own emolument, or for the benefit of a concubine ; 
 and, because these things are so repugnant to reason as 
 to become incredible, we shall cite an example, of which 
 one of us was an eye-witness, in order that the state- 
 ments which follow may not be regarded with distrust.* 
 It is customary, in all the curacies, to apportion the 
 days of Lent among all the estates in the district, in 
 order that they may send their Indians to confession at 
 the time prescribed by the church. In the year 1744, 
 one of our companj^ was residing on the estate of Colim- 
 buela, near to a mountain-pass where we had to make 
 observations in the Province of Quito, and not far from 
 a curac}^ to which its spiritual jurisdiction belonged ; 
 and on this account he went to that village to hear mass 
 on a feast day, where he found assembled a number of 
 Indians of the same estate, to make confession ; but the 
 priest, instead of administering to them this sacrament, 
 kept both the men and women in constant employment, 
 — the latter in the corridors of the yard, where they were 
 weaving the tasks of cotton and wool, which had been as- 
 signed them by the ladij of the curate ; and the former, in 
 ploughing and sowing the fields, so that they had been at 
 work the whole day, mass having been said at a very early 
 hour, in order to gain time. The overseer of the estate, 
 who happened to be in the village that da^', remarked that 
 after they had concluded their tasks they went home, but 
 that he did not know the manner or time in which the 
 curate confessed them, assuring him that this practice 
 
 * lu tlao year 1836, I spent a few days in Cotocollo, a beautiful 
 country town in the vicinity of Quito. On Sunday morning, I 
 observed a number of Indians working silently in the neighbor- 
 hood of a farm-house. On expressing my surprise that no day 
 of rest should be allowed to the Indians, I was told that the 
 field belonged to the curate, who claimed the right to set aside 
 the divine precept, when any service was to bo performed for 
 the good of the church. — Tr.
 
 79 
 
 was general!}' adopted in respect to the Indians of the 
 other estates ; and thus, during the whole period of 
 Lent, and for a month and a half following, the priest 
 enjo3-ed the same advantage, having at his disposal as 
 many Indians as he required. 
 
 What occasioned greater scandal was, that those who 
 made up the choir of the church were busy at weaving ; 
 nor did they suspend their work during the time that 
 mass was saying, so that it is easy to imagine what a 
 degree of irreverence was occasioned by the bustle of 
 the hand-looms. After mass had been said, and the 
 people were gone out, the church was closed, and the 
 Indians were shut in, just as they are in the mills ; and 
 their occupation could not be disguised, because the 
 noise of the frames or wea^^ng-rods could he distinctly 
 heard from without. 
 
 The unfeeling manner in which they are treated after 
 their death corresponds with the conduct oliserved tow- 
 ards them while they are living ; for they would con- 
 sent to have their carcasses exposed on the highwaj", to 
 be mangled by dogs and devoured by vultures, rather 
 than give them burial or show any semblance of pity, 
 until the charity of survivors has collected and paid the 
 whole amount of the church fees. Of this there are pal- 
 pable instances, at almost every step, in journeying from 
 one farm to another : but, if the deceased has left aught 
 behind, the curate becomes universal heir ; collecting 
 together utensils and live-stock, and stripping his wife 
 and children of every thing they possessed. The method 
 of doing it, as well as the mode of legalizing the fraud, 
 is very peculiar. It consists in making for the deceased 
 a sumptuous fiuieral, however repugnant it may l)e to 
 the views of the interested parties ; and tliis furnishes 
 pretext enough for the curate to engross it all to himself. 
 In vain do the heirs enter a complaint ; in vain does the 
 protector domnnd satisfaction; for the curate presents 
 his account of I'urial expenses, — the tolUng of the bell, 
 the masses and prayers said over the body, — and, as 
 the whole is in conformity with the tariff, he maintains 
 his ground, and is finally acquitted.
 
 80 
 
 The wretched state of the Indian is to be attributed to 
 the vices of the priests, the extortions of the corregidors, 
 and the bad treatment which they generall}^ receive from 
 all Spaniards. Unable to endure their hardships, and 
 longing to escape from bondage, man^^ of them have 
 risen in rebellion, and found their wa}^ to unconquered 
 districts, there to continue in the barbarous practices of 
 their idolatrous neighbors ; and, in view of the foregoing, 
 what conclusions are thej^ to form from the scandalous 
 lives of their parish priests ; especially when we reflect 
 that the Indian is but partially civilized, and taught 
 rather b}^ example than by precept? Religious instruction 
 can make no impression upon them, if they witness just 
 the reverse of what is taught in the conduct of their 
 spiritual guides ; for although they are enjoined to love 
 God with all the heart, and their neighbors as them- 
 selves, if they find neither the one precept nor the other 
 exhibited in the lives of those who are to point out to 
 them the way, it is not strauge that they should slight 
 religion, and treat it with contempt, regarding it as a 
 thing so superficial and external as to make it consist 
 only in words, and not in faith or works. 
 
 The village of Pimampiro, attached to the department 
 of the city of Miguel in Ibarra, presents a melancholy ex- 
 ample of the evils resulting from the unjust extortions of 
 the parish priests. Agreeably to records which are still 
 existing, that town consisted of more than five thousand 
 souls, all Indians, and it was a flourishing settlement. 
 The behavior of the curate drove them to desperation. 
 Uniting in one body, they rose in rebellion, and pro- 
 ceeded by night to the Cordilleras, where they merged 
 themselves with the Gentile Indians, with whom they 
 have continued until the present time. The site they 
 now occuj^y is so near to the limits of that department 
 that the smoke of their huts may be seen by merely 
 taking the trouble to ascend the neighboring summits. 
 Some of these Indians have occasionally appeared in the 
 town of Mira, the nearest settlement to their villages, and 
 have disappeared again with the greatest pi'ccipitation. 
 
 Examples of the same nature maj- be found in the loss
 
 81 
 
 of the fiimous city of Logrono and the village of Guari- 
 boya, r,-hich constituted the chief part of the jurisdiction 
 of Quixos and Macas ; whose capital, Seville (Sevilla del 
 Oro) , now reduced to ruins, exists only as a sad memorial 
 of the ruin that befell them. This country is so rich in 
 gold that the capital derived its name from the abun- 
 dance of that metal which it yielded ; and its inhabitants 
 still preserve the scales in which the amount of one-fifth 
 was weighed, to l)e deposited in the king's exchequer; 
 but the corregidors on the one hand, and the curates on 
 the other, reduced the Indians to such straits, by com- 
 pelling them to labor for their benefit, that they were 
 driven to the necessity of rising in rebellion ; and, in imi- 
 tation of what was executed upon Pedro Valdivia by the 
 natives of Arauco, Tucapel, and others, they melted a 
 great quantity of gold, and poured it into the ears and 
 nostrils of the Spaniards ; they put all the men to death, 
 reserving the women, whom they took with them in their 
 retreat to the wilderness of Macas, after having laid waste 
 that city aud other neighboring towns. Seville and Zuha 
 were the only settlements that escaped the vengeance of 
 the Indians ; but they have become so depopulated by 
 frequent incursions of hostile tribes, that the township is 
 so reduced and impoverished that no money circulates 
 among them. But to show how unfriendly the scandal- 
 ous conduct of the parish priests is, not only to the pres- 
 ervation of the villages originally conquered, but to the 
 conversion of Gentile tribes, we shall present a case which 
 occurred of late j-ears, and which proves our assertion 
 be3'ond a doubt. 
 
 An Indian, who appeared clandestinely in the town of 
 Riobamba, left the site where once stood the village of 
 Goamboya, and proceeded immediately to the house of a 
 clergyman who resided there, aud whose integrity was 
 unquestionable, to whom he observed that he came in 
 behalf of liis own tribe and of several others of the same 
 neighborhood, to notiiy him that they would like to have 
 him for their curate, to baptize them and say mass ; and 
 tliat they would give liim his maintenan(!e in return, and, 
 if the terms were agreed to, they would furnish him as 
 
 4»
 
 82 
 
 much gold as lie required, and as many wives as were to 
 his liking ; but that he must go alone, accompanied neither 
 by Spaniards nor mestizoes, nor any other priest what- 
 ever ; and concluded by saying that the reason why they 
 were so favorably inclined towards him was, the good re- 
 port they had had of his conduct, having learned that his 
 avarice was not so insatiable as was that of his associates. 
 The clergyman, jealous of the barbarity common to Ind- 
 ians, replied that he could not then answer him, but 
 would do so within a stated time. The Indian showed 
 signs of disappointment ; but, having named a day when 
 he should receive the reply, he pointed out a pass among 
 the paramos, to which the said clergpuan only should 
 repair, and would there be received by him in company 
 with others of his tribe, that they might escort him to 
 their territory, in case he should accept the proposal, but 
 under the indispensable condition that no one should ac- 
 company him. The Indian again disappeared, and the 
 ecclesiastic, confounded by the occurrence, proceeded to 
 Quito to communicate it to the bishop of that city, Sr. 
 Paredes, who had been promoted to that office a short 
 time previous to our arrival in the province. This pre- 
 late inspired him with Christian boldness to go and 
 undertake the conversion of as many unbelievers as were 
 disposed through his instrumentality to embrace the gospel. 
 The clerg3'man, being fully resolved to do so, under the 
 first impulse of the fervor inspired by the arguments and 
 persuasions of the bishop, returned to Riobamba ; but the 
 pusillanimity of his irresolute mind wrought such an effect 
 upon him, that, becoming wholly disheartened, he had not 
 sufficient resolution to go to the place appointed, when the 
 period agreed upon had arrived. The Indian resorted 
 thither, accompanied by others of his tribe, and lay hid 
 several days ; but, finding that the priest did not appear, 
 he returned to Riobamba by night, and visited his favor- 
 ite curate, who, although he offered to accede to his re- 
 quest, added the condition that he was to go in company 
 with a few Spaniards for security — a thing which was 
 extremely repugnant to the Indians. The messenger, 
 finding that he could not secure his object by dint of en-
 
 83 
 
 treaty, nor b}' giving bim such coarse expressions of con- 
 fidence as his Hmitecl capacit}' dictated, absented himself 
 the same night from the town, overwhehned with disap- 
 pointment. The priest immediately' spread the news of 
 the Indian's second visit ; and, naming the place where he 
 had told him he would wait for him, with others of his 
 tribe, several persons went to reconnoitre it, and found 
 manifest indications of people having been there ; but, 
 although thej' endeavored to penetrate farther, for the 
 purpose of discovering the paths through which, the Ind- 
 ians had made their retreat, the^' were unable to do so, 
 ever}' vestige of them having disappeared after they had 
 proceeded a short distance. 
 
 This occurrence occasioned great sensation in that 
 province ; and, although it might seem strange that they 
 should appl}' to that priest, and should be acquainted 
 with his character, when thej' have no intercourse with 
 those Indians, it will not appear so if we reflect, that 
 many Indians of those villages, harassed by their curates, 
 oppressed b}- the corregidors, and grieved at the cruel 
 treatment the}' receive on the plantations, disappear, and 
 retire to those unconquered wilds to live with the Gentile 
 Indians, to whom the}' communicate in detail every thing 
 that occurs in the conquered territor}' and settlements, 
 making them so disaffected towards the Spaniards that 
 their reduction is rendered more diflicult than ever. 
 There is no doubt that the individual who came twice 
 to Rioljamlja was one of this class ; for, besides the cir- 
 cumstance of knowing the priest, and going directl}' to 
 his house, he spoke with accurac}' the language of the 
 Incas, which is not in use among those tribes of Gentile 
 Indians. 
 
 We find in this example sufficient evidence, both of the 
 extreme avarice and scandalous lives of the priests, as 
 well as of the opinion the Indians must necessarily enter- 
 tain of them l)y what the}' see in them, and by what they 
 experience from them : which may be clearly inferred 
 from the declaration of the Indian messenger to the 
 priest, tliat they would iiave none but himself to instruct 
 and govern them ; lor the}' believed that he would not
 
 84 
 
 enslave them, as the rest of the Spaniards do, nor would 
 he consent that others should go with him, lest, the road 
 being discovered, they should enter in great numbers, 
 seize their grounds, and enslave their i)ersons. 
 
 The most amusing characteristic of that simple people, 
 and which most contributes to make them known to us, 
 is the offer made to furnish the curate as many wives as 
 he Ts ould like : for the Indians, having observed that the 
 priests are accompanied by a female, as the married 
 laity are, and by a family of children in her train, they 
 are persuaded that this horrible sacrilege is a lawful act ; 
 while they, as well as everybody else, are eye-witnesses 
 of such licentious practices, that it is enough to make 
 the most fearless tremble to see with what unconcern 
 and self-complacency those priests rise from the couch of 
 criminal indulgence to celebrate the holiest sacrifice that 
 the imagination can conceive. Although the subject is 
 one to be deplored in silence, rather than to be inscribed 
 on paper, an earnest desire that such accursed licen- 
 tiousness may be reformed obliges us not to dissemlile or 
 palliate it ; and, in further proof of the unrestrained 
 lewdness of those ecclesiastics, we must be permitted to 
 mention an instance very generally reported in the whole 
 Province of Quito, although it tooJc place some time pre- 
 vious .to our arrival in that country-. 
 
 In a village belonging to the jurisdiction of Cuenca, 
 the curacy of which pertains to one of the orders, a friar 
 was serving as curate at a time that the cacique of the 
 town had a young daughter, who, for an Indian girl, 
 possessed no ordinary share of beauty. The curate had 
 used every artifice to accomplish her destruction ; but 
 her own firmness, as well as the estimable character of 
 her father, had saved her from falling into the fatal snare. 
 The curate could not tolerate the contempt of the Indian 
 woman, and had the impudence to malvc known his 
 designs to her father ; but the latter prided himself so 
 much on the rank of his family, as well as on the circum- 
 stance of his daughter's being the only heiress of the 
 chiefship, that he rejected with scorn the wicked and 
 shameful proposal. The curate, discovering that the
 
 85 
 
 cacique was unfavorable to his designs, invented a false- 
 hood (to set aside the difficulty) as perverse as could be 
 dictated by the infernal spirit himself. He went to the 
 cacique to ask her in marriage ; and, with a view to 
 overcome the repugnance which such a novel occurrence 
 might excite, he told him that he would obtain a license 
 from his bishop, in which case he would be allowed to 
 marry. He further attempted to remove all the doubts 
 which might suggest themselves to the mind of the 
 cacique on the subject, by informing him that, although 
 this practice was not a common one, such licenses were 
 general!}' refused only on the ground that they could not 
 be burdened with the expense of maintaining the wi.lows 
 and children which might become dependent upon them ; 
 but that this circumstance did not obtain in him, inas- 
 much as he possessed an estate adequate to the support 
 of a famih, not to mention the terms of intimacy in 
 which he had always lived with the bishop. Finality, he 
 cited to him false precedents and lictitious documents, 
 by which the cacique was convinced of his sincerity, and 
 promised him his daugliter in marriage as soon as he 
 should obtain the requisite permission. In order to 
 deceive the cacique, he immediately sent an express, 
 although for a very different purpose, to the provincial 
 of his order in Quito ; and, while awaiting his return, he 
 drew up, Avith the aid of his assistant, a false patent, in 
 which he set forth that that prelate had granted him a 
 license to marry. The messenger returned ; and, when 
 the cacique called at the curate's to know the result, he 
 showed him the document, and the cacique, with evident 
 marks of satisfaction, congratulated him on the favor- 
 able result. The mock nuptials were celebrated that 
 very night, and the curate's assistant officiated as priest, 
 without the presence of witnesses, or any regard to the 
 usual forms ; for the priest maliciously insinuated to him 
 that these were not re([uisitc in cases of that kind. The 
 ceremony was performed, and from that day they con- 
 tinned to lead a married life. The Indians of the village 
 spread the report of the curate's having married the 
 cacique's daughter ; but no one could persuade himself to
 
 86 
 
 believe that it could have been so in realit}-, but sup- 
 posed he had taken her as a concubine, it being so com- 
 mon to have such. The occurrence did not attract much 
 notice at first ; and they continued living together for 
 man}' 3'ears, until, after having had a numerous family, 
 the fraud was discovered, and the priest suspended for a 
 time from the duties of the priestly office. The unfor- 
 tunate Indian woman was burdened with children ; and 
 the cacique, grieved for the reproach he had suffered, 
 died soon after, — the heaviest part of the punishment 
 ultimately falling on those who had been guilty of no 
 other crime than that of having listened with credulity to 
 the protestations of a priest.- 
 
 The credibihty of this circumstance rests on its gen- 
 eral notoriet}^ in those countries : elsewhere, it might be 
 regarded in the light of a fable ; but, in a country where 
 a licentious life is so common, anj'thing may admit of 
 belief. We cannot assert it as a positive fact ; but, from 
 what we have experienced, it is by no means difficult to 
 believe it. During our travels we used to beguile the 
 tediousness of the way by entering into conversation 
 with our Indian guides ; and the first information they 
 gaxe us related to the family of the curate of the village 
 to which we were going, it being quite enough to ask 
 after the health of the loife of the curate, that they 
 might acquaint us with the number of those whom he 
 had known in that character, the sons and daughters 
 belonging to each of them, their lineage, and even the 
 most trivial circumstances connected with the ordinary 
 occurrences of the village. 
 
 From what we have witnessed in respect to these 
 curacies, we may infer that the -^hole aim of those 
 monks in soliciting such preferments is to straiten the 
 Indians, in order to enrich themselves at their expense, 
 and to live with entire freedom from restraint. Hence 
 there is not one among them who covets the rural cura- 
 cies, which consist of the modern missions ; for, as those 
 Indians are not subject to church contributions, the 
 curates are not at liberty to impose them, and to enforce 
 the payment of them, as is the case in other districts ;
 
 & 
 
 87 
 
 and although the Indians of their own accord cultivate 
 cue of their farms for the benefit of the curate, yet, as 
 its produce is merely sufiicient to supply their necessities, 
 and not to accumulate, it is not enough to satisfy the 
 cravings of avarice. Hence those who go to them do 
 so as a penance, or from caprice, or to make a merit of 
 it, in order to secure some benefice in an old settlement, 
 rather than from the single desire of employing them- 
 selves in the instruction of the Indians ; and for this 
 reason the few who accept these curacies spend the 
 greater part or almost the whole year in the villages or 
 cities, which the}' prefer, and reside on their curacy only 
 during the annual celebration of the church festivals, 
 which are all comprised within the short term of fifteen 
 or twenty days, and they take their departure from them 
 as soon as the ceremony is finished. 
 
 The name of rural parishes is given to those which lie 
 on the spurs of the lofty chain of the Andes, through 
 the whole tract of country', which extends easterl}^ on 
 this side, and westerly on that which belongs to the 
 other side. The climate of those latitudes is hot and 
 moist, and on that account not well adapted to those 
 who are accustomed to the hill country. It is this which 
 renders them little to be coveted, and which furnishes a 
 pretext for the curates who accept them not to take up 
 their residence in them. But were they animated with 
 zeal to promote the cause of religion, or stimulated by a 
 desire lor the salvation of those souls, they would not 
 stop at dilliculties, nor find fault with a change of temper- 
 ature ; but as their zeal is directed only to the increase 
 of their revenue, and not to the propagation of the faith, 
 every thing is difficult and repugnant, except it be to live 
 after the licentious customs which have become inveter- 
 ate in the older settlements. 
 
 Having descril)ed the tyrannical policy of the curates 
 towards tlie Indians, their atrocious conduct, and their 
 dissolute habits, it remains to examine the method 
 adopted for the education of the Indians, and their in- 
 struction in the (h^gmas of religion ; on which sul)ject 
 we have already observed that on ISundays the Christian
 
 88 
 
 doctrine is rehearsed a short, time previous to saving 
 mass. At this ceremony all the Indians, male and 
 female, great and small, are to present themselves ; and, 
 gathering in the cemetery or square, in front of the 
 church, they sit upon the ground, arranged according to 
 age and sex, and the catechizing or doctrine commences 
 in the following manner : — 
 
 Each curate employs a blind Indian, whose duty it is 
 to repeat the doctrine to the rest. The latter is stationed 
 in the centre of them all ; and, with a kind of recitative, 
 which is neither singing nor prayer, he repeats the col- 
 lects or offices word for word, and the audience responds 
 in the form of dialogue. The doctrine is sometimes 
 rehearsed in the language of the Inca (which is that of 
 the Indians), and sometimes in Spanish, which is not 
 intelligible to any of them. This saying of pi'ayers lasts 
 somewhat more than half an hour, and it comprises all 
 the religious instruction which is given to the Indians, — 
 a method from which they derive so little benefit that old 
 men of seventy know no more than the little Indian 
 bo3'S {cholitos) of the age of six, and neither these nor 
 those have an}" further instruction than parrots would 
 obtain if they were so taught ; for they are neither ques- 
 tioned personally', nor are the mysteries of faith ex- 
 plained to them with the needful simplicity, nor are they 
 examined to see if they understand what thej say, nor 
 do they endeavor to make it more intelligible to those 
 who are dull of comprehension, — a duty so much the 
 more obligatory- in proportion to the degree of their in- 
 sensibility or lukewarmness in the concerns of religion. 
 As the whole instruction is confined rather to the tone of 
 the recitative than to the sense of the words, it is only 
 by singing that they are able to rehearse detached por- 
 tions ; for, when the}- are questioned upon any distinct 
 point, the}' cannot join two words together, and they 
 possess so imperfect an idea of the little they do know, 
 that, when they are asked who the most Holy Trinity is, 
 they sometimes answer, "The priest," and sometimes, 
 " The Virgin Mary ; " and when they are urged seriously 
 to listen to the question, they change the answer, being
 
 89 
 
 always inclined to admit whatever ma}' be said to them, 
 even if it were the most ridiculous jargon. The curate 
 has no other object in view than to make every one bring 
 the little presents required ; and when he has collected 
 these (which consist of v.'hat they ma}' happen to have), 
 and has taken a note of those ^ho have failed to bring 
 anj', in order afterwards to call them to account, he 
 thinks he is discharged from any farther obligation. 
 This method of teaching the Indians is so common in all 
 the villages, that, even in those whose curates are the 
 most exemplary, no other is practised. 
 
 In like manner, there is upon every plantation another 
 blind Indian, who is supported by the charity of the 
 planter for the same object. The Indians are collected 
 two or three daN's in the week in the farm-3-ard, usually 
 at three in the morning, so as not to lose time from the 
 ■work the}- have to perform through the day. They repeat 
 the same pra3-ers, precisel}' as is observed in the church ; 
 but the ceremony is accompanied neither by preaching, 
 nor by any effort whatever to explain the mysteries of 
 the faith. 
 
 The eagerness of the curate to celebrate all the church 
 festivals is attended with consequences of a most perni- 
 cious character, as we have often had occasion to jvitness ; 
 for, at the close of the church festivity, that of the 
 "masters of ceremonies" comes in course, and, being 
 made to consist of their common orgies, which are to 
 intoxicate themselves with the drink of chicha, the}' not 
 only effect their own ruin, by consuming the scanty 
 allowance of maize on which they depend for their sup- 
 port, but, being deprived of sense and reason, fathers 
 are crowded together with daughters, brothers with 
 sisters, without distinction of sex, and without respect 
 to relationship or regard to age. The curates do not re- 
 buke the disorder, on account of the gain resulting to 
 them from the celebration ; and, as it is the}' who furnish 
 the occasion of scandal, it is necessary for them to toler- 
 ate it, or to pretend (as they do) not to be aware of it. 
 In view of their heinous conduct in fomenting and 
 multiplying occasions of oflence among the Indians, their
 
 90 
 
 religion does not resemble the Christian any more than 
 it resembles that which thej^ had while they were in a 
 state of paganism ; for, if we examine the subject with 
 care, it will be found that, notwithstanding the nominal 
 conversion of these tribes, the progress they have made 
 in knowledge is so inconsiderable that it will be difficult 
 to discover any difference between the condition in which 
 they now live and that in which they were found at the 
 period of the conquest.
 
 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Showing that the Unwillinguess of the Gentile Indians to receivo 
 the Gospel and to submit to the Authority of the Kings of Spiiiti 
 is to be attributed to the Extreme .Sufferings of the Civilized 
 Indians, as will appear from the Limited Inliueuce and Par- 
 tial Success of the Catholic Missions. 
 
 By examining attentively all that lias been said in the 
 four preceding eliapters, we shall see the reason why the 
 unconverted Indians abhor the dominion of the Span- 
 iards, and the motives which incline them to regard with 
 contempt the Catholic faith, in which it is proposed to 
 indoctrine them, inasmuch as they look upon religion, as 
 the}' are taught it, as the instrument used to bring them 
 under the cruel yoke of despotism. Under this convic- 
 tion, it is not strange thatthe^- should appear so obstinate 
 and unwilling to receive it, when they have before them 
 the melancholy spectacle of what takes place in respect 
 to the converted Indians of their own tribe ; nor can we 
 wonder that, in the enjo3'ment of freedom, they should 
 prefer a wandering, uncertain, and barbarous life to the 
 comforts of a social condition which brings them to the 
 very doors of servitude. 
 
 It was one of the principal points contained in our in- 
 structions that we should inform ourselves of the places 
 still in possession of savage Indians, their pi'oximity to 
 our settlements, the tribes which compose them, and the 
 difficulties and facilities arising from their genius and 
 habits in effecting their civilization. In the present 
 chapter we shall merely present a history of the missions 
 sustained by the religious orders among the unconverted 
 Indians of the Province of C^uito, of which we possess 
 sufTicient knowledge to be aljle to do it witli the accuracy 
 which the suljject demands, giving an account both of
 
 92 
 
 the places and individuals connected with each of the 
 several stations. 
 
 We ma}' safely affirm that, of the whole extent of 
 South America, the only portion peopled by the Span- 
 iards, and in which there are towns that recognize the 
 government of the king, is the tract comprised between 
 the two principal chains of the Andes and that which 
 reaches from tlie western chain to the coast of the South 
 Sea ; and it should be observed, that in these there are 
 immense tracts which are entirely uninhabited, — either 
 because the}' form spacious pampas, where no facilities 
 exist for colonizing, or because they are occupied by 
 savage hoards, which have never been conquered. This 
 is the case along the coast from Arica to Valparaiso, and 
 from Conception to Valdivia, although not in an unbro- 
 ken line, but in most of the principal thoroughfares of 
 the interior. 
 
 The Spanish settlements of the hill country reach 
 eastwardly as far as the western declivities of the eastern 
 chain of the Andes, as has been already observed in the 
 description of the Province of Quito, in the first volume 
 of our travels ; and from the eastern declivities of the 
 same chain (a wooded, moist, and hot country), onward 
 towards the east, the settlements of the savage Indians 
 have their commencement, and they are situated at so 
 short a distance from those of the Spaniards, that, by 
 merel}' ascending the mountain summits (as deer hunters 
 are wont to do) , we may see distinctl}' the smoke of the 
 Indian huts. From this point their territory extends east- 
 wardly till it meets the coasts of Brazil, over a surface of 
 more than six hundred leagues. 
 
 The tribes which inhabit all those tracts, of such im- 
 mense length and breadth, are very numerous ; and every 
 village has a distinct language, unlike that of the neigh- 
 boring ones ; and, although in general there may not be 
 a marked difference in their manners and customs, some 
 diversity may bo noticed among them, whether it be in 
 the absurd rites of their idolatrous worship, or in the sys- 
 tem of theii' government, or in their general character- 
 istics.
 
 93 
 
 Very few of these tribes receive missionaries, and the 
 most unyielding are those who are situated nearest to 
 the Si)anish settlements. There are none, however, so 
 obstinate in this respect as those who have been guilty 
 of insurrection and murder ; for, as the}' live in appre- 
 hension of deserved punishment, there are no means ad- 
 equate for their complete subjugation. The same takes 
 place with the insurrectionists of the Spanish settlements ; 
 and in these an additional circumstance obtains, which is 
 that of esca[)ing from the ill-treatment they have suffered ; 
 hence follows the immense mischief they occasion, by 
 making it known to the tribes in whom they are merged, 
 and to those in their neighborhood, that they may learn 
 to abhor even the name of Spaniard, and obstinately re- 
 sist the introduction of the Catholic faith. 
 
 We cannot deny that the Indians, being naturally in- 
 clined to indolence, to idolatr}', and to everything which 
 accords with the brutish state in which they live, — for 
 among all the nations of the earth it is natural, as well 
 as a matter of experience, that each one esteems those 
 customs, manners, and religion in which he was born as 
 the best, and any other whatever as foreign to them, — 
 we cannot deny, we sa^', that the}' are averse to it, and 
 will not accede to it without repugnance. In this view it 
 not only ceases to be strange that the Indians are made 
 to receive customs so distinct from those to which they 
 are inured, inasmuch as labor stands opposed to indo- 
 lence, and civilization to the savage state ; but it is 
 worth}' of admiration that, without encountering great 
 obstacles, some tribes should be found of so docile dis- 
 positions as to receive missionaries and adopt the rites 
 and precepts of a religion which obliges them to abandon 
 their false gods, to lay aside their ancient and almost con- 
 naturalized hal)its, and to tear themselves av/ay from the 
 superstition and sorcery with which the infernal s[)irit has 
 beguiled tlicm, the more effectually to reduce them to hope- 
 less bondage. 
 
 Inasmuch as hatred and opposition to any other laws, 
 human or divine, diverse from those established among 
 them, are characteristic of all nations, as is also a fixed
 
 94 
 
 purpose not to abandon their ancient customs, we shall 
 lay it down as granted, that, of the two circumstances 
 which render the reduction of the Indians difficult, this 
 holds the first place, and we are to regard it as natural 
 and general among them, and not as being limited to any 
 one tribe ; the second is, the ill-treatment they are ex- 
 posed to by becoming subject to the Spaniards, after 
 they have been conquered. Even without this circum- 
 stance, that of forcing them out of a loitering, idle, and 
 easy life, to inure them to another which is laborious and 
 constrained, would of itself suffice to create repugnance 
 on their part to the exchange, although they should suffer 
 no ill-treatment from the Spaniards. All these circum- 
 stances together conspire to render the instruction of the 
 Indians difficult ; and to make them regard the Christian 
 religion with little esteem, and even with aversion, it 
 being the first step in the ladder by which they ascend 
 to the theatre, of their labors and sufferings. 
 
 It is not to be inferred that the reason why all the 
 tribes of Gentile Indians have not had missionaries is, 
 that they have refused to receive them ; b\it it is also be- 
 cause no effort has been made to introduce them. In 
 some portions, the cause may be found in the great dis- 
 tance of those parts from the mountain-chain, which 
 keeps the Spaniards in ignorance of them ; in others, it 
 is owing to the fact that the brokenness of the country 
 and unhealthiness of the climate make it undesirable ex- 
 cept to those who are brought up from infancy in those 
 latitudes. At the same time, we have no doubt that 
 missions might be undertaken and sustained, should a 
 settlement be once commenced ; and that such articles 
 might be raised as are adapted to the climate, as is the 
 case in others which are as warm and moist as those 
 which have continued unknown until the present time. 
 The only districts where missions are found even now 
 are those which are best known on account of their 
 proximity to the mountain-chain, or to the banks of the 
 largest rivers, as we find to be the case on the Marauon ; 
 and there are very few even of these that have mission- 
 aries, the Indians not being willing to receive them, be-
 
 95 
 
 cause they entertain a strong prejudice against civiliza- 
 tion, in consequence of what tliey liave heard of the 
 sufferings of the conquered tribes. 
 
 The Gentile tribes bordering on the Province of Quito 
 are so numerous that the missions there established are 
 proportionally- few, and the religious orders who conse- 
 crate themselves to them with evangelic zeal are still 
 fewer ; for, with the exception of the Jesuits' order, 
 who have for nianj' years sustained the mission of May- 
 nas, all the others either have no missions, or keep np a 
 station here and there, which is barely enough to serve 
 as an apology for calling over missionaries, the latter 
 being afterwards employed for the private ends and 
 emolument of the order itself; for it is never known that 
 thc}^ go to preach and spread the gospel among the 
 heathen. This is so general, that there is no religious 
 order which does not adopt the same course, for it is 
 also the practice of the Jesuits ; so that, of every twenty 
 indiAiduals who go from Spain, there is scarce^ one, or 
 at most two, who join the mission, because the order it- 
 self does not appropriate a greater number for this ser- 
 vice. It is true that the order of Jesuits sustains a 
 greater number of stations among the Gentile Indians 
 than any other order : but the number it retains per- 
 manently in the colleges is not less on this account than 
 those retained by the former ; but, on the contrarj^ far 
 exceeds that of the others, — which arises from the fact 
 that they send for missionai'ies more frequently, and re- 
 ceive a greater number of them by every arrival from 
 Spain. 
 
 In Spain, it is generally supposed (and the same opin- 
 ion obtains in the convents themselves) that the mission- 
 aries who go to the Indies are to proceed immediately to 
 the conversion of tlie natives : and many of them, full of 
 zeal for the propagation of the faith, offer to go and con- 
 nect themselves with the missions ; but, as this does not 
 take place, they are disappointed when they arrive 
 there, finding how different tlieir situation is from what 
 they had anticipated, and that it is impossible ever to 
 get back again. The case with the missionaries who
 
 96 
 
 are sent is, that, immediately on their arrival there, they 
 are distributed, if Jesuits, in the colleges, or, if of other 
 orders, which use rotation, in the convents of all the prov- 
 inces : and some devoting themselves to professorships, 
 others to the pulpit, others to attorneyships, and others 
 to the management of the farms, precisely' as is practised 
 in Spain, they keep them employed in these functions, or 
 exchange them, by transferring them from some to othei's, 
 but always for the benefit of the convents. Hence it ap- 
 pears that the only proper object of missionaries and mis- 
 sions is that which is least thought of; for, when the lim- 
 ited number of stations which compose the mission is 
 fimaished with curates, it is only when one dies, or an- 
 other wishes to retire, burdened with the weight of years, 
 that a substitute is appointed in his place, and a long 
 period frequently elapses without the occurrence of 
 either event. 
 
 Preaching to the heathen not being the object of the 
 appeal made by the orders to send missionaries to the 
 Indies, they must necessarily have some other in view, 
 which will result in some advantage ; for, if it were not 
 so, they would not run into the expense incurred on their 
 own account (besides what is contributed from the royal 
 exchequer) if they could avail it, and this is the point 
 which we are going to elucidate. 
 
 The orders which practise rotation in all the offices be- 
 longing to them must necessarily avail themselves of emi- 
 grants from Europe ; for otherwise they would be liable 
 to lose their immunities : and, having no other pretext for 
 bringing them over, they lay hold of that of the missions 
 as the most plausible ; but as this measure has no refer- 
 ence to Creoles, agents are always sent to invite missiona- 
 ries, when the office devolves in course upon a European ; 
 and, as a small number of emigrants suffice for this object 
 the orders limit themselves to these, with the exception of 
 the Jesuits, whose objects are distinct, being entirely con- 
 fined to their own order. These are to preserve an equili- 
 brium in all the colleges between Europeans and Creoles, 
 and to make the good habits and education of the former 
 to predominate over the bad ones acquired from childhood
 
 97 
 
 b}^ the latter, in order that the colleges may not decline 
 from that high standard of discipline which is peculiar to 
 the Jesuits, botli in Spain and in all Catholic kingdoms, 
 or wherever their order extends : and that they may em- 
 ploy Europeans to manage the revenue of the colleges 
 with proper diligence, fidelit}', and econom}', as there are 
 few Creoles in whom these circumstances concur ; hence 
 they are unfit for offices of trust, neither can the}^ be em- 
 plo3'ed in the missions, their conduct not being of a nature 
 to qualify them for such a charge. 
 
 In the j-ear 1744, when we are about taking leave of 
 those countries, one of the Jesuit missions arrived at 
 Quito, having lately come from Spain ; and it was com- 
 posed of a large number of individuals. The}^ were 
 persuaded that, immediately on their arrival, they should 
 be appointed to go among the Gentile Indians, to engage 
 in preaching the gospel ; and, finding that no such 
 measures were adopted, the}' soon began to make known 
 their dissatisfaction, which had reached such a degree, 
 that, if they had had means of returning to Spain, 
 scarcely one would have consented to remain. They 
 said, that in case the^' were to continue in the colleges, it 
 would be more agreeable and advantageous to them to 
 do so in Spain ; so great was their disappointment on 
 discovering how far they were from securing the object 
 proposed to them when they resolved to proceed to the 
 Indies ; and the same may be affirmed of all the rest, 
 until, in the lapse of time, the^' become accustomed to 
 the country-, and lose their zeal for the conversion of the 
 Indians. 
 
 All the missions scattered over the vast Province of 
 Quito are confined to those of the Jesuits on the river 
 Maranon, and five settlements belonging to the order of 
 St. Francis, about the head-waters of the river lea in 
 Sucumbios ; but neither those of the Jesuits, nor of the 
 Seraphic ordei", have priests in all tlie settlements, as 
 they ought to have. But tliat this statement may be 
 made more circumstantial, we sliall avail ourselves of a 
 report drawn up by Dr. James Peralta, curate of the 
 parish of St. IJarbara, in the year 1745, which is the 
 
 6
 
 98 
 
 most complete and accurate that has been made since 
 the origin of those missions, and the most instructive, 
 as it makes us acquainted with their present condition. 
 
 The Seraphic order have only five towns in tiie mis- 
 sions of Sucumbios ; namely, St. Michael, St. Joseph, 
 St. James of the Palmars, Yaunque, and Nariguera ; 
 and these missions belong to the department of Pasto, 
 although dependent on the government of the Audience 
 of Quito. 
 
 Tlie missions of the company commence from the city 
 of Archidona, whose curacy belonged to the clergy, and 
 was exchanged by them for one owned by the company 
 in the forests of the Province of Guayaquil.* 
 
 * 1. The cnracy of Archidona has three others annexed to it, 
 each at the distance of six or seven leagues from that city : and 
 they are Misagualli, inhabited by Siiauiards, mestizoes, and 
 negroes ; Teua and Xapo, both inhabited by Indians. 
 
 2. Mission of St. Michael of Siecoyas. The Indians of this 
 town rose upon thefatlier missionary ; and, on the 9tli of Janu- 
 ary, 1745, put him to death, and afterwards burued him, with two 
 other youths which he had associated with him. The name of 
 this priest was Francis Eeal ; and he had under his charge, 
 besides the i)rincipal village, in which he constantly resided, 
 six other towns, the names of which are, St. Bartholomew, of 
 Moya, St. Peter, St. Estanislaus, St. Luis, St. Croix, and Emma- 
 nuel de Aguarico. All these towns take their name from the 
 river Aguarico, on the banks of which they are situated. la 
 these six annexed towns there were only 2,063 persons, of both 
 sexes, and of every age; 1,628 converts and 43.5 catechumens: 
 and, although they were acquainted with the atrocious crime 
 committed by the inhabitants of the j)rincipal village, they 
 would not imitate their bad example ; but, on the contrary, 
 waited quietly in their villages until a new missionary should 
 be sent to them, intimating that they regarded with horror the 
 sacrilegious deed of the other Indians. This missionary was 
 one of those who had arrived at Quito with the last mission, 
 which had come from Spain ; and being ignorant of tlie genius, 
 habits, and pectiliarities of the Indians, was wanting in that 
 kind of authority which that tribe demands, in order not to ex- 
 asperate by reproof, nor to be too severe in endeavoring to 
 rescue them from the barbarous customs and vices which have 
 become to them a second nature. 
 
 3. Mission of St. Joseph of Guajoya. Its rector, Father Pie- 
 tragrosa, had under his charge, besides the principal village, 
 named Mary, three others of St. Xavier de Icahuates, St. John 
 the Baptist, and the Queen of the Angels, in which, as the
 
 99 
 
 The result of our inquiries is, that the missions of 
 Maynas and Quixos, which are under the charge of the 
 company, consist of 40 settlements, and employ in them 
 18 missionaries, 17 priests and 1 assistant; comprising 
 in all 12,853 souls, — 9,858 baptized, and 2,931) cate- 
 chumens. It is certain that many of these towns, which 
 are annexed to one diocese, might need a separate 
 
 settlements had been recently formed, a brother of the company 
 resided, whoso namo was Salvador Sanchez, to teach the Indians 
 to pray, and to instruct them in Christian doctrine. 
 
 4. Mission under the chai'ge of Perez — St. Xavier de Ura- 
 rines, likewise a settlement recently formed. The following are 
 the old stations of Maynas on the Kiver Maraiion : — 
 
 5. Mission of St. Francis de Borja, capital of the government 
 of Maynas, so depopulated as to consist of only 143 souls, of 
 both sexes, and of every age, and 65 Spaniards besides. It has 
 annexed to it the towns of St. Ignatius, of Maynas, and the 
 upper Andoas. Father Magnori is the curate. 
 
 6. Mission of St. Thomas of Andoa, under the charge of 
 Father Fransen, with the towns of Semigaes and St. Joseph, of 
 Pinches. 
 
 7. Mission of Concepcion of Cahuapanas, under the care of 
 Father Francis Hem. 
 
 8. Mission of the Presentacion of Chayavitas and the Encar- 
 nacion de Paranapuas, under the charge of Father Ignatius 
 Falcon. 
 
 9. Mission of the Concepcion de Xibaros, under the parochial 
 charge of Fatlier Michael. 
 
 10. Mission of St. Jago de Laguna, under the care of Father 
 Schcftcn, who had for his associate William Gremez. Tliis 
 town, being the head-quarters of the mission, contains 1,107 
 souls. 
 
 11. Mission of St. Xavier of Chamicuros and St. Anthony 
 Abad d« Aguanos. both under the care of Father Bamonte. 
 
 \2. Mission of our Lady de las Nieves do Juriniagas, St. 
 Anthony de Padua de Nainiches, and St. Francis Kexis del 
 Paradero, nndrr the care of Leonard Deubler. 
 
 1$. Mission of St. Joaquin de Laqueran Homagua ; missionary, 
 Adam Widman. 
 
 14. Missicm of St. Paul of Napanos; missionary. Father 
 Iriarte. 
 
 U). Mission of St. Philip of Amaona; missionary, Father 
 Ilcrraez. 
 
 16. Mission of St. Simon of Nahuapo; missionary, Father 
 Aranjo. 
 
 17. Mission of St. Ignatius of Pcvas and Caumares ; mis- 
 eiouary. Father Falcombeli.
 
 100 
 
 missionary for their support and greater advancement : 
 but, notwithstanding this want of missionaries, tliese 
 stations are in a better condition, beyond comparison, 
 than those of vSt. Francis ; for the persons destined for 
 these missions by the companj^ constantly reside in the 
 benefices, and frequently A'isit those that are annexed ; 
 their churches and chapels are in good order, and the 
 decorations, although not of much value, are neat and 
 well-made. There we see displayed Christian zeal and 
 diligence, and great solemnit}' in the celebration of public 
 worship. It is not so in the mission villages of Sucnm- 
 bios, belonging to the Seraphic order ; for the priests 
 reside there but a short period, the churches are wholly 
 out of repair, and in a dilapidated condition ; their 
 priests do not minister to the spiritual wants of the Ind- 
 ians, and, owing to the entire absence of religious fervor, 
 instead of making progress, they are in a retrograde 
 condition. 
 
 Having spoken already of the missions of Ma3'nas, it 
 would be unjust to overlook their origin, and the progress 
 the company has made in them, especially as the history 
 of them will confirm what we have said on this subject. 
 
 A Portuguese fleet, consisting of fort3'-seven large 
 guns, commanded by Captain Texcira, having ascended 
 the Maranon, the Audience of Quito determined that, on 
 their return to Para, whence the}' had proceeded for the 
 purpose of discovering the course of that river, two of 
 the father Jesuits should go down with them, in order 
 to examine those territories more minutely, ascertain by 
 what tril3es they are inhabited, and notice other partic- 
 ulars which should contribute to a better knowledge of 
 their condition. The company, whose attention had 
 been for many years directed to the discovery of that 
 vast countrj-, with a view to extend the religion of Jesus 
 Christ among the many barbarous tribes which inhabit it, 
 accepted the charge with great satisfaction, and named 
 Fathers Acuua and Artieda for this object. 
 
 It was on the 18th of October. 1G37, that the Portu- 
 guese fleet left the neighborhood of Para, and it employed 
 eight months in reaching the port of Payamino, which
 
 101 
 
 was their first stopping-place, in the Province of Quixos. 
 Captain Texeira, leaving his crew there, with the greater 
 part of the naval force, proceeded to Quito with some of 
 his oflici^rs, and there gave an account of his vo^-age ; 
 and, as soon as the fathers appointed b}' the conipan}', 
 and approved by the Audience, could get ready, ihoy all 
 left Quito on the IGth of February, 1G39, and, taking the 
 roa'l through Archidona, went to join the fleet at the 
 port of Payamino, where it had remained. 
 
 Jesuit missionaries had already been stationed on the 
 Marauon, — only, however, in the vicinit}' of its head- 
 waters ; for the Prince of Esquilache being then Viceroy 
 of Peru, the administration of Ma^'uas was given to Don 
 Diego Vaca during his lifetime, and afterwards to his 
 eldest son, Don Pedro Vaca. This gentleman had solic- 
 ited and effected the conquest of those countries at his 
 own expense ; and, after having subdued the tribe of 
 Maynas, and founded the cit}' of St. Francis de Boya, in 
 the 3-ear IGoi, making it the capital of his domain, he 
 was induced b}^ such an auspicious commencement to 
 implore the company and the Audience of Quito to nomi- 
 nate persons of that order to enter upon the mission ; 
 which was granted him with great pleasure, both bj' the 
 court as well as by the company, and Fathers Cuxia and 
 Cueva were immediately ap'pointed to found a missionary 
 station. The missionaries arrived at Maynas in the 3'ear 
 1G37, b}- the way of Patate ; and, as soon as the}' reached 
 the city of Borja, they took charge of that curacy, and 
 began to exercise their functions b}' instructing the Ind- 
 ians alread}' reduced, and endeavoring to reduce all the 
 rest of the tribe who were not 3'et civilized. 
 
 After suffering great hardships. Fathers Acuna and 
 Artieda arrived safely at the port where the Portuguese 
 fleet was waiting for them ; and reached that city the 
 same 3'ear, in December, 1G30, after ten months' journc}' 
 1)3' land and by water. After having rested from the 
 fatigue they had undergone, the3^ set sail for Spain, in 
 order to inform his Majesty of cver3'thing that had 
 occurrcfl in tlie discovery, and of all the observations 
 tbc')^ had made. In 10 10 the}' readied the court of
 
 102 
 
 JNIadrid ; and, having made a representation of what they 
 had seen, and having waited there more than a year to 
 sohcit supphes for that extensive conquest, the}- could 
 not secure their object, because the state of anarchy in 
 Spain, which had resulted from riots connected with the 
 rebellion of the kingdom of Portugal, naturally occupied 
 the thought and demanded the attention of the monarch 
 and his ministers. The Jesuit fathers, finding how diffi- 
 cult it was to obtain what they wished on an occasion so 
 critical that it allowed no time for anything but to pre- 
 pare an army to check the encroachments of the rebels, 
 Father Artieda determined to leave the court, and to re- 
 turn to his Province of Quito, there to give impulse to 
 the mission, through the Audience and his college, in 
 whom he confided all his hopes. In the year 1643 he re- 
 turned to Quito. He gained the attention of the college ; 
 and, with a view to inspire greater fervor in the work, he 
 again made a tour to the Maranon, and, passing through 
 the capital of Maynas, took with him Father Cueva, his 
 assistant Borja, and several soldiers, with whom he pene- 
 trated among the tribe of Omaguas, and took legal 
 possession of all that province and river in the name of 
 the Catholic king, Phihp IV., as is stated in the report of 
 Father Francis Figueroa, a member of the Jesuit order. 
 Father Acuiaa thought it proper to continue some time 
 at court, to see if haply the insurrections might be 
 quelled, and his solicitations and appeals might produce 
 a favorable result: but finding that the tumults were 
 augmenting more and more, and the progress of the 
 rebels was giving the court still greater anxiety, he 
 resolved to follow his companion in the galleys which 
 sailed soon after ; and, having proceeded from Panama to 
 Lima, to which city he was called by business of a 
 different nature, he died there. 
 
 As the first missionaries who penetrated into Maynas, 
 for the purpose of preaching to the Indians, found so 
 much fruit in the conversion of those tribes that their 
 strength was not adequate to such a conquest, the Ind- 
 ians having received the gospel without repugnance, 
 they applied to Quito to have new associates named to
 
 103 
 
 aid them to gather in such a harvest as was likelv to result 
 from the doeiUty of those Indians, and the readiness 
 the}' manifested to become Christians. Their petition 
 was so reasonable that it could not fail to be heard ; and, 
 in consequence of it, the College of Quito named Fathers 
 Perez and Figueroa ; but this re-enforcement not sullicing 
 for the great harvest produced in those countries from 
 the seed of the gospel. Father Cnxia was compelled to 
 proceed in person to Quito, in the 3'ear 1650, to ask for 
 new laborers. The College of Quito granted him three 
 in addition, and he returned with them to his station ; 
 where, being in all seven in number, and spreading 
 themselves over those provinces of Gentile Indians, it 
 was admirable to witness the vast number of souls 
 brought to the knowledge of the true God by dint of 
 their labor, and the fatigue and inconveniences of their 
 travels, and the dangers to which they were every 
 moment exposed in attempting to rescue them from such 
 ignorance and blindness. 
 
 In the year IGGG they had already formed thirteen 
 large settlements, well peopled with Indians who had 
 been converted ; and for this purpose they brought 
 together several of those wandering tribes, on whose 
 account they gave to the settlements the names of the 
 most numerous.* 
 
 These thirteen towns, large and populous as they 
 were, had onl}' seven missionaries ; and it was natural 
 that each one should have its special missionary', to be 
 constantly resident in it: but, as they were destitute of 
 them, besides being distant from each other six, eight, 
 and even more leagues, we cannot fail to perceive the 
 sim})lieity and sinceritj' of those Indians, and the facilit}' 
 with which they are induced to com[)ly with whatever 
 may be required of them, when once we discover the 
 method best adapted to their genius to introduce them 
 to the rites of the Christian religion and the customs of 
 
 *Tli(; names of tho 8ettlem<;iits arc as follows: Xcveros, Para- 
 l)a(l(!(iu<'s, Ata;fiiatcs, Ciitinanas, ({iia!la,i;a, Loroto do Paraiia- 
 pnras, Ucayale, IJaibudos, Agiiaiios, Koa-xMuyuas, ISau Autouio, 
 Zapas, Coronados.
 
 104 
 
 civilized life by channels which are best suited to their 
 ideas. The old Christian settlements require to have 
 each a special parish priest for the spiritual nourishment 
 of those who compose them ; and with far more reason is 
 this measure necessary in the new, because these are 
 more exposed to perish in inconstancy and unbelief, 
 their own imagination perhaps bringing to mind the in- 
 dependence of which they had deprived themselves to 
 receive the gospel, — their ancient rites, and the freedom 
 in which thc}^ lived, without submitting either to divine 
 or human law ; the restraints of civilized life, the pre- 
 cepts of religion, and the observance of laws and customs 
 wholly opposed to those which are natural to them, pre- 
 senting themselves to the minds of these Indians as un- 
 congenial and burdensome. The want of missionaries 
 in these new conversions of the Marauon should not be 
 attributed to the Jesuits ; for all that this order did previ- 
 ously was at its own expense, having no other resources 
 but those of their own revenue to defray the expenses 
 incurred by these missions ; and, besides this, there were 
 very few missionaries sent over from Spain until that 
 time, either because this order had no occasion to do it, 
 and because the supply had not been furnished with as 
 much regularity as afterwards, — not that a re-enforcement 
 was not sent at all, but because the^- arrived after longer 
 intervals, or were composed of a smaller number of in- 
 dividuals, — reasons which did not obtain in subsequent 
 times, nor do they now obtain ; for, on account of the 
 early spiritual conquests made by the company, mission- 
 aries were sent over more frequently and in greater 
 numbers. 
 
 In the 3-ear 1G81, fifteen years after the census of the 
 first conversions, the settlements had augmented with 
 the addition of eight new towns, but not so the number of 
 missionaries, although in the interval of these fifteen 
 3^ears many missionaries had proceeded from Spain to 
 Quito, and quite enough to have those missions supplied 
 with laborers. B}' the catalogue which follows we shall 
 come to a knowledge of the settlements formed of con-
 
 105 
 
 verted ludians until this year, and the number of mis- 
 sionaries appointed to take charge of tliem.* 
 
 The result, then, is : that all the missions of Maynas 
 ■were then composed of twentj'-one settlements ; and, as 
 Father Rodriguez sa^-s in his history of the Marauon 
 and Amazons, there were only four missionaries in them, 
 which are those already named, and all who had been 
 employed from the 3"ear 1G38, in which they had their 
 first establishment, until the beginning of 1G81, in which 
 that station was commenced by missionaries going 
 among those tribes, were twentj-four fathers of the 
 compan}', and three lay brethren, of whom nearly' all 
 died. 
 
 The tribe of Omagua Indians, which was one of the 
 most numerous that inhabited the valley of the Maranon, 
 had despatched messengers to the town of the Lagoon, 
 in the year 1681, entreating Father Lucero, at that time 
 superior of those stations, to send them missionaries ; 
 because, in consequence of the kind treatment of the 
 other tribes, which had become subject to them, and the 
 advantages they enjo3'ed after having been brought 
 under a system of government so wise and just, they 
 desired to add their tribe to the number, to enjo}'^ the 
 same benefits, and, with them, the preaching of evan- 
 gelical doctrine : but the missions were so destitute of 
 laborers that they had not the number sufficient to sup- 
 ply the settlements already formed, and it was impossible 
 at that time to accede to their request. All that the 
 superior could do was to give them reason to hope that, 
 on the arri\al of the first supply of missionaries, their 
 wishes should be complied with, some one of them being 
 appointed to take them under their charge, acting their 
 curate ; which was not carried into eflect until the year 
 
 * Firnt M'tHHion. — 1. Sun Luis Goiizaga; 2. Sau Ignacio ; 3. 
 iaiita T(;r<;.sa. 
 
 Santa T(;r<;.sa. 
 
 Second Mix.slon. — 1. Roa-Maynas ; 2. Loa Coronados ; '^. Gayos. 
 
 Third Minsio)!. — 1. Xevcros ; 2. rarauapuras ; 3. Cliayavitas; 
 4. Miuiichcs. 
 
 Fourth AFifinion. — 1. Ucayales ; 2. Xitipos y Cliipcos; 3. 
 Tibilos ; 4. Aguauos; 5. Guallaga; G. Maiapiuas; 7. Mayuru- 
 nas; 8. Otauabis.
 
 lOG 
 
 1686, when a mission, composed of many individuals, 
 having arrived from Spain to Quito, some, although few 
 In number, were appointed to lighten the burdens of 
 those who were already in the worli ; and one of the in- 
 dividuals so appointed was Father Samuel Fritz, a native 
 of Bohemia, to whose lot it fell to go to the new mission 
 of the Ouiaguas ; for, as soon as these Indians had in- 
 telli<j:enee that new missionaries had arrived at the La- 
 goon, and that one of them was disposed to come down 
 to their territory, they went forward to receive him, and 
 ascended with more than thirty canoes as far as the 
 Lagoon, in order to escort him to their country. 
 
 Father Viva had succeeded Father Lucero in the office 
 of superior of the stations ; and, being a pei'son of ex- 
 traordinary capacity and endowments, as soon as he saw 
 Father Fritz, he formed so high an estimate of his quali- 
 ties, that it appeared to him that the choice could not 
 have fallen on any one better qualified for that under- 
 taking, — an opinion the wisdom of which was justified 
 by the wonders he wrought, in a short time, by his 
 preaching and instructions among those tribes, and 
 several others, which he reduced to the bosom of our 
 Catholic faith. 
 
 It may be readily inferred that, in a tribe who, of their 
 own accord, applied for missionaries, it would not be 
 necessary to toil so hard in order to draw their attention 
 to what is preached to them, or to make them receive in 
 sincerity the religion of the true God, in which they are 
 instructed, as it is in those other tribes in which, as pre- 
 paratory to the preaching of the gospel, it was necessary 
 to contract relations of friendship by going to look for 
 them among the mountains, forests, and hidden ravines, 
 where they are scattered like wild beasts. As soon as 
 the Omaguas were in the presence of their father, re- 
 garding him as the redeemer of their souls, they returned 
 with him to their territory, full of mirth and joy, as was 
 abundantly evident by the festivities with which they 
 solemnized the occasion, — transferring him, for this pur- 
 pose, from one canoe to another, as long as the voyage 
 up the river continued. As soon as they reached the
 
 107 
 
 first outposts within their jurisdiction, thinking it un- 
 suitable that he should make his entry on foot, they vied 
 with each other in bearing him on their shoulders, in 
 compan}' with the most distinguislied personages of the 
 suite ; and in the midst of dances, and the varied music 
 of flutes, pipes, and other instruments, after their stvle, 
 they took him out of the canoe on their arrival, and con- 
 ducted him to the quarters which they had in readniess 
 for him near the cabins. After some days of rest at 
 that outpost (for it had not as 3'et the importance of a 
 settlement), they proceeded to take him to the other 
 islands inhaT)ited by the same tribe of Omaguas, which 
 were more than tliirt^', that they might all know him, 
 and begin to look upon him as their shepherd. And in 
 this wa}' that great mission had its origin, which became 
 so prosperous, that, in less than three years, almost all 
 the adult Indians were baptized, being already capable 
 of receiving baptism. Father Fritz having administered 
 this sacrament from the beginning to all the children, — 
 the latter not requiring to be instructed in the mysteries 
 of the faith in childhood, as is necessary in the case of 
 adults. 
 
 While Father Fritz was emplo3'ed in the religious in- 
 struction of the Omagua Indians, he received intelligence 
 of some neighboring tribes scattered along the banks of 
 the river, as the Yurimagnas, the Ayzuares, the Baromas, 
 and others ; and, learning that the}' would not refuse to 
 embrace the Catholic religion, proceeded to them, and 
 found them so ready to receive it that he began immedi- 
 ately to catechize them, in order to administer to them 
 the rite of baptism. So great was the success that at- 
 tended these missions, that, in the 3'ear 1G89, the Omagua 
 stations were tliirt3--eiglit in number (the capital of which 
 was San Joaquin) ; another belonged to the Turimaguas, 
 and two to tlic Ayzuari tribe. All these were under the 
 charge of Father Fritz : so that, as he himself relates, in 
 his private report, he had scarcely time suilicient in the 
 course of a year to make one visit among them all, and 
 was able to sojourn witli each tril)c only long enough to 
 instruct the adults, and to baptize those who had been
 
 108 
 
 born since his last visit. All the remainder of the year, 
 those Indians were left to live alone, without any other 
 restraints than their own will, which was so well inclined 
 that no occasion of disturbance ever occurred among 
 them, nor did they abandon the religion in which they 
 had been instructed, to return to the false rites of Gen- 
 tile superstition, which they had been forbidden to prac- 
 tise. 
 
 Father Fritz, being exhausted by the fatigue and hard- 
 ship consequent on a life of continual journeying from 
 one settlement to another, found his health impaired ; and 
 his illness increased so rapidl}' as to make it necessary 
 for him to go down to Para, in the year 1G89, to take the 
 advice of the ph3-sicians of that cit3% The Portuguese 
 suspected that his illness was onl}^ a pretext for making 
 a survey of all the remaining valley of the Maranon, 
 from the mouth of Black River (the boundary of his 
 mission) as far as Para ; and consequently^ detained him 
 there, after he had recovered, at the same time commu- 
 nicating the intelligence to the court of Portugal. The 
 result (which was as favorable to Father Fritz as could 
 be desired) did not reach Para until the middle of the 
 3-ear 1G91, when he was restored to the mission. The- 
 Portuguese government appointed an officer and seven 
 soldiers to accompany him, under pretence of showing 
 him respect ; and, as soon as they entered the tribe of the 
 Azuaiis, Father Fritz wished to dismiss them, because 
 those Indians had discovered a friendly' disposition 
 towards him during his passage down the river, by going 
 up to meet him. The soldiers did not \'ield to his ear- 
 nest request, having in view other objects distinct from 
 those they had intimated to the father, as was afterwards 
 admitted b}' the Portuguese officer, when thej' reached 
 the town of Mayavara, the last of the Yarimaguas. 
 Father Fritz again importuned the Portuguese to return, 
 as he was already within the limits of his mission : to 
 which the officer said, in reply, that his not having done 
 so already was, that he had orders from his governor to 
 take possession of that teri'itor^', as far as that of the 
 Omaguas inclusive, in the name of the king of Portugal,
 
 109 
 
 as being comprised within his jurisdiction ; and that he 
 would notify him at once to withdraw IVom it and leave 
 it unoccu[)ied. Father Fritz wondered at this determi- 
 nation, and the more as it was opposed to the decision 
 given by the court of Lisbon, in consequence of repre- 
 sentations made by the father himself from Para ; and, 
 having confronted in this manner the Portuguese officer, 
 he prevailed upon him to let him I'cturn without urging 
 his suit an}' further for that time ; and, having descended 
 one da^-'s navigation, the}' landed at Guapatate, opposite 
 a town of the same name, cleared a plot of ground, and 
 left for a boundary- a large tree, known by the name of 
 Samona, indicating that the territory as far as that point 
 belonged to them, and leaving word with some Indians 
 that they should soon return to make a settlement on 
 that spot. 
 
 Father Fritz, foreseeing the evil consequences that 
 would result to the missions by the excessive insolence 
 of the Portuguese, unless measures were taken in time 
 to check them, and having communicated the matter to 
 the superior of the missions and the governor of Ma3nas, 
 it was determined, agreeably to the opinion of both, that 
 Father Fritz should proceed personally to Lima to in- 
 form the viceroy of the prosperous state of the missions, 
 and the danger which threatened them, that he might 
 devise measures to thwart the designs of the Portuguese. 
 The Viceroy of Lima, Count of Monclova, and after him 
 the whole city, were astonished at the success which had 
 attended the [)reaching of the gospel by Father Fritz, 
 and the account filled them all with admiration ; but 
 when they came to the principal point, which was to pre- 
 vent an}' further encroachments, on the part of the Por- 
 tuguese, upon the Spanish domain, as well as upon that 
 mission whicli extended from the mouth of tlie river 
 Napo to that of Black River, he discovered in the viceroy 
 little disposition to undertake the defence of that terri- 
 tory. This was afterwards confirmed by the reply given 
 by the count to the memorial of Father Fritz, as appears 
 from the manuscript narrative of this missionary, which 
 was in substance as follows: "That, inasmuch as the
 
 no 
 
 Portuguese were Catholic Christians as well as the Span- 
 iards, and a warlike nation, he had no means at his com- 
 mand adequate to induce them to confine themselves to 
 their own territor}^ without coming to a rupture, which 
 was unadvisable in the present case, those uncultivated 
 forests 3-ielding no revenue to the king of Spain, unlike 
 many other provinces which ought with more reason to 
 be protected against hostile invasion ; that in the vast 
 extent of the Indies there were lands sufHcient for both 
 crowns. At the same time, he would lay the petition 
 before his Majesty as soon as possible." Certain it is, 
 that if these reasons had not been recorded by a person 
 of such virtue, and who possesses such claims as that 
 missionary, we should refuse to give him credence ; for 
 they seem more becoming a man who had thrown off his 
 allegiance to princes lawfully invested with the territory, 
 than of a minister and governor-general of Spain in 
 those very Indies whose defence against usurpation 
 Father Fritz was soliciting. 
 
 The stations which this eminent father had founded 
 were composed of forty-one villages, and so remote from 
 each other that, between the first, on the upper waters of 
 the river, and the last, on the lowest, there intervened a 
 distance of more than one hundred leagues. All these 
 missions are made up of the union of vagrant tribes, 
 who have always inhabited the banks of that great rii^er, 
 and who are obliged by forming settlements to live to- 
 gether in a rational and social state, the missionary him- 
 self being their priest and magistrate, who instructs them 
 in the arts of civilized life, as well as in the doctrines 
 and precepts of the Christian religion. Most of these 
 towns consist of Indians who have been converted long 
 since, and brought to a state of civilization ; to these are 
 occasionally added other Gentile Indians, who, finding 
 themselves worsted in the continual wars which they 
 carry on with the neighboring tribes, and fl^'ing from the 
 cruelties with which they are threatened, come to seek 
 shelter under the covert of the missionary fathers, a 
 respect for whom keeps their enemies in check. In these 
 cases, they improve the opportunity to preach to them,
 
 Ill 
 
 and to teach them, preparing their minds to receive bap- 
 tism : but the}- are usually so fickle, that, although they 
 hear the gospel with sufficient attention, manifesting a 
 desire to receive it, they soon throw off that fervent zeal 
 which was awakened b}' the fear which induced them to 
 leave their lauds, or b}' a sense of obligation imposed upon 
 them by the memory of gifts bestowed ; and, when they 
 come to believe that the auger of the tribes with whom 
 they were at war is pacified, they return to their brutal 
 customs. At other times, the curates despatch messen- 
 gers to the neighboring tribes, when they know thej' will 
 receive the benefit to be bestowed upon them : or the 
 missionaries go to look for them in their cabins, to attract 
 them by a present of some gewgaws : by which means 
 they succeed in making them teachable, and inclined to 
 have a fixed place of residence, by forming a settlement, 
 not far from which the missionary has his place of ren- 
 dezvous, in order to go and visit them frequentl}', and to 
 instruct them in the precepts of religion, that they may 
 become proper subjects of baptism. 
 
 When these new towns are in a condition to support 
 special missionaries or parish priests, and there is any 
 security of their stability, they are then sent to them ; 
 but these conversions make such slow progress that 
 many years elapse without the addition of one new 
 station to the old ; but, notwithstanding this interval, 
 some fruit never fails to be secured, in recompense of such 
 incessant lal)or. This advantage results exclusively 
 from the missions which the company have under their 
 charge ; because the}' pursue it with zeal, and persevere 
 with unabated fervor in such undertakings, not being 
 deterred fro:n them by the fickleness of the Indians, nor 
 disheartened by the fatigue and suffering they must neces- 
 sarily undergo in countries and climates to which they 
 have not been accustomed. 
 
 ConductfMl on these principles, it is evident that if there 
 were zeal in the religious Orders to convert the Indians, 
 missions would be sustained in all the possessions of 
 Spain in that country, each one endeavoring to gain the
 
 112 
 
 good-will of the Indians by gentleness and civility,* as is 
 the case in Maynas, a Jesuit mission ; and, if such be not 
 the general practice, it is because the whole aim of those 
 individuals is to obtain curacies, from which the}'^ can de- 
 rive an income without labor or encumbrance ; and this 
 not being possible in the missions, because in them they 
 must divest themselves of regard to interest, and shun 
 covetousness altogether, there is no individual who de- 
 sires the work, and no zeal in the Orders to carry it for- 
 ward. It is one of the great calamities we have to bewail 
 in those countries, that, while the convents are so numer- 
 ous and all so wealthy, the Indians should not have the 
 benefit of the most insignificant portion, either of the 
 superfluous riches of their inmates, or of the enormous 
 revenue accruing from their estates, to be emplo3'ed in 
 securing their salvation b}' means of preaching and teach- 
 ing the Word of God, which ought to be the grand and 
 
 * The lucns, altliongh governed only by a simple natural law, 
 have left ns the admirable system of their policy in the maxims 
 they observed to conciliate the Indians, and reduce them to obedi- 
 ence, so as to be beloved by them to the degree they were, and 
 that their laws might be observed with scrupulous exactness, 
 which, while they were mild and just, did not fail to be severe 
 whenever it was necessary that rigor should predominate over 
 clemency. They conquered the provinces (when it could not be 
 done by mild measures) by force of arms ; and, even when these 
 means were resorted to, their subjects lived without aversion to 
 the authority which held them in subjection, as it could not be 
 otherwise under a mild and beneficent policy. The same methods 
 ought to be adopted now towards those tribes, that they may not 
 obstinately leliise to come under the Spanish rule ; for if the Ind- 
 ians should discover that the king's vassals live comfortably, 
 that they are treated with consideration, and that only their 
 own welfare is consulted, they would no longer entertain the 
 idea they now have of the Spaniards, as fe;irfal tyrants, and 
 their conversion would become iiracticable. The laws enacted 
 for their benefit are admirable: a failure to comply with them 
 is the source whence all their suft'erings originate ; but should 
 these abuses be reformed, and should the Indians be treated as 
 men have a right to be treated, it might be hoped that the mis- 
 sions would have a favorable result, and those great objects ac- 
 complished in a short period, which have not been effected in 
 the long period which has elapsed from the time of the conquest 
 until now.
 
 113 
 
 only object and cmploymont of them all. But in the con- 
 ehuling t-bapter, in ^Yhich we arc to speak more in detail 
 of the monasteries, it will be made to appear how diverse 
 are the pursuits and conduct of those ecclesiastics from 
 what belong to the character of missionaries.
 
 114 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Prevalence of Party-Spirit between Europeans and Creoles. — 
 Its chief Source, and the Evils resulting from it in the Cities 
 and large Towns. 
 
 It can never fail to be unseemly, numerous as the ex- 
 amples may be of this nature, that, among a people of 
 the same country, of the same religion, and even of the 
 same blood, suchenmitj^, rancor, and hatred should exist, 
 as are found to prevail in Peru, where the cities and large 
 towns have become a theatre of discord and perpetual 
 wrangling between Europeans and Creoles. This enmity 
 is the source of the repeated tumults which happen there ; 
 for the hatred engendered between the two opposing inter- 
 ests becomes more and more virulent, and the exasper- 
 ated parties never lose an opportunity to breathe out ven- 
 geance, and give loose rein to the passions and jealousies 
 which are so deep-rooted in their hearts. 
 
 To be a European, or " Chapeton," as one is called in 
 Peru, is reason enough for avowing one's self an enemy 
 to the Creoles ; and to have been born in the Indies is a 
 sufficient cause for hating Europeans. To such a height ' 
 is this mutual iil-will carried, that in some respects it ex- 
 ceeds the unbridled frenzy with which nations in open war 
 vilify and outrage each other ; for if, in these, we may 
 hope it will gradually subside, it is not so with the 
 Spanish colonics in Peru : and, instead of being weak- 
 ened by more frequent intercourse, by the influence of 
 family ties, or by other motives which are adapted to 
 promote harmony and friendship, quite the reverse takes 
 place ; for the closer their contact, the higher do the 
 flames of discord rise, and, their somewhat smothered 
 rancor being kindled again by renewed discussion, the
 
 115 
 
 fire gains strengili, and the conflagration becomes inex- 
 tingnisliable. 
 
 Throughout Peru, the spirit of party is a mahxcly 
 which prevails in all the cities and large towns, not- 
 withstanding the slight difTerences which ma_y be oc- 
 casionally observed, in the greater or less degree of 
 scandal which attends it. The disease is so general, 
 that none are exempt from it — neither the first magis- 
 trates of the cit\', nor the highest dignitaries in the 
 church and in the religions orders ; for it attacks even 
 th'>se who have a reputation for wisdom and sanctity. 
 The towns are made the open theatres of the two op- 
 posing parties ; irreconcilable enmity disgorges its venom 
 on the seats of justice ; and even in the monasteries 
 the sparks of discord are kindled to a raging flame. Pri- 
 vate dwellings, likewise, where the ties of parentage 
 bind together both' Europeans and Creoles, become 
 storehouses of anger and recrimination ; so that, upon 
 due consideration, it would be tame to describe the 
 scene as the purgator}- of minds, since it comes to be 
 a hell of living beings, who are kept in a state of per- 
 petual disquiet b}^ numberless occasions of discord, 
 which serve as fuel to the flames of hatred. 
 
 It is in the cities of the mountainous districts that 
 part3'-spirit rises to the greatest height ; which proceeds, 
 no doubt, from their isolated position : but in the towns 
 on the coast, where intercoui'se with strangers is more 
 frequent, although their inhabitants do not fail to cherish 
 a spirit of mutual animosit}', the scandal is not so public 
 as in the former, where the attention cannot l)e diverted 
 from party questions by subjects of a diflerent nature. 
 
 These dissensions, which are there so common and so 
 \'ioIcnt, that, from the time one arrives in those parts, he 
 is made acquainted with them, and very soon becomes 
 implicated in them, must have had their origin in some 
 powerful cause ; and, while this is not removed, the 
 former must continue. Our object in the i)resent chap- 
 ter will l»e to investigate it ; for, if it is not discovered, it 
 will be impossible to form an adequate idea of it, or to 
 applj- the remedy which the evil demands.
 
 116 
 
 Although the party feeling which exists between Euro- 
 peans and Creoles may have originated from various 
 sources, there are two which appear to have more in- 
 fluence than all the rest — the excessive vanity and over- 
 bearing manners of the Creoles, and tlie forlorn and pen- 
 niless condition of the Europeans who emigrate to that 
 country. The latter accumulate a fortune with the aid 
 of relatives and friends, as well as by dint of labor and 
 industry ; so that within a few ^-ears they are enabled to 
 form an alliance with ladies of distinction : but the low 
 condition in which the Creoles first knew them is not 
 wholl}' effaced from remembrance ; and, on the first oc- 
 casion of misunderstanding between the European and 
 his relatives, the latter expose, v/ithout the least reflec- 
 tion, the mean origin and profession of the former, and 
 kindle the flames of discord in all hearts. The Euro- 
 peans espouse the cause of their injured countr3'men, 
 and the Creoles that of the native women ; and thus the 
 seeds of dissension spring up, which had been sown in 
 the mind from the remote period of the conquest. 
 
 It maj' be readily supposed that the vanity of the 
 Creoles, and their lofty pretensions to a noble ancestry, 
 rise to such a height that they are perpetually discussing 
 the order and line of their descent ; so that it would ap- 
 pear, as it respects nobility and antiquity, the}' have 
 nothing to envy in the most illustrious families in Spain ; 
 and, treating the subject with the ardor of enthusiasm, 
 the}' make it the first topic of conversation with the 
 newly-arrived Europeans, in order to acquaint them with 
 their noble origin : but, when this is investigated impar- 
 tially, we are met, at the first step we take, witli so many 
 diiTiculties that a family can rarely be found that has no 
 mixed blood, not to mention objections of minor impor- 
 tance. In such cases it is amusing to observe how they 
 become mutually the heralds of each other's low birth, so 
 that it is needless to investigate the subject for one's self; 
 for while each one strives to unfold and present to view 
 his royal descent, depicting the illustrious origin of his 
 family in such a way that it may not be confounded with 
 others of the same city, he brings to light all their defec-
 
 117 
 
 tivc titles, and the fonl l3lots which stain the pnrit}- of his 
 neighbor's. The snmc is repeated b\- these last in regard 
 to the former, nntil every circumstance respecting their 
 famihes is brought to light, and their true origin ex- 
 posed. Europeans themselves, who marry ladies of rank, 
 and who arc not ignorant of f/<ei/* defective titles, become 
 resentful v. hen they are taunted with their former poverty 
 and low condition, and upbraid them with the Haws of 
 their boasted nobility ; and this always furnishes mate- 
 rials enough for both to keep alive a sensitiveness to the 
 insults and injuries heaped upon them by the opposite 
 party. 
 
 This very vanity of the Creoles, which is more observ- 
 able in the mountainous districts, owing to the want of 
 intercourse with foreigners, except such as settle in the 
 different towns, keeps them aloof from labor, and from 
 engaging in trade (the only occupation in the Indies 
 which can enable them to preserve unimpaired their in- 
 heritance), and allures them to the practice of vices 
 which are inherent in a life of inaction. Hence it is 
 the}' soon sec the end of all which their parents have 
 left them, by wasting their money, and negleeling the 
 cultivation of their estates ; and the Europeans, availing 
 themselves of the advantages which the neglect of the 
 Creoles affords them, turn them to account, and amass an 
 estate ; for by engaging in trade they soon succeed in get- 
 ting upon a good looting, enjoy credit, accumulate money, 
 and are solicited for marriage l)y the noble families ; for 
 the Creole women themselves, aware of the wasteful and 
 indolent habits of their countrymen, hold Europeans in 
 high esteem, and prefer to be allied with thorn. 
 
 The preference which the Creole women give to Euro- 
 peans, for the reason just mentioned, tlic lact that they 
 are the owners of the richest estates, acquired and pre- 
 served by their industry and economy, and tluit they 
 have in their favor the confidence of magistrates and 
 ministers, because their behavior entitles them to it, are 
 no small motives to stir up the envy of the Creoles ; 
 hence the}' complain 1 hat the Europeans arrive barefoot 
 in their country, and soon acquire a greater estate than
 
 118 
 
 their fathers and conntr}- have given them, they being in 
 reality lords of the soil. This is literally true, for as 
 soon as they are married the}^ are made regidors, and 
 immediately obtain the place of ordinar}^ alcalde, so 
 that in the space of ten or twelve years they are found 
 at the head of one of the chief cities, and have become 
 objects of general esteem and applause. The man who 
 occupies this position was once crying his wares in the 
 streets, with a pack upon his shoulders, dealing out 
 finery and trinkets, which he had bought on credit, to set 
 himself up in trade ; but the fault of this is in the 
 Creoles themselves, for if they would enter into an exten- 
 sive trade, while they have means for it, they would not 
 waste a fortune in the little time that a Eui'opean needs 
 to acquire one. If the Creoles would eschew vicious 
 practices, and maintain their own wives with honor and 
 decency, they would not give occasion to their own 
 country-women to treat them with aversion and hatred ; 
 and if the}- would regulate their conduct by the princi- 
 ples of virtue, they would alwa3-s have on their side the 
 favor and esteem which strangers carry with them ; but 
 as nothing of this kind is congenial to their nature, the 
 root of env}- strikes too deeply to allow such sentiments 
 to gain access to their minds, nor do they reflect that it 
 is the}' themselves who give to Europeans all the esteem, 
 authority, and advantages which tliey enjoy. 
 
 From the very birth of the children of foreigners, or 
 from the time that the first glimmerings of reason, how- 
 ever faint, begin to appear, and as soon as reflection 
 draws aside the veil of innocence, the workings of hatred 
 to Europeans begin to exhibit themselves ; for when 
 their minds are imbued with injurious impressions of 
 their parents, which they imbibe from their relatives, 
 and which are taught them by the abominable example 
 of those who ought to give them a right education, they 
 cherish a spirit of enmity towards those who begat them ; 
 and, as their hatred to Europeans becomes more invet- 
 erate, they need no other motive than this to declare 
 themselves in after life their avowed enemies, which they 
 do from the first opportunity they have to exhibit it.
 
 119 
 
 even without fear or scruple, and perhaps in the very 
 presence of their parents. It is a common thing to hear 
 them remark that, if the blood of the Spaniards, their 
 fathers, could be drawn from their veins, they would let 
 it out, that it might not be mixed with that which thev 
 have received from their mothers, -r- an absurd, and 
 more than absurd supposition, for, were it possible to 
 drain them of their Spanish blood, no other would flow 
 in their veins but that of negroes or Indians. 
 
 The Europeans or Chapetons who arrive in those 
 countries are generally men of low origin in Spain, or of 
 a pedigree very little known, besides having neither 
 education nor any good qualit}' to recommend them ; but 
 the Creoles, disregarding distinctions of this nature, 
 treat them all with equal friendship and courtes}' ; it is 
 enough that they have come from Europe, to be honored 
 as persons of distinction, and to become entitled to 
 ever}^ mark of esteem ; and their comlesy is carried so 
 far that even families of the highest rank give a place at 
 their table to the ver}- meanest who emigrate from Spain, 
 even if thc}^ should go in the character of servants. 
 Hence the}' make no distinction between them and their 
 masters, when the}' meet at one of the Creoles', a seat 
 being given them at their side, although their masters 
 may be present ; and it is owing to this obsequious 
 courtesy that many Europeans, who, on account of their 
 inferior birth and education, would never dare to rise 
 above their low condition, being flattered, after they 
 arrive in the Indies, with such tokens of regard, raise 
 their thoughts above what is meet, until they reach the 
 highest post to which ambition can aspire. In pursuing 
 such a course the Creoles have no better ground to rest 
 upon than merely to say that they are white, and this 
 sole prerogative entitles them to some distinction ; nor 
 do they stay to inquire what their profession is, nor to 
 infer, by what it really is, what rank they hold in societ}'. 
 Disastrous consequences result to the Indies from this 
 abuse. The origin of it is, that, as few families there 
 are Ipgilimatebi white, — for this distinction is confined 
 to the most distinguished, — the mere circumstance of
 
 120 
 
 being white entitles one to a position wliich ought to be- 
 long only to a higher order of nobilit}^ ; and, therefore, 
 being European merely by birth, apart from every other 
 consideration, they are supposed to merit the same 
 courtesy and esteem which are lavished upon more dis- 
 tinguished individirals, who go with an appointment from 
 government, the honor of which ought to distinguish 
 them from the bulk of emigrants. 
 
 In regard to those who in Spain enjo^'ed no advan- 
 tages of birth, the facility afforded them of seeking pro- 
 motion and forming an alliance ■uath those who constitute 
 the nobility, is in proportion to the attentions which are 
 bestowed, in some cities more than in others, upon all 
 Europeans indiscriminatel}", without regard to the rank 
 or office of each individual ; for, apart from the consid- 
 eration that the possession of an estate may serve as an 
 offset to the lack of nobility, the emolument of having 
 been born in Europe, as well as that of being a white 
 man, are sufficient to warrant the expectation of con- 
 necting themselves with some of the most distinguished 
 families of that country. 
 
 The Creoles pass from this extreme to another, no less 
 pernicious, when they are provoked by a real or sup- 
 posed inJLuy to give vent to a spirit of revenge in the 
 use of insulting and opprobrious language ; they then 
 denounce and vilify the Europeans in a mass, just as 
 they had obsequiously cringed to them at first ; and they 
 do not scruple to revile them as a worthless, low-born 
 race, as if there were no degraded condition, no ignoble 
 origin, and no infamous blot which might not be attrib- 
 uted to them. Whence it is that those on whom the 
 reproach falls avenge themselves by bringing to light the 
 flaws which are incident to their own families, and these 
 being closely allied with each other, all are in danger of 
 being consumed by the raging flames. The Creoles, in 
 order to vilify the Europeans, fasten upon them the cir- 
 cumstance of their forlorn condition at the time they 
 arrived in the countr^^, as well as what they slanderously 
 report of each other in regard to the meanness of their 
 origin, so that all become exasperated by the exposure
 
 121 
 
 of their mutual defects, and live in continual disquiet 
 and turmoil. 
 
 This is the grand source of that disunion, which is 
 wont to create such tumults in the settlements of Peru, 
 and even in those cities where notliing is wanting to the 
 liberty or comfort of their citizens, and where the}' might 
 pass the most agreeable and tranquil life that could be 
 desired. A spirit of opposition keeps them in continual 
 warfare, being full of acrimony' and evil surmisings, and 
 plunged in a sea of dissensions and animosities, the fruit 
 of their own uncontrolled passions, and of the eagerness 
 with which each individual strives to defend the interests 
 of his own party. 
 
 As we have alread}' remarked, it is owing to the ill- 
 advised courtes}' with which the Creoles treat the Span- 
 iards, when they view them with a friendly eye, and 
 especially on their first arrival, as they are pledged to no 
 party, that the latter carry their ambitious views far be- 
 yond what their profession and antecedents would justif}^ ; 
 hence it is tliat those who have learned a trade in Europe 
 refuse to follow it as soon as the}' arrive in the Indies, 
 and this is the reason why the mechanical arts never 
 reach an}' greater degree of perfection than they had at 
 the time of the conquest, the Indians and the mestizoes 
 being the only classes who are employed in them. Thus, 
 while Spain is depopulated by the vast numbers who 
 emigrate to the Indies, those countries gain no benefit, 
 each individual being bent upon his own interest, with- 
 out contributing in any degree to the general prosperity 
 of the nation. 
 
 There is also another circumstance which contributes 
 to the want of order in the social condition of that 
 country, which is, the custom introduced at an early 
 period, and perhaps from the time of the conquest, of 
 granting the fneros^ or patents of nobility, to all Span- 
 iards who would go and take up their residence there. 
 Its introduction, which might have been justified at that 
 time, both in recompense of military service, and to 
 promote the more rajjid settlement of the country, is, 
 under the present circumstances, prejudicial to Spain as
 
 122 
 
 well as to the Indies ; to Spain, on account of the great 
 number who emigrate from it to acquire in tlie Indies the 
 two possessions which are most esteemed among men, 
 and whicli all do not here enjoy ; namefy, wealth, or the 
 goods of fortune, and nobility ; the privilege of the latter 
 being freely bestowed upon all who go there, enabling 
 them to hold offices and perform acts which are reserved 
 for the nobles, the bare name of Spaniard being the best 
 patent there can be in those parts. It is also pernicious 
 to the Indies, for, besides the tumults it occasions, the 
 reproach it brings upon the order of nobility, and the 
 idleness and vices that are consequent upon it, the 
 mechanical arts, as well as all the arts of industry, which 
 are essential to a Avell-ordered republic, are completely 
 abandoned, being held in contempt in that country by 
 those who have no occasion to neglect or despise them in 
 
 this 
 
 The inhabitants of the Indies, both Creoles and Euro- 
 peans, and especially those of Peru, of whom we are 
 now speaking, should they continue to be the loyal sub- 
 jects of the king, and remain steadfast in their fidelity, 
 can have no motive to covet another kind of govern- 
 ment, which shall be more advantageous to them, or a 
 more perfect degree of freedom than that which they now 
 have, or greater security for their property'. They all live 
 there after their own caprice, without the burden of any 
 other impost than that of the excise of the Alcabala^ 
 which is paid very irregularly ; they acknowledge no 
 other obligation or duty to magistrates than such as they 
 are willing to render ; and, regardless of the decisions 
 of the tribunals, thej' scarcely acknowledge themselves 
 as vassals, for each one is a sovereign in his own esteem ; 
 and they are such absolute proprietors of the country, 
 and of their possessions, that they are utter strangers to 
 the fear of losing any portion of them, in the event of 
 prolonged wars in Europe, which exhaust the revenue of 
 princes, and to carry on which the latter are obliged to 
 lay new taxes upon their subjects. A man who owns an 
 estate there disposes of it, as well as of its produce, just 
 as he wishes ; the trader has an undisputed right to his
 
 12i 
 
 goods and merchandise ; the capitalist entertauis no appre- 
 hension lest his estate should be impaired by a forced loan, 
 or that he should be compelled to incur exorbitant ex- 
 penses ; tlie poor man does not absent himself from his 
 family, and become a fugitive, for fear of being pressed 
 into service against his will ; and so far is the govern- 
 ment from imposing fines upon the whites or mestizoes, 
 that, if these could appreciate the advantages they cnjo\', 
 they would be envied by all nations, both for the degree 
 of libert}' to which they have attained, as well as for the 
 excellence of the S3'stem of government luider which 
 they live. 
 
 Ever}- proprietor becomes so arrogant, on account of 
 what he possesses, that he is regarded as a petty sover- 
 eign in his own dominions, being the absolute disposer 
 of them, and subject to no other law than that of his 
 own caprice. In the cities, villages, and hamlets, where 
 the landholders reside, the}' are the oracles of the people ; 
 and all the authority which the corregidors possess is 
 onh' what is conceded to them by the good pleasure of 
 the most distinguished citizens, who are imitated, in this 
 respect, by those of inferior rank. If the corregidor 
 keeps in favor with them, he occupies the position of an 
 honest citizen, like any one else ; but, if he comes into 
 collision with them before the tribunals, or attempts to 
 make an}- display of authority, he is resisted by force of 
 arms, and, as there are none left to render obedience, his 
 post is virtually vacant ; and, should he proceed to exe- 
 cute his designs, it would lie enough to effect his ruin. 
 
 There are towns in which contempt of authority has 
 reached such a point that threats are often carried into 
 execution ; and, if the conduct of the magistrate is not 
 the most prudent and war}', he will have little security of 
 life. It is true this is a case which rarely or never 
 happens, because the corregidors study to promote thoir 
 own interest, and leave the government, or the grciiter 
 part of it, in the hands of the alcaldes, and, l)y tliis 
 means, rid themselves of subjects which give them any 
 uneasiness ; but, as cases occur in which no dissimula- 
 tion can be used, it is in these that the caprice of those
 
 124 
 
 people shows itself without disguise ; and, in order to 
 make it better understood, we shall quote one of the 
 numerous instances which occurred in those provinces 
 while we were residing there. 
 
 In a town in the interior, which held, in point of popu- 
 lation, about a middling rank, an altercation took place 
 between a crcole gentleman and a European, which re- 
 sulti.'d in a mutual challenge ; and the parties went into 
 the field, accompanied by their seconds. One of them 
 was so much injured, that, without bringing the quarrel 
 to a close, he turned his back upon his opponent, and 
 made his escape (after being wounded), in order not to 
 lay down his arms. This circumstance became so gener- 
 ally known, that the individual who was Avorsted in the 
 affray, and who determined to seek revenge, not having 
 courage to make a second attempt, had recourse to the 
 base artifice of furnishing himself with weapons, and 
 seeking his antagonists when they were off their guard. 
 The parties had gathered strength, and the Europeans, 
 or Chapetons, having raised their flag on one side, and 
 the Creoles on the other, the scandal became excessive, 
 and the mutual recrimination insupportable. The result 
 of the matter was, that they patrolled the streets for 
 several nights in search of each other, and at an hour 
 when daylight had scarcely disappeared. Although the 
 corregidor was there, he did not attempt to use any 
 measures to keep them in check, for, his friendly inter- 
 vention having failed of success, he thought he had not 
 a force sufficient to justify any decisive measure. The 
 rumor of this tumult having reached the capital city of 
 the province, orders were sent to have the guilty seized 
 and punished. As soon as the latter had received intel- 
 ligence of the order, they put themselves in an attitude 
 to resist it, should the Audience attempt to put it in 
 execution, augmenting their force with that of the mes- 
 tizoes, servants, and others dependent upen them, and 
 seizing fire-arms wherever they could find them. The 
 corregidor, urged on the one hand by the order of the tri- 
 bunal, and fearful, on the other, of resistance on the part of 
 the delinquents, availed himself of an artifice, suggested
 
 125 
 
 by prurience, to conciliate all parties, without hazard to 
 himself, and tliat was, to send them a pohte message, 
 requesting permission to visit their houses, under a 
 pledge that he would not approach the apartment to 
 which the}- should retreat. The latter, aware tliat thej-- 
 should incur no risk by so doing, and that the result to 
 them would be favorable, consented to let him in, and 
 the}' withdrew to a room which, on being closed, served 
 for a place of defence. Tlie corregidor arrived with his 
 secretary, high sheriff, and several inferior officers, sigui- 
 f3-ing by that formidable arra}- that the prisoners were to 
 be apprehended, and commenced searching the house, 
 without venturing near the apartment wliere the culprits 
 lay hid (which was as well known to the secretary and 
 his suite as it was to the corregidor) ; and not having 
 found them in an}' of those rooms Avhich had been ex- 
 amined, the process. was concluded, and satisfaction 
 given to the Audience by the testimony of competent 
 witnesses. As soon as the corregidor had withdrawn, 
 the others emerged from their retirement, and began to 
 appear in public, as if no attempt had ever been made to 
 seize them. The Audience knew all that had occurred, 
 but winked at it, on the ground that it was not possible 
 for the corregidor to adopt more efficient measures. We 
 arrived in that town about six months after this took 
 place, and having received attentions from both parties, 
 we succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between them, 
 and thereby preventing any further evil results from that 
 scandalous division. 
 
 The domineering spirit, both of the laity and clergy, 
 who introduce these dissensions, prevails in both in an 
 equal degree ; yet it exists to such an excess in the latter 
 as to awaken new zeal and give greater impulse to the 
 former, who confidently rely on their assistance when- 
 ever occasion should require. The whole clerical staff is 
 implicated in these riots and the religious orders exceed 
 all the rest (that of the Jesuits excepted), by interfering 
 in subjects which do not belong to them, and which are 
 not appropriate to their profession. Not only those who 
 wear the habit, but even their servants and dependents,
 
 126 
 
 have the insolence tq cast reproach upon the civil magis- 
 trate ; and, the pernicious example which they give to 
 the laity is the reason why the latter assume a bolder 
 front, and trample on the authority of their superiors. It 
 is in those countries that contempt of law serves as pas- 
 time to ecclesiastics, who, in reliance upon the immuni- 
 ties they enjo}', have the effrontery to make sport of the 
 civil magistrate, whatever rank he may hold. Perhaps 
 in no other country in the world do we see priests, with 
 arms in their hands, boldly defying a corregidor, even in 
 his own house, and exposing him to the scorn of the 
 populace. There, too, may be seen bands of monks, of 
 twenty or more, in masks, rushing through the streets, 
 and provoking tumults, such as would be looked for only 
 from the lowest and most reckless mob. It is there they 
 have the audacity to enter the prison, armed, and, with- 
 out fear of resistance, to set at liberty' culprits under the 
 just sentence of the law, — an occurrence which took 
 place in Cuenca, only a few days before our arrival in 
 that city in 1740. It is there that the high sheriff 
 has not courage to violate the sanctuary of the private 
 dwellings of the priests, to arrest criminals that have 
 taken refuge in them, as we ourselves witnessed in the 
 town of Lambayeque in the year 1741. As we passed 
 through that town, on our way to Lima, it happened 
 that a common priest had the insolence to attempt to 
 beat the corregidor, because he went to his house to 
 seize a culprit, who had just stabbed a townsman, and 
 had fled thither for refuge. In a word, it is there where 
 justice has no power to enforce her demands. 
 
 It is by such examples as these that the laity are em- 
 boldened by the clergj' to treat their judges with con- 
 tempt, and to practise their detestable vices without 
 restraint. 
 
 It will not be thought strange that ecclesiastics should 
 show such contempt for justice, when tliey exhibit the 
 same temper towards their prelates ; this being another 
 reason wh}' it is impossible to lay hold of them, and to 
 chastise their insolence, as much so as it is to attempt to 
 reform the complicated machinery of abuses introduced
 
 127 
 
 into that country, and which liave become inveterate 
 from the days of the first colonists that emigrated 
 thither. These disorderl}- proceedings, the sources of 
 which are such and so various, are incorrigible : their 
 causes cannot be removed, and, should any attempt be 
 made to reform them in part, it would be impossible to 
 stay their future progress. The wise choice of rulers 
 and magistrates, who are disinterested, impartial, of 
 sound morals, condescending to all, and severe only 
 towards those whose unrighteous conduct renders them 
 deserving of punishmeut, — this is the only method of re- 
 form which can be introduced : and if this fails to impose 
 the necessary restraints, and to bring those people back 
 to their reason, we know of no other which is adequate 
 to the object proposed ; for, whatever be the means that 
 can be devised, it appears as if they wholly lose their 
 efficac}' in the distance itself, as well as in the mode of 
 putting them in operation. 
 
 Note. — The authors of the " Secret Expedition " have expressed 
 their oi)iiiioii tliat some of tlie Creoles are qiialilied to Iiold offices 
 under Goverumeut ; l)nt thej' have merely alluded to the unwise 
 policy of llio mother country in the selection of public function- 
 aries who Ijecanie a reproach to the nation. 
 
 The church livings in Anieiica wei'e numerous, and richly en- 
 dowed; liiit almost all vacancies were filled by ecclesiastics from 
 Spain. It was a common thing to see the whole staff of a cathe- 
 dral, from the l)isliop to the lowest officer, made up of Europeans. 
 A successor was nominated to a see long before the post became 
 vacant, and the candidate only awaited tlie news of the death of 
 a dignitary in cuder to get his credentials sealed, and to go and 
 take j)ossession of his incumliency. The Creoles were still more 
 rigorously exclnded IVom tlie.jndiciary. The regents, oydors, and 
 lis:als of the Audience, as well as tliti governors and their assist- 
 ants, the secri'taries and assessors, all went from Spain. It was 
 the sauK! in the branch of the exchequer. The collectors, comp- 
 trollers, and even appraisers of the custom-honse; theinteiidants, 
 treasurers, oflicers, and other functionaries of the royal exchequer, 
 — were cxdnsively Europeans. As to piomotions in the army, 
 there was scarcely an officer in th(>, regulai troo])s: tin* military 
 honors to which a nativcof t heconnf ry conld aspire, howcncr rich 
 ordiistiiiguishcd Ik; might be, wel■(^ confined to t lit^ rank of colonel 
 of a rcginiiiit of a militia that had never ])asscd muster. I'.vcn 
 the monivs maintaini'(l a kind of warfare in the convents to pre- 
 vent any en ole colleagne from being chosen provincial or prior 
 in the ca|»itulary elcctioua.
 
 128 
 
 But the chief source of irritation and discoutent was the char- 
 acter of the individuals promoted to oflice. The domestic of a 
 secretary of state was coutideut of liaviujr liis obsequiousness I'e- 
 warded l»y an appointment in America; the brotliercjf a courtesan 
 lady, who enjoyed tlie protection of some one of tlie grandees, was 
 nauu'd inteiuhint of a province ; the intriguing jurist, who had 
 served as the instrument of defending the suit of some favorite 
 at court, was appointed regent or oydor of an Audience ; the hair- 
 dresser of some royal ]iersoimge coutidently expected to see his 
 son promoted to the otiiee of collector of customs If an officer 
 in the family of one of the grandees had dishonored his station 
 by cowardice or vile conduct, he was sent to the Indies, with the 
 rank of general, insi)ector, or commander of a fortress; or, if an 
 ignorant chaplain were found there, he was promoted either to 
 a bisho])ric or to the deanery of a cathedral ; or if a son were 
 thought to be incorrigible, and had become the reproach of his 
 family, he was sent to America, bearing some important com- 
 mission. Several Creoles, it is true, have bei'U a]ii)ointed l>isht)ps 
 in Ameri(!a, and generals in Spain, but tljese were either sons of 
 those European functionaries, who were promoted by their i)ar- 
 ents, through the inlluenco of their relatives and friends in the 
 peninsula, or those who had been sent to Sjjain in boyhood, and 
 who had continued to reside there iiermanently, and who are not 
 to be ranked with the natives of the Indies. At the same time, 
 the king's ministers alleged instanceslike these, liowever rare, to 
 prove that the posts of honor and emolument were equally ac- 
 cessible to Europeans and Creoles. It is not, therefore, strange 
 that quarrels should have ensued ; it is rather to be woiulered at 
 that the Creoles have borne the yoke so long and so patiently. 
 Having none to listen to their complaints, their only alleviation 
 was the wretched resource of vilifying and hating the usurpers 
 of their rights. This motive alone would have been sufficient to 
 justify the emancipation of those countries.
 
 ]29 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Gross Licentiousness of the Clergy in general, and particularly 
 of the Monks. — Tumults attending the Capitulary Elections. — 
 Their Priuciijal Cause. 
 
 "We enter upon this chapter of our report with some 
 diffidence, both on account of the subject in general, as 
 well as of the peculiar nature of its details, which must 
 be communicated with due regard to the elevated station 
 of the individuals of whom we are to speak ; while, on 
 the other hand, we should make ourselves liable to the 
 imputation of partiality or injustice, were we to pass over 
 in silence the dissolute practices which are observable in 
 them. The offence is of a public nature, and hence no 
 artifice can be used to screen it from the observation of 
 the secretai'ies ; and, if this were practicable, it would 
 preclude the possibility of devising suitable measures of 
 reform. The ministers are the safest channel through 
 which our sovereigns can come to the knowledge of the 
 state of government in their dominions, the conduct of 
 their envo3's and judges, and, finally, of the system of 
 juri.sdiction under which the colonists live. To attempt to 
 conceal this information would be to wish that it might 
 never reach the ears of the prince, and, consequently, to 
 discountenance the reform of immoral practices, which 
 would be the same as to connive at their existence. 
 Even if we were entitled to no other consideration than 
 that which belongs to any of his Majesty's subjects, it 
 would suffice to warrant the discussion not onl}- of this 
 topic, but of every other comprehended within the sphere 
 of our inquiries ; but when we add the powerful one of 
 having had assigned us, among other offices of trust, 
 that of examining the government and condition of those 
 kingdoms, it would be culpable in us, after having dis- 
 
 6»
 
 130 
 
 charged this duty, to withhold the result of our investi- 
 gations ; for, although the sacred character of the per- 
 sons interested might entitle them to some considera- 
 tion, that very character, as it renders their crimes more 
 aggravated, furnishes an occasion of severe rebuke, inas- 
 much as religion itself is implicated, which tolerates no 
 form of connivance or excuse. 
 
 In Peru, the body of ecclesiastics is made up of two 
 orders — the secular and regular clergy ; the former com- 
 prising the parish priests, and the latter the monks. The 
 individuals who compose both these orders are guilty of 
 such licentiousness, that, making due allowance for the 
 frailties to which human nature is liable, and the weak- 
 nesses to which men of every class are subject, it would 
 appear that those ecclesiastics regard it as their peculiar 
 privilege to go before all others in the career of vice ; for 
 while the}^ are under the most sacred obligations not only 
 to practise virtue, but to correct the errors incident to 
 frail nature, it is they who, by their pernicious example, 
 sanction the practice of iniquity, and in a measure divest 
 it of its heinous nature. 
 
 The parish priests are extremely vicious in their habits ; 
 but, whether it happen that an error or crime in them at- 
 tracts less notice, or whether the}' are more careful to con- 
 ceal it, or for both reasons, which is the most probable, 
 disgraceful as the consequences are known to be, they 
 never reach such a degree of scandal as do those of the 
 monks ; for the latter, from the first step they take, and 
 even without leaving the monasteries, pursue a course of 
 conduct so notorious and shameful that it becomes offen- 
 sive in the extreme, and fills the mind with horror. 
 
 Concubinage, as being the most general and scandal- 
 ous, holds the first place among the vices of Peru. All 
 are implicated in it, — Europeans, Creoles, the single as 
 well as the married, and the priests, both secular and 
 regular. A remark so comprehensive in its nature might 
 be deemed h^-perbolical ; but, in order to substantiate 
 the truth of it, we shall give some examples which we 
 have had occasion to observe, and we shall cite them in 
 the order which the subject seems to demand.
 
 131 
 
 Concubinnge is so general in those conntries that tne 
 practice of it is esteemed a point of honor, particular!}' 
 in the small towns ; and when a stranger arrives, and 
 continues his residence there for some time without 
 having adopted the customs of the countrv, his con- 
 tinence is attributed not to a principle of virtue, but to 
 the passion of avarice, as it is generall}' supposed that 
 he lives so in order to save mone}'. Soon after our ar- 
 rival in the Province of Quito, we proceeded, jointly 
 with the French compan}*, to a plain a little more than 
 four leagues distant from that cit}', where we were to 
 make our first measurement, as a basis of subsequent 
 observations ; and, in order to be in the vicinity of our 
 encampment, we took lodgings on one of the numerous 
 plantations in that valley-, and on Sundays and holida3S 
 we were accustomed to go to the neighboring villages to 
 hear mass. After we had been there some days, the 
 people of the village asked after our concubines, direct- 
 ing their inquiries to those who lived on the plantations ; 
 and, on being told that we lived without women, they 
 could not refrain from expressing their astonishment that 
 such a thing could take place, notwithstanding that it is 
 so common everywhere except in that country. 
 
 This vice having become so prevalent, it will not be 
 thought strange that those who ai'e bound by their pro- 
 fession to avoid it, should participate in it ; for a practice 
 which is so general, easily insinuates itself among those 
 who strive to keep themselves from the contagion of it ; 
 and, as a love of reputation fails to oppose anj' obstacle, 
 the inveterate habit gains strength, until it triumphs over 
 all sense of shame, and all the salutary restraints of fear. 
 
 Want of discipline in the convents opens the door to 
 licentious practices. In large cities the greater part of 
 the monks live in private houses, for the convents fur- 
 nish an asylum to those only who cannot keep house, or 
 the choristers, novitiates, or such like, who live there 
 from choice. The same is true of the small cities, 
 villages, and hnnilets. The doors of the monasteries are 
 kept open, and the monks live in theii- cells, accompanied
 
 132 
 
 by their women, and lead in every respect the life of 
 married persons. 
 
 In order to live without the walls of the convent, a 
 monk of any of the orders (except that of the Jesuits) 
 must have one of the following reasons to allege, — 
 either that he has an incumbency, or that he has bought 
 an estate with his own property, or that he has taken a 
 lease of some one of the many which are owned by the 
 convents, and which are abandoned for want of cultiva- 
 tion. Any one of these circumstances furnishes him a suffi- 
 cient excuse for keeping a house in the city, and for making 
 it his home, whenever he has occasion to go there, rather 
 than to live in the convent. Those, likewise, who hold 
 masterships, and who have been promoted to the highest 
 honors in the gift of their order, although usually 
 residing in the convent, by virtue of their institute, 
 are allowed to keep their private houses in the city, 
 where their women and children usually live, and where 
 they pass the most of their time. They do this with so 
 much freedom and sense of security that the moment 
 they are threatened with serious illness they take up 
 their abode there, as they would in an infirmary, aban- 
 doning the convent altogether ; and, even when they have 
 no such pretext, the}' usually absent themselves, and 
 visit the monastery merel}' to sa}' mass, and to pass their 
 time there when it suits their caprice or convenience. 
 
 In addition to the above-mentioned facts, these individ- 
 uals use so little care to disguise their conduct, that they 
 appear to make incontinence a matter of boasting ; they 
 would impl}' as much as this, when they go on a journey, 
 by taking with them their concubines, children, and 
 servants, as if to publish to the world their abandoned 
 mode of living. We have met them very frequently on 
 the highway in this stj'le, but have noticed them more 
 particularly on the assembling of the chapters ; for all 
 who are present on these occasions enter the citj" pub- 
 hcl}', with their whole family, having either a vote to 
 cast, or a living to solicit ; and when the election is 
 over the}' go out in the same manner, some to take a 
 higher rank in other convents, and others to be installed
 
 133 
 
 over a vacant cnrac}'. "We happened to be residing in 
 Quito when the time arrived for assembling the chapters 
 in the order of St. Francis, and having taken lodgings 
 in that neighborhood, we had an opportunit}' of seeing 
 distinctly- all that was taking place. For the space of 
 fifteen days prior to the meeting of the chapters, it was 
 a source of amusement to idle persons to look at the 
 monks as the}' entered the city with their concubines ; 
 and, for more than a month after the chapters were 
 closed, it was equally' amusing to see those who were on 
 their return to their new destination. It happened at 
 this time that, while a monk was living with all his family 
 opijosite to the house where we were residing, one of his 
 sons suddenly fell ill and died. The same da}', at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon, the whole bod}^ of friars went to 
 sing a response over him, and, at the close of it, each 
 individual came forward to express his sympath}- for the 
 mourner. This could be seen distinctly by us, the 
 balconies of one house being opposite to those of the 
 other, exposing the whole to view, although the cere- 
 monies were performed without an}' design of conceal- 
 ment. 
 
 Strange as this may seem, it is nothing in comparison 
 with what sometimes occurs. It is naturally to be sup- 
 posed that there is scarcely one who escapes the conta- 
 gion of vice, whether he reside in the city, on an estate, 
 or in his own curacy ; for, whether it be in one place or 
 another, they all live in the same loose and profligate 
 manner. But the most notorious circumstance of all is, 
 that these convents have been converted into public 
 l)rothels, particularly in the smaller settlements ; and, 
 that, in the large towns, they have become the scene of 
 such imheard-of abominations and execrable vices, that 
 the mind wavers in uncertainty as to what opinion the 
 inmates have formed of religion, or whether they live in 
 the knowledge and fear of the Catholic. 
 
 In the smaller towns, under the pretext that the monks 
 are few in numlter, the doors of the monasteries are kept 
 open, and women go in and out at all times for the pur- 
 pose of cooking, washing, and waiting on the friars, and
 
 134 
 
 performing all the services which usuall^y devolve upon 
 the lay brothers. Likewise the concubines have free 
 access, at all hours, not only without impediment, but 
 without so much as attracting notice,* of which we shall 
 give two examples, which will place the truth of it be- 
 yond a doubt. 
 
 It was on the eve of our depai'ture from Quito, on our 
 tour to Cuenca, that we visited one of the convents to 
 take leave of some of the inmates, whose acquaintance 
 we had made during our stay in that city. We entered 
 one of the cells, or apartments, in which we found a 
 monk, accompanied by three females of respectable ap- 
 pearance, who were seated by the bedside of the friar, to 
 whom our visit was made, but who was so ill that he did 
 not recognize us. The females were busy in applying 
 remedies suited to effect his recovery. • On inquiring of 
 the first monk the occasion of his sudden illness, he told 
 us, in a few words, that the young woman who seemed 
 most officious in her attentions, and betraj'ed evident 
 indications of deep sympathy, was his concubine, with 
 w^hom he had had a quarrel the day previous, and, exas- 
 perated as he still was with her, she ver}^ imprudently 
 seated herself at the door of a church, attached to a 
 nunner3% where he happened to be preaching at that 
 hour. Her presence threw him at once into a transport 
 of rage, and the attack which occasioned his illness 
 seized him so nnexpectedl}" that he could neither proceed 
 with his discourse nor recover the use of his reason. 
 The said monk took occasion, from this circumstance, to 
 speak at large of the miseries of this life, and, when he 
 had concluded, he informed us that, of the other two 
 young women, one belonged to him and the other to the 
 superior of the convent. 
 
 On another occasion, a French gentleman, who was 
 associated with us in our expedition, being present at 
 one of the numerous fandangoes, or balls, which are so 
 common there, entered into conversation with a lady who 
 
 * The women of the monks no longer live in the monasteries, 
 but in the streets in the vicinity. — Tr.
 
 135 
 
 had been inWtccl, and, as midnight was then approaching, 
 sho expressed a desire to return home. The gentleman 
 ottered to accompany her. Nhe accepted the otter ; and, 
 without making an}' apologj", proceeded directly to one of 
 the convents of friars, ascended the steps, and knocked. 
 The French gentleman knew not what to think of it, but 
 waited, somewhat confused, to see where it would end, 
 which he soon discovered, to his astonishment ; for, when 
 the porter opened the door, the lad}' bade him good- 
 night, and, ihanking him for his politeness, went in. 
 We may imagine the surprise of this gentleman, who, 
 until then, had not been accustomed to such open prof- 
 ligacy of manners ; but, as such occurrences were fre- 
 quently repeated afterwards, under our own eye, neither 
 he nor ourselves regarded them any longer with sur- 
 prise. 
 
 Were we to enumerate all the similar occurrences 
 which took place during our stay in those countries, they 
 would fill a large volume ; but we have said enough to 
 explain what that is of which we speak, without tres- 
 passing too far jn recording facts of such a revolting 
 natui'e. But, at the same time, we shall not neglect the 
 opportunity of communicating whatever the subject be- 
 fore us seems to demand. 
 
 The greater part or all of the enormities committed in 
 those wanton fandangoes, which are so common in those 
 countries, appear to be inventions suggested by the in- 
 fernal spirit himself, to keep those people in greater 
 bondage ; but it is exceedingly strange, and even in- 
 credible, that the choicfe of instruments to begin and 
 carry on such dissolute practices should be such as it is, 
 and so fitted to excite horror and aversion. These fan- 
 dangoes, or balls, are usually devised by the members of 
 the religious orders, or more properl}' by those who call 
 themselves religious, although, in fact, they are far from 
 being so ; for it is they who pay the expense, who 
 attend, in company with their concubines, and who get up 
 the fray in their own houses. Simultaneously with the 
 dance, the immoderate use of ardent spirits begins, and 
 the entertainment is gradually converted into acts of im-
 
 136 
 
 propriety, so unseeml}^ and lewd, that it would be pre- 
 sumption even to speak of them, and a want of delicacy 
 to stain the narrative with such a record of obscenities ; 
 and, letting them lie hid in the region of silence, we 
 shall onl}^ remark, that whatever the spirit of malice 
 could invent, in respect to this subject, great as it might 
 be, it could never fathom that abyss into which those 
 corrupt minds are plunged, nor give any adequate idea 
 of the degree of excess to which debauchery and crime 
 are carried. The peculiar position of those who take 
 the lead in those scenes of riot excites surprise, not 
 merely that the members of a religious order should in- 
 considerately abet the scandals of the lait}', but that they 
 should, in this manner, originate them, and serve as 
 pioneers to those who are entering upon the paths of 
 vice. We have nothing to corroborate the truth of this, 
 but experience itself, together with actual occurrences 
 and the public}^ of facts, which are of such a nature that 
 children inherit the titles of rank held b}' their parents ; 
 and we see, not without surprise, in a city like Quito, 
 scores of lad}' provincials, prioresses, lady guardians, 
 lady readers, &c., as well as of every titled office in the 
 order ; so that children are known in public by no other 
 name than that of the title of the post of honor to which 
 their fathers had been elevated. So far are they from 
 accounting such titles as derogator}-, that they are es- 
 teemed as a badge of honor, and the more so as the rank 
 of the individual is greater. In the same way as the 
 rank of an individual is designated by his title, the merit 
 of the children is graduated b}^ that of their parents ; and 
 the former, regardless of illegitimacy or sacrilege, esteem 
 themselves happ}^ in making a boast of their elevated 
 station in society, nor does it occasion them an^' sense 
 of shame to be known b}^ the honorary titles which had 
 been conferred on their parents in the monastery. 
 
 The preceding gives proof enough of entire disregard 
 to appearances in the monks ; for, if we except the bap- 
 tismal records, we have no means of distinguishing thtir 
 offspring from those of the lait}-. They lead a married 
 life with the woman they take, and no one dares to cen-
 
 137 
 
 sure them ; and ha\ing become lost to all sense of 
 decency, the}- trample on the sanctit}- of the prohibition. 
 It appears as if this inseusibilit}' wrought iu tlii-m more 
 powerfiill}- than in others ; for the}- live without the least 
 restraint, and go far beyond the most infamous of the 
 lait}- in tlie practice of licentiousness. Under pretext of 
 celebrating these orgies in the house of one of the monks, 
 it is reason enough wh}- no justice of the peace should 
 violate the sanctity of their domicile ; and however dis- 
 guised the managers of the ball may be, b}' assuming the 
 dress of the lait}-, common report is enough to identify 
 them with certainty. 
 
 It may be thought strange that the superiors of the 
 orders should use concealment, and not apply a remedy 
 in this matter ; for, if they were actuated by no otlier 
 motive than the rei^utation of the Order, they would do it 
 for this sole object ; but the repl}' to this is by no means 
 difficult. They do, indeed, assign several reasons which 
 they suppose to be weighty, such as, that the custom has 
 become inveterate, and that it has ceased to give offence, 
 because it is so G;enerallv admitted in all those countries. 
 But the truth is, they want authority to restrain these 
 excesses, because they are as much implicated in tliem 
 as are the inferior clergy ; and, as the fatal example 
 originates with them, there is no room, under such cir- 
 cumstances, for salutary admonition, nor is it possible for 
 the guilty person to be brouglit to tlie knowledge of his 
 error, and to be made to reform his life. Of the truth of 
 this, the following anecdote will furnish sufficient evi- 
 dence. In one of the towns situated within the Province 
 of (^uito, the living was held by a monk who had at a 
 former period been elected provincial of his Order ; but 
 he was so loose in his morals, and so perverse in his 
 whole conduct, that he kept the village in a state of tur- 
 moil by his unbridled licentiousness, until at length the 
 complaints of the inhal)itants came to the ears of the 
 president and bishop of (^uito. The latter, no longer 
 able to disregard such repeated solicitations, earnestly 
 entreated the acting provincial to restrain the excesses of 
 the monk, who was accordingly sunnnoncd to answer to
 
 138 
 
 the charges alleged against him. At first, however, the 
 provincial gave him a friendly admonition, and conn- 
 selled him not to be unmindful of his advanced age, and 
 of the elevated station which he had once held in the con- 
 vent. He then urged upon his attention every motive 
 that could possibly influence him to abandon his reckless 
 life, and thereby cut off any further occasion of complaint 
 from the president and bishop. The monk received the 
 admonition with great calmness, and as soon as the 
 provincial had concluded, he commenced speaking, and, 
 availing himself of the freedom of mutual friendship and 
 confidence, not to mention other circumstances, which 
 set aside even the forms of respect and subordination, 
 he said to him, with an air of indiiference, that if he 
 needed the living for any thing, it was only to maintain 
 his concubines, and to carry on his amours ; foi', as it 
 respected himself, so long as he had a frock and hood, 
 and his daily allowance of bread, it was quite sufficient 
 for his maintenance ; that if he (the provincial) intended 
 to infringe his liberty in any respect, he might take the 
 living for himself, for he had no need of it whatever. 
 The result was, that the monk returned to the village, 
 and continued to live, as before, in the same vicious 
 practices. 
 
 But what admonition shall a superior give to an in- 
 ferior concerning a crime in wliich both are equally 
 implicated, and who, when occasion offers, go in com- 
 pany to the dwellings of their concubines without the 
 least reserve ? for they meet in the house of the provin- 
 cial, just as they do in that of a private monk, to cele- 
 brate their nightly orgies. Hence it is that such a mode 
 of life as the priesthood lead does not strike the laity 
 with surprise ; but what does give occasion for reproach 
 is the wrangling that takes place between them and 
 their concubines, between the children belonging to 
 one and those which belong to another, and among 
 the women themselves, who lead this abandoned Ufe, 
 especially when it happens that a priest is dissatisfied 
 with one, and gives occasion of jealousy to another. 
 On this account, there exist unceasing brawls and
 
 139 
 
 riots, -which are more violent in small towns, especially 
 if the inhabitants come to talve part in them. They 
 are also wont to spring from the supremac}' whicli the 
 concubines and children of priests wish to maintain over 
 those of the lait}', trampling upon them and degrading 
 them to servile occupations, as if they were fit only for 
 menial offices. Here, then, we have the real occasion of 
 offence, which is not in the fact that a priest is burdened 
 with a numorous offspring, nor that he lives openlj* with 
 a woman in a state of matrimony, but in the incessant 
 quarrels and tumults which have their origin in a course 
 of conduct in ever}" view unseeml}^ and reproachful. 
 
 It is a circumstance ver}- worthy of remark in the fan- 
 dangoes to which we have before alluded, that it is by 
 such deeds of revehy that the assuming of monastic vows 
 is commemorated ; it is in such orgies, in which there is 
 no abominable crime whicji is not committed, and no in- 
 decency which is not practised, that the solemn occasion 
 of chanting the first mass is celebrated, which seems like 
 pi'esenting to the young friars a model on which to form 
 their subsequent conduct ; and the}' appear to make use 
 of the lessons of depravity with so much fidelit}', that 
 they never deviate in the slightest degree from their 
 observance. 
 
 Although this licentious life comprises both priests and 
 friars, the former are more continent and less scandalous 
 before the public, and in both orders there are wont to be 
 individuals who live in a more exemplary manner. But 
 we find, on farther iuquirj^, that these are aged priests, 
 who have been induced by advancing years to change 
 their habits, and to lead a more virtuous life ; and it 
 usually happens in regard to both, that, if any one retires 
 from the world to live virtuously, it is not until he is 
 burdened with children and old age, and is naturally on 
 the borders of the grave. 
 
 All the seclusion of these priests, who are accounted 
 models of virtue, as well as all their penances of morti- 
 fication and fasting, consist in leading a life of contin- 
 ence, by withdrawing from the society of their concubines. 
 This might appear at first view an inconsiderable triumph ;
 
 140 
 
 but it comes to be veiy important wben we reflect that 
 there are many individuals iu whom these circumstances 
 concur, and who continue to live in a state of concubin- 
 age until the very moment of their death. Numerous 
 examples of this kind might be quoted ; but we shall con- 
 fine ourselves to one only, which will be sufficient to cor- 
 roborate what we have stated. 
 
 On the pampa where our first observations were taken 
 relative to the measurement of the earth, there were 
 various plantations belonging to friars, and one of them 
 was superintended by a monk of such distinguished 
 talents that he had been repeatedly promoted to the dig- 
 nity of provincial. This estate was so near to that on 
 which we were residing, that we frequently preferred 
 going there to hear mass on Sundays and holiday's. By 
 this facility of communication, we had sufficient oppor- 
 tunity of knowing what was occurring on that estate, as 
 well as on the neighboring ones ; but even without this 
 circumstance we could not be ignorant of it ; for the 
 occnrrcnces were so public, that, at the very time the 
 tenants made known to us the names and divisions of 
 the estate, they made us acquainted with ever}' thing 
 relative to the owner of it, without omitting the circum- 
 stances of his profession and mode of life. This monk 
 was already more than eighty years old, but was still 
 living, as a married person, with a 3'oung and good-look- 
 ing concubine, who was frequently mistaken for some 
 one of the daughters of his own famih', for this was the 
 fourth woman with whom he had contracted alliance ; and 
 as children had descended of all these, there was literally 
 a swarm of them, between great and small. This whole 
 famil}' kneeled together in the chapel to hear mass, the 
 concubine herself presiding, and occupying for this pur- 
 pose a conspicuous place. The father said mass, and one 
 of his sons did the office of assistant. But the most re- 
 markable circumstance was, that, although this priest 
 had received the extreme unction three times, being at 
 death's door, he could not be persuaded to make this 
 3'oung woman withdraw from his bedside ; and at length, 
 after having had the rite administered for the fourth time,
 
 Ill 
 
 he died, as the phrase is, in her arms. It will not, there- 
 fore, be thought strange, if attention has been given to 
 what we remarked above, that tliose who become ill in 
 the convents shonld retire to a private house, and con- 
 tinue there, attended by their concubines, until they 
 recover or die. 
 
 The regular clergy, as well as all those who are for- 
 bidden b}' their vows to marr}', not only live in the mar- 
 ried state, but secure to themselves advantages over those 
 who are lawfully married ; for they are at liberty to change 
 their women, either when they cease to be congenial to 
 them, or when age has rendered them less attractive ; and 
 it is their practice so to do whenever it suits their caprice, 
 or whenever the}^ have an opportunity to mend their for- 
 tune. To those whom they abandon, a weekly allowance 
 is granted for their support, and this is continued for life, 
 if the individual concerned is one who possesses prop- 
 erty, or holds a high rank in the church or in the Order 
 to which he belongs. From examples like these, some 
 conclusion may be formed of the state of religion in that 
 countr}' — the sacrilege committed in the face of da}^ the 
 irreverence attending the celebration of religious rites, 
 and the want of security for the propagation, or even the 
 existence, of the true faith. Let this question be left to 
 the judgment of each individual, as it would be inex- 
 pedient to make it a subject of discussion, and augment 
 the sense of grief and disappointment which naturally 
 originates from it. 
 
 So far, however, is this mode of life from being disrep- 
 utable, or prejudicial to the good name and decorum 
 either of man or woman, that the promotion of a married 
 priest is an occasion of mirth and festivit}' to the woman 
 with whom he has contracted alliance ; so that when a 
 monk has been promoted to an honorable station in his 
 Order, his concubine receives the customary congratula- 
 tions, as one who shares in the honor of the new appoint- 
 ment. What takes place in regard to one is a})plicable 
 also to the other, for I)}' it the}' secure a greater revenue, 
 which is the object desired. 
 
 The monks possess advantages over all others in re-
 
 142 
 
 gard to the rank of the women who belong to them, 
 which arises from the fact that, while they are in a situa- 
 tion more favorable to the acquisition of wealth, they 
 have less to spend for their personal maintenance ; hence 
 it is all applied to the benefit of their women, wliich is 
 not the case cither with the laity or with other ecclesias- 
 tics ; for, although both the former and the latter main- 
 tain them, they do not lavish upon them their whole 
 estate, as is the case with the monks ; for these, as they 
 say themselves, carry their whole wardrobe on their 
 backs, and their only pecuniary obligations are such as 
 they impose upon themselves ; so that whatever they earn, 
 either'within or without the convent, reverts to these wo- 
 men, and is applied to the maintenance of their families. 
 Hence it is that the men, not having scruples of con- 
 science, inclining them to forsake such a course, nor the 
 women sufficient modesty or love of virtue to do the 
 same, it will not seem repugnant to reason that the prac- 
 tice should have become so general as to comprehend all 
 classes, without exception ; yet we shall not venture to 
 affirm so much as this, lest we should brand with such a 
 foul reproach those who may never have incurred it ; but 
 we must declare, that, in regard to several individuals, 
 whom we knew and esteemed as possessing moral worth, 
 and who, to appearance, had always lived circumspectly, 
 time disclosed to us quite the contrary, and under cir- 
 cumstances that give us occasion to doubt even of those 
 who had exhibited externally satisfactory evidence of 
 virtuous conduct. 
 
 This licentiousness, both of the laity and priesthood, is 
 universal in Peru, so that what is said of Quito and Lima 
 may be affirmed of all other cities and towns. The root of 
 the evil is, that, those countries having been conquered 
 and settled by persons of a low rank in society, the abuses 
 which they introduced at the commencement continued to 
 prevail and multiply, until they had become universal.* 
 
 * There are not wanting in Quito bright examples of virtue 
 among the laity, which shine with more lustre in contrast with 
 the siUTomidiug darkness of infidelity and superstition. An 
 aged friend of mine in that city once informed me that, having
 
 143 
 
 We shall conclude this chapter by alluding again to the 
 tumults occasioned b}- the capitulaiy elections, in ordej 
 to show how little the monasteries contribute to the 
 object for which they were esta])lished. 
 
 The revenue attached to preferments in the religious 
 Orders is the source of all the unreasonable and extrav- 
 agant behavior of the members : hence it is that the}- pay 
 little or no attention to the continuance and increase oi 
 the missions, and neglect their appropriate duty ol 
 preaching for the conversion of infidels. They appeal 
 in pubhc to promote the interests of their own part}', 
 and to kindle more and more the flames of discord among 
 individuals, when duty calls them to interpose thcii 
 friendl}' oflices to allay the spirit of part}' ; hence the 
 perverse, disorderly, and scandalous life which the}' all 
 lead, from first to last, making it evident that those who 
 constitute the religious Orders have no claim to the char- 
 acter of religious persons. 
 
 The chapters assemble at certain intervals, to make 
 choice of a pro\incial, or superior of a convent, who has 
 nnder his control all the minor convents of his Order 
 which are comprised within the limits of a province. 
 This dignitary fills up all vacancies that occur in oflfice, 
 or for once grants this prerogative to his predecessor, in 
 case the latter has espoused his cause ; so that the indi- 
 vidual chosen makes this concession to the one who 
 chooses him, and cither one or the other nominates priors 
 or guardians for all the convents of the province, remodels 
 all the benefices, promotes the curates, or nominates 
 others in their place — all which yields him an immense 
 revenue ; for what has been said of the system of bribery 
 practised in the election of a corregidor applies to all the 
 honors and prerogatives conferred by the i)roviucinl, the 
 amount which each individual has to contribute being 
 regulated by a fixed tariff or scale of prices ; whetlier it 
 be under the denomination of a pension, or almsgiving, 
 
 applied to a canon of the church for counsel in resiird to the 
 way to 1)0 saved, that (lisnitary hiliorcd to (piief his apprehen- 
 sions hy assniin^ him tliat we had not evidence cnoii^li of u 
 future state to give ourselves any concern about it. — Tr.
 
 144 
 
 or benevolence, or anj- other terra that mnj^be applied to 
 it ; for, whatever be the pretext, it is well known that 
 the vacancy is not filled unless the stipulated sum should 
 be paid previousl3', or an obligation given to pay it in full 
 as soon as the office begins to yield an income. Although 
 the new provincial should cede to his predecessor the 
 prerogative of filling up these vacancies, the vacancies 
 thus filled do not fail to yield him an immense revenue ; 
 for, besides what the interested parties give to him who 
 directly bestows the emolument, they also remunerate the 
 provincial who concedes the right to bestow it, which 
 leaves them both with an enormous income ; but even 
 this is not to be named in comparison with what thej^ 
 afterwards collect, during their parochial visits, and in 
 the interim of the meeting of the chapters, which is the 
 source whence they derive their chief emolument 
 
 The only recompense bestowed by the provincials on 
 those who have espoused their party consists in promoting 
 them to oflfice, on paj'ment of the stipulated alms, which 
 does not diminish aught from the merit of the living con- 
 ferred, for it always enables an individual to get a clear 
 income of twelve thousand dollars or more, during his 
 term of office, even if he have advanced a gratuity of three 
 or four thousand dollars, or have discharged his debt to 
 the provincial from the very proceeds of the benefice 
 bestowed. 
 
 But what in this respect forces itself upon the attention 
 is, tliat a religious Order, like that of St. Francis, should 
 handle money-bags of a thousand dollars each as they 
 were maravedies or beads of the rosary ; that it should 
 set up and m.anage its fair of guardianships and livings, 
 as other convents do ; that the provincials in a three 
 years' term, should accumulate a greater sum than is 
 accumulated b}' an}^ one presiding over other orders, the 
 number of livings in their gift exceeding that of the rest ; 
 that, in the same proportion, guardians and curates 
 increase in riches, purchase estates, and keep up pri- 
 vate establishments ; and, in a word, that there should 
 be provincials, and even friars, of elevated rank, rich 
 and ostentatious, and the fame of whose pomp and
 
 145 
 
 pride echoes throngh the towns and cities where they 
 reside. 
 
 In addition to the wealth accumulated by the provin- 
 cials during their term of office, as soon as this term 
 exi)ires they are entitled to one of the best (that is, of 
 the richest) livings or guardianships in the gift of the 
 Order, and they are at lil3erty to select for their own use 
 the most valual)le estate within the province, and, by pay- 
 ing the rent prescribed by ancient usage, to hold it as 
 their own during their lifetime. To these emoluments 
 others are added, which yield such a revenue as to pro- 
 vide them with everything that could be desired. 
 
 As it is luideuiable that all the orders in the Indies 
 possess immense wealth, and that the}' have no occasion 
 to employ it to advantage, it is evident that they make 
 an improper use of it, by rendering it subservient to their 
 corrupt propensities. Hence it is that the members of 
 the religious orders take the lead of every other class of 
 men in the practice of vice ; for, if reference be had to 
 concubinage, none are guilty of it to such a degree as 
 the}' are, for there are none who maintain a greater num- 
 ber of women ; if to the use of obscene language, it makes 
 one shudder to listen to them, when they let loose their 
 tongues, and make them the instruments of the most 
 filthy and opprobrious language that can be imagined. 
 Besides this, the}- play at games of hazard more than any 
 class of persons ; they drink to greater excess than the 
 laity, and there is no vice with which the}' have not made 
 themselves familiar ; all which has its source in sui)er- 
 fluous wealth ; for, having no objects on which to lavish 
 it, and no occupation to fill up their intervals of leisure, 
 they make them both subservient to their detestable 
 vices, and continue to live in them even to their last 
 hour. 
 
 It being so manifest that the profligacy of the monks 
 in Peru is owing to the riches they hoard up, and that 
 these are derived from tlie livings, the evil might be 
 remedied liy nominating the secular clergy to the bene- 
 fices ; for the priests, cruel as they arc to the Indians, 
 are not so tyrannical as the monks : the reason is, that
 
 14(5 
 
 the former receive their appointments for life, and are not 
 compelled, like the latter, to contribute the customary 
 fee or bribe at the meeting of every chapter, nor have 
 they the same occasion to straiten to the utmost their 
 parishioners, in order to render the cui'ac}' as lucrative as 
 possible. 
 
 On the other hand, if such a measure were adopted, 
 and friars should be excluded from the benefices, the 
 scandal of profligac}' would not be avoided ; for the sec- 
 ular and regular clergy are equally depraved in their 
 morals. But, externall}^ the difference is in favor of 
 the priests, for these are more wary, as we have alread}' 
 observed, and endeavor to hide their weaknesses ; there 
 is more of decorum in their manners ; their language is 
 not so revolting, nor their lives so scandalous ; so that if 
 we would descrilie the difference between the profligac}' 
 of the monks and the frailty of the i)riests, we should say 
 that the latter are not more abandoned and loose than are 
 the laity in general ; and if there is au}^ difference between 
 the two classes, a greater regard to appearances may be 
 predicated of the priests ; but the monks, under all cir- 
 cumstances, are more profligate than the laity. Thus, 
 although the reform of such mischievous abuses could not 
 be wholly effected, it might be secured in part, and the 
 hope entertained that through the influence of worth)' 
 ecclesiastics, who should be sent from Spain, the vices 
 which now prevail might be rooted out, or held in some 
 degree of restraint, and a new order of administration be 
 set on foot. • Although this object should not be secured, 
 neither as a whole nor in part, other advantages would 
 result from it, which would be of great importance to" the 
 king and his subjects, and which are so indispensable at 
 the present moment, that, otherwise, we cannot rely on 
 the permanent possession of those kingdoms ; at least, no 
 reasonable hope can be entertained that the settlements 
 will ever be extended over that vast territory, which 
 hitherto has recognized no sovereign but the barbarous 
 Indian, and no proprietor but the beast of the forests.
 
 A 001 
 
 "^0^