A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies

B >> Bartolome de las Casas >> A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies

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They have destroy'd all the _Lucayans_ by this intolerable or rather
Diabolical exercise, for the accustomary emolument or gain of lucre,
and by this means gain'd the value of fifty, sometime one hundred
Crowns of every individual _Indian_. They sell them (though it is
prohibited) publickly; for the _Lucayans_ were excellent Swimmers, and
several perished in this Isle that came from other Provinces.

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_Of the River_ Yuya Pari.

This River washeth the Province arising from its head or fountain in
another Region, Two Hundred miles off and better, By this a wretched
Tyrant entred it and laid waste the Land for the space of many miles,
and murder'd abundance of them by Fire and Sword, _&c._ At length he
died violently, and all his Forces moldred away of themselves, many
succeeded him in his iniquity and cruelty and so dayly destroy them,
sending to Hell the Souls redeemed by the blood of the Son of God.

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_Of the Kingdom of _Venecuela.

Our Sovereign Lord the King in the Year 1526, over-perswaded by
fallacious appearances (for the _Spaniards_ use to conceal from His
Majesties knowledge the dammages and detriments, which God himself, the
Souls and state of the _Indians_ did suffer) intrusted the Kingdom of
_Venecuela_ longer and larger then the Spanish Dominions, with its
Government and absolute Jurisdiction to some _German_ Merchants, with
power to make certain Capitulations and Conventions, who came into this
Kingdom with Three Hundred Men, and there found a benign mild and
peaceable people, as they were throughout the _Indies_ till injured by
the _Spaniards_. These more cruel then the rest beyond comparison,
behav'd themselves more inhumanely then rapacious Tygres Wolves and
Lyons, for they had the jurisdiction of this Kingdom, and therefore
possessing it with the greater freedom from controul; lay in wait and
were the more vigilant with greater care and avarice to understand the
practical part of heaping up Wealth, and robbing the Inhabitants of
their Gold and Sliver, surpassing all their Predecessors in those
indirect ways, rejecting wholly both the fear of their God and King,
nay forgetting that they were born men with reasonable Faculties.

These incarnate Devils laid waste and desolate Four Hundred miles of
most Fertile Land, containing vast and wonderful Provinces, most
spatious and large Valleys surrounded with Hills, forty Miles in
Length, and many Towns richly abounding in Gold and Silver. They
destroy'd so many and such considerable Regions, that there is not one
supernumerary witness left to relate the Story, unless perchance some
that lurkt in the Caverns and Womb of the Earth to evade death by their
inhumane Swords embrew'd in Innocent _Indian_ blood, escaped. I judge
that they by new invented and unusual Torments ruinated four or five
Millions of Souls and sent them all to Hell. I will give a taste of
two or three of their Transactions, that hereby you may guess at the
rest.

They made the supream Lord of the Province a Slave, to squeeze his Gold
from him, racking him to extort his confession who escaping fled into
the Mountains, their common Sanctuary, and his Subjects lying absconded
in the Thickets of the Woods, were stir'd up to Sedition and Tumult or
Mutiny. The _Spaniards_ follow and destroy many of them, but those
that were taken alive and in their power were all publickly sold for
Slaves by the Common Crier.

They were in all Provinces they came into entertained and welcomed by
the _Indians_ with Songs, Dances and Rich Presents but Rewarded very
ungratefully with bloodshed and Slaughter. The German Captain and
Tyrant caused several of them to be clapt into a Thatcht House, and
there cut in pieces; but some of them to avoid falling by their bloody
and merciless Swords, climb'd up to the beams and Rafters of the House,
and the Governour, hearing it (O cruel Brute?) commanded Fire to be put
to it and burnt them all alive, leaving the Region desert and desolate.

They also came to another stately Province, bordering on St. _Martha_;
whose inhabitants did them many egregious and notable services,
bestowing on them innumerable quantities of Gold besides many other
gifts, but when they were upon departure, in retribution of their Civil
Treating and Deportment the German Tyrant, commanded that all the
Indians, with their Wives and Children if possible, should be taken
into Custody; inclosed in some large capacious place, and that there it
should be signified unto them, whosoever desired to be set at Liberty
should redeem himself at the Will and Pleasure (as to price;) of the
unjust Governour, or at a certain rate imposed upon himself, his wife
and every Childs head; and to expedite the business prohibited the
administration or allowance of any food to them, till the Gold required
for Redemption was paid down to the utmost grain. Several of them sent
home to discharge the demanded price of their Redemption, and procur'd
their Freedom, as well as they could by one means or other, that so
they might return to their Livelihood and profession, but not long
after he sent other Rogues and Robbers among them to enslave those that
were Redeemed.

To the same Gaol they are brought a second time, being instigated or
rather constrained to a speedy Redemption by hunger and thirst; Thus
many of them were twice or thrice taken, captiv'd and Redeedmed; but
some who were not capable of Depositing such a sum, perished there.
Farthermore this Tyrant was big with an itching desire after the
discovery of the _Perusian_ Mines, which he did accomplish. Nay should
I enumerate the particular Cruelties, Slaughters, _&c._ committed by
him though my discourse would not in the least be contrariant to the
Truth, yet it would not be beleived and only stupifie and amaze the
Reader.

This course the other Tyrants took who set sail from _Venecuela_ and
St. _Martha_ (with the same Resolution of detecting the _Perusian_
Golden, Consecrated Houses as them they esteemed) who found the
fruitful Region so desolate, deserted, and wasted by Fire and Sword,
that those Cruel Tyrants themselves were smitten with wonder and
astonishment at the traces and ruins of such prodigious Devastations.

All these things and many more were prov'd by Witness in the _Indian_
Exchequer, and the Records of their Testimony were entred in that
Court, though these execrable Tyrants burnt many of them that there
might be little or nothing prov'd as a cause of those great
Devastations and Evils perpetrated by them. For the Minister of
Justice who have hitherto lived in _India_, through their obscure and
damnable blindness, were not much sollicitous about the punishment of
the Crimes and Butcheries which have been and are still committed by
these Tyrants, only they may say possibly because such a one, and such
a one hath wickedly and barbarously dealt with the _Indians_, that is
the reason so great a summ of Crowns in Money is diminished already or
retrenched from His Majesties Annual Revenue, and this general and
confused proof is sufficient (as they worthily conceive) to purge or
repress such great and hainous Crimes. And though they are but few,
are not verified as they ought to be, nor do they attribute and lay
upon them that stress and weight as they ought to do, for if they did
perform their Duty to God and the King; it could not be made apparent
as it may be, that these _German_ Tyrants have cheated and rob'd the
King of Three Millions of Gold and upward; and thus these Enemies to
God and the King began to depopulate these Regions and destroy them,
cheating his Majesty of Two Millions of Gold _per Annum_, nor can it be
expected, that the Detriment done to his Majesty can possibly be
retriev'd, as long as the Sun and moon endures, unless God by a Miracle
should raise as many Thousands from Death to Life, as have bin
destroy'd. And these are the Temporal Dammages the King suffers. It
would be also a Work worthy the inquiry into, to consider how many
cursed Sacriledges and Indignities God himself hath been affronted with
to the dishonour of his Name. And what Recompence can be made for the
loss of so many Souls as are now tormented in Hell by the Cruelty and
Covetousness of these Brutish _German_ Tyrants. But I will conclude
all their Impiety and Barbarisme with one Example, _viz._ That from
the time they entred upon this Country to this very day, that is,
Seventeen Years, they have remitted many Ships fraighted with _Indians_
to be sold as Slaves to the Isles of St. _Martha, Hispaniola, Jamaica,_
and St. _John_, selling a Million of Persons at the least, I speak
modestly, and still do expose to Sale to this very Year of our Lord
1542, the King's Council in this Island seeing and knowing it, yet what
they find to be manifest and apparent they connive at, permit and
countenance, and wink at the horrid Impieties and Devastations
innumerable which are committed on the Coasts of this Continent,
extending Four Hundred Miles in Length, and continues still together
with _Venecuela_ and St. _Martha_ under their Jurisdiction, which they
might easily have remedied and timely prevented.

_Of the Provinces of_ FLORIDA

Three Tyrants at several times made their entrance into these Provinces
since the Year 1510, or 1511, to act those Crimes which others, and two
of these Three made it their sole business to do in other Regions, to
the end, that they might advance themselves to higher Dignities and
Promotions than they could deserve, by the Effusion of Blood and
Destruction of these People; but at length they all were cut off by a
violent Death, and the Houses which they formerly built and erected
with the cement of Human Blood, (which I can sufficiently testifie of
these three) perished with them, and their memory roten, and as
absolutely washed away from off the Face of the Earth, as if they had
never had a being. These Men deserted these Regions, leaving them in
great distraction and confusion, nor were they branded with less notes
of infamy, by the certain Slaughters they perpetrated, though they were
but few in number than the rest. For the Just God cut them off before
they did much Mischief, and reserv'd the Castigation and Revenge of
those Evils which I know, and was an Eye-Witness of, to this very Time
and Place. As to the Fourth Tyrant, who lately, that is, in the Year
1538, came hither well-furnished with Men and Ammunition, we have
received no account these Three Years last past; but wer are very
confident, that he, at his first Arrival, acted like a bloody Tyrant,
even to extasie and madness, if he be still alive with his Follower,
and did injure, destroy, and consume a vast Number of Men (for he was
branded with infamous Cruelty above all those who with their Assistants
committed Crimes and Enormities of the first Magnitude in these
Kingdoms and Provinces) I conceive, God hath punished him with the same
Violent Death, as he did other Tyrants: But because my Pen is wearied
with relating such Execrable and Sanguinary Deeds (not of Men but
Beasts) I will trouble my self no longer with the dismal and fatal
Consequences thereof.

These People were found by them to be Wise, Grave, and well dispos'd,
though their usual Butcheries and Cruelties in opressing them like
Brutes, with heavy Burthens, did rack their minds with great Terror and
Anguish. At their Entry into a certain Village, they were welcomed
with great Joy and Exultation, replenished them with Victuals, till
they were all satisfied, yielding up to them above Six Hundred Men to
carry their Bag and Baggage, and like Grooms to look after their
Horses: The _Spaniards_ departing thence, a Captain related to the
Superiour Tyrant returned thither to rob this (no ways diffident or
mistrustful) People, and pierced their King through with a Lance, of
which Wound he dyed upon the Spot, and committed several other
Cruelties into the bargain. In another Neighboring Town, whose
Inhabitants they thought, were more vigilant and watchful, having had
the News of their horrid Acts and Deeds, they barbarously murdered them
all with their Lances and Swords, destroying all, Young and Old, Great
and Small, Lords and Subject without exception.

The Chief Tyrant caused many _Indians_ (above Two Hundred as 'tis
noised abroad) whom he summon'd to appear before him out of another
town, or else, who came voluntarily to pay their Respects to him, to
have their Noses and Lips to the very Beard, cut off; and thus in this
grievous and wretched Condition, the Blood gushing out of their Wounds,
return'd them back, to give an Infallible Testimony of the Works and
Miracles wrought by these Preachers and Ministers baptized in the
Catholick Faith.

Now let all Men judge what Affection and love they bear to
Christianity; to what purpose, or upon what account they believe there
is a God, whom they preach and boast of to be Good and Just, and that
his Law which they profess (and indeed only profess) to be pure and
immaculate. The Mischiefs acted by these profligate Wretches and Sons
of Perdition were of the deepest die. At last this Captain devoted to
Perdition dyed impenitent, nor do we in the least question, but that he
is overwhelmed and buried in Darkness Infernal, unless God according to
his Infinite Mercy and boundless Clemency, not his own Merits, (he
being contaminated and poison'd with Execrable Deeds,) be pleas'd to
compassionate and have Mercy upon him.

_Of the_ Plate-River, _that is, the _Silver-River.

Some Captains since the Year 1502 to 1503 undertook Four or Five
Voyages to the River of Plate, which embraceth within its own Arms
great Kingdoms and Provinces, and is peopled by rational and
well-temper'd Inhabitants. In the general we are certified, that they were
very injurious and bloody to them; but they being far distant from
those _Indians_, we frequently discourse of, wer are not able to give
you a particular account of their Transactions. Yet beyond all
Controversie, they did, and still do go the same way to work, as others
in several Regions to this present time do, and have done; for they are
the same, (and many in number too) _Spaniards_ who went thither, that
were the wicked Instruments of other Executions, and all of them aim at
one and the same thing, namely to grow Rich and Wealthy, which they can
never be, unless they steer the same Course which others have followed,
and tread the same paths in Murdering, Robbing and Destroying poor
_Indians_.

After I had committed to Writing what I have prementioned, it was told
me for a great Truth, that they had laid waste in those Countreys great
Kingdoms and Provinces, dealing Cruelly and Bloodily with these
harmless People, at a horrid rate, having a greater Opportunity and
Convenience to be more Infamous and Rigid to them, then others, they
being very remote from _Spain_, living inordinatly, like Debauches,
laying aside, and bidding farewel to all manner of Justice, which is
indeed a Stranger in all the _American_ Regions, as is manifest by what
hath been said already. But among the other Numerous Wicked Acts
following this is one that may be read in the _Indians_ Courts. One of
the Governours commanded his Soldiers to go to a certain Village, and
if they denyed them Provisions, to put all the Inhabitants to the
Sword: By Vertue of this Authority away they march, and because they
would not yield to them above Five Thousand Men as Enemies, fearing
rather to be seen, then guilty of Illiberality, were cut off by the
Sword. Also a certain number of Men living in Peace and Tranquillity
proffered their services to him; who, as it fell out, were call'd
before the Governour, but deferring their appearance a little longer
than ordinary, that he might infix their minds with a remark of
horrible Tyranny, he commanded, they should be deliver'd up, as
Prisoners to their Mortal _Indian_ Enemies, who beg'd with loud
Clamours and a Deluge of Tears, that they might be dispatcht out of
this World by their own Hands, rather than be given up as a prety to
the Enemy; yet being resolute, they would not depart out of the House
wherein they were, so the _Spaniards_ hackt them in pieces Limb by
Limb, who exclaim'd and cryed aloud, "We came to visit and serve you
peaceably and quietly, and you Murder us; our Blood with which these
Walls are moistned and sprinkled will remain as an Everlasting
Testimony of our Unjust Slaughter, and your Barbarous Cruelty. And
really this _Piaculum_ or horrid Crime deserves a Commemoration, or
rather speak more properly, the Commiseration of all Persons."

_Of the vast Kingdoms and Spatious Provinces of _PERUSIA.

A notorious Tyrant in the Year 1531, entred the Kingdoms of _Perusia_
with his Complices, upon the same Account, and with the same pretences,
and beginning at the same Rate as others did; he indeed being one of
those who were exercised, and highly concern'd in the Slaughters and
Cruelties committed on the Continent ever since the Year 1510, he
increased and heightned the Cruelties, Butcheries, and Rapine;
destroying and laying waste (being a False-hearted Faithless Person)
the Towns and Villages, and Murdering the Inhabitants, which occasion'd
all those Evils, that succeeded in those Regions afterward: Now to
undertake the Writing of a Narrative of them, and represent them lively
and Naturally to the Readers view, and perusal, is a work altogether
impossible, but must lie concealed and unknown until they shall more
openly and clearly appear, and be made visible to every Eye, at the day
of Judgement. As for my part, if I should presume to unravel, in some,
measure the Deformity, Quality and Circumstances of those Enormities, I
must ingenuously confess I could by no means perform so burthensom a
Task, and render it compleat and as it ought to be.

At his first admission into these parts, he had laid waste some Towers,
and rob'd them of a great quantity of Gold, this he did in the Infancy
of his Tyrannical Attempts, when he arriv'd at _Pugna_ a Neighbouring
Isle so called, he had the Reception of an Angel; but about Six Months
after, when the _Spaniards_ had spent all their Provisions, they
discover'd and opened the _Indians_ Stores and Granaries, which were
laid up for the sustenance of themselves, Wives and Children against a
time of Dearth and Scarcity, brought them forth with Tears and
Weepings, to dispose of at pleasure: But they rewarded them with
Slaughter, Slavery and Depopulation as formerly.

Thence they betook themselves to the Isle _Tumbala_, scituate on the
firm Land, where they put to Death all they met with. And because the
People terrified with their abominable Sins of Commission, fled from
their Cruelty, they were accused of Rebellion against the _Spanish_
King. This Tyrant made use of this Artifice, he commanded all that he
took, or that had bestowed Gold, Silver and other rich Gifts on him,
still to load him with other Presents, till he found they had exhausted
their Treasures, and were grown naked and incapable of affording him
farther supplies, and then he declared them to be the Vassals and
Subjects of the King of _Spain_, flattering them, and proclaiming twice
by sound of Trumpet, that for the future he would not captivate or
molest them any more, looking upon it as lawful to rob, and terrifie
them with such Messages as he had done, before he admited them under
the King's protection, as if from that very time, he had never rob'd,
destroy'd or opprest them with Tyrannical Usage.

Not long after _Ataliba_ the King and Supreme Emperor of all these
Kingdoms, leading a great Number of Naked Men, he himself being at the
Head of them, armed with ridiculous Weapons, and wholly ignorant of the
goodness of the _Spaniards_ Bilbo-Blades, the Mortal Dartings of their
Lances, and the Strength of their Horse, whose Use and Service was to
him altogether unknown, and never so much as heard of before, and that
the _Spaniards_ were sufficiently weapon'd to rob the Devils themselves
of Gold, if they had any, came to the place where they then were;
saying, Where are these _Spaniards_? Let them appear, I will not stir a
foot from hence till they give me satisfaction for my Subjects whom
they have slain, my Towns they have reduc'd to Ashes, and my Riches
they have stoln from me. The _Spaniards_ meet him, make a great
Slaughter of his Men, and seize on the Person of the King Himself, who
was carried in a Chair or Sedan on Mens Shoulders. There was a Treaty
had about his Redemption, the King engaged to lay down Four Millions of
Crowns, as the purchase of his Freedom, but Fifteen were paid down upon
the Nail: They promise to set him at Liberty, but contrary to all Faith
and Truth according to their common Custom (for they always violated
their promises with the _Indians_) they falsly imposed this upon him,
that his People were got together in a Body by his Command; but the
King was made answer, That throughout his Dominions, not so much as a
Leaf upon a Tree durst move without his Authority and Pleasure, and if
any were assembled together, they must of necessity believe that it was
done without his Order, he being a Captive, it being in their power to
deprive him of his LIfe, if any such thing should be ordered by him:
Notwithstanding which, they entred into a Consultation to have him
burnt alive, and a little while after the Sentence was agreed upon, but
the Captain at the intreaty of some Persons commanded him first to be
strangled, and afterward thrown into the fire. The King understanding
the sentence of Death past upon him, said; Why do you burn me? What
Fact have I committed deserving Death? Did you not promise to set me
free for a Sum of Gold. And did I not give you a far larger quantity
than I promised? But if it is your pleasure so to do, send me to your
King of _Spain_, and thus using many words to the same purpose, tending
to the Confusion and Detestation of the _Spanish_ Injustice, he was
burnt to Death. And here let us take into serious Consideration the
Right and Title they had to make this War, the Captivity, Sentence, and
Execution of this Prince, and the Conscience wherewith these Tyrants
have possessed themselves of vast Treasures, which they have
surreptitiously and fraudulently taken away from this King, and a great
many more of the Rulers of these Kingdoms. But as to the great number
of their Enormities committed by those who stile themselves Christians
in order to the extirpation of this People, I will hear repeat some of
them, which in the very beginning were seen by a _Franciscan_,
confirm'd by his own Letters, and signed with his Hand and Seal,
sending some of them to the _Perusian_ Provinces, and others to the
Kingdom of _Castile_: A Copy whereof I have in my Custody, Signed with
his Hand, as I said before; the Contents whereof follow.

I Frier _Marcus de Xlicia_, of the _Franciscan_ Order, and Praefect
of the whole Fraternity residing in the Perusian Provinces, one of
the first among the Religious, who arriv'd with the _Spaniards_
in these parts. I decalre with incontrovertible and undeniable
Testimony, those Transactions, which I saw with my own Eyes, and
particularly such as relate to the usage of the Inhabitants of this
Region. In the first place I was an Eye-Witness, and am certainly
assur'd, that these _Perusians_ are a People, who transcend all other
_Indians_ in Meekness, Clemency, and Love to _Spaniards_; and I have
seen the _Indians_ bestow very liberally on them Gold, Silver, and
Jewels, being very serviceable to them many other wayes. Nor did the
_Indians_ ever betake themselves to their Arms in an Hostile manner,
till by infinite Injuries and Cruelties they were compell'd thereunto:
For on the contrary, they gave the _Spaniards_ an amicable and
honourable Reception in all their Towns, and furnished them with
Provisions, and as many Male and Female Servants as they required.

I can also farther testifie, that the _Spaniards_, without the least
provocation on their part, as soon as they entred upon these
Territories, did burn at the Stake their most Potent _Caciq Ataliba_,
Prince of the whole Country, after they had extorted from him above Two
Millions of Gold, and possessed themselves of his Province, without the
least Opposition: and _Cochilimaca_, his Captain General, who with
other Rulers, came peaceably into them, follow'd him by the same fiery
Tryal and Death. As also some few days after, the Ruler of the
Province of _Quitonia_, who was burnt, without any Cause given, or
Crime laid to his Charge. They likewise put _Schapera_, Prince of the
_Canaries_ to the same Death, and in like manner, burnt the Feet of
_Alvidis_, the greatest of all the _Quitonian_ Lords, and rackt him
with other Torments to Extract from him a discovery of _Ataliba's_
Treasure, whereof as appear'd after, he was totally ignorant. Thus
they treated _Cocopaganga_, Governour of all the Provinces of
_Quitonia_, who being overcome with the Intreaties of _Sebastian
Bernalcarus_, the Governours Captain, went peaceably to pay them a
Visit; but because he could not give them as much Gold as they
demanded, they burnt him with many other _Casics_ and Chief Persons of
Quality. And as I understnad, did it with this evil Intention, that
they might not leave one surviving Lord or Peer in the whole Countrey.

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