A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
B >>
Bartolome de las Casas >> A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 | 8
Here the Author having finished the matter of Fact in this Compendious
History, for Confirmation of what he has here written, quotes a tedious
and imperfect Epistle (as he styles it) beginning and ending anonymous
withal, containing the Cruelties committed by the _Spaniards_, the same
in effect as our Author has prementioned, now in regard that I judge
such reiterated Cruelties and repeated Barbarisms are Offensive to the
Reader, he having sailed already too long, and too far in an Ocean of
Innocent _Indian_ blood: I have omitted all but Two or Three Stories
not taken notice of by the Author. One of the Tyrants, (who followed
the steps of _John Ampudia_, a notorious Villain) gave way to a grat
Slaughter of Sheep the chief Food and Support of the _Spaniards_ as
well as _Indians_, permitting them to kill Two or Three Hundred at a
time, only for their Brains, Fat, or Suet, whose Flesh was then
altogether useless, and not fit to be eaten; but many _Indians_, the
_Spaniards_ Friends and Confederates followed them, desiring they might
have the hearts to feed upon, whereupon they butchered a great many of
them, for this only Reason, because they would not eat the other parts
of the Body. Two of their gang in the Province of _Peru_ kild Twenty
Five Sheep, who were sold among the _Spaniards_ for Twenty Five Crowns,
merely to get the fat and brains out of them: Thus the frequent and
extraordinary Slaughter of their Sheep above a Hundred Thousand Head of
Cattel were destroy'd. And upon this Account the Region was reduced to
great penury and want, and at length perished with Hunger. Nay the
Province of _Quito_, which abounded with Corn beyond Expression, by
such proceedings as these, was brought to that Extremity that a
Sextarie or small Measure or Wheat was sold for Ten Crowns, and a Sheep
at as dear a rate.
This Captain taking leave of _Quito_ was followed by a poor _Indianess_
with loud Cries and Clamours, begging and beseeching him not to carry
away her Husband; for she had the charge of Three Children, and could
not possibly supply them with Victuals, but they must inevitably dye
with hunger, and though the _Captain_ repulsed her with an angry brow
at the first; yet she approacht him a second time with repeated Cries,
saying, that her Children must perish for want of Food; but finding
the Captain inexorable and altogether unmov'd with her Complaints, and
her Husband not restor'd, through a piquant necessity wedded to
despair; she cut off the Heads of her Children with sharp Stones, and
so dispatcht them into the other World.
Then he proceeded farther to another City, and sent some _Spaniards_
that very Night, to take the _Indians_ of the City of _Tulilicui_, who
next day brought with them above a Hundred Persons; some of which (whom
he lookt upon to be able to carry burthens) he reserved for his own and
his Soldiers service, and other were chain'd, and perished in their
Fetters: but the little Infants he gave to the _Casic_ of _Tulilicui_,
abovesaid to be eaten up and devoured, whose skins are stuft with Ashes
and hung up in his House to be seen at this very day. And in the close
of this Letter he shuts up all with these words, 'tis here very
remarkable and never to be forgotten, that this Tyrant (being not
ignorant of the Mischiefs and Enormities executed by him) boastingly
said of himself, _They who shall travel in these Countreys Fifty years
hence, and hear the things related of me, will have cause to say or
declare, that never such a Tyrant as I am marched through these
Regions, and committed the like Enormities._
Now not to quit the Stage without one Comical Scene or Action whereon
such Cruelties have been lively personated, give me leave to acquaint
you with a Comical piece of Grammatical Learning in a Reverend
Religioso of these parts, sent thither to convert the _West-Indies_
Pagans, which the Author mentions among his Reasons and Replications,
and all these I pass by as immaterial to our purpose, many of them
being repeated in the Narrative before.
The weight and burthen of initiating the _Indians_ into the Christian
Faith lay solely on the _Spaniards_ at first; and therefore _Joannes
Colmenero_ in _Santa Martha_, a Fantastic, Ignorant, and Foppish
Fellow, was under Examination before us (and he had one of the most
spatious Cities committed to his Charge as well as the Care and Cure of
the Souls of the Inhabitants) whether he understood how to fortifie
himself with the sign of the Cross against the Wicked and Impious, and
being interrogated what he taught, and how he instructed the _Indians_,
whose Souls were intrusted to his Care and Conduct; he return'd this
Answer, _That if he damn'd them to the Devil and Furies of Hell, it was
sufficient to retrieve them, if he pronounced these Words,_ Per Signin
Sanctin Cruces. A Fellow fitter to be a Hogherd than a Shepherd of
Souls.
This Deep, Bloody _American_ Tragedy is now concluded, and my Pen
choakt up with _Indian_ Blood and Gore. I have no more to say, but
pronounce the Epilogue made by the Author, and leave the Reader to
judge whether it deserves a Plaudite.
The _Spaniards_ first set Sail to _America_, not for the Honour of God,
or as Persons moved and merited thereunto by servent Zeal to the True
Faith, nor to promote the Salvation of their Neighbours, nor to serve
the King, as they falsely boast and pretend to do, but in truth, only
stimulated and goaded on by insatiable Avarice and Ambition, that they
might for ever Domineer, Command, and Tyrannize over the _West-
Indians_, whose Kingdoms they hoped to divide and distribute among
themselves. Which to deal candidly in no more or less intentionally,
than by all these indirect wayes to disappoint and expel the Kings of
_Castile_ out of those Dominions and Territories, that they themselves
having usurped the Supreme and Regal Empire, might first challenge it
as their Right, and then possess and enjoy it.
FINIS.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 | 8