- E. [16] Carabaya Is An Elevated Valley Of Considerable Extent, To The South East Of Cuzco.

A mark of gold or eight ounces is worth about L.32; hence we may readily believe so rich a days work was seldom made.

- E.

SECTION II.

_Commencement of the Viceroyalty of Blasco Nunnez Vela, and renewal of the civil war in Peru by the usurpation of Gonzalo Pizarro_.

At this period, some of the clergy who had been in the New World, represented to the Emperor Don Carlos and the lords of his council, that the Spaniards treated the natives in the conquered provinces of America with extreme cruelty, depriving them of all their property by excessive exactions, forcing them to labour in the mines and to dive for pearls beyond their strength, obliging them to carry heavy burdens in long journeys, and frequently subjecting them to arbitrary punishments, and even wantonly putting them to death; insomuch that their numbers were fast diminishing, and that in a short time they would be entirely extirpated from Mexico and Peru and the other continental dominions of Spain in America, as was already the case in the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and others, where hardly any trace remained of the original inhabitants. To confirm these representations, they particularly recited many instances of cruelty exercised by the Spaniards upon the Indians, among which were numerous circumstances that were by no means well authenticated. They alleged as one of the greatest of these evils, and a principal cause of the destruction of the Indians, that they were forced to carry heavy burdens on long journeys, far beyond their strength, without any consideration of justice or humanity. They added that these tyrannical practices had been carried to the greatest excess by the governors, lieutenants, and other officers of the crown, and by the bishops, monks, and other favoured and privileged persons, trusting to their authority and immunities to be exempted from punishment for their improper conduct, by which they were encouraged to the commission of every excess. He who insisted in these remonstrances with the greatest zeal and perseverance was Fra Bartholomew de las Casas, a Dominican monk, whom his majesty had raised to the bishopric of Chiapa.

After maturely considering these representations, his majesty was anxious to devise proper means to relieve the Indians from oppression; and for this purpose he assembled a council of all those persons to whom the administration of affairs in the Indies was confided, with several other persons of probity learned in the laws. By this assembly the whole affair was deliberately examined, and a code of regulations drawn up by which it was expected to remedy the abuses complained of. By these regulations it was enacted that no Indian should be forced to labour in the mines, or to dive for pearls; that no excessive labours should be imposed on them, and even that they should not be obliged to carry burdens except in places where no other means could be employed; that all Indians should be paid for their labour, and that the tribute which they were to pay to their masters should be fixed; that upon the death of any person to whom lands and Indians now belonged, they were to revert to the crown.

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