The control over the province was a matter of dispute on more than one occasion. That it was included in the governorship of Guatemala is evident from the provision extended by the king to Alvarado in 1527, but the fact that he took no part in its conquest would seem to invalidate his claim. That nevertheless he acquired a certain amount of control appears from a cédula issued April 14, 1531, and quoted by Remesal, in which he grants permission to the settlers to deal with escaped slaves as if they were branded. Again in 1532 we find that the cabildo furnished him with two cannon for his South Sea expedition, though the members confessed that they did so only through fear of his causing them fresh trouble.[XIII‑40] The country, being now subjugated and free from outside interference, lay ready to be portioned out to the conquerors in repartimientos. This process occupied some time, and the rest of the year was passed in reorganizing the province and arranging for its colonization. It was expedient to found a Spanish settlement, and on the 1st of March 1528 Mazariegos, with the aid of Indians, constructed a number of huts on a spot distant about a league to the east of the depopulated town of Chiapas. A meeting was then held at which the lieutenant-governor explained that the site he had selected was not necessarily intended to be permanent, and that if a more advantageous spot were found, the colony should be removed to it. In the mean time, in the name of his Majesty, he appointed municipal officers, and a few days afterward an enrolment of citizens took place, more than fifty names being recorded. The town was named Villa Real after Mazariegos' native city, Ciudad Real of La Mancha. The newly appointed cabildo then went into session and the appointments of Luis de Luna, as visitador general, and Gerónimo de Cárceres, as escribano, were recognized and accepted.[XIII‑41]
But it was soon discovered that the locality was unfavorable. It was hot, unhealthy on account of the neighboring swamps, and infested with mosquitoes and bats. The site was therefore removed to the plain of Huey Zacatlan,[XIII‑42] twelve leagues distant. Here were rich, arable, and pasture lands, while a winding river and numerous streams afforded an abundant supply of water. A town was formally laid out, lots were assigned to citizens, buildings begun, repartimientos granted, and the territory portioned in caballerias and peonias. It was afterward ordered at a session of the cabildo held on the 17th of August 1528, that all who desired to obtain land from the natives should do so by purchase. Protection was also extended to them by regulations framed to prevent the appropriation of their produce or its destruction by animals. Any Spaniard who sent his servant to gather maize from their fields was to forfeit ten pesos de oro for the first offence, and for the second to lose his servant, who was to be publicly flogged. Regulations passed during the early part of the following year required that all encomenderos should assemble the sons of the caciques at their residences to be instructed in the doctrines of the church. Christianized natives were to receive Christian burial, and others were to be decently interred outside the city.
RULE OF GUZMAN.
The administration of Mazariegos appears to have been based on humane principles and to have had in view the welfare of the settlers. But this condition of affairs was of brief duration. In 1529 Juan Enriquez de Guzman was ordered by the audiencia of Mexico to take his residencia, and appointed captain general and alcalde mayor of Chiapas. His investigation was conducted in a spirit of vindictiveness which can be accounted for only by the fact that the latter had previously been his juez de residencia. He stripped him and his friends of their repartimientos, and gave them to his own creatures; he appropriated his dwelling and town allotments, and when the man whom he thus despoiled soon afterward set forth for Mexico, gave further proof of his enmity by changing the name of the town to Villa Viciosa. By a royal cédula of July 7, 1536, its name was again changed to Ciudad Real.[XIII‑43]
Guzman now exercised his power without restraint, and laid the foundation of permanent evils. All official positions were filled by favorites of his own to the exclusion of those entitled to them; the encomiendas were taken from those to whom they had been assigned, and distributed among undeserving followers; and in a few months the whole colony was embroiled in dissensions. At a later date all offices except those of the two alcaldes, the procurador syndic, and the city majordomo became salable.[XIII‑44] The province was divided into numerous repartimientos, and in every principal town a lieutenant of the alcalde mayor was stationed. "Not," says Mazariegos, "for the administration of justice, but rather to superintend his large and scandalous repartimientos and to collect tribute dues." This system of government by encomenderos was oppressive and exhausting to the country, and to it the ruin of the towns of Chiapas is to be attributed. The province was subject to the captain general and the audiencia of Mexico; but their control was exercised with little attention to the improvement of the system. This state of affairs lasted until 1544, when the audiencia of the Confines was established, and Chiapas was included in its jurisdiction.[XIII‑45]
CHAPTER XIV.
THREATENED DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES.
1526-1543.
Decrease of Indian Population at the Isthmus—And in Honduras—Treatment of Spanish Allies in Guatemala—Torture and Butchery of Hostile Natives—Terror Inspired by Alvarado—Early Legislation—Its Non-observance—The New Laws—The Audiencia of Panamá Abolished—The Audiencias of Los Reyes and Los Confines Established—Disgust Caused by the New Code—The First Viceroy of Peru Arrives at the Isthmus—He Takes Charge of Treasure Acquired by Slave Labor—And Liberates a Number of Indians.
THE VEXED INDIAN QUESTION.
The old Milanese chronicler, Girolamo Benzoni, mentions that during a journey from Acla[XIV‑1] to Nombre de Dios about the year 1541, his party entered some Indian huts to obtain a supply of provisions. The inmates thinking they were about to be enslaved attacked them savagely with hands and teeth, tearing their clothes, spitting in their faces, uttering doleful cries, and exclaiming guacci! guacci! which Benzoni translates as "the name of a quadruped that prowls by night in search of prey."[XIV‑2] Being at length pacified by signs they brought forth food, and one of them consenting to act as guide informed the travellers that there were no other Indian habitations on their line of route, for the Spaniards had either killed or made slaves of the entire population.
SLAVERY AND DEATH.