[215] A repartimiento was a grant of Indians, who were bound to pay tribute and to render personal service.
[216] Or Pitajaya (Cereus Pitajaya, De Cand.), a cactus used for making fences.
[217] Vanilla?
[218] Or carats, a small weight used for gold and silver. It was the twenty-fourth part of a marc, so that nineteen carats would mean nineteen parts of pure gold and five of alloy, in the marc.
[219] Encomiendas were estates granted to the Spanish conquerors, the inhabitants of which were bound to pay tribute and to render personal service to the holders of the grants. Pizarro was empowered to grant encomiendas to his followers in 1529, and in 1536 these grants were extended to two lives; but by the “New Laws,” enacted in 1542, the encomiendas were to pass immediately to the crown after the death of the actual holders, and a fixed sum was to be settled as tribute to be paid by the Indians. All forced labour was also absolutely forbidden. The conquerors were furious at the promulgation of these humane laws, and, it being considered unsafe to enforce them, they were revoked in 1545. The president Gasca redistributed the encomiendas in Peru in 1550, and they were granted for three lives in 1629. For further information on this subject see my Travels in Peru and India, chap. viii.
[220] Jatropha Manihot, Lin., an excellent edible root.
[221] Psidium Guayava Raddi.
[222] Persea gratissima. R. P.
[223] That is, “As the Indians themselves have no greed after gold, it behoves the Spaniards to show them that avarice is not the only motive which influences the conduct of their conquerors.”
[224] Francisco Hernandez Giron was afterwards famous as the leader of the final rebellion in Peru. The anger of the Spanish soldiers at a law prohibiting the use of Indians as beasts of burden enabled him to assemble a number of discontented spirits at Cuzco in November 1553. He routed the royal army at Chuquinga, but was finally defeated at Pucara, and publicly beheaded in the great square of Lima. His head was hung up in an iron cage, besides those of Gonzalo Pizarro and Carbajal.