[15] Obviously a misunderstood description of alligators. Indeed the whole account of this country, now called Colona, seems to have been derived from the reports of Indians, and is in many circumstances entirely fabulous, as is well known from the more recent accounts of the Jesuit missions.--E.
Vaca de Castro remained above eighteen months in Cuzco after the departure of these various expeditions, employing himself in making a distribution of the unoccupied lands and Indians, and settling the whole country in good order, issuing likewise many useful regulations for the protection and preservation of the Indians. In that period the richest gold mine ever heard of in our days was discovered near Cuzco in a river named Carabaya, where a single Indian is able to gather to the extent of a mark in one day[16]. The whole country being now perfectly tranquil, and the Indians protected from those excessive toils to which they had been subjected during the civil war, Gonzalo Pizarro was permitted to come to Cuzco, and after a few days went thence to Las Charcas, where he employed himself in taking care of the extensive estate which he possessed in that country. He there remained in quiet, till the arrival of the viceroy, Blasco Nunnez Vela in Peru, as shall be related in the sequel.
[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. Besides, that all lands and Indians belonging to bishops, monasteries, and hospitals, or to governors, lieutenant-governors, or other officers of the crown, should be taken from them and annexed to the crown, even although the possessor should incline to demit their offices for the purpose of enabling them to retain their repartitions. It was particularly ordered in regard to Peru, that all who had taken any share in the civil wars between the marquis and Almagro should forfeit their lands and Indians. And finally, all Indians set at liberty by this regulation were to belong in perpetuity to the crown, to whom their tributes were to be paid in all time coming.
It is perfectly obvious, in consequence of the concluding clause but one of these regulations, by which all who had taken any share in the late civil wars were to be deprived of their lands and Indians, that every individual then in Peru would have been reduced to poverty, as it may be seen by every circumstance related in the foregoing part of this history, that every Spaniard in the country had embraced one or other of these parties with extreme violence. Even the native Peruvians had taken a part in the civil discords, and had frequent quarrels and engagements on the subject, some of them taking part with the Chilese, and others with the Pachacamacs, by which titles they distinguished respectively the adherents of Almagro and of the marquis. Hitherto the only court of justice or royal audience was held at Panama, at a most inconvenient distance from Peru. By the new regulations this court of Panama was abolished, and besides the establishment of a new court on the frontiers of Gauatimala and Nicaragua for all the provinces from Tierra Firma northwards, of which the licentiate Maldonado was made president, another court of royal audience was ordered to be established in Lima, consisting of four oydors or judges, and a president who was to have the title of Viceroy and captain general. This measure was deemed indispensibly necessary for the well being of this distant country, the richest and most valuable dominion which belonged to the crown in all America. All these regulations were enacted and published at Madrid in 1542, and copies of them were immediately sent to different parts of the New World. These new reglations gave extreme dissatisfaction to the conquerors of the American provinces, and particularly to those of Peru; as every Spanish settler in that country must have been deprived by them of almost every thing they possessed, and reduced to the necessity of looking out for new means of subsistence. Every one loudly declared that his majesty must have received erroneous information respecting the late events, as the partizans and adherents both of the marquis and of Almagro, had conducted themselves to the best of their judgment as faithful subjects of his majesty, believing that they acted in obedience to his orders in what respected the two rival governors, who acted in his name and by his authority, and were besides under the necessity of obeying their officers, either by force or good will, so that they were in fact guilty of no crime in what they had done; or, even if their conduct were in some measure faulty, they certainly did not deserve to be stript entirely of their property. They alleged farther, that when they discovered and conquered the country, which had been done at their own proper cost, it had been expressly covenanted that they were to enjoy the division of the lands and Indians among them for their lives, with remainder to their eldest sons, or to their widows in case of having no children; and that, in confirmation of all this, an order had been issued by his majesty, by which all who had participated in making the conquest of Peru were to marry within a certain specified time, under the penalty of losing their lands and Indians, with which regulation most of them had complied; and that it were now unjust, when they had become old and worn out, and were encumbered with wives and families, to deprive them of their substance, when they looked to enjoy repose after all their fatigues and dangers; being unable from age and infirmity to go in search of new countries and new establishments.
Great numbers of persons repaired to Cuzco, where Vaca de Castro then resided, to lay their complaints before him. He told them, that he was persuaded his majesty would remedy their grievances when informed of the true state of affairs, and recommended therefore that the procurators or syndics of the different cities should assemble, and elect a deputation to carry a true statement of matters to the king and royal council of the Indies, with a humble supplication that his majesty might apply a proper remedy, by the revocation or modification of those regulations, which, as they stood, would produce such ruinous consequences to the colony. On purpose to facilitate this assembly, the governor promised to repair in person to Lima, as the most convenient and most central situation for the deputies of all the other cities. He accordingly set out from Cuzco for Lima, accompanied by the syndics of all the neighbouring cities, and by several gentlemen and other persons of consequence.
In the year 1542, while these things were going on in Peru, his majesty appointed Blasco Nunnez Vela, who had been commissary general of the revenue in Castille, as Viceroy of Peru, and president of the court of royal audience, to carry those regulations into effect which we have already given an accoun of. Vela was chosen to this high and important office as a person of capacity and experience, who would dispense strict justice without respect of persons, and would punctually fulfil the royal orders. The four oydors or judges nominated to the royal audience of Lima were the licentiate Cepeda, doctor Lison de Texada, and the licentiates Alvarez and Pedro Ortiz. Augustin de Zarate[1], secretary of the royal council of Castille, was appointed at the same time auditor general of accounts both for Peru and the Tierra Firma, as since the discovery and settlement of these provinces, no accounts of the royal revenues had ever been rendered to the treasurers. All these persons embarked at San Lucar de Barrameda on the 1st November 1543, and arrived safe at the harbour of Nombre de Dios, where they made some stay, on purpose to prepare for their voyage to Peru. As the viceroy was eager to proceed, he embarked at Panama in the middle of February 1543, without waiting for the judges of the royal audience, who anxiously requested to accompany him, and who were accordingly much chagrined by this procedure. Even before this, some slight disputes had occurred between them and Vela, which though of small importance in themselves, had left some impression of mutual dissatisfaction, and evinced that they were not likely to agree in the government of the country.