Consequent upon this notion of theirs is this abuse, that when the gobernadorcillos of the villages (these are the deputies of the alcaldes) who exercise the royal jurisdiction, go to see the father, they have to leave their staffs or rods of justice at the entrance; for the fathers do not permit even tokens of the royal authority in their presence. The fathers compel those officials to accompany them quite to the sacristy, and, when they return to their house, make them serve them at table, and never allow them to sit down or to keep their hats on; and they address those officials by tu [i.e., “thou”] as they do servants. Let one estimate what they will do with the other Indians.
Remedy for this evil
To order that, when the gobernadorcillos go to see the father, they be compelled to go into his house with their badges of justice, under penalty of [the father’s] expulsion if they are forbidden to do so; for, representing as they do the king, the father must treat them with suitable decorum, and must give them a seat, and under no pretext be served by them at table.
FIFTEENTH ABUSE
It is an abuse that, when the provincials go to visit, they make their so magnificent entrances into the villages at the cost of the Indians. That is, just as if they were bishops, the bells are rung for them, and they are accompanied by vast crowds from village to village; and the people go to receive them, and go to expense and make feasts, which only cooperate toward their absolute domination over those natives.
Remedy for this evil
That the regulars be subjected, as is decreed, to visitation by the ordinaries. By so doing, the latter will make use of their right without there being any necessity for visits by the provincials; and when the provincials wish to visit them purely as religious, and not as parish priests, to prohibit the Indians from great public feasts and expenses, under penalty of expulsion, since there is no other remedy.