INTRODUCTION XI 



other tribes, especially under the heading "Indian," will greatly enlarge 

 our knowledge; see particularly "Indian languages." 



I am not sure however but that Vazquez' greatest contribution lies 

 neither in geography, botany, nor anthropology, but in the field of 

 Spanish colonial and ecclesiastical administration. Here his picture is 

 so complete that the book will be required reading for any investigator 

 into Spanish American history. Nor does he confine himself to the 

 mechanical framework. The honest and earnest old Carmelite is a 

 fearless critic and does not hesitate to condemn weakness and corrup- 

 tion ; our index headings "Treatment of the Indians" and "Depopula- 

 tion" furnish an indictment perhaps more telling than Las Casas' 

 because so obviously without exaggeration ; it ranges from the sly 

 hint in 84 that the Nutabe Indians use the same word for Spaniard 

 and Devil, to the eloquent attack on the Indian Administrators and 

 Protectors in 1 941 -1942. No more concise statement of the weakness 

 of Spanish colonization has ever been made than his comment on the 

 failure to maintain the magnificent Inca highways : "no one looks 

 beyond his personal advantage to the common benefit" (1578). The 

 Council of the Indies has tried to remedy the abuses, but they still 

 exist (51). Maladministration meets with frequent reprobation, as 

 in 931 and 11 12; and low business morals are criticized in connection 

 with the pitch traffic (722), cheating on gold dust (1133), and the 

 stealing of ore ( 1471 ) ; and he remarks on the ease with which govern- 

 ing officials enrich themselves (747, 1392). Indeed, he attributes in 

 690 much of the Indians' low estate to the bad example set them by 

 the Spaniards. Nor does he confine his disapproval to administrative 

 and business circles. One cannot help feeling that he presents Lope 

 de Aguirre's strictures on the quality of the judges sent out from 

 Spain, with a certain relish (1215) ; and his praise of the Franciscans' 

 high ideals (615) inevitably reflects upon worldliness in other orders. 

 He is severe in dealing with the indifference of the priests about 

 Arica (1416), and has no patience with curates drawing salaries of 

 $4,000 who do not even bother to put doors on their churches ( 1413) I 

 in passing, I would draw attention to the index references to ecclesi- 

 astical and other salaries, particularly in connection with the prices 

 of labor and staples (see "Prices"). Yet from his remarks in 1339 

 about the use of coca and tobacco, it is clear that he is no bigoted 

 Puritan but an experienced executive and sympathetic observer. 



And this wide experience and generous sympathy give his narrative 

 a peculiar charm, especially as he is a born story teller and rises at 

 times to sustained eloquence, as in his magnificent passage about the 

 Maya ruins at Coban (697) and his reflections on the past greatness 



