WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 89 



as few as a dozen ; it would be very fitting to grant support to this 

 settlement, and that Captain Carrasco and his son Juan Garcia Carrasco 

 should be honored and rewarded for the great courage with which 

 they took over these regions and maintained a city there ; rewarding 

 such services would carry forward the conversion of souls and the 

 service of His Majesty. 



251. The city is built 4 leagues from the Rio de Unare, which is the 

 highway the Cumanagoto Indians must follow when they come to get 

 the guarema plant, with which they dye their yarn, hammocks, and 

 other things ; it is a fine dye, exactly walnut color. To get this plant 

 they go to the western district of the jurisdiction of Caracas, 45 leagues 

 from the city of the Lagoon ; and such is the valor of Captain Carrasco 

 and his men that he forces these Cumanagoto Indians, when they pass 

 his abode on their journey for the guarema plant, to surrender their 

 arms, to wit, their bows and arrows, in token of peace and submission, 

 and each of them oflfers him an ear of corn to be allowed to pass, thanks 

 to the valor of this Captain Carrasco, who has known how to make 

 himself honored and respected, though with so few companions, in the 

 midst of such large and savage tribes, keeping them all at bay and 

 obedient to him. 



252. One should likewise consider how important it is that the 

 Cumanagoto Indians should be subdued and converted as they easily 

 can be, to the knowledge of our Holy Faith and to the service of His 

 Majesty ; there are more than 30,000 Indians among them, without 

 counting women and children ; but we have not been able to accomplish 

 this, thanks to the opposition of the Devil, who tries to keep his prey 

 from being torn from him ; in fact, when his Militia Captain Magal- 

 lanes was commissioned to carry out this conquest in 1621, the Gov- 

 ernors of Cumana and Caracas hindered instead of helping him, for 

 their own private ends, sending news to him which alarmed him, so 

 that he was unsuccessful and the campaign was abandoned as a result 

 of their intrigues. 



253. His Majesty and the Royal Council of the Indies can remedy 

 this state of affairs by entrusting the pacification of the Cumanagotos 

 and Palenques to some important person whom the Governors will not 

 oppose but will aid with suppHes and services, and for this purpose he 

 should not be subordinate to them or dependent on them; for then 

 they will be subdued easily and all that country will be pacified and 

 those poor heathen rescued from the bhndness in which the Devil is 

 keeping them, and they will come to the knowledge of our Holy Faith. 

 In this district grows what is called the palo de Uchire, a tree of high 



