WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES — VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 235 



671. This province of Verapaz contains 17 Indian villages, and has 

 the port of Golfo Dulce within its jurisdiction. His Majesty appoints 

 an Alcalde Mayor for it, in consultation with the Supreme Council 

 of the Indies. All this province is under the religious supervision 

 of the Dominicans. The chief village and the capital is Cohan, where 

 they have a convent. This is all hot country, with many groves and 

 forests. They raise two crops of corn a year but they cannot hold 

 much over because the country is so hot and damp. They raise much 

 cotton and make very fine annatto, the best in all that country ; they 

 get sarsaparilla, wax and honey from bee trees, other medicinal 

 extracts and roots, and many kinds of native fruits. 



672. Between this diocese and that of Yucatan lie the Provinces of 

 the Lacandones and those of Manche, which are still to be brought 

 into our Holy Faith, although Dr. Alonso Criado de Castilla, late 

 President of the Circuit Court of Guatemala, with his farsightedness 

 and useful energy, converted and baptized 1,400 Manche Indians 

 in the years 1600-1607 ; but then the President died, and after 1609 

 there was no Bishop in the Province of Verapaz, His Majesty having 

 commanded that the Diocese should lose its independence and be 

 annexed to the Diocese of Guatemala. With the departure of the 

 Bishop, conversion of the Indians ceased, and so they are still in 

 their heathendom. It is a shame that so many savage tribes are still 

 in their blind paganism, in the midst of so many provinces of 

 Christians ; they could easily be brought to the knowledge of our Holy 

 Faith and as a result they would be peaceful and well off in conse- 

 quence of trading with each other, particularly the Provinces of 

 Yucatan with those of Guatemala and its adjoining territory. In 

 these Provinces of Verapaz one finds the same birds and animals 

 as in Guatemala and Chiapas, so I omit reference to them ; in the 

 following chapter I shall treat of various plants and herbs to be 

 found in the district of Guatemala, and in particular of the jiquilite, 

 from which indigo is made, of cochineal, and of other plants. 



Chapter XVIII 



Of the Jiquilite from Which Indigo Is Made, and of Other Trees 

 and Plants. 



673. The jiquilite from which indigo dye is made, is a plant whose 

 leaves and general appearance are quite like clover, but it grows 

 taller. It is produced in all the hot, damp country of the Indies, but 

 where it grows in greatest abundance is the district of the Circuit 

 Court of Guatemala ; the main harvest is that made in the district 



