638 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



Majesty will lose a large sum due him ; it is a bitter fate for them 

 to lose their property and their lives and (God forbid!) their souls 

 in his service; and if there were no other consideration, other things 

 being equal, appearances alone and reasons of state would demand it. 

 Furthermore, Your Grace holds this town in particular affection ; 

 may this so righteous cause plead for itself ; I would venture to 

 assert that in this act Your Excellency will have rendered more 

 service to the Majesty of Heaven and earth than in all else you 

 have done. 



"In subsequent couriers (chasques) I shall continue informing 

 Your Grace of what comes to light in respect to damages. Your 

 Grace will pardon the brevity of these lines, which nothing but my 

 respect for you could induce me to pen. The statement accompanying 

 this (which is what I have set above) Your Grace will kindly show 

 to His Excellency, for it is accurate. God guard Your Grace. Potosi, 

 the 17th of March, 1626. Bartolome Astete de UUoa." 



Chapter XVI 



How Part of the Damage May Be Repaired, not only in the 

 Imperial Town of Potosi but in All the Monarchy. 



1675. The mine owners and directors labor under great expense 

 since the mines are so deep in the center of the earth and the ores 

 they extract and treat are so poor. Accordingly they are, in general 

 and in particular, involved, poverty-stricken, and burdened with debt ; 

 and with the bursting of the Caricari reservoir and the flood it occa- 

 sioned, they have been completely ruined and can no longer work 

 them and pay His Majesty and private persons what they owe them. 

 If they are as laboring men to uphold this structure and keep on 

 exploiting the mines under the heavy expenditure incurred in mining 

 and in refining the ore. His Majesty might easily and graciously aid 

 in enabling them to hold and carry the burden, etc., not only to the 

 benefit of them all but also to that of His Royal Patrimony, and 

 that of all his realms and vassals, by giving silver its real and deserved 

 value in the Indies at the moment and when it is assayed and His 

 Majesty is paid his royal 20 percent ; this would be in conformity 

 with what it costs to get out the ore and reduce it ; some reward 

 is due the miners in return for such excessive labor and to bestow 

 upon the world this precious metal which constitutes man's nobility 

 and wealth. This would revivify the Indies and Spain in new pros- 

 perity. One need only set the value of the silver mark (the 20 

 percent having been deducted) at "/y reals instead of 65, increasing 



