(JiiAP. Vlil. TRIBUTE AND MITA. 121 



iiistniments, drums, tnunpcts, clurioiis, and jmtutus, or sea 

 shells.* All these customs were left unchanged by Toledo, 

 and the system so far resembles that wliich now prevails in 

 the Dutch colony of Java.^ 



But, in addition to tlie tribute, the amount of which as 

 established by Toledo was not excessive, and which Avas 

 rendered still less objectionable to the Indians from being 

 collected by their native chiefs, there was the mita or forced 

 labour in mines, manufactories, and farms,^ which became 

 the instrument of fearful oppression and cruelty. Toledo 

 enacted that a seventh part of the adult male population of 

 every village should be subject to the mita, and ordered that 

 the Caciques should send these mitayos, as they were called, 

 to the public squares of the nearest Spanish towns, where 

 they might be hired by those who required their services ; 

 and laws were enacted to regulate the distance they might be 

 taken from their homes, and their payment.' It appears, 

 however, that this seventh part of the working men who were 

 told off for forced labour was exclusive of those employed in 

 the mines, so that, even in theory, the mita condemned a large 

 fraction of the population to slavery.® 



There was a class of Indians, numbering about 40,000 

 souls in the time of Toledo (1570), called Yanaconas, who 

 were scattered over Peru, and forced to w^ork on the lands of 



* See the sentence of death passed 

 on the Inca Tupac Amaru in 1782, by 

 the Visitador Areche, in wliieh the usu 

 of these dresses, and tlie celeliration of 

 festivals and plays, are prohibited for 

 the future. 



* See Money's Java, i. p. 215, where 

 there is an account of the position and 

 functions of the native " Regents." 



^ Tlie i)ay of an Indian was usually 

 1 rial (6d.) a week in the farms, and 

 20 rials (about 10s.) in the mines. But 

 the miners kept back a third of the 



7 The Man^uis of Muntes Claros de- 

 rives the word mita from tlie Quieluia 

 ■mitta, "time," and says that the mita 

 was established to prevent idleness, 

 and for the good of the Indians ! — 

 Memorias, i. p. 21. 



* Report of the Viceroy Prince of 

 Esquilache, 1020. This, however, is 

 not quite clear : it is more probable 

 that Indians were lawlessly torn from 

 their homes to work in tlie mines when 

 the mita of a seventh did not yield 

 a sufficient number of labourers. In 



Indian's wages, nominally to form a ; North IVni tlie proportion was a sixth, 

 fmid to pay fur his return (o his home antl in Quito a tilth. 

 at the end of his period of service. 



