126 REBELLION AGAINST THE MITA. Chap. VIII. 



It may well be asked of what use were the humane and 

 beneficent laws enacted by the kings of Spain if this was the 

 way in which they were universally evaded by corregidors, 

 cm-as, and Spanish settlers of all ranks? The caciques 

 sorrowfully Avatched the gradual extinction of their people, 

 perhaps secretly hoped for an opportunity of revenge, but 

 were without power to prevent the cruel oppression which 

 they dej)lored, though they did not neglect, from time to 

 time, to protest against the lawless exactions and cruelties of 

 the Spaniards.^ 



But the Indians did not endure their fate without occa- 

 sional attempts at resistance. On one occasion the people on 

 the western shore of lake Titicaca rose against tlie mita of 

 Potosi, and retreated amongst the beds of rushes on the shores 

 of the lake, which, in some places, are nine leagues long and 

 one broad. In the midst of these rushes there was an island, 

 whence secret lanes were cut through the tangled mass 

 which the fugitives navigated in their balsas. Secure in their 

 retreat, they continued to make inroads on tlie Spanish 

 towns near the lake, until at last, in 1632, the viceroy Count 

 of Chinchon ordered his nephew, Don Rodrigo de Castro, to 

 chastise them. Five of their leaders were captured and hung 

 at Zepita, and their heads were stuck on the bridge over the 

 Desaguadero. This only exasperated the Indians, who 

 elected a brave and enterprising leader named Pedro Laime, 

 and, suddenly attacking the bridge over the Desaguadero, 

 they carried off the heads of their former chiefs. The 

 Spaniards marched along the shore and waded to some islets, 

 while the Indians hovered round them in their balsas, and 

 prevented them from advancing further. At length the 

 Spanish troops were embarked in twenty balsas, and came in 

 sight of the hostile squadron commanded by Laime. The 



' Funes, iii. p. 242-833. 



