THE TREASURE REVEALED 219 



even this pitiful remainder had not long to survive. The Span- 

 iards^ with their religious orthodoxy, and their strong sense of 

 property and greed for wealth, looked on the natives as sub- 

 human, or at best as children needing strong parental control. 

 Even as educated and thoughtful a man as Peter Martyr 

 illustrates the impossibilit}^ of any understanding between the 

 races. He, who once chronicled the golden age, the living para- 

 dise of the islands, wrote the following: 'The Indians are 

 abandoned to drink and gluttony. They prefer to live in the 

 woods eating roots and spiders to living with the Spaniards. 

 They do not wish to be subject to anyone, but to be free 

 to enjoy themselves in idleness. They smoke tobacco. No one 

 would dig for gold without being driven to it. They have no 

 business sense. They love to go about naked and they hold 

 money and property of no value, excepting only food and 

 drink. They will not work for wages; they take no interest in 

 commerce, and have no conception of taxes or tithes. ... If 

 the Indians were set at liberty they would never become Chris- 

 tians; trade would cease because they would have nothing to 

 do with the Spaniards, and the royal rents would cease, as 

 the Spaniards would all leave the island.'' The other side was 

 put quite simply by an Indian chief when he refused to be 

 baptized before his execution. He said if he were baptized 

 he would go to heaven. Heaven he was told was full of Chris- 

 tians. No, thank you. 



So while professing — and no doubt sincerely — the saving 

 of souls, the Spaniards devised systems for breaking the 

 Indians to harness while the supply lasted. These two systems, 

 one growing out of the other, were called the encomienda 

 and the repartimiento. Both these terms, often but not accu- 

 rately used for the same thing, were a carry-over from the 

 Spanish feudal division of lands and responsibilities, but 

 under harsh colonial conditions they soon reverted to what 

 amounted to outright slavery. Columbus first instituted the 



