O F SERPENTS. lor 



ther, and no lefs than 50000 feme years. The Priefls thought 

 it difhonourable to facriRce lefs than 40 or 50 Captives at a time 

 to one Idol. At a certain Feftival, they ript up the Breaft of a 

 manumitted Slave, pull'd out his Heart, which they offer'd to the 

 Sun, and then eat up his Body, 



Their Piiefts were bloody Men, a Brood of Vipers, and 

 had fuch an Afcendant over their Princes, that they made them, 

 believe their Gods were ajtgry^ and not to be appeafed without 

 4000 or 5000 Men to facrifice in a day ; fo that, right or wrong, 

 they muil make War on their Neighbours, to procure thofe 

 Vidims to keep their Priefts in Humour. 



Th E next, is an Inftance oi Spaniflo Cruelty, in this Country, 

 that could have no Original but Hell, the Seat of the old Serpent. 

 It runs thus, viz. Barthol. de las Cafas Bifliop of Chiapas in a 

 Letter to the Emperor Charles V. gives this account of the Bar- 

 barity of the Spaniards towards the poor Inhabitants, Natives of 

 the Land. 



.... "Their Kings and Princes, fays the Bidiop, the Spa- 

 " niards fcorch'd to death, or tore in pieces with Dogs : The 

 " poor People they burnt in their Houfes, and dafli'd out the 

 " Brains of their Children : Thofe that were fpared, they forced 

 " to carry greater Burdens than they were able to bear, by which 

 " thoufands of them were deftroy'd; Others who efcap'd, died of 

 " Famine in the Woods, after they had kill'd their own Wives 

 " and Children, and eat them for hunger. In this one Province 

 " they murder'd above two Millions of Men, not fparing thofe of 

 " Quality, who had civilly entertain'd them. They tortured the 

 " Natives with the moft hellifh Inventions, to make themdifcover 

 " their Gold. Diego de ValeJ'co, in particular, fpared none that 

 '• fell into his hands, fo that in a Month's time he murder'd ten, 

 " thoufand : He hang'd thirteen Noblemen^ 



*' Some they ftarved to death, by thrufting their Heads betwixt 

 " Pieces of cloven Timber : Others they buried alive, leaving 

 " their Heads above Ground, at which they bowFd with large 



" Iron-Bullets : They alfo forced them to eat one another. • ' 



Befides other hellifh Cruelties too dreadful to be related *. " 

 N. B. This Barth. de las Cafas had been a Friar ^ and afterwards 



made 



* ^co/la. Gage— The Civil and Moral Hiftory of the Spafiijh Wefi-Indies, in 



