NOTICES OF PERU. 



421 



ing avarice of the corregidores, who were poor men that came 

 to India to make their fortunes, coute qui coule; they general- 

 ly retired at the end of five years, the term for which they 

 were appointed, with fortunes of from one hundred thousand 

 to a half a million of dollars, according to the district allotted 

 to them. 



Compassion prompted brothers, wives, and children, to task 

 themselves doubly, to assist those in paying the tribute who 

 were exempt by law, that they might not see their near re- 

 latives cruelly scourged for its default, by the fiendish col- 

 lectors appointed by the corregidor ! Thus were they dou- 

 bly oppressed. It often happened, too, that the tribute was 

 twice exacted. When paid, the collector gave the Indian a re- 

 ceipt, w^hich, from ignorance and want of a place of safety for 

 keeping, was soon lost, and when called on by another collec- 

 tor, he was again forced to pay, in spite of every protestation. 

 The Indians, when absent, were forced to pay the tribute in 

 the district In which they happened to be at the time of collec- 

 tion, and If they did not show receipts on their return, they 

 were forced to pay a second time. If destitute of means, the 

 collector seized any valuable he could lay hands upon in his 

 miserable hut, and if not enough to satisfy his demand, the In- 

 dian was set at some day labor, at low wages, until the debt 

 was discharged. Misery and oppression soon ended his unhap- 

 py days, if his wife and daughters were not able to free him 

 by their extra tasks ! 



The corregidores masked their cruel iniquity and oppression 

 under a pretended zeal for the service of the king and royal 

 treasury, in order to self-aggrandizement. 



In the province of Quito, besides the exaction of tribute, the 

 corregidores employed the Indians like slaves, at very low 

 wages, either in weaving cotton, or In the fields of their own 

 estates. The slightest pretext was sufficient to seize the mule 

 or cow of an Indian, as a fine for his ofience ; In fact, no means 

 of oppression were left unpractised. 



With a view of encouraging Industry amongst a people na- 

 turally idle, as is the case with all savage and semi-civilized 

 nations, all the corregidores south of Loxa, were directed to 



