426 THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



six fandgas of corn, at twelve reales the fan^ga, making nine 

 dollars ; so that, after having toiled three hundred days, and 

 cultivated his little garden, without receiving anything but a 

 coarse capisayo and six fanegas of corn, he was brought in 

 debt at the end of the year, one dollar and six reales, which 

 were carried forward in the account of the next. If an animal 

 died upon the estate, it was brought in, and distributed to the 

 Indians at a high price, though the meat was in such a condi- 

 tion that they were obliged to cast it to the dogs!* 



If his wife or a child died, the Indian's misery was at its 

 height. The mitayo was anxious to find means to pay the cu- 

 rate the rights of burial, and was forced to apply to his master, 

 for money to satisfy the demands of the church ! If the mitayo 

 were fortunate, and did not lose one of his family, then the cu- 

 rate obliged him to bear the expense of some ecclesiastic "func- 

 cion" or entertainment in honor of the Virgin, or some saint, 

 thus forcing him to contract another debt, and leaving him, at 

 the end of the year, owing more than the amount of his hire, 

 without his Ijaving even touched money, or received an equiva- 

 lent. In this manner the master acquired a right over his per- 

 son, and obliged him to continue in his service till the debt 

 should be paid, which being impossible, the Indian became a 

 slave for life, and, contrary to all equity, the children were 

 made to pay the inevitable debt of their father ! 



Another cruelty was practised. In years of common scarcity, 

 from failure of the crops, the price of corn, which was the 

 chief article of food used by the Indians, rose to three or four 

 dollars the fanega ; the masters would not give it to them, nor 

 increase their salaries, but sold it, and depriving them of nour- 

 ishment, left them to perish with hunger! This happened in 

 the province of Quito, in 1743 and 1744.t An immense mor- 

 tality was the consequence, and many towns and estates were 

 depopulated. 



The only opportunity the Indians had of tasting meat, was 

 when a carcass was snatched from the talons of condors and 



\ 



• Noticias Secretas. 

 t Ibid. 



