Hernán Pérez, 1545 
153 
land of their own, attachment would not be aroused so much; and, even 
aside from that, by this plan corregidores would be necessary, and it 
would be difficult to pay the corregidores and give contributions to the 
others besides. There are other drawbacks that I do not set down here. 
The third remedy is that your Majesty give in perpetuity to the con¬ 
querors, in vassalage, some towns of that land, without jurisdiction, 
civil or criminal, the capitals and large towns of the land, as well as many 
of the small ones, always remaining under the royal crown of your 
Majesty; in this way, by giving them in perpetuity they will be satisfied 
and will have reason to content themselves with much less, and there 
would be, in what one encomienda alone now has, a trade sufficient for 
two or three proprietors, and in some even more. I say that all should 
not be divided thus, but that there shall remain to your Majesty the 
principal towns and capitals, so that your Majesty may have something 
with which to make new grants, and even though you do not make them, 
that those who are there may not be distrustful that after they have served 
your Majesty well your Majesty may not have anything with which to 
reward them. 
And this is likewise important because, as the Indians thus yielding 
themselves to vassalage would have the right to change their residence 
from one town to another, in case they were ill-treated by their masters, 
they could go to the towns of your Majesty, which they would always 
find in the district, and this would give the masters a strong reason for 
good treatment. This third remedy would be more advantageous to the 
service of your Majesty, as well because there would result from it the 
improvement and conservation of the land with which your Majesty 
would be most served, as because by the other way it would be necessary 
to give contributions and pay corregidores besides. Likewise there is 
still less doubt that it would be more to the satisfaction and advantage of 
the Spaniards, for it is well known that they ask for it. What appears 
to throw doubt upon it is the question whether it is to the advantage of 
the Indians; and certainly if the encomenderos are to be of the same sort 
as they have been up to now I sincerely believe that it would not be advan¬ 
tageous for the Indians. But if they [the encomenderos ] should be what 
is right and the conditions under which your Majesty would make the 
grant should be kept, it is well known that it would be a good thing for 
them [the Indians] to have a defender and some one to instruct them in 
the holy Catholic faith. In short, if the master is what he owes to God 
and your Majesty, it seems that it would be advantageous to the Indians 
to have him, and for this it seems to me the principal care would be that 
he should be such, and that he should keep the conditions under which 
the grant would be made to him, and that any one who should not keep 
them should be deprived of the Indians and they should be added to the 
royal crown of your Majesty. For this it appears that it would be proper 
to do the following: 
First, to place a tax on the towns of which your Majesty would thus 
make the grant, at a very moderate rate. From time to time the Audiencia 
could make a revaluation, so that if the town should have diminished the 
