Luís Sánchez, 1566 
159 
and deeds are so rare that I have not seen more than four of them in the 
eighteen years which I have spent in the Indies. All the others are pre¬ 
cisely the opposite; they desolate and destroy them. Thus it is that I am 
able to indicate lands in the Indies more than fifteen hundred leagues 
wide which have been desolated by the hands of the Spaniards, lands which 
were once full of Indians, but in which they have for the greater part 
left not a living creature, and in other parts so few people that they may be 
said to be depopulated. The reason for this evil is that all of us who come 
to the Indies come with the intention of returning to Spain very rich. 
This is impossible (since we take nothing from here, and over there we are 
idle) except at the cost of the blood and sweat of the Indians. Judging 
from the way in which so many lands have been depopulated (I do not 
speak of Mexico, for I understand that there has always been in Mexico 
a show of justice and favor toward the Indians), I think that there will 
be nothing left unless the situation is remedied. 
The worst feature has been the cruel and unjust wars which the Span¬ 
iards have waged and are waging against the Indians, killing, robbing, 
attacking them, and driving them from their lands, all contrary to the 
very Christian orders and instructions which they have received from 
our kings. In these wars and expeditions— jornadas, as they are called— 
I have seen within the government of Popayán 9 alone since I have been 
there eleven Spanish towns conquered and settled at intervals of twenty 
to thirty leagues. I have also been on five other expeditions, on which I 
have seen with my own eyes such unheard of cruelties that no Christian 
ear would endure to hear them, much less your lordship’s. What, indeed, 
then, must have occurred in other countless places concerning which I 
have heard from persons who were present themselves? 
The second thing which has destroyed the Indies was the making of 
slaves of the natives, which was done by dint of untrue reports and with¬ 
out understanding of the situation until his Majesty, becoming undeceived, 
set them free. These two things have indeed destroyed much, but the 
next cause has destroyed more; the first two are really now passed, but 
this last is like a cancer, more devastating now than ever without being 
perceived. I refer to the repartimiento of the Indians, under which sys¬ 
tem the Spaniards do not treat the Indians as vassals, but as slaves and 
enemies, in the mines, in carrying burdens, and in personal services. In 
most places they do not observe any rotation in selection of Indians, and 
they live as lawlessly as though they were not Christians at all, a situa¬ 
tion not to be understood well save through conversation concerning it. 
The destruction of such a great number of people has been greatly 
assisted by the fact that the Indians are by nature so weak and of such 
feeble constitution that they die quickly from the little labor and the mis¬ 
treatment which they receive, especially when they are taken from their 
lands and provinces as they have frequently been carried many leagues, 
few of them ever returning to their homes. Hence it is said that the 
Indian is like a fish which dies on being taken out of the water. 
All the injuries and robberies spoken of which have occurred in the 
Indies have been caused by the insatiable greed of the Spaniards, which 
has been increasing greatly because it has had no check from the magis- 
