Luís Sánchez, 1566 
161 
trates. From the same cause also have arisen the numerous civil wars 
which the Spaniards have waged against each other in Peru and other 
parts, a thousand against a thousand, five hundred against five hundred, 
or a hundred against a hundred, until they have exterminated each other. 
This has caused the greatest injury to the Indians, for it is always bad 
for a captive, such as is the Indian, for everyone to be free to do as he 
pleases against them during practically incessant wars; it often happens 
that the usurper carries off to his camp eight or ten thousand Indians as 
burden bearers, while the loyalists do the same. The result has been in¬ 
jurious to the body and political condition of the the Indian. 
As for his soul, it is safe to say that in all these devastated provinces, 
among the millions of people who have been killed by the covetousness 
of the Spaniards, not the hundredth part have been Christians; thus they 
have been cast into hell, killed as though they were brutes. Indeed, 
among those whom we have caught and who are baptized, I declare to your 
lordship there is not an ounce of faith that could be weighed (except 
among the Indians of Mexico who, I understand, have a little more) ; 
for the understanding of the Indian, in so far as his soul is concerned, 
does not rise two inches from the ground. They are very much like 
monkeys as to externals; they are very diligent, easy to discipline, willing 
to confess, they weep at confession, hear mass and sermons with apparent 
willingness in everything, but if they are left to themselves a matter of 
two hours, all is undone. This I assert in spite of what people may pub¬ 
lish over there, for I also have spent my time in this labor of preaching 
to and teaching Indians, and I believe that in it I have not harvested fruit 
to the value of a real. However, we may ascribe the half of the blame 
for this little faith and Christian spirit among the Indians to the fault of 
those base sinners and their bad example; for it is a shame to see how we 
tell them one thing and then do the opposite, and the poor ignorant Indian 
sees very well what I do and forgets what I say. If your lordship should 
ask me all the injuries and cruelties, etc., which have been perpetrated 
against the physical, spiritual, and political welfare of the Indians during 
the seventy-four years since the Indies were discovered, and are yet 
without remedy, I should say that the reason has never been understood 
nor do I believe that it ever will be, although the fact is patent and we 
see it with our own eyes. It may be a judgment of God that what we do 
not achieve is due to the desire of our Lord to punish these Indians for 
their enormous sins, and to prevent the Indies from being understood so 
that the remedy may be applied until it shall please him. This we shall 
have to leave to His divine pleasure. 
But humanly speaking, I find three causes why the Indies have not been 
understood. The first is that the lands of the Indies are so vast and so 
remote from Spain, with provinces so numerous and so different one 
from the other, being in no wise similar to those on this side, that each, 
one has need of its own particular laws, whereas it happens every day 
that the same law is given for them all. Thus that which benefits one 
injures another. Also, those who desire to govern them have not seen 
them, and are hence obliged to govern according to what others say or 
write. Also, as soon as a member of the Council begins to understand 
