with the heart; and thus when occasion arises they leave it, although by the mercy of God, this is becoming somewhat remedied by the coming of the ministers of the gospel, with whose advent these grievances cease in some places. After Don Gerónimo[1] Ronquillo came to govern, [it was decreed] that from the Indians should be taken the [taels?][2] of gold which the Indians manufacture. Whether or not this has been done by order of your Majesty, I do not know; but I know that if your Majesty were in this country you would not order this law to be executed now; because most of them are still infidels, and I do not know what right there is to exact these taxes from the infidel, nor to what a people so [illegible in original MS.] might be driven by such rigor. From this result many injuries to the Indians. For, as is well known, they have wrought the gold which they received from their ancestors, and they regard it as lost.[3] All the Indians are compelled to declare all the gold that they possess, and the amounts are placed on a list, in order that if they should come into possession of more gold in the future, it may be taken from them—not as the royal
- ↑ A mistake for "Gonzalo;" Father Salazar commits the error again, as will be seen farther on.—Retana.
- ↑ The word "taels" is Retana's conjecture; but it is possible that the doubtful word was joyas ("ornaments"). From the context, it is more probably quintos ("fifths"), indicating that the royal officials attempted to exact from the Indians the "king's fifth" on all their possessions of gold, as well as on that newly dug from the ground.
- ↑ That is, as no longer in circulation (Span., por perdido). The reference is to the native custom mentioned by Sande in his report of 1577 (see vol. iv of this series, p. 99). Speaking of the best grade of gold used by the Moros, he says: "From this is made the jewelry which they inherit from their ancestors, with which they never part."
