144th. The part of clause 144 most important for observance was that beginning "the country being pacified" [illegible in original MS.]; it was, indeed, the most necessary for observance. But in order to relate the harm that follows from not observing it, there should be another man who knows better how to say it than I do. This law or clause contains two parts. In the first is stated the obligation of the governor in allotting the Indians; in the second, the obligations of the encomenderos toward their encomiendas. As for the first, it might (and not without reason) be disputed whether, for your Majesty's peace of conscience and for the welfare of these natives, it is fitting that these encomiendas be allotted. But since this subject requires more time and space than I now have to devote thereto, let it remain for another voyage, when, by the help of God, these and other doubts will be dissipated, for the service of God and your Majesty. I venture to say this because, although your Majesty has so near you so many and so excellent learned men in all subjects, yet, to determine many matters relative to the Yndias, it is doubtless necessary to have dwelt in them, and that for not a few years. For the present it is sufficient to say that if the governors (before allotting the Indians) and the encomenderos (after their allotment) would observe even what is demanded from them in this clause, they would relieve your Majesty from painful scruples, and us from doubt, and thus from a heavy burden of conscience; while to the Indians would be given an extraordinary benefit. But all is contrary to this, because neither do the governors, when allotting the Indians, take notice of what is here required from them—for they make the encomiendas
