YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

SECRET EXPEDITION

P E E U ,

OK, THE PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF THE SPANISH
COLONIAL SYSTEM UPON THE CHAEACTEK
AND HABITS OF THE COLONjl STS,

EXHIBITED I.N A PRIVATE REPOIVTOEEAD TO T]
SECRETARIES OF HIS M_HpTY
¦ FERDINAND VI. KING OF SPAIN,

GEORGE J. & ANTHONY ULLOA,
MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
r \cr^'JrA. Va.-wv\. ^ Oo-v*_W<'«-.|l*-o-- . A£ tXvCrWTrt^uo Ai_. \AJUur&,
FIRST PUBLISHED 15. SPANISH BY DAVID BAEBY,
AND TRANSLATED BY AN AMERICAN-
ABRIDGED.

BOSTON:'
CROCKER AND BREWSTER.
1851.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by
CROCKER & BREWSTER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
--.. Massachusetts.

PEEFACE

The discovery of America has been justly regarded as
the most important event in the history of the human
race. A continent more widely extended than all the
rest of the known world — nations of a peculiar charac
ter, and differing essentially in their constitution and
mode of life from the people who inhabited the eastern
hemisphere — mountains containing the precious metals
in inexhaustible plenty — rare and exquisite productions,
and of great utility for the comfort and luxury of man
— in short, a whole hemisphere opens itself at once to
the energetic European, presenting an immense field in
which to exercise his talents, his courage, activity, and
perseverance. But a short time elapses before the limits
of the seas and the extent of the coast are explored.
The vast ocean is but a lake to the mariner, and the four
quarters of the globe form a general market/ for mer
chants of every clime ; interest brings nations together,
and industry introduces an exchange of productions and
manufactures, and commerce transfers the superfluous
righes of one country to another, from east to west, and
from the habitable portion of one pole to that of the
other. The discovery of America fell to the lot of the Spanish
nation at the period of her greatest aggrandizement.
The Catholic kings — powerful, enterprising, and am-

IV PREFACE.
bitious — listened with favor to the representations of
the navigator Columbus, and furnished him the means
for that wonderful expedition. The Spaniards set sail
from Andalusia, and, proceeding from Europe west-
wardly, commenced the discovery of that unknown
world. The American continent, and particularly the
space between the tropics, came to be a field where its
conquerors exhibited deeds of astonishing heroism,
achievements truly grand, and _, firmness and fortitude
so extraordinary that they would have merited the ap
plause of posterity, had they not tarnished the lustre of
their arms by false religious zeal, by unnecessary cruelty,
and insatiable avarice. The vast empire of Mexico, the
widely-spread domain of the Incas, the warrior kings of
ancient Cundinamarca, and even the formidable Arauca-
nlans of Chili, submitted to the irresistible sway of
Cortes, Pizarro, Quesada, Mendoza, and Valdivia, these
generals forming one Spanish colony of the whole west
ern hemisphere of the globe.
The tract of country described in the present work is
the ancient " kingdom of Peru," or more properly the
Presidency of Quito, which extends from the River of
Guayaquil to Barbacoas, and thence eastwardly to the
head waters of the Amazon, comprising the republics of
Peru and Ecuador, and a portion of the empire of Brazil.
Most of our readers are acquainted with the celebrated
scientific expedition undertaken in the year 1735 by the
learned George and Anthony Ulloa, in company with the
French astronomers, Messrs. Godin, Bouger, and Conda-
mine, with a view to ascertain the precise length of a ter
restrial degree upon the equator, in order that, this being
compared with what a degree would be found to have
which was to be measured simultaneously by Mauper-
tuis, Clairaut, and other mathematicians, sent for this

PEEFACE.
purpose to the north of Europe, an inference might ber^S
drawn from both as to the figure of the earth, and as to '
the probable truth of the Copernican system — a ques
tion which had agitated the nations of Europe for more
than a century..
Having closed the scientific part of their investigation,
those celebrated Spaniards devoted themselves to a care
ful inquiry into the true political condition of those coun
tries, as it respected their naval and maritime force ; the
state of their fortresses and garrisons, their arsenals and
marine ; the character of their commanding ofiicers and
subalterns ; the administration of justice in the tribunals,
and the habits and manners of the people, in conformity
with instructions received from the Spanish government.
They travelled from town to town, investigating every
particular which might be conducive to their object,
making inquiries of the most disinterested, intelligent,
and upright persons, in regard to matters of which they
could have no personal knowledge, and using every
means to ascertain the truth, by a careful comparison of
facts which fell under their own observation with those
which they had learned only by report.
These distinguished travellers, in spite of all that had
come to their knowledge, while in Europe, of the deplor-
able condition of the civilized Indians, were amazed to\
witness the cruelties inflicted upon them by the corregi- i
dors, parish priests, and landholders, in every portion of j
the country, and in every department of industry. TheJ
origin of this fearful injustice was soon brought to light.
Countries far removed from the seat of government, — )
periods in which whole years elapsed without any offi
cial or ordinary communication with the mother country,
— a vast territory governed by men who sought their
own interest exclusively, without acknowledging either
n*

VI PREFACE.
magistrate or tribunal as authorized to restrain their ex
cesses, nor any force in public opinion to keep them in
cheek, — all these conspired to open the door to every
species of corruption and oppression. Contempt of law,
the rapacity of men in office, the avarice of miners, the
extortions of the parish priests, and the corruption pre
vailing among all classes, had vitiated the people to such
a degree that the government could not find means to
effect a reform, no one being able to make a true repre
sentation to government without becoming his own ac
cuser.
' At the same time, we cannot fail to observe that the
authors of this work, as well as all Spaniards in general,
pretend to apologize for their government, by maintaining
that the laws of the Indies are just and humane, and
that the cruelties inflicted upon the aborigines are to be
attributed to a failure on the part of the viceroys to have
them put in execution. But what avails it that the code
be just and humane, if the laws contained in it are
neither observed nor put in force ? The responsibility of
a sovereign or a congress is not limited to mere acts of
legislation : their most important duty consists in watch
ing over the tribunals, that their decisions may be made
in. accordance with the principles of justice. Neither
the distance of those countries, nor alleged ignorance on
the part of the ministers, can excuse the King of Spain,
when it is known that the royal and supreme council in
Madrid was composed, in great part, of magistrates who
had served in America, and who had witnessed, if they
had not themselves practised, all the acts of injustice
which are recorded in this work. Let the calendar of
Madrid be examineid, for any one jpf the^iars^past, and
it will be found that the majority of the ministers of that
council were formerly viceroys, presidents, or regents of

PREFACE. Vll <
the Audiences of Peru. Nevertheless, these same couri- 1
cillors enacted those humane laws, which they them-*
Selves knew would not be observed. ^
It appears as if the Kings of Spain and the Council of
the Indies promulgated equitable laws in favor of the
poor Indians for no other object than to have them ap- j
pear in the code, inasmuch as they gave private orders'-
to the viceroys to put measures in execution which are-
contrary to the spirit and letter of those very laws. Thel
meta, for example, that exterminating conscription of the
Indians, was in opposition to the spirit of the laws of the
Indies, and yet it was introduced almost from the comv
mencement of the conquest. The abuses growing out
of it reached such a degree of enormity, that some of the <
viceroys were obliged to abolish it. On a representation
from the miners, the government ordered it to be re
newed ; but several viceroys remonstrated against it, until
the Duke of Palata was appointed governor general,
when it was reestablished, as appears by an official docu
ment transmitted by this officer to his successor, the
Count of Monclova, in which he shows, "that the mi
ners, being no longer able to defray the expense of the
wages of hired Indians, began to feel the necessity of the
meta system, introduced by^Smor Erancisco Toledo) and
by repeated representations from that body, which were
becoming more urgent every day, orders have been given
to all the departments to apply the meta system in its
full force ; and when his majesty was pleased to nomi
nate me to this office,, he charged me, before I left
Madrid, to make this my first care, to give him an ac
count of having executed my orders in this respect, so
that I could not but enter upon the business with a de^
termination to prosecute it to the utmost, and to show
the erroneous view of my predecessors, who had abani-
doned the object, as being impracticable."

V1I1 PREFACE.
The grand difficulty which the viceroys had to contend
with in the revival of the meta was the injustice of
forcing thousands of Indians out of their villages, to en
slave them under the jurisdiction of the miners. In a
collection of papers relative to the "government of the
Indies, which is now in the hands of the editor, an enu
meration is made of the prerogatives conferred upon the
miners who practised the meta, by which it appears that
the privilege did not expire at the close of each year, as
was formerly the case, but that it was granted in perpe
tuity, and without any restriction. The miners, says the
manuscript, have power to transfer and leave the Indians
to -whomsoever they will ; and, when they have no chil
dren, they leave them to their wives, who, not being able
to keep them employed, hire them out ; and, under the
name of a grant or bounty, they sell them, and they
often fall into the hands of men who are unworthy of
holding a place in the mining corporations. We read in
another part : " An act of injustice that falls Jheavily
upon the head of the poorTndlansTias been introduced
and tolerated ; for, before granting them one whole day's
wages, the miners look at the quality of the metal, and
if it has not what is called the standard purity, they are
credited with only a half day's labor ; and it frequently
happens that they cannot complete their task in two days,
although they labor incessantly." Again : " When the
proprietor of the mines cannot continue his labors, he
distributes the Indians allotted to him to other proprie
tors, who pay their hire to the absent miner, at the rate
of fifty dollars a year for eachT TridTan ; and when the
original proprietor resumes the working of the mine, the
Indians assigned him are again restored to him."
Notwithstanding the difficulties alluded to above, the
Duke of Palata had express orders from the king to

PREFACE. IX
revive the system, and it appears as if he had no scruple
about the means to be used. He reestablished the
meta under the original grant, with only this amend
ment, that women should not be allowed to hire out or
sell the Indians, but those only who were authorized to
do so ; and that the Indians should receive full wages,
whatever might be the quality of the mineral extracted.
Thus did this viceroy perpetuatethe horrible tyranny of
the meta, from the year 1681 till the last revolution in
Peru. The humane laws of the Indies pronounce the
Indians to be free men : the government grants permis
sion to the viceroys to drag them to the mines, to labor
for the benefit of individualsx Those functionaries dare
not outrage human nature, and excuse themselves by
pleading the obstacles to be encountered, but the govern
ment sends a viceroy from Spain who has firmness
enough to renew the system, in spite of all obstacles.
It is difficult to see how the apologists of th3 Council
of the Indies, and of the Spanish government, will be
able to avoid this dilemma : either the meta was estab
lished by those laws, or the government establishes it
contrary to the spirit of the law. If it be the first, the
law is inhuman, and exceedingly unjust, since it deprives
the Indian of his freedom, and compels him to labor for
the benefit of the miners. If it be the last, the govern
ment not only knows the abuses committed, but gives
peremptory orders to the viceroys to renew and perpet
uate the greatest .of .all. cruelties inflicted upon the abo
rigines of Peru.
This very work itself furnishes another evidence that
the Spanish government never intended to put in force
the equitable laws of the code of the Indies ; for this re
port having been intended expressly for the information
of the king and his ministers, it has been suffered to lie

X PREFACE.
buried in oblivion during the last four reigns. The au
thors expose, without the least disguise, the fearful abuses
introduced into those governments, and the excessive
and general oppression of the wretched Indians, at the
same time suggesting such remedies as would tend to
check the former and relieve the latter, in order that the
ministry being fully enlightened as to the existence of
these evils, such measures might be adopted as prudence
would dictate, to effect a reform. But the Spanish gov
ernment, aware that these abuses were very aggravated,
and that to make them public would be injurious to the
state, and derogatory to the national character, deter
mined to have the report lodged in the archives, not
being willing, if they were able, to reform those disor
ders, or extirpate those vices which have produced the
revolution, and which threaten the almost total ruin of
Spain. The editor of this work, having passed several years
of his early life in the peninsula, and having afterwards
made a tour along the literal provinces of Caraccas,
from the Orinoco to Maracaibo, for the sole purpose of
becoming acquainted with those countries, was desirous of
visiting other portions of that vast continent, subsequent
to the revolution which gave birth to those new states.
In fact, during the years 1820, 1821, and 1822, he trav
elled through the provinces of Plata, Peru, and Chili, in
order to acquaint himself with the political condition of
those new republics, the climate of those latitudes, the
quality of the soil, and the advantages afforded for agri
cultural establishments. On his return to England, he
proceeded to Spain in 1823, and during his residence in
Madrid he learned the existence of the Secret Report pre
sented to the government by John and Anthony Ulloa ;
and having obtained the manuscript with no small

PREFACE. XI
difficulty, he found the prevailing abuses in that country
described with equal skill and fidelity. In order to sat
isfy himself of the truth of all that is recorded in this
report, he conversed with several distinguished Spaniards
who had long resided in South America, and who had
held the highest offices in the government, and they were
unanimous in the opinion that the disorders introduced
into those governments, the avarice of the public func
tionaries, the scandalous extortions, of. the parish priests,
the licentious lives of the clergy, the cruel oppression of
the Indians, and the general corruption of manners, have
existed unto the present day, precisely as they existed in
the time of those celebrated writers.
In view, then, of the .utility of this report, hitherto
secret, to those politicians who study the causes of the
general revolution of the Spanish colonies, and the diffi
culties which those new states have hitherto had to en
counter, in order to consolidate their governments, the
editor has determined to publish this manuscript without
the slightest alteration, and with the addition merely of
a few notes in regard to points which have been observed
by himself, either to confirm the truth of the statements,
or to illustrate some particulars for the benefit of those
who are not fully acquainted with the subject discussed
by the authors.
An accurate knowledge of the government of the
Spaniards in America for three centuries, the method of
executing the laws in those countries, and an impartial
examination of the character of the inhabitants, whether
Spaniards, Creoles, mestizoes, or Indians, by bringing to
light the causes of the revolution, will discover the state
of apathy which has delayed it so long, and, while it jus
tifies the absolute independence of those countries of
the Spanish sceptre, will suggest to those new states the

XU PREFACE.
necessity as well as the means of correcting the abuses
of former legislation.
The desire that these objects should be secured for the
benefit of those countries, which have been hitherto al
most unknown, but which are now elevated to the rank
of free and independent nations, has been the only mo
tive which has induced the editor to lay this report before
the public.
It should be remembered that the Peruvian Indians had
made some progress in civilization before the arrival of the
Spaniards in their country. They are a mild and docile
race, and hence they submitted with little resistance to
the yoke of their new masters, having become already
trained to habits of industry under the beneficent sway
of the Incas. Notwithstanding the appellation by which
they are still known to us, and with which we associate
the indolence of a wandering life, they are the only labor
ing class to be found in Upper Peru, being devoted ex
clusively to the three great departments of industry —
agriculture, mining, and manufactures. Their condition
at present, however, is no less degraded than it was at
the time the following report was written. Travellers in
that country cannot fail to recognize the truth of this
assertion, as they advance in their progress towards the
mountainous districts. It exhibits itself in the language
addressed to these people, in the service which they have
to perform, and in the homage they render to their mas
ters. On my arrival at Riobamba, in 1835, I heard
the Indians designated by the phrase "smaller beasts
of burden," in order to distinguish them from mules
and pack horses, which are used for the transportation of
heavy articles. We had scarcely reached the plain and
valley of Quito, after having crossed the pass of Chimbo^

PREFACE. XU1
razo, when we met a number of them returning from
lliobamba, laden with goods received in exchange for the
produce of the farms. Among the rest, I observed an
Indian woman, entirely blind, with her hand placed on
the shoulder of another woman who was travelling by
her side, each carrying a weight of more than a hundred
pounds. The Indian men no sooner descried us than
they uncovered their heads, and, as they approached, sa
luted us in the following words : " Praise the holy sacra
ment of the altar ; " to which the master, according to
usage, replied, " Praise it evermore." * They did not
venture to cover their heads again until they had nearly
lost sight of us.
It is frequently remarked that slavery is unknown in
South America, but there are various ways in which an
Indian is virtually deprived of his freedom. In ease he
should be unable to pay the tribute money, (which is
exacted under a republican, just as it was under a mo
narchical form of government,) he is obliged to sell his
personal service to a landholder, who discharges his debt,
but who furnishes him clothing or other articles at an
exorbitant price, so that the Indian is naturally insol
vent, and becomes a slave for life; his yearly wages
amounting to only eighteen dollars, or to the sum of five
cents a day. I have seen several Indians taken to prison
for the non-payment of the tribute money, who are left
there to famish upon a scanty allowance of parched corn,
unless a wife or daughter can buy or beg the money re
quired fpr his ransom.
It also frequently happens that a parish priest enslaves
one of the sons of an Indian, in payment of the burial
fees of another. That such fees must be paid irremis-
* Or, " Alabado sea el santo sacramento del altar." " Siempre
alabado."

XIV PREFACE.
sibly will appear from the following occurrence : While
I was in the valley of Chillo, in 1836, a violent alterca
tion took place between two parish priests, respecting the
bodies of four Indians who had been drowned in attempt
ing to cross a rapid river, which formed the boundary
between the two parishes. In consequence of the diffi
culty of settling the dispute amicably, it was found
necessary to have the bodies interred by order of the civil
magistrate. The report which follows describes the Indian as a de
fenceless being, who, while he toils for others, claims
nothing as his own : the truth of this might be inferred
from the following occurrence : During one of those fear
ful storms of hail, thunder, and lightning which are so fre
quent in Quito, I lent to an Indian, who was just returning
to the farm-house where I had first known him, a cover
ing of India rubber, called a poncho, to protect him from
the hail. On my return to the valley, the following day,
he told me with grief that the "poncho" was missing; and
after searching for it in vain, the overseer of the estate
informed me that the tithe-gatherer had passed that way
the day previous, and, as it was his custom to lay hold
of any thing valuable that an Indian possessed, he had
probably appropriated it to himself.
In regard to the practice of giving the Indian no other
meat but that of animals that die in the field, most of
which they throw to the dogs, I have no other evidence
than the testimony of overseers, who have assured me
that it is the universal practice throughout the Province
of Quito, and as far south as the Province of Coquimbo,
in Chili.
That the clergy have not reformed their lives is evident
from the fact that they are almost supplanted by the Jes
uits. Nor has their mode of worship any tendency to pro-

PREFACE. XV
duce a reform. Processions are celebrated with great pomp.
The bishop walks to the cathedral on festival days, ac
companied by a train of attendants, while the people fall
on their knees to receive his blessing. At ten in the
morning the host is raised for adoration in the churcl.es,
and at six in >the evening a heavy bell is struck, when
the din of business is hushed, and the whole population
unite in a solemn act of idolatrous homage to the Virgin
Mary. Under such auspices, who would attempt to re
form the state of morals ?
A partial external reform is visible in the convents ; but,
of their general character, I have only to repeat what was
said to me by a monk, who appeared more rational than
his associates, which was, that if one desired and sought
the salvation of his soul, he would never become the in
mate of a monastery. The aristocracy of the Fraternities
will appear from the following circumstance : While I
was conversing one morning with the provincial of a mon
astery, in his own apartment, a monk came in to ask leave
of absence from the convent for a few days. His request
having been granted, he thanked the holy father with
great reverence, and, prostrating himself upon the floor,
kissed the fringe of his robe, in token of respect and
gratitude. It is needless to adduce further examples in
answer to the objection that the scandals brought to view
in this report belong to a less enlightened age ; but it
may, however, be objected, that to hold up such a pic
ture of human weakness only allures to the practice of
vice. On the contrary, it may serve for instruction and
warning to a reflecting mind. It is when fortune smiles,
and new temptations assail us, that error creeps in by
stealth ; and, indeed, the mystery of iniquity doth already
work ; the simplicity of primitive worship is disappear
ing, and the spirit of Popery and paganism exhibits itself

XVI PREFACE.
in our land in the use of unmeaning types and emblems,
in the practice of consecrating cemeteries for the repose of
the dead, and in costly church edifices, erected ostensibly
to honor the great Jehovah, who has heaven for his
throne, and earth for his footstool.
The translation is intended to exhibit the fruits of ava
rice, and it is commended to the reading of those who
have gone to enter upon new paths to wealth and dis
tinction. In view of the woes inflicted by man upon his
fellow-man, we are bound, by every motive of duty and
gratitude, to carry with us, wherever we go, the benign
influence of that gospel which is destined to make of all
nations one great family, all whose members will delight
to contribute to each other's happiness and prosperity.
Should the work meet the eye of any among us who
murmur, like the Israelites of old, and who cast re
proach upon the worthy name of our Puritan fathers,
they will learn, perhaps, neither to despise their " goodly
heritage," nor envy the lot of their brethren on the south
ern continent, who, although they are rich in untold
treasures of gold and silver, have never known the value
of that inestimable treasure which has been transmitted
to us — the Holy Bible.

The following explanation^ may be found useful : —
The Spanish ¦ word curd, translated curate, properly
signifies rector, or one who is subject only to the bishop
of his diocese, or to the provincial' of his Order. The
curates or rectors receive no fixed salary, but only a con
tingent revenue, estimated by the number of masses,
responses, and fees for baptisms, marriages, and inter
ments.

PREFACE. XVH
Meta, or Mita, signifies an annual conscription of In
dians, who are drawn by lot, to be placed under the
absolute control of the proprietor of a mine.
Metayo is the Indian who performs the meta service.
Alcabala is an excise duty on goods despatched into the
interior provinces.
The courts, or the tribunals of justice, in Peru, are
called "Audiences," and the members of them, or the
judges, are called oydors.
The term Provincial is applied to the superior of a
metropohtan convent, who has under his jurisdiction all
the minor convents of his order, comprehended within
the limits of a particular state or province.

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.

Cruelty of the Magistrates and Clergy to the Indians.
-r Miserable Condition to which the latter are re
duced. — Method used in auditing the Accounts of
the Governors and Corregidors, .... 9
CHAPTER II.
The same Subject continued,  49

i CHAPTER III.
The same Subject continued. — Sequestration of Lands
belonging to the Indians,  84
CHAPTER IV.
Extortions which the Indians suffer from the Parish
Priests. — Corrupt Morals and scandalous Life of the
Clergy, both secular and regular, , . . .106

XX CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Showing that the Unwillingness of the Gentile Indians
to receive the Gospel and to submit to the Authority
of the Kings of Spain is to be attributed to the ex
treme Sufferings of the civilized Indians, as will ap
pear from the limited Influence and partial Success
of the Catholic Missions,  136
CHAPTER VI.
Prevalence of Party Spirit between Europeans and
Creoles. — Its chief Source, and the Evils resulting
from it in the Cities and large Towns, . . .170
CHAPTER VII.
Gross Licentiousness of the Clergy in general, and par
ticularly of the Monks. — Tumults attending the
capitulary Elections. — Their principal Cause. . 193
NOTES  221

SECRET EXPEDITION

CHAPTER I.

Cruelty of the Magistrates and Clergy to the Indians. —
Miserable Condition to which the latter are reduced. —
Method used in auditing the Accounts of the Governors
and Corregidors.
Subjects of speculation become interesting to
the mind in proportion as it contemplates them,
especially when genius and industry lend their aid
to render them more luminous and fascinating ;
but they appear, and not without reason, to pos
sess peculiar attractions for those who devote
themselves to the pursuit of knowledge as a means
of rational entertainment. Of the truth of this we
can furnish the best evidence, inasmuch as it has
been the result of our own experience. After we
had collected in one volume the astronomical and
physical observations made in the kingdom of
Peru, illustrating the figure and magnitude of the
earth, and had published in two others historical

JO SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
notices of those countries, it seemed as if all the
satisfaction we had experienced in writing those
works was exceedingly augmented when we came
to draw up this report, and the mind, absorbed in
its speculations, now enters upon the subject, not
with fatigue, but rather alacrity, as it reaches this
point of its inquiries, enabling us to present a more
animated picture of what has been already brought
to view in those works ; and if our readers have
been inclined to attribute any thing to neglect or
omission, it should be regarded as the dictate of
prudence on our part, that we may now have an
opportunity to speak with more freedom, reserving
for this place what it would have been inexpedient
to introduce in the history of our travels.
Having concluded our remarks relative to the
marine, the fortifications, and the commerce of
Peru, we shall now proceed to discuss a subject of
a more delicate nature, and which relates almost
exclusively to the moral and religious condition of
the civilized Indians of Peru, and the character
and conduct of their rulers, both civil and ecclesi
astical. Unbiased by prejudice or by any per
sonal consideration whatever, we have made the
most diligent inquiry in respect to every thing
suggested in the instructions of his majesty's sec
retaries, and we now lay before them the result
of our observations ; and as the details embodied
in this part of our report are communicated for the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 11
information of those whose duty it is to know
them, and not as pastime for the idle, nor to afford
matter of scandal to the mischievous, they are
brought to light with entire frankness, in order that
they may be duly considered, and the best means
of reform devised.
The subject to be discussed in this chapter is
of such a nature that we cannot enter upon it
without emotions of sorrow ; much less can we
pause to reflect upon the circumstances of its de
tails, without heartfelt pity for the miseries of a
race of men who, for no other crime than their
simplicity, and for no other pretext than their nat
ural ignorance, have become the victims of a kind
of bondage so oppressive that, in view of the suf
ferings inflicted upon them, the colonial negro
slaves may be regarded as comparatively happy
— the state of servitude to which the latter are
brought being justly envied by those who are nom
inally free, and whom our sovereigns have taught
us to regard as such ; for the condition of the
Indian is far more degraded and miserable than
that of the African slave.
Our first object will be to describe the kind of
tyranny exercised by the corregidors over the In
dians ; and, although it is difficult to find a begin
ning, we shall avail ourselves of a division in the'
Departments of Peru which has existed from- the
time of the conquest. These Departments are of

12 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
two kinds : the first are those in which the distri-
bution system is not established ; and the second,
those in which it may lawfully be practised.
The oppression which the Indians suffer arises
from the insatiable thirst for wealth, which is char
acteristic of those who go over to govern them ;
and as they have no means of effecting their ob
ject except by a system of tyranny, they never,
fail to practise it in every shape ; and, by goading
the Indians on every side with the utmost cruelty,
they exact more service from them than they
would be able to do from the meanest slave. It is
true that the distribution system is unknown in
Quito ; but although it is the good fortune of the
Indians of that province to be exempted from that
species of oppression, they are not the less subject
to burdens so intolerable as to reduce them to
the lowest degree of wretchedness that can be
imagined. A great variety of expedients are adopted by
the corregidors to enrich themselves at the expense
of the Indians. The first to be mentioned is the
mode of collecting the tribute money, an iniquitous
system carried on in contempt of the principles of
justice and the dictates of humanity. The fees
for collection are enumerated by the corregidors
among the perquisites of their office ; and if they
were actuated by a sense of justice in the dis
charge of their duty, they would neither aggrandize

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. ' 13
themselves, nor wrong the Indian, nor defraud the
treasury; but their unprincipled conduct beget-
all these evils ; for they have such an inordinate
love of wealth that they spare no pains to accu
mulate it, and have recourse to the most oppressive
measures, in entire confidence that, when their
term of office expires, they shall be absolved from
every charge by holding out the offer of a bribe
to the judge on whom it devolves to audit their
accounts. With a view to collect this tax, the corregidor
makes two annual visits to all the villages and es
tates comprised within his jurisdiction. St. John's
day and Christmas day are appropriated to this
object — a judicious measure, if, in carrying it into
effect, the avarice of the collector did not over
step all bounds in oppressing that unfortunate race,
whom our sovereign regards with so much pity
that he has issued a decree in order to lighten
their burdens as much as possible, enjoining the
magistrates not to collect tribute from them until
they have completed their eighteenth year, and to
exempt them from payment after the age of fifty-
five, on the ground that, as their strength fails, they
are incapable of sustaining any other exertion than
that which is necessary for their own maintenance.
The greater part of the tribute money was de
signed to be expended for their own benefit ; out
of it they are required to pay not only the curate's
2

14 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PE.RU.
fees, but the charges of the fiscal protector who
defends their suits. The chief, by right of the
chiefship, as well as the Indian governors, are ex
empt from every kind of impost ; so also are the
crippled, the blind, the demented, and the de
formed, of which last two there are great numbers
among the Indians ; neither is the obligation to pay
tribute binding upon the eldest sons of the chiefs,
nor upon those who hold the office of sextons in
the churches, or who belong to the choir of music,
nor upon any Indian magistrate who holds an office
in the Indian towns and villages. Under such a
system, it appears as if the tribute of the Indians
cannot be more moderate, unless we exempt them
from contributions of every kind. But what mat
ters it that it should appear so, when viewed from
a distance, if the best laws are trampled upon in
practice, and rendered inoperative by a system of
cruelty and injustice ? The corregidors not only
oblige the young to pay tribute before the time
specified, but exact it of those who are exempt by
law, having attained the age of fifty-five ; and,
although they are so advanced in years as to beg,
for want of strength to labor, their names are not
erased from the list of the collector ; and as the
Indians are remarkable for longevity, they fre
quently pay tribute till they have passed the age
of seventy. The same practice obtains in respect
to all, when they are not wholly disabled from

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 15
work by infirmity ; so that none are exempt ex
cept such as are incapable of earning a livelihood.
If the chiefs, the governors, and sextons escape
the contagion of misery, it is because they are be
yond the reach of the arbitrary power of the cor
regidors ; for in case they were as defenceless as
the rest, the same thing would happen to them.
It might appear that the injustice done the In
dians by the corregidors, in obliging them to pay
when they are exempted by royal favor, is not so
great as our last remark would imply, because it
falls exclusively on those who are nominally a
privileged class, and not upon the whole commu
nity of Indians. This conclusion, however, is in
correct, for the injury is felt by all ; by some, in
being compelled to pay tribute, by the mere caprice
of the corregidor, prior to the competent age, as
is the case with the greater part of them, who con
tribute two or three years before they are bound
to ; and by others, in continuing to pay after hav
ing passed the age prescribed by law. It also hap-.
pens that, the young not having enjoyed a season
of repose sufficient to enable them to labor with
the requisite assiduity, being made subject to trib
ute illegally, fathers and elder brothers are bound,
if they would not see a son or brother punished
with the whip, to unite their efforts to help him
earn the tribute money ; and if they fail to do so,
daughters and wives must put their hands to the

16 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
work, in order to make up the deficiency in the
amount due: hence it is that the age in which
they have a right to enjoy some repose is that in
which their burdens are heaviest. The same takes
place in respect to idiots, deformed persons, and
other unfortunate creatures, who ought to be of
the privileged class ; but so far from it, the burden
is made to fall upon the rest, who, in addition to
the labor necessary to pay their own contribution,
have to perform a twofold task to pay the tribute
of those who are unable to work. The Indian
women, especially, are obliged to task themselves
the whole year round, in order to meet, by unre
mitting toil, the unjust demands of the corregidor.
Nor is the rapacity of the corregidor content
with obliging those to pay tribute who are ex
empted by law ; but it is often carried to such an
extreme as to enforce the payment of a twofold
contribution. This is practised towards the field
Indians, which are those who neither perform the
meta service nor live in the Indian villages ; these
poor laborers pay the tribute to the corregidor or
his subalterns, who are numerous, and who give
them a receipt for the money ; but, as the Indians
are an untaught race, and have not sagacity to
foresee the consequences of neglect, besides not
having in their huts either box or shelf where to
place any thing for security, it sometimes happens
that the receipt is lost, and payment is demanded

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 17
a second time ; and when another collector, or
perhaps the same, comes to enforce the demand,
the Indian goes to look for the receipt, and, as he
is unable to read, he brings the first paper that
comes to hand, or perhaps an old receipt, and pre
sents it without fear of being suspected. The
collector is not satisfied with it, and, although the
Indian weary himself in convincing him that he
has paid his portion of the tribute, he charges him
with fraudulent designs, and, after abusing him,
carries off whatever he can find in his hut, and if
there is nothing there of any value, he puts him
into a factory, (which is the usual method,) where
he is kept at work until the debt is paid. The
wretched Indian, finding himself grievously op
pressed, and sinking under the weight of want and
of a sense of injustice, dies in a shout time, unless
his wife or daughters have been able to raise the
amount required, or unless some individual, more
compassionate than the rest, comes forward to ad
vance the money, on condition of recovering it by
hiring the Indian out to service. The meta In
dians do not pay tribute personally, but the masters
whom they serve pay for them, and collect and
preserve receipts for all those who are under their
charge, and by this means they are shielded from
injustice. Those who live in small villages pay
the cacique, who delivers the whole amount, when
collected, to the corregidor,
2*

18 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
Besides the privilege granted to those who are
exempted from tribute, another not less reasonable
has been conceded in favor of those Indians who
have been absent for a certain term, perhaps for
one or two years, without having paid tribute in
the Department to which they belong, which is,
that, on their return, they are liable for only one
third of the contribution — a very merciful provi
sion in behalf of that race, and which has in its sup
port two important arguments — one that, as all
the corregidors collect tribute of transient Indians
in the same way as they do of those who reside
in the villages, it is to be supposed that, although
the Indian may not have paid the corregidor of his
district, he has paid some other ; the second rea
son is, that, although the Indian should have paid
no corregidor in two or three years, and although
jn the lapse of this period he may have earned a
great deal, at the close of it he has no more stock
or estate than that which was left him after having
made his last payment ; so that, being insolvent,
he is naturally discharged from the debt. But this
is not the case in practice ; for, as soon as the In
dian appears, he is made debtor for all the time
that has elapsed since the corregidor came into
office for which he cannot show receipts ; hence
he is treated in the manner above mentioned ; if
he possess any thing of value, it is deducted on
account of the debt, but he is not discharged

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 19
from the factory until the whole amount has
been paid.
All these acts of extortion, which are committed
under a false pretence of zeal in the service of the
king and of the royal exchequer, are in reality
nothing but artifices used to augment the revenue
of the corregidors themselves, who basely assume
this mask to justify their iniquity, which, however
it may be disguised under one form of oppression,
never fails to come to light by means of another.
The Indians of those countries are in reality
slaves, and happy would it be for them had they
only one master to whom to contribute the avails
of their hard earnings ; but these are so numerous,
that, in view of the obligations they are under to
all of them, they cannot claim as their own the
smallest portion of all they have acquired with so
much care and industry. But this chapter having
for its subject the extortions of the corregidors, we
shall afterwards treat of those which are practised
upon them by other classes of magistrates, both
civil and ecclesiastical.
The Departments of the Province of Quito are
of various kinds — some of trade, others of hus
bandry, and others of manufactures. In them all
a large portion of the revenue reverts to the cor
regidors. In the trading districts they absorb the
greater part, for they take into their own service
the very Indians whom they deprive of the benefit

20 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
of trade, and by giving them what is barely neces
sary for their support, they secure to themselves
the profits which they have usurped from them,
and by requiring them to labor on alternate days,
they keep them always employed in their service.
In these districts, where all the Indians included
in their precincts are weavers, they compel them
to manufacture different articles, and, by giving
them the materials only, and very reduced wages,
they keep them constantly employed for their ben
efit, as they would do if they were slaves. Should
they, in return for so hard labor, remit to them
their tribute money, the burden might be made
tolerable ; but far from doing them this kindness,
(and it would be only an act of justice,) they ex
act it with as much severity as if they had ren
dered' them no service during the whole year.
The only individuals excepted from this service
are those who live in districts where there are es
tates for agriculture or grazing ; and if, to their sor
row, the case should occur that the corregidor has
an estate of his own, or a hired one, it comes to
be the rendezvous of all the Indians who have not
paid their tribute promptly, and thus, on every
hand, that people have no more freedom than the
corregidor pleases to grant them, nor any more
fruit of their labor than what is conceded to them
as a mere gratuity.
Still greater iniquity is practised in suits at law,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 21
for their judges desire nothing so much as some
occasion of dispute or difference to complete their
ruin ; so that, be the motive what it will, it is
always sufficient to secure their object ; for, what
with fines, and what with costs of suit, they lay
hold of a mule, cow, or any animal the Indian
may possess, and which constitutes the whole es
tate of the richest among them. These acts of
extortion, which have no limit, have reduced them
to a condition so deplorable that the state of the
most miserable beings that can be conceived is not
to be compared with that of these Indians. Let
us now take a view of what obtains in the districts
in which the distributions are made, and we shall
witness greater enormities, although of a different
nature. It is from the department of Loja that the dis
tribution system (repartimientos) commences — a
system so iniquitous that it appears to have been
imposed upon that race by way of punishment, for
nothing more oppressive can be imagined. I.
must be admitted that, if it were properly man
aged, as it appears to have been intended in its
origin, no evil would result ; for with a view to
the greater convenience of the Indians, and that
they might not be destitute of the means of cloth
ing themselves and of carrying on their husbandry
or trade, corregidors were allowed to purchase a
quantity of such articles as were suited to each

22 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
department, and to distribute them among the In
dians at moderate prices, in order that, having
implements for labor, they might shake off- the
apathy which is innate in their constitution, and
use the exertion requisite for paying their tribute
and earning a livelihood. Were it continued on
this principle, and were the corregidor content with
moderate profits, it would be a judicious system;
but as it is now practised, it deserves no other ep
ithet but that of the most dreadful tyranny that
could be invented.
The articles of distribution are chiefly mules,
foreign and domestic goods, and produce ; and as
this system was commenced at an early period, it
is already understood what articles are suited to
each Department. The corregidors who are at
tached to the viceroyalty of Lima must necessa
rily go to that city to take out a license, and to
receive their despatch from the viceroy, in order
to be inducted into office ; and as Lima is the
grand depot of the trade of Peru, it is in that city
that an assortment of articles for distribution is to
be made, and for this purpose they take the goods
required from the shop of some merchant or trader
on credit, at an exorbitant price ; and as the traders
are aware of the enormous profits the corregidors
make in the sale, they raise the prices of the goods,
in order to have a share in the speculation. The
corregidors have no money before they come into

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 23
office, and, being unable to purchase for a ready
sum, they are obliged to submit to any terms
which the creditor may prescribe, as they are in
duty bound, on account of the money which the
merchant is to lend him for the purchase of the
mules required for transportation.
As soon as the corregidor comes within his juris
diction, the first act of his administration is to take
a census of the Indians, according to their towns
and villages. Proceeding to this duty in person,
and taking with him the articles of merchandise
to be -distributed, he goes on, apportioning the
quantity and kind he selects for every Indian, and
affixing to each article its price, just as suits his
caprice, the poor Indians being wholly ignorant of
what is to fall to their lot, or how much it is to
cost them. As soon as he has finished distributing
in one village, he transfers the whole assortment
to the cacique, with an exact inventory of the arti
cles belonging to each individual, from the cacique
himself to the most humble of all those who are
to pay tribute ; and the corregidor proceeds to
another village, in order to continue the distribu
tion. It is a time of anguish, both to the cacique
and the Indians, when they look at the quantity,
quality, and prices of the goods. In vain does
the cacique remonstrate, and to no purpose do the
Indians raise their clamors ; on the one hand, they
maintain that their means are not adequate to such

24 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
a quantity of merchandise as is assigned them,'
being absolutely unable to pay for it; again, they
urge that goods of such a description are utterly
useless to them, and that the prices are so exorbi
tant as to exceed any thing they had ever paid
before. The corregidor remains inexorable, and
the Indians are obliged to take whatever has been
allotted them, however repugnant it may be to
their wishes, and however straitened they are for
want of means to make the payments ; for these:
payments become due simultaneously with the
tribute money, and a failure to meet one or the
other with promptness makes them liable to a
penalty equally severe. The whole cost of the
first distribution must be paid within two years and
a half, to make room for the second, which com
mences at the close of that period, but which does
not contain so great an assortment as the first.
In addition to these supplies, which are usually
the most important, whenever the corregidor makes
a visit to collect debts, (and he never does it for
any other motive,) he takes with him an assort
ment of goods, to apportion an additional quantity
to those who have made their payments most
promptly ; and, as the Indians have received in
the first division those articles which are of least
value to them, (such as are of absolute necessity
being kept back for this occasion,) all who are in
want are obliged to take them under the denom-

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 25
ination of a voluntary sale; and, although they
are at liberty on this occasion to select such arti
cles as they like, they are not so as to the bar
gain : to set the price is a prerogative reserved to
the corregidor ; which is so well understood that
the poor Indians no longer '¦ think it strange that
they must submit to it without murmuring.
It is not left to the choice of the Indians to sup
ply themselves elsewhere, even, with the neces
sary articles furnished by the corregidor ; hence
they are obliged to purchase them at his hands ;
for in the towns that are exclusively Indian they
do not license any shop but their own, and they
have one in every village, to which all must of
necessity go to purchase. The latter obtains like
wise in the departments of the Province of Quito,
where goods are also sold at exorbitant prices, but
not so much so as in the rest of Peru, where the
distribution system prevails. Nor can the Indian
decline receiving the goods at the price stipulated
by the corregidor, even though he pay in ready
money, it being left to his choice to pay or buy on
credit ; and when he offers the money in advance,
no abatement is made, as would be equitable.
Among the tyrannical acts practised by means
of the distribution, some of which we shall pre
sent to view, that which prevails in apportioning
mules ought to have the first place. Of these
animals the greatest number are introduced into
3

26 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
those Departments which carry on some other
trade than that which is required for the transport
of their own produce, being thoroughfares for the
commerce of the interior. The corregidors of
these districts purchase droves of mules, consisting
of five or six hundred each, according to the de
mand for them, and have them driven from the
pastures where they are bred. Each mule placed
in his department costs him from fourteen to six
teen dollars, and when they are most in demand
they do not exceed eighteen ; and to bring this
price they must be very scarce or of a superior
quality. The corregidor afterwards distribute.
them among the Indians, allotting to some four, to
others six, and to all more or less, according to
the supposed ability of each one to pay for them,
and the usual price at which they are charged to
them is from forty to forty-four dollars, and even
more if they are good, the cost of which must be
paid within a prescribed term. The Indians who
receive these mules are not permitted to make use
of them as they please, for they are strictly pro
hibited from hiring them out, unless it be with the
consent of the corregidor himself, who adopts this
course under pretext of avoiding contraband trade,
when the only ground of this injustice is, that they
shall not hire them out without allowing him a
portion of the profits, and the privilege of taking
the remainder to his own account in payment of
the mules.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 27
As soon as travellers reach these Departments,
the first thing to be done is to apply to the cor
regidor for mules, and to make known to him the
number they require. The latter looks at his list
to see which of the Indians is most indebted to him
on account of the mules apportioned them, and
sends for them to come from their villages to per
form the journey. The corregidor himself collects
the amount of freight, keeps back one half on ac
count of the debt, delivers a quarter part to the
owner of the mules to pay what may be needed
for the purchase of hay to feed the animals on the
road, and with the remaining fourth part he pays
the peons, whose office is to drive and lade the
mules ; so that, in consequence of this arbitrary
distribution, the owner is left not only without any
profit, but even without the means of paying his
expenses on the journey. In this distribution we
may notice another circumstance, which shows
the care taken by these corregidors not to lose any
part of what they extort from the Indians ; for,
although the wages of the peons are at such a low
rate, they deduct one half for account of what they
owe for the supply of the articles of clothing they
have received, though the term allowed for pay
ment has not yet expired.
The Indian sets out on his journey with his
drove, and, as travelling in those countries is at
tended with hardship, it frequently happens that

28 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the mules tire on the way, and that one or more
of them die; but, as the drivers are obliged, to
prosecute their journey, and have no money to hire
another mule, the owner is obliged to sell one at a
very low price, in order to hire two others with
the proceeds at a high' price, to make up the defi
ciency of the mule that died, as well as of that
which was sold. Hence, when the owner reaches
his journey's end, he finds he has two mules less
than before, and has received no indemnity for the
loss, but is more indebted than ever, and without
the means of paying for his own maintenance.
A single circumstance might enable him to bear
his disappointment, and that is, the finding some
return freight in the village to which he is going —
a thing which is very rare ; and even in this case
he can take only a light load for the mules
which he has left, and at a reduced freight,
esteeming himself very fortunate if he can make
up his loss with the avails of the return freight,
although he should have realized no profit after a
journey of many months.
Cruel as are the details of wrong exercised in
the apportioning of mules by the corregidors of
Peru, others still more oppressive are practised to
wards the Indians. When, by dint of journeying.
and hard labor, the purchaser has paid the full
amount due for the mules allotted to him, the cor
regidor never thinks it worth a thought to give him

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 29
excursions on which he might realize a profit, nor
does it avail him to seek for them himself, inas
much as he is not at liberty to hire out his mules
to any one. The rigor practised in this respect is
so extreme that, although the purchaser of mules
may be indebted to the corregidor for other arti
cles which he has allotted him, this is not deemed
a sufficient reason why he should have an opportu
nity to work out the debt with his drove of mules,
for this debt is to be paid by another species of
labor, such as the produce of his garden, the
earnings of his wife at the loom, the cattle which
he has reared, or something equivalent. At other
times, the corregidor assigns a new supply of mules
to the Indians who have paid for the first, even
when they do not need them, in order io have a
pretext for employing them continually in a trade,
the entire benefit of which remains for his ac
count. In view of all this, it will not be denied that the
Indians are in a more pitiable condition than Afri
can slaves, for the most that can be done with the
latter is to give them a task in some department
of labor, that they may work for the benefit of
the master, the latter incurring the risk of loss or
gain ; but this is not the case with the Indians, for
they must bear the loss of the mules that die, from
the moment they are delivered to them, while the
corregidor claims the earnings of them all ; thus
3*

30 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
leaving the Indians a useless possession after hav
ing paid for it three times over, for they are not
at liberty to use them, nor can they be of any ser
vice to them, except by enabling them to pay for
others which the corregidor is to furnish them in
the following distribution. A slave is employed
in one branch of labor, and, when his task is done,
another is given him ; each slave has his particu
lar trade or work, and, if necessity should require
him to suspend it, it is the master who loses his
hire. But it is otherwise with the Indians, for,
while they pursue one steady occupation, their
wives and children must busy themselves in as
many more to fulfil the obligations imposed upon
them by the corregidors.
The repartition of mules is attended with so
much rigor that it seems as if one must be forsa
ken of God to be capable of such flagrant injus
tice ; and, to make this still more evident, we
shall cite one of those examples which occur con
tinually, having been ourselves witnesses of it.
In the year 1742, while on our way a second time
to Lima, at the request of the viceroy, we arrived
at a village in which the distribution had been com
pleted the day previous, and of this distribution
four mules had been allotted to the owner of the
house where we had taken up our quarters ; the
latter Would not receive them, neither by dint of
entreaties nor threats made by the corregidor ; for

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 31
he apprehended from their bad condition that they
would die without having rendered him any ser
vice. He differed with the corregidor, not on ac
count of their high price, although they were
charged at forty-four dollars each, but on account
of their extreme leanness, begging him to give him
good mules and he would not refuse to take them,
but that they were in a dying condition, and that it
was only their skin that would be of any value.
Having made these complaints, he returned home,
confident that he should obtain others in their
stead ; but he was quite mistaken in this, for that
same night they were tied to his gate by a sheriff,
who told him from without that he had left the
mules there by order of the corregidor. His
doors being closed, he did not take the precaution
.to go and bring them in, and the next morning he
found one dead ; he was obliged, however, to pay
for all four. This occurs frequently, owing to the
fact that the animals are taken from the pastures
where they are bred while they are young, and,
in passing over the distance of a hundred and
more leagues, to reach the different departments,
they travel through climates to which they are not
accustomed, and, in consequence of changing their
pastures, many of them become sick and die ; and,
that the loss may not fall upon the corregidor, he
makes the distribution as soon as they arrive in
the province, and compels the Indians to receive

32 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
them in that state. Were this purchase voluntary
on the part of the Indians, or even were they con
tent with what is allotted them, there would he no
ground of complaint ; but that they should be com
pelled to take what is neither useful nor to their
liking, and pay for it so exorbitantly, appears to be
the highest point to which oppression can be
carried. Passing now from the distribution of mules, we
shall proceed to that of manufactures and produce,
which will occasion no less surprise than the pre
ceding. We have already remarked that articles
of manufacture are distributed to the Indians at
prices so exorbitant as to exceed any idea that
could be formed of it by any other than an eye
witness, and this will be corroborated by an occur
rence which took place in a town not far distant
from Lima, in the year 1743. The corregidor
took home, among other articles, some woollen
stuffs, manufactured in Quito, which are sold by
retail, in the Lima shops, from twenty-eight to
thirty reals, when they are of a very superior
quality ; but the ordinary woollens, which are pur
chased for the supply of the interior, seldom bring
twenty-four reals, and the usual price by whole
sale is from eighteen to twenty. This corregidor
had them transported forty leagues or more from
Lima, and charged them to the Indians at such
enormous prices that, if the fact were not notorious,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 33
it would be thought incredible. Although the
goods had been purchased at very advanced prices,
on a credit of two years and a half, the whole
value of the articles distributed amounted to seventy
thousand dollars ; and after all the returns had
been made by the Indians, the amount which the
corregidor had realized from them exceeded three
hundred thousand dollars.
The Indians of this department, finding them
selves more cruelly oppressed by this corregidor
than they had been by his predecessor, entered a
complaint before the viceroy, taking to him samples
of the distribution, with a list of the prices affixed to
each article. We do not relate this as a matter
of hearsay, for we happened to be present when
the Indians entered their protest. The viceroy
listened to them, and directed them to lay the sub
ject before the Audience ; and the result was, that
a writ was executed to have the Indians taken
and punished as seditious persons. The fact was,
that as soon as the mayor learned that those
Indians had disappeared from within his jurisdic
tion, entertaining no doubt that they had gone to
enter a complaint against him, he indicted them
for sedition, and set forth in the indictment that
they had absented themselves from fear of punish
ment. This summary he immediately remitted to
the Audience, at the same time seeking to interest
the friends he had in that city in the business, and

34 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
through their influence he succeeded in acquitting
himself of the charges made against him, becom
ing in his turn the accuser, in order not only to
rob the Indians of their rights, but also to intimi
date them, that they might not venture to make a
complaint against him in future.
The cruelty of the system of distribution is not
confined to the enormous prices at which the In
dians are obliged to purchase, but is even much
greater in respect to the articles distributed, which
usually consist of goods that are of no use to the
purchaser. In Spain, we are wont to speak of
this as partaking more of fiction than of truth,
nor are we accurately informed of what takes
place there, as the communications reach us in
a diminished shape, and the fear of having them
regarded as improbable curtails them, and gives
them another coloring, by confining them to gen
eralities ; but to make it evident, that what the
corregidors do there exceeds what we have any
account of here, it will be proper to describe in
detail the method used by them to furnish them
selves with the goods which they need for distribu
tion. It is well known that a corregidor who goes
to the shop of a tradesman, whom he does not
know except by having heard his name, (while the
latter does not know the former, except as corregi
dor of such a department, who is going to purchase
on credit, for want of money,) is compelled to

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 35
receive whatever is given him, which is usually
the most unsalable part of his stock, and it is per
haps with a view to rid himself of such trash that
he runs the risk of letting him take it on credit ; but,
although the dealer offer him the goods as he would
on condition of payment in ready money, he is
still obliged to receive an assortment of all he has
in his shop, as it does not stand the dealer in ac
count to have him purchase only the most salable
articles, and it has hence become customary, in
making large purchases, to take an assortment of
the whole stock.
So much being premised, the corregidor receives
a part of all which the dealer has for sale, takes it
to his department, and distributes it collectively, as
it is not to be supposed he would lose those things
which are useless to the Indians. Of what pos
sible service can three quarters or a yard of velvet,
at forty or fifty dollars, be to one of those serfs,
who might be compared to the most clownish and
wretched peasants of Spain, and who is employed
in digging the ground, or travelling on foot behind
his master's mule to earn a day's wages, which
scarcely suffice for his bare wants ? And of what
value to him would be a similar amount of silk or
satin ? What use could he make of a pair of silk
stockings, when he would thank God if he could
be allowed woollen ones, even of the coarsest
texture ? What occasion has an Indian for mir-

36 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
rors, whose hut is the abode of poverty, and in
which nothing but smoke is visible ? How can he
be in want of a padlock, if, even when all his
family are absent, by simply turning a door made
of reeds or skins, he protects a habitation whose
jewels are safe, because they are of no value?
But even this could be passed over, in comparison
of what is more worthy of notice. The Indians,
by their peculiar constitution, are wholly destitute
of beard, nor do they ever shave their hair ; and
yet they are furnished with razors, for which they
pay a very handsome price. Surely this looks
like making sport of that unfortunate race. And
what shall we say of the practice of compelling
them to buy pens and blank paper, when the
greater part do not understand Spanish, and when
their own language has never been reduced to
writing ? Playing-cards, likewise, are distributed
for their use, when they do not even know their
figures, nor has that people any inclination for
gambling; as also cases for tobacco, when the
instance is not known of any one who has ever used
them. Not to burden the narrative with details, we
shall pass over the combs, rings, buttons, books,;
plays, lace, ribbon, and such like, as useless for
them as the foregoing, and it will suffice to say
that the only things which are of service to them
are confined to the cotton cloth, manufactured in
Quito, woollen stuffs, or trousers, baize, and hats,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 37
all of domestic manufacture ; all the rest, whether
they be fabrics, hardware, or other commodities of
Europe, are utterly valueless to them, although
they are made to pay for them at exorbitant
prices. There are some districts where domestic produce
is distributed, and this is done in those which afford
the greatest facilities for it. The articles furnished
them are demijohns of wine, brandy, olives, and
oil, most of which the Indians never consume, nor
even taste of; hence, when they receive a bottle
of brandy, which is charged to them at the rate of
seventy or eighty dollars, they go in search of
some mestizo or grocer, who will buy it of them,
and they think themselves fortunate if they can get
ten or twelve dollars for it. They do the same
with every other article, when despair and indig
nation are mitigated by a sense of sorrow, and
they are restrained from throwing it down and dash
ing it to pieces.
This oppressive treatment of the Indians by the
corregidors was the occasion of the insurrection of
the Chunchos, who renounced their allegiance to
the king, and, possessing themselves of the tract
of country in the vicinity of Tarma and Jauja, east
of the chain of the Andes, have made war upon the
Spaniards ever since the year 1742, nor have they
been able as yet entirely to quell the insurrection ;
and these are the tyrannical measures which their
4

38 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
leader assured them he would reform, by withdraw
ing them from under the Spanish yoke. It was
this which so much alarmed the viceroy, who was
apprehensive lest the whole province of Tarma
should take part with the rebels, to extricate them
selves from a state of bondage, which was becom-
ing every day more intolerable ; and it was fully
, ascertained that many Indian families deserted
their villages, and retired to the grounds occupied
by the Chunchos, to follow a party which had
made a beginning under such favorable auspices,
having become the terror of their oppressors.
Another instance occurred in those provinces
very much like the preceding ; and although dis
tinct in its results, it serves to show how little their
complaints are regarded, and how much they suffer
from tyranny. In one of the provinces, not yet
burdened with the distribution system, inasmuch as
it had but recently submitted to the Spanish author
ities, the inhabitants, acquainted with what was
taking place in towns where it was practised, had
refused to admit it, although some corregidors had
attempted to introduce it. It fell, at length, into
the hands of a more determined and adventurous
individual than any of his predecessors had been,
owing perhaps to the favor of the principal magis
trates in the capital. This man, together with the
curate, — whose interest it was to bargain with the
corregidor, — determined to introduce the system

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 39
into his district, and, being aware that the Indians
would make resistance, invented a scheme fitted to
secure his object. A number of Spaniards used
to pass through his district, to whom, for selfish
ends, he had made himself very obsequious ; and,
having detained in his house those whom he needed
for the occasion, under pretence of enjoying their
society, he summoned the chiefs and magistrates
of the villages to meet him on a day appointed,
with a view to adopt some more expeditious method
of collecting the tribute money of the Indians, in
timating that it was his wish to render their burdens
as light as possible. The chiefs entertained no
suspicion, and met accordingly in the principal vil
lage, where the corregidor had the Spaniards, his
guests, in readiness, to whom he had made a false
accusation concerning these Indians, stating that
they were so fierce and incorrigible that, besides hav
ing attempted an insurrection on various occasions,
they had formed an extensive conspiracy to take
away his life, and the lives of all the curates and
Spaniards they could meet with. The guests lis
tened to him with credulity, and promised to assist
him with their persons and arms.
The hour of the summons being come, the cor
regidor gave notice to the Spaniards to conceal
themselves in the most remote corner of the house,
apprising them that, at a preconcerted signal, they
should sally forth and fall upon the Indians, and

40 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
make them prisoners. The chiefs, alcaldes, and
other magistrates of that district presented them-
selves at the corregidor's with great promptness
and obedience, and when the latter observed them
all assembled, he gave the signal, and instantly the
Spaniards, their servants, and some mestizoes of
that village, rushed forth and made them all pris
oners, without meeting the slightest resistance, as
they were confounded by this sudden and unlooked-
for occurrence. After they had been properly
secured, he entered a suit against them as disturb
ers of the peace, and alleged that, being the magis
trates of the towns, they had stirred up the Indians
to mutiny, by persuading them to revolt and refuse
obedience to the king, and he despatched them
very soon after to Lima, loaded with irons. The
Audience investigated the case, and, although: it
was universally known that every article contained
in the indictment was false, the chiefs, and those
who had been taken with them, were sentenced to
hard labor in the king's quarries, some on the,
Island of St. Lawrence, others at Callao, and others
in Valdivia. This unjust exile and chastisement
of the most respectable individuals of that district
filled the remaining Indians with fear and terror ;
and the corregidor, able now to effect whatever his
caprice suggested, entered upon the distribution,
which was at once the object of his desire and the
reward of his iniquity.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 41
This circumstance was so well known in Lima
that no reasonable man could fail to express his
horror of it ; and although the notoriety of the fact
and the opinion of impartial persons were suffi
cient to warrant its perfect credibility, we should
not venture to record it, had it not been communi
cated to us by an individual personally known to
us, and a man of undoubted veracity, and who
was present in the house, lending aid to the cor
regidor, and whose account agrees in every par
ticular with that which we heard from the lips of
the unfortunate chiefs, at the time we were super
intending the public works of that fortress, where
we saw them employed as galley slaves.
The individual who gave us the information, and
who was an eye-witness of the occurrence, was a
Frenchman, engaged in commerce in that district,
and, as he had made many journeys thereabouts,
and was well acquainted with the corregidor, he
was fully aware that the pretext used for seizing
the Indians was false, and that the result was un
warrantable as well as villanous. But, as he has
said himself, he had occasion to humor him, lest,
by seeking a quarrel against him, he should throw
obstacles in his way whenever he had occasion to
travel in that direction. This made it necessary
for him to unite with the Spaniards who were
present on that occasion, although no one was
ignorant that the whole process was utterly false,
4*

42 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
and was contrived by the corregidor. for no other
purpose than to drive the Indian chiefs from his|
district, that the rest might not resist the new im
post, as the mestizoes themselves and other inhab»
itants of the town had intimated to him.
No sooner had the corregidor commenced the
distributions than he destined a part of the In
dians to labor in the gold washings of that prov
ince, that they might pay the cost of the articles
distributed in that metal. These gold washings
had never been thought valuable, from the fact
that they were situated in barren heaths, remote
from any town or village, and exposed to embar
rassments arising from excessive cold and extreme
moisture ; and, what is more than all, the quantity
of gold obtained at the cost of so much labor was
very inconsiderable. At the same time, he had
others employed in supplying him with large and
small cattle for the consumption of a neighboring
city, where he had entered into contracts ; and to
comply with them, he took the cattle from the In
dians at a paltry price, thereby depriving them of
an opportunity to sell them on their own account*
either in the city or without le,aving their houses*
to purchasers who might go in search of them,
and who would pay the price they had usually
demanded : by these means he began to straiten
them to such a degree that they were reduced to
the most deplorable condition.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 43
This is the kind of government maintained by
the corregidors in those kingdoms ; to this end all
their efforts are directed ; nor has their system of
economy any other object than to secure the great
est possible income from their office. Even if
these statements were not presented in proof of
their avarice, it might be inferred from the con
sideration that all of them go from Spain to the
Indies so destitute that, instead of carrying any
thing thither, they are in debt on account of obli
gations contracted from the time they leave Spain
until they reach the district allotted to them ; and
that, during their brief term of office, which is
limited to five years, they make a gain of at least
seventy thousand dollars, and sometimes accumu
late even more than two hundred thousand. This
is to be understood of the net profits, after having
paid their previous debts and fees of settlement,
and after having spent and squandered beyond all
bounds during the whole term of their administra
tion ; for the salary and emoluments of their office
are so scanty as to be almost inadequate for their
current expenses. There are, indeed, corregidors
whose salary, including the collection of the trib
ute, amounts to four or five thousand dollars a
year ; yet the greater part do not realize more
than two thousand; and, although it were based
upon an allowance of four thousand dollars annu
ally, this salary would only suffice for a decent

44 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
maintenance, allowing a surplus of one half by
living with economy. It is true they have occa
sion to pass from one settlement to another ; but
this is at the expense of the Indians themselves^
who furnish them mules and pay their travelling
expenses during the time they are delayed in each
village. Having closed our observations on the cruel
treatment of the Indians by their corregidors, we
shall describe incidentally the manner in which
the latter render an account of their adminis
tration at the expiration of its term, clearly
showing that this unfortunate race are left with
out appeal, and even without a hope that justice
should ever enter their doors to plead in their
behalf. The office of corregidor is sometimes in the
gift of the Council of the Indies, and sometime^
in that of the viceroys ; but it is the exclusive pre
rogative of the viceroys to nominate notaries
when the term of administration has expired, and
no successor to the office has been elected in
Spain ; and even in this event the notary namedi
by the council must present his despatches' to the
viceroy in order to obtain his passport. As soon
as the appointment of a notary comes to the ears
of the corregidor, he avails himself of his friends-
in Lima to pay court to him in his name, and to
give him the necessary instructions, that, when he

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 45
should leave the city, he should come, already
gained over, and without any motive for delay. It
should be observed, that, in addition to the usual
pay allowed the notary at the expense of the cor
regidor for a term of three months, although only
forty days are required to audit the accounts, the
amount to be paid is in proportion to the revenue
of the district, or more properly to that of the
amnesty or bribe which the corregidor gives the
notary to acquit him of all charges which may be
alleged against him. This is so notorious and so
systematized in practice, that every body knows
what it costs to audit the accounts of this or that
district ; at the same time, if the corregidor has
offended his Spanish neighbors, or if any suspi
cion is entertained that they might bring in evi
dence against him, the price is raised for extra
costs, but the settlement is always brought about,
and the corregidor acquitted, although at a some
what increased expense.
As soon as the notary arrives in the principal
town of his district, he gives public notice of his
business, goes through the usual forms, receiving
testimony from the friends and domestics of the
corregidor that he has ruled well, that he has in
jured no man, that he has treated the Indians
kindly, and in this way he collects all the evidence
which may redound to his interest. But lest such
a degree of rectitude and benevolence might ex-

46 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
cite surprise, three or four persons are employed
to present charges against him of a trivial nature,
which are magnified by summoning witnesses to
testify to their truth, and the accused, being
brought in guilty, is fined in an amount propou-
tioned to the nature of the offence. In the course
of these proceedings, an immense mass of writs
and documents is collected, and the time prescribed
for auditing the accounts gradually slips away,
when they are closed and presented to the Audi
ence for approbation, and the corregidor is as
legally innocent of the charges as he was at the
time his administration commenced, and the no
tary who audited the accounts is a gainer to the
amount of what the settlement has been worth to
him. These bargains are made with such effron
tery, and the costs of settlement of accounts are
so reduced to system, that, in the jurisdiction of
Valdivia, a district remote from all intercourse
with those kingdoms, the newly-appointed gov
ernors audit the accounts of their predecessors;
and, as the gratuity bestowed is transmitted from
one to another in succession, the governors had
the precaution to reserve and conceal under the
bed on which they slept four bags of money, con
taining each one thousand dollars — an amount
which none of them had occasion to use. The
acting governor, on the arrival of a successor,
invited him very politely to occupy his own

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 47
apartment, and, on showing him to his room, he
directed his attention to the bags of money, assur
ing him that no mistake could occur in the amount,
as he had not opened the bags ; he stated, more
over, that his predecessor had received his dis
charge for that sum, and that he would transfer it
to him on the same terms. This mode was prac
tised until after we had left that kingdom, as
was said by the residents there ; but we do not
know if it still continues. Whether the four bags
remain untouched or not, after having changed
owners so frequently, is of little importance, pro
vided their nominal value remains unchanged.
If, at the time the judge is investigating the
proceedings of the corregidors, any one of the
Indians should allege against them acts of tyranny
and injustice which they have committed, the judges
either repel the charge by advising them not to
involve themselves in lawsuits, which will bring
on them disagreeable results, because the corregi
dor has proved the reverse of all they have
alleged, or the corregidor, by giving them a trifling
sum of money, just as we would hush a trouble
some child, induces them to withdraw the com
plaint ; but if the Indians refuse to receive
money, and insist on demanding justice, the judge
reproves them with severity, intimating to them
that he has shown them too much, lenity in not
having inflicted chastisement upon them for the

48 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
crimes alleged against them by the corregidor;
and the judges themselves, assuming the office
of mediators, persuade them, after having suffered
such complicated abuse, that they are indebted to
them for having escaped the punishment they de
serve ; so that it is the same to the Indians whether
the corregidors are required or not to give an
account of their administration.
If the charges are adduced by the Spaniards
relative to other matters, the judge seeks to act
as umpire, and urges them to settle their differ
ences amicably, and forget injuries that are past;
but if this method fails, the suit goes on, and, as
the judge is biased in 'favor of the corregidor,
he always labors to acquit him ; and if he cannot
do it by himself, he appeals to the Audience ; and
as all his investigations are so arranged as to pre
sent the best evidence in his favor, a little exertion
on his part is quite sufficient to have the corregi
dor acquitted, and his accounts settled agreeably
to his wishes. In proof of this we have only to
examine the penalties inflicted for such long-con.
tinued excesses, and scarcely one will be found ;
hence the conclusion is inevitable that no occasion
for imposing them exists according to the accounts
rendered, while there is so much to warrant them
in the conduct of those corregidors, as has already
been shown, and as will further appear in the fol
lowing chapter.

CHAPTER II.
The same Subject continued.
Without supposing facts not well ascertained,
or exaggerating statements which might place our
narrative beyond the bounds of truth, we may
assert, without fear of contradiction, that all the
wealth produced by the Indies, and even their very
colonial existence, is due to the sweat and toil of
the natives; it is by them the gold and silver
mines are wrought, by them the soil is tilled, and
by them the cattle are reared and tended ; in a
word, there is no servile labor in which they are
not tasked ; and such is the recompense awarded
to them by the Spaniards, that, should we investi
gate the nature of it, it would be found to be noth
ing more than a protracted and unrelenting pun
ishment, less restrained by pity than that inflicted
upon a galley slave. The gold and silver acquired
by their hardships and labor never lodges in their
hands ; rarely does the day come round which
allows them to partake of the fruits the earth
yields by dint of their efforts, or of the meat of
5

50 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the animals they rear and keep ; and never does
the occasion offer when they might use the warm
clothing or convenient articles of manufacture in
troduced from Spain ; since their whole mainte
nance consists of maize and herbs which grow
wild, and their whole scanty wardrobe is limited
to the coarse fabrics woven by their wives, and
which are not superior to such as they wore in
their uncivilized condition. Religion itself, as we
shall afterwards show, is made a plausible pretext
for stripping them of the poor remnant of their
fortune, which has escaped the rapaciousness of
their masters and magistrates, in return for which
they have imparted to them no spiritual benefit,
inasmuch as it is not the spirit of religion which is
taught them, nor is any thing of Christian appli
cable to them but the empty name. In short, it is
evident, wherever we turn, that the whole produce
of the Indies is the fruit of their labor, being con
tributed by them, while it is they who least enjoy
it, and who derive the least considerable benefit
from their incessant toil.
In order to form a correct judgment, both of
what we have already stated and of what remains
to be said, it is necessary to observe that the mode
of life and the labors of the Indians are adapted
to the nature of the districts ; for in those where
there are mines to be worked, and not plantations,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 51
a portion of the Indians perform the meta service,
and in those which embrace both plantations and
mines, a part of the Indians are reserved alter
nately for each species of labor. The meta In
dians are drawn by lot for 'both purposes, the one
to bring the minerals from the veins, and the other
to plough and till the ground. The districts which
comprise only plantations and workshops (by
which are meant cotton manufactories) are those
in which all the meta Indians are employed ; and
there are some districts where the Indians do not
perform the service of the meta, because the plan
tations are cultivated by negro slaves.
The meta service prescribes that all the villages
are to furnish the estates within their precincts a
certain number of Indians, to be employed in cul
tivating them, and that another company be destined
for the mines, when their owners find, on examina
tion, that they can be worked more conveniently
by adopting the method prescribed by the meta.
These Indians were bound to perform this service
for one year only, and at the close of it are allowed
to return to their villages, where, their places being
filled by others, they are to remain at liberty, until
their turn comes again in course. But this prece
dent, so wisely established by the laws, has ceased
to be observed, on which account it is indifferent
to the Indian whether he labor in the meta service,
for the benefit of the miner, or as nominally free

52 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
for that of the corregidor, for in each species of
labor the bondage is the same. All the district!
of Quito, and those which extend to the other
mountainous provinces of Peru, towards the south,
practise the meta, and all those comprehended in
the valleys as far as the jurisdictions of Pisco and
Nasca do not adopt it, because no miners are
found there, and all or nearly all the plantations
situated in the valleys are cultivated by negro
slaves, but those which rise from the valleys are
tilled exclusively by Indians subject to the meta.
Having premised so much, we will relate what oc
curs in Quito, from which we may deduce by com
parison what takes place in all the others in which
the same system obtains; and, to do it more
methodically, we shall divide the estates into four
different classes : 1. The plantations for growing
bread-stuffs; 2. The grazing estates ; 3. The
wool-growing estates ; 4. The manufactories.
On the estates of the first class, a meta Indian
earns from fourteen to eighteen dollars a year, ac
cording to the nature of his employment ; and be
sides this, the estate allows him a piece of ground
from twenty to thirty yards square, to make a gar
den for himself. On these conditions, the Indian
is bound to labor three hundred days in the year,
completing his full daily task, and is exempted
from labor the remaining sixty-five, on account of
Sundays, holidays, illness, or any other casualty

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 53
which may prevent him from working, the over
seers of the plantations taking care to mark, every
week, the number of days which each Indian has
labored, in order to settle his account at the end
of the year.
The tribute of eight dollars, paid by the owner
of the estate, is to be deducted from the salary of
the Indian ; and estimating this at eighteen dollars,
which is the maximum, there are ten dollars re
maining. From this sum, two dollars and two
reals are to be deducted, to buy three yards of
baize, at six reals a yard, that he may make a
shirt for himself, as decency requires, and he
will have remaining seven dollars six reals, to
maintain himself and his wife and children, if he
have any, besides clothing them and paying such
contributions as the curate may levy upon him.
Nor is this all, for the piece of ground allowed him
is so confined that it becomes impossible for him to
raise all the corn required for the scanty support
of his family, and he is obliged to receive of the
owner of the estate half a bushel of corn monthly,
which is charged to him at six reals, (which is
double the usual price,) because the Indian cannot
purchase of any one else ; thus twelve times six
reals make nine dollars, which is one dollar and
six reals more than the Indian can earn ; so that the
wretched sdj> after toiling three hundred days in
the year, besides cultivating a garden of vegetables
5*

54 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
in the remaining sixty-five, having received only a
coarse baize shirt and six bushels of corn, becomes
indebted to his master one dollar and six reals, on
account of the labor he has to perform the follow-
ing year. Were it no more than this, the patient
Indian would endure it all ; but his sufferings are
yet greater. It frequently happens (as we have
witnessed) that an animal dies in the paramo, or
heath ; the master has it brought to the farm, and;
in order not to lose its value, has it cut in pieces, and
distributes it to the Indians at so much a pound —
a price which, however reasonable, an Indian can-
not pay, and hence his debt is augmented by being
forced to receive meat which is unfit to be eaten,
owing to its bad condition, and which he is conse
quently obliged to throw to the dogs.
If, as the climax of misfortune, the unfortunate
mitayo should lose his wife, or one of his chil
dren, his cup of anguish is full when he reflects-
how he shall pay the inexorable fee of inter
ment, and he is driven to enter into a new con
tract with the owner of the estate, to furnish'
him the money extorted by the church. If he
escapes the anguish of losing any of his family,
the curate orders him to celebrate a church festival
in honor of the Virgin, or one of the saints, and he is
obliged on this account to contract a new debt ; so
that, at the close of the year, his debH^exceed his
earnings, while he has neither handled money nor

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 55
got in his possession any articles of value what
ever. His master claims the right of his person,
obliges him to continue in his service until the debt
is paid ; and as payment can never be made by the
poor Indian, he becomes a slave for life ; and, in
defiance of all natural and national law, children
are required to pay, by their personal service, the
unavoidable debts of their parents.
There are some Indians who pay a heavier
tribute than others, and, in this respect, those who
belong to the encomiendas are least burdened ; but
this does in no way redound to the advantage of
the Indians, as it should, but to the benefit of their
masters ; for they pay them less for the meta ser
vice, on the ground that they are partially exempted
from paying tribute, in direct opposition to the
royal grant, in which this privilege is conceded to
the patrons, with a view of lightening the burden
of the impost levied upon the Indians.
Another species of cruelty is inflicted upon that
race, which would be deemed barbarous if prac
tised upon the brute creation. When an unfruitful
season occurs, and corn is valued at three or four
dollars, all produce rises in the same proportion,
but the mitayo is not entitled to higher wages ;
and although he subsists exclusively upon maize,
the landholders will not furnish it to him at twelve
reals, which is the regular price, although it some
times produces more ; and the wages of the Indians

56 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
not being adequate to pay for it at so high a price,
and having no means of purchasing it except such
as they derive from their personal labor, they are
deprived of sustenance, because their masters sell
all the maize in the villages, to convert it into
money — a cruel expedient, which leaves the
helpless Indian, who labors in their houses and for
them, abandoned without mercy to perish with
hunger. This occurred in the Province of Quito
in the years 1743 and 1744, during our residence
there. The scarcity of maize was unprecedented,
and such was the unfeeling barbarity of the mas
ters towards the Indians, that they cut off the usual
supply of their only sustenance, for the purpose
of selling it at exorbitant prices : from hence re
sulted a fearful mortality of Indians on all the
estates, besides that which prevailed in all the vil
lages, many of which were nearly depopulated.
The produce of the vegetable gardens culti
vated by the Indians is limited to a little corn and
a few potatoes, and is so inconsiderable that they
are consumed during the process of ripening.
The only occasion in the year when they are
allowed to taste meat is when some animal dies,
and is taken up before the condors and vultures
have devoured it. We may conjecture what its
quality must be, since, besides the circumstance of
the animal having died in the field, it has usually
so bad an odor, as to render it intolerable ; and in

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 57
Hhis case the arbitrary rule of the master is carried
"'to such an extreme as to force it upon the Indian,
Sunder the penalty of chastisement, if he refuse to
areceive it.
The Indians who perform the meta service on
ethe grazing estates, which are those of the second
"class, usually earn somewhat more than the day
''laborer, but their labor is also greater. On these
testates, an Indian has assigned to him a certain
^number of cows, that he may take care of them
sand of their milk. He is to make the number of
iicheeses usually required for each cow, and on the
ulast day of every week they are delivered to the
coverseer, who receives them by weight, and with
isuch rigid scrupulousness that the least deficiency
!in the weight required is charged to the account of
hhe Indian — a manifestly unjust course of proceed
ing, for, if the failure of milk might occasionally
(be attributed to the Indian, it proceeds in general
i from the quantity and quality given by the cows,
which is not always uniform, or some neglect
; might occur, allowing the calves to take more
than their usual portion. Exclusive of these
causes, which are independent of the will of the
Indians, the charges against them augment so rap
idly, that, at the close of the year, when they
have worked out the term of the meta, and are to
be released, they find themselves in greater bon
dage than before ; for, as they have not the means

58 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
of paying that fictitious debt, they are compelled
to bind themselves to protracted service on the
estate, which, in these circumstances, is their last
resource. It may be argued that the debts incurred by the
Indians, whether in one species of labor or another,
are merely imaginary, as the whole race is in
solvent, and that no injury results from them. In
solitary instances it might be so, but in general it
is otherwise. It is prejudicial to the Indian to be
indebted to the estate, because the owner of it de
ducts, on account of the debt, all that he has been
able to earn by dint of care and toil during his
hours of repose, and if payment be made grudg
ingly, the task is augmented, even when no hope
is entertained that the debt will be paid in full. It
is true that, in the hopeless condition of the Indian,,
to be reduced to slavery on the estates where they
live is no additional burden ; for in case they
should be restored to their villages, they would be
no less oppressed by the imposts of the corregidor%
Were it otherwise, it would be gross injustice not
to alternate their labor annually ; for while living
in their villages they would enjoy their freedom,
and would earn enough to maintain themselves
comfortably, whether by working as day laborers,
or busying themselves in the same tasks in which
they would be employed if they remained in them;
and there is no doubt that their gains would be

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 59
sufficient to bear, without too much hardship, both
the impost of the tribute and the meta, but they
are deprived of this consolation by the insatiable
avarice of those who rule over them.
On the wool-growing estates, which compose
those of the third order, every Indian earns eigh
teen dollars, when he has the care of an entire
flock ; and if he has two he earns something more,
but not twice the amount, as would seem equitable.
Those Indians who are apparently the most fortu
nate, are not less subject to oppression than others,
for they are made responsible for the flock, and
are accounted debtors for all the sheep that are
missing at the end of the month, unless they de
liver them dead. At first sight this condition ap
pears reasonable, but, in reality, local, as well as
other causes not depending on the Indian, render
it impossible for him to put it in practice. The
tracts where the Indians pasture and live with their
flocks are situated in the heart of the wilderness,
among the ravines formed by the mountains, which
are wholly uninhabited, and at a distance of three
or four leagues from the principal farm-house.
On these estates, wheat fields are also cultivated,
and for this purpose the same Indians are employed
who have the care of the sheep ; and being under
the necessity of tilling the soil for the benefit of
their masters, the sheep are intrusted to the care
of a woman, who is sometimes nursing, or to that

60 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
of children five or six years old ; for as soon as
the latter are capable of doing service, they are
obliged to labor for the benefit of the master.
Hence it sometimes happens that a sheep sickens
or goes astray over the wild, uncultivated extent
of those paramos ; and should he be so unlucky as
not to be able to find it, as soon as it is missing, il
is charged to his account at the close of the month,
when the flock is counted.
Even if the owner should not require him to
intrust the sheep to his wife's keeping, it would be
unjust to make the loss fall upon him ; for it is
only one who tends the sheep ; and such is the
nature of that broken surface, that it would be im
possible to trace the sheep by the eye, as they
wander over ravines, morasses, and declivities of
the mountains, nor is it in the power of the keeper
to rescue them from the talons of the condor.
What passed under my own observation frequently
takes place ; for, on one occasion, while descend
ing a precipice, I saw a condor pounce upon a
flock and carry off a lamb in his claws, and,' rising
to a certain height, let go his hold, as if to kill it
by the fall ; and, seizing it a second time, he car
ried off his prey, while neither the cries of the
shepherd boy, nor the barking of the dogs, could
avail any thing to prevent it.
In order to point out more clearly the injustict
practised towards the Indians, we may be permitted

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 61
to draw a comparison between the Indian and the
Spanish shepherd,: and the contrast between them
will serve to corroborate: what we have asserted.
In Spain, a flock of sheep usually contains
about five hundred head, and to tend it the owner
maintains a shepherd and a swain, who are both
males. In Andalusia, the shepherd earns twenty-
four dollars a year, and the swain sixteen dollars,
amounting in all to forty dollars. Besides their
wages, the owner is bound to furnish them bread,
oil, vinegar, and salt, besides what the dogs- eat ;
he is also to furnish them an ass to drive the herd,
and when the number is augmented to three flocks,
an overseer is appointed to keep watch over them
all, who earns higher wages than the shepherd,
and the master provides hint with a horse. In
Peru, a flock usually consists of eight hundred or
a thousand head, and is tended by a single indi
vidual, who bears in that country the name of
sheep-keeper. This man earns only eighteen dol
lars a year, from which sum, after deducting the
tribute, only ten dollars remain ; and with these
he is to provide for himself, for his wife and chil
dren, and for the dogs which are to aid him in
taking care of the flock, because his master allows
him nothing more. The low rate of wages should
not be attributed to the cheapness of provisions,
for, on the contrary, every thing there is incom
parably dearer than it is in Spain. The same is
6

62 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
true of other branches of industry, and it is diffi
cult to imagine how those people subsist, until we
become acquainted with their frugal mode of liv
ing. The hut they inhabit has scarcely space
sufficient for them to stretch themselves, although
it contains not an article of furniture ; their bed is
a raw sheepskin, one being provided for each
member of the family, and they never use a pil
low ; their food consists of two or three spoonfuls
of oatmeal, which they force into their mouths,
and, after stirring it with the tongue, they swallow
it and instantly drink a large quantity of water or
chicha, which is a kind of malt liquor, whenever
they can get it ; occasionally they substitute for
oatmeal a handful of maize, boiled in water until
the grain swells and bursts. This constitutes thp
whole of an Indian's sustenance.
It is in the fourth and last department of indus
try, namely, the " obrages," or factories, that it
appears as if all the scourges that afflict human
ity were concentrated. All these sufferings are
accumulated upon the head of the wretched In
dian, and bitter lamentations are heard on every
side under the inflictions of the rod of oppression.
Several of his majesty's ministers have been fully
aware of this, and have endeavored to take very
decisive measures in respect to it ; but it must be
confessed that the regulations of government in

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 63
regard to the colonies are seldom enforced, as will
appear in the sequel.
The workshops are a combination of the other
three classes of estates ; they are the factories
where the cloths, baizes, and woollen stuffs known
in Peru by the name of home fabrics, are woven
by the hand loom. In former years, the woollen
manufactory was confined to the Province of
Quito; but it has been recently introduced into
other districts, although the articles manufactured
in the provinces south of Quito are nothing but
coarse cloths, of very ordinary texture. In Caja-
marca, there are looms for the manufacture of
cotton goods.
To form an accurate idea of these factories,
they might be compared to a galley, always in
motion, being constantly propelled by the oars.
while the harbor is so remote that it can never be
reached, how hard soever the seamen toil in an
ticipation of rest. The management of those
factories, the labors performed in them by the
Indians, to whose unhappy lot this service falls,
and the merciless punishment inflicted upon those
miserable objects, surpass every thing which it is
possible for us to describe.
The labor of the workhouses commences before
the day dawns, at which time every Indian takes
his place at the piece which is in process of weav-

64 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
ing, and the tasks of the day are distributed as
may be expedient ; and when this process is con
cluded, the owner of the house closes the door,
and leaves them immured as in a prison. At mid
day the door is opened for the women to go in
with their scanty allowance of food, which is soon
partaken, and they are again locked in. When
the darkness of night no longer permits them to
labor, the owner goes round to gather up the
stints ; those who have not been able to finish, in
spite of apologies or reasonings, are punished with
indescribable cruelty ; and those unfeeling men,
as if transformed into merciless savages, inflict
upon the wretched Indians lashes by hundreds, for
they use no other method of counting ; and to
complete the punishment, they remand them again
to the workshop, and, although the whole building
is a prison-house, a portion of it is reserved for
fetters and instruments of torture, where they are
punished with greater indignity than could be prac
tised towards the most delinquent slaves.
During the day, every apartment is visited by
the owner, his assistant, and his overseer, and the
Indian who is chargeable with any neglect is chas
tised at the time with the whip, and' afterwards
goes on with his work, until the time arrives to put
away his work, when the punishment is frequently
repeated. This process is carried on every day, in respect

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 65
to the meta Indians, and the punishment inflicted
is so much the more cruel, as it does by no means
exempt them from the obligation of completing
the task ; for all their delinquencies are noted in a
register, to be charged to their account at the close
of the year ; and thus the debt incurred is augment
ing from year to year, until, finding it impossible
to make up their arrears, the master acquires a
right, however unfounded, to reduce to slavery not
only the meta Indian, but all his sons. The treat
ment of these Indians will appear to be gentle, in
comparison with that experienced by those who
are sentenced by the corregidors to the same work
houses for having failed to pay the tribute at the
time it was demanded, and frequently, as we have
said, when they were not under any obligation to
pay it. These Indians earn a real a day : one
half is kept back to pay the corregidor, and the
remaining half is applied to their maintenance,
which is inadequate for a man who labors inces
santly the whole day ; and, in proof of it, imagine
if any article could be bought, that would suffice
for his nourishment, for half a real, when it is not
enough to supply him with chicka, a beverage to
which the Indians are strongly addicted, and which
has become so much a part of their nature that it
nourishes and strengthens them as much as what
they eat. Besides, as the Indian is unable to es
cape from that bondage, he is obliged to take what
6*

66 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
his master will give him for that half real. The
inhuman owner of the factory, in order to lose
nothing by waste,, turns to account for their use
the maize or barley which has been damaged by
keeping, or the cattle which die, and contaminate
the atmosphere, as well as all the worst and most
worthless of his produce.
As a result of this course of treatment, these
Indians fall sick, after remaining a short time in that
condition, and, their constitution being exhausted
partly for want of nourishment, partly by repeated
punishment, as well as by diseases contracted
from the bad quality of their food, they die before
they have been able to pay the tribute with the
avails of their labor. The Indian loses his life and
the country that one inhabitant, whence proceeds
the great diminution which is observed to be. taking
place in that kingdom. Such is the spectacle ex
hibited, when they are taken out dead, that it
would excite compassion in the most unfeeling
he. .rt. Only a mere skeleton remains of them to
publish the cause which doomed them to perish;
and the greater part of these die in the very fac
tories, with their tasks in their hands ; for, although
they may be indisposed, as the countenance would
indicate, that is no inducement to their cruel task
master to exempt them from labor or to seek their
remedy. Accustomed to look upon them with
utter aversion, they do not imagine a sick Indian

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 67
to be a worthy inmate of a hospital until his
strength is so far exhausted that he dies before
reaching the charitable asylum, and those are for
tunate who have sufficient power of resistance
left to go and die within the hospital. To be con
demned to the factories occasions to the Indian
greater consternation than all other punishments
that malice can invent. The married Indian
women and aged mothers begin to bewail the
death of their husbands or their children from the
moment they are sentenced to this punishment.
Children do the same in respect to their parents,
nor is there any method the latter will not devise
to rescue their children from the labor of the
workshop ; and their sorrow is extreme when all
expedients fail to produce the desired effect.
The anguish which, with so much reason, over
whelms them, finds vent, in view of the place of
punishment, as they raise to Heaven their cries,
since all on earth combine against them, and,
restrained by no tribunal of justice, abandon them
to such hopeless misery.
Some will maintain that it is necessary to put
the Indians into the workshops, if they do not pay
the tribute, in order to compensate the loss ; hence
it is that the governors or other individuals are
allowed to do it, in order to collect the debt. But
neither the laws of the Indies nor the express com
mands of our sovereigns permit the Indians to be

68 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
treated with such cruelty as is practised there ; but,
on the contrary, they inculcate compassion and
kindness towards these inoffensive subjects. We
may readily suppose that the statements which
gained their assent to the low rate of wages given
were either false or inaccurate, inasmuch as the
king and his council were led to believe that the
pay allowed the Indians in the workshop was suffi
cient for their 'maintenance, besides leaving a sur
plus for the payment of the tribute. Under the
system now adopted, neither object is obtained.
The expedient of condemning the Indians to
these fearful places has become so general, as to
render them the grave of their freedom for a great
variety of delinquencies ; a trifling debt, even to a
private individual, is sufficient ground for any one
invested with authority to inflict this punishment
upon them. We frequently meet Indians on the
highway, tied by the hair to the tail of a horse,
on which a mestizo is mounted, who is con
veying them to the workshops, and perhaps for
the trivial offence of having evaded the tyranny
of the overseer, from fear of punishment. Let
what will be said of the cruelty practised by the
patrons towards the Indians at the commencement
of the conquest, we cannot persuade ourselves,
after what we have witnessed, that it could ever
have been carried to the extent it now is by the
Spaniards and mestizoes ; and if at that period

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 69
they were regarded as slaves, they had but one
master in the patron ; but now they are subject to
the governors, the owners of workshops, the pro
prietors of estates, the overseers of the cattle, and,
what is most scandalous of all, the very ministers
of the altar ; all these, including the priesthood,
treat the defenceless Indians with more cruelty
than they exercise towards African slaves.
Not only the meta Indians are employed in the
cultivation of the estates, but also their wives and
children, when they are capable of doing any
thing, who are treated with as much severity as
if they were all subject to the meta service.
They keep the women and children employed in
planting corn, potatoes, and other seeds, in weed
ing the beds of vegetables, in gathering the har
vest and shelling the corn, and in the various
occupations pertaining to the farm ; so that it is no
small convenience to masters to have with an In
dian so badly paid so many to labor obsequiously
in his service.
It is a prevailing opinion in all those countries,
and especially in the mountainous districts, that if
the Indians were not subject to the meta, they
would become idle, and the plantations would
cease to be cultivated ; but this is a mistaken no
tion, as we shall presently show. But what may
we suppose will not be urged by those whose in
terest it is to defend the meta ? They say that

70 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the Indies could not be held by us without it ; that
were it not for this restraint, the Indians would re
volt ; and that the fact that they have not done so
is chiefly owing to the oppressed condition in which
they are held by the Spaniards. These and other
like calumnies are invented by malice, as an apol
ogy for cruelty ; and even admitting what they
assert to be true, can there exist any law or reason
why they should be deprived of what is neces
sary for their support, if they are forced to labor
with unparalleled rigor ? We cannot imagine a
system of discipline so barbarous as to authorize
such a degree of oppression. The truth being
concealed under the disguise of erroneous state
ments, (some of which we have detected,) meas
ures are adopted on the supposition that these state
ments are true, and that they have in view the com
mon welfare and preservation of those kingdoms.
In order to expose more clearly the malignant
character of the communications which come to us
from thence, exaggerating the indolence and dila
tory habits of the Indians, let us direct our atten
tion to those plantations which do not have the
benefit of the meta, or in which the number of
meta Indians is comparatively small. Do they on
this account fail to be cultivated ? By no means ;
for, at a small additional expense, they have as
many Indians as are required, and with no other
difference than that of hiring them on wages ; and

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 71
although the rate does not exceed one real a day, —
a sum scarcely adequate to their daily wants, — they
do not despise it, because they avail themselves of
the assistance of their wives ; and when they have
no work in hand for their own account and bene
fit, they are' prompt to labor for a real a day.
This makes it evident that they would labor even
were they not compelled to it by the cruel ex
pedient of the meta. But the fact is, that the
Indians, being employed on the plantations at a
real a day, even at this reduced rate of wages, the
three hundred days of the year would require
thirty-seven dollars and a half; and with this sum
the owner of the plantation would have but one
person to work for him ; while under the meta
system, which allows only one half this sum, esti
mating the wages at eighteen dollars a year, they
have, besides the reduction of wages, which is so
considerable, the advantage of securing the ser
vices of a whole family.
What we have just remarked is not at variance
with the statement made in the first volume of the
history of our tour, respecting the nature, pecu
liarities, and customs of the Indians, for there can
be no doubt that they are phlegmatic, and that it
requires exertion to make them labor ; but this
proceeds in a great measure from the fact that all
that tribe are so irritated and aggrieved by the
treatment they receive from the Spaniards, that it

72 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
is no wonder if whatever they do should be done
reluctantly. Let us suppose a system to be estab
lished in Spain, by which the rich should oblige
the poor to labor for their benefit without any
equivalent — would they be disposed to do so?
Let us reflect, then, how much less inclined to
labor those unfortunate Indians would be, who are
rendered martyrs by incessant punishment, such
as would not be endured by any but a simple race
of men, or by those who wear their chains as a
matter of necessity, and as the penalty which their
crimes have merited.
It cannot be denied that the Indians of the pres
ent day discover very little inclination to labor, for
they are naturally sluggish and dilatory ; but it is
likewise true, that when their own interest is at
stake, natural indolence presents no obstacle to ex
ertion. The system of economy and government
adopted in those countries is based upon so bad a •
footing, that, whether the Indian labor or not, the
result is the same as regards his own benefit;
hence it is not strange that his love of ease should
make him lean to the side of indolence, rather
than to that of activity. Nor is this a weakness
exclusively Indian; it is inherent in all men.
Look at the most civilized nations on the globe;
and none will be found among them all who are
disposed to exert their skill and strength without the
incentive of gain, and their activity is in propo^

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 73
tion to the benefit which is to result from it. But it
isthe same to the Indian, whether he earn money at
the cost of sweat and toil, or riot, for the gain is
so transient, in passing through his hands, that
he never iknows what it is to enjoy it ; the more
he labors; and strives, the more rapidly it passes
from his possession to that of the corregidors, cu
rates, and owners of the plantations. In view of
this, who will tax the Indian with sloth, and not
rather the Spaniard with impiety, avarice, and op
pression ?
It might seem to be carrying the defence of the
Indians too far, to exculpate them entirely, and to
attribute to the Spaniards the cause of their want
of industry ; but the examples furnished by anti
quity justify such a conclusion, and testimonies of,
modern date corroborate it with every possible de
gree of conviction. If we turn our eyes to the
period prior to their conversion, we shall be aston*
ished at the grandeur of their public works, which
deserve our admiration to such a degree that we
are at a loss to comprehend how such wonders
could have been accomplished. Let us throw
out of the account those which are described in
history, lest their very magnificence should lead
to a suspicion of falsehood or exaggeration, and
take as our model what even, now the eye can
trace in the ruins of those works which still re
main ; and we shall find materials sufficient not
7

74 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
only to disprove the injurious opinion in which
they are held, but to furnish evidence of extraor
dinary activity and exertion. Is not this apparent
in the patient industry by which they have con
structed a multitude of aqueducts? They have
brought under cultivation a piece of ground which
was useless without the benefit of irrigation : by
opening a watercourse from a remote source, and,
continuing it along the declivities of the towering
Andes, to escape the fearful ravines which im
peded its course in a right line, they caused the
water to run a circuit of more than thirty leagues,
as the nature of the soil required, until they had
attained their original purpose of cultivating that
piece of ground, and rendering it fruitful. These
works, which are truly grand, remained from that
period in such perfection as to be serviceable to
the Spaniards in a later age ; nor can we omit
what it shames us to say, that the Spaniards them
selves of that country have suffered many of them
to go into decay, by their lamentable neglect;
and, much as they feel the want of them now,
they are unable to repair them, nor is there a sin
gle undertaking of the kind which has been at
tempted since the conquest.
The bridges, the causeways, and the roads of
all Peru were constructed by Gentile Indians, with
astonishing perseverance, of which, however, the
greater part have been ruined by the neglect of

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 75
the new colonists. Where but in Peru, without
excepting even the most celebrated kingdoms, are
to be seen roads more than four hundred leagues
long, of a solid foundation, of uniform breadth, and
their sides protected throughout by walls of suffi
cient breadth and thickness ? Vestiges remain to
announce the immensity of this work, and its decay
will always bear witness to the neglect of the
Spaniards who settled in the empire of the Incas.
Are not the Tambos, or spacious inns, which still
exist through the whole extent of the Province of
Quito, as well as in all the mountainous country,
infallible indications that the Indians did not live so
abandoned to indolence that they could not shake
it off, for the accomplishment of any object which
might minister to their convenience ? The pal
aces, the temples, and the other works mentioned
in the first part of the history of our travels, do
not permit us the injustice of imputing to that
people the love of ease, when they all bear evi
dence to the contrary. Let us now examine their
manner of life at the present time, and we shall
find that they are not indisposed to labor.
All the free Indians cultivate the lands belong
ing to them with so much care, that they leave no
portion of them fallow. It is true that their arable
lands are circumscribed ; but it is because they are
not allowed to possess more, and not for want of
care and toil to render them productive. The

76 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
caciques, who have a larger portion assigned them,
lay out extensive planting-grounds, rear cattle ac
cording to their means and opportunities, and hus
band all they can, without being compelled by
force, and without using compulsion towards those
who labor for them.
When the Indians who are not employed in the
workhouses have any leisure time, and have fin
ished the heavy task assigned them by their over
seers, they labor at home, on their own account.
All the Indian women do the same, when opporto-
nity offers. This is not consistent with the charge
alleged against them, that they are idle ; for any
other people whatever would detest labor, could
they once know that the avails of it were to be ap
plied, not to their own benefit, but to the benefit of
others. The facts adduced are sufficient to show that
the Spaniards of those countries have exaggerated
the indolence of the Indians, in order to render the
use of the meta indispensable, applying it to their
own emolument — a measure which tends directly
to the injury of the Indians, and to the exhaustion of
the royal treasury, because a vast number perish
under a system beyond measure rigorous, as well
as from want of sustenance, and the total neglect
of the aged and infirm. In proportion as the num
ber of the Indians decreases, the amount of tribute
falls short, and the towns become depopulated.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 77
These results are so palpable that they are felt and
acknowledged even by those who are blinded by
prejudice. Notwithstanding what we have said of the pun
ishment inflicted upon the Indians in the work
houses, it is not sufficient to give an exact idea of
the system, as it is practised in them ; and hence
we are obliged to present some further particulars.
As there are in the workhouses three taskmas
ters, who have the constant supervision of the In
dian weavers, so there are three employed on the
plantations, which are the overseer, his assistant, and
second ; but as the latter is always an Indian, he
is not accustomed to inflict blows on the rest ; he
is permitted, however, to carry a whip, like the
rest, to make his authority respected. Each one
holds his own scourge without letting it fall from
his hand the whole day long : this instrument of
torture resembles a rope's end, about a yard long,
and a little less than a finger in thickness, and is
made of cow's hide, twisted like cord. In case
the Indian has been guilty of any wrong or neg
lect, he is required to lie flat on his face, when his
thin drawers, which make up his whole dress, are
taken off, and he is scourged with the rod, being
himself obliged to count the lashes that are in
flicted upon him, until the number prescribed in
the sentence has been completed. He then gets
up, and is required to kneel in presence of the
<j *

78 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
man with the whip, and, kissing his hand, to say
to him, " May God bless ,you ! " the trembling
lips of the wretched Indian thus giving thanks in
the name of God for the stripes inflicted upon him,
almost always unjustly. Nor are men alone sub
ject to punishment, but their wives and children,
and even the caciques, whose rank and dignity en
title them to consideration.
The practice of scourging the Indians so unmer
cifully is not confined to the workhouses, planta
tions, and meta Indians but the priests chastiafe
their parishioners, and exact any service from
them whatever by dint of blows ; for if the
Indian should not do promptly what is required
of him, it is deemed sufficient motive to make
him lie down, and to inflict stripes upon him
with a whip, or with the reins of the horse, until
his strength is exhausted. This enormity reaches
such a pass, that even negro slaves and the vilest
sort of persons practise it continually on their own
responsibility, with no other reason or pretext
than their own caprice ; nor is the suffering merely
casual, nor confined to this or that individual, but
it is the lot of the whole family of Indians, as
an evidence of which we shall mention what took
place during our residence in some villages, and
even in our own house.
In the city of Cuenca, we took a house in com
pany with the French gentlemen associated with

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 79
us, and some of the servants employed by the
latter were Europeans, others mestizoes, and oth
ers negro slaves, which the French company had
brought with them from St. Domingo. When it
became requisite to clean the yard and outhouses,
— a service belonging to the mestizoes and negroes,
— the latter, to rid themselves of it, passed to the
street, and compelled the Indians who were trav
elling by to enter the houses, and then obliged
them to perform all the labor. We reprimanded
the former, and ordered the slaves to be punished ;
but, as they were corrupted by the precedent
which had been introduced in other houses, they
waited till we had gone out of doors, in order
to accomplish their purpose. However, the fear
which servants entertain towards their masters re
strained them from treating the Indians with cru
elty, and at length they gave them the leavings
of the kitchen, which in some degree compensated
their labor. But their being whipped by negro
slaves, or made to run bound to the tail of a horse,
as is practised by mestizoes and Spaniards, is so
common an occurrence as scarcely to attract
notice. The punishments already described are those
which are usually inflicted upon the Indians ; but
when the rage of the master or overseer is not
appeased, they scald them likewise, as is done in
the negro colonies, although by a different method.

80 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
Their mode is to take two pieces of the spunk of
maguey, which is the light pith of the stalk of the
agave plant, and, after having been set on fire,
they strike them together, that the sparks may fall
on the flesh simultaneously with the infliction of
the rod. ,
The patient Indian submits without murmuring
to imprisonment, hunger, stripes, and every spe
cies of torture ; but an affront is to him intolera
ble ; the greatest degree of ignominy is that of
having the head shaved by way of chastisement;
and as the disgrace of this punishment is more
permanent than that of bodily suffering, the
abashed Indian seeks in vain for consolation under
this misfortune ; notwithstanding, whenever his
crime be one of an aggravated nature, and the
wrath of the master is implacable, he is shorn
of his hair, and left to inconsolable grief and
anguish.* In a word, the most insatiable spirit of
revenge has never been able to invent any species
of punishment which the Indian does not receive
at the hand of the Spaniards.
It is a common remark of the most sober and
thoughtful men of those countries, that if the In
dians suffer for God's sake the hardships through
* This punishment was inflicted upon an Indian man and
woman while I was at Chillo, in 1837. The owner of the
estate on which the Indians lived gave the order, but his
conduct was severely reprobated. — Ta.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 81
which they pass during their whole lives, they
would be worthy, at the moment of their death, to
have their names inscribed in the calendar. The
perpetual hunger, and nakedness, and poverty, as
well as the interminable oppression and barbarous
chastisements which they suffer, from the period
of their birth to their death, are penances more
than sufficient to make amends in this life for all
the sins which can be imputed to them.
The natives have become so accustomed to chas
tisement that they not only cease to fear it, but
even regard an occasional truce from it with appre
hension and alarm. The Indian boys (cholitos)
who wait upon the curates and other individuals
are wont to look sad, and even to flee away, after
a long interval of exemption from punishment;
and if questioned as to the cause of their sadness
or flight, they reply, in their simplicity, that their
masters do not appear to love them, because they
no longer chastise them. The source of this error
is not to be looked for in their simplicity, nor in
any partiality the mature Indian may have to chas
tisement in itself; but, having been accustomed to
ill treatment ever since the conquest, they have
conceived the idea that the Spaniards are a class
of people whose very caresses and fondnesses are
stripes and blows ; and this is either no mistake,
or, if it be one, it is pardonable in the Indians ; for
their masters, after having chastised them with

82 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
merciless cruelty, always say to them that they
punish them because, they love them, and the sim
ple Indian has learned to give to this barbarquj
expression its literal import. Parents teach it to
their children, and the unsuspecting innocence of
the latter is easily made to believe that it is doing
them a kindness to make them weep and bathe
themselves in tears of anguish ; hence it is that
they are accustomed to give thanks to their tor
mentor, kneeling before him and kissing his hand,
although it be that of a negro, with expressions of
gratitude for an act of cruelty, as if it had been
the dictate of mercy.
Such is the terror occasioned by the very name
of Spaniard, or Viracocha, (a term comprehend
ing all who are not Indian,) that when mothers
would frighten their little ones, or make them hush
when they cry, or hide themselves in the corner
of their clay huts, by merely saying to them that
the Viracocha is going to catch them, they are
struck with horror, and run without knowing where
to find a place of refuge. We have ourselves
experienced this continually, and although it be
came necessary on some occasions to speak to
them, to make inquiries concerning the road, it
was impossible to do so, as we could not get them
to stop and hear the question put to them. So
timid are they, that, when one of them begins to
run, all the rest who can see him, however

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 83
remote they may be, do the same ; and should they
be accidentally impeded by any ravine, they pre
fer to throw themselves down at the hazard of
their lives, rather than> expose themselves to the
more imminent danger of the approach of the
Viracocha. All this has no other source or pre
text than the unheard-of cruelty with which all
without exception are treated. But we have en
tered into more minute details than we intended,
as it is a subject of which no important particular
should be left unnoticed.

CHAPTER III.
The same Subject continued. — Sequestration of Lands
belonging to the Indians.
So various are the expedients invented by mal
ice to multiply the means used to oppress the In
dians, that we find materials on every hand ' for
entering into further details of their extreme suf
ferings ; and although the particulars brought to
view in the preceding chapters might suffice to
show the tyranny practised towards that unfortu
nate people, we cannot omit what we have to
relate in this, as the subject is one of great impor
tance. The advantages resulting to all classes, at
the expense of the care and personal labor of the
Indians, have already been mentioned ; we are
now to speak of the power which the spirit of
avarice exercises in stripping them not only of the
means necessary for their own support, but even
of acquiring a sufficient sum to pay the tribute
money — the only impost to which they are sub
ject, agreeably to the considerate policy of our
sovereigns, and which is so just and reasonable,
that, if nothing else were exacted, this burden
would not fall heavily upon them. Such is the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 85
opinion of the Indians themselves, as we have
heard them say on various occasions, and not of
their caciques only, but of others who were pres
ent with us in the uninhabited deserts where we
abode ; on which account, in addition to the cir
cumstance of having taken up our quarters some
times in their very houses or huts, at others on
the different plantations, and at other times in their
villages, we had sufficient opportunity to become
witnesses of their complaints, and to hear them
recount the acts of violence and injustice with
which they are harassed.
The king's envoys, hearing a commission from
him to those parts, have given these subjects only
a superficial examination ; some because they
wanted opportunity, and others because their atten
tion was directed exclusively to their own interest,
as they were intent only on discovering new meth
ods of amassing a fortune. These circumstances
did not obtain in us, inasmuch as our ambition did
not reach beyond acquiring a treasure of useful
information, nor had we any other end in view
than to investigate the truth, to render our report
as accurate as possible, so that we may say with
confidence that we have secured our object to our
entire satisfaction. Our small and unimposing
suite did not inspire such terror among the Indians
that the sight of it should make them shun the
familiar intercourse we desired and sought; but
8

86 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the affability of our manner, indicating a disposi
tion to regard them as beings of our own species,
set them at liberty, and inspired courage in their
timid, pusillanimous hearts to communicate their
sentiments to us freely. The kindness with which
we treated them (as did also the French gentle
men, our companions) emboldened them to make
known to us their complaints. The conscientious
strictness with which we paid the hire of those
who waited upon us gave them occasion to speak
of the different manner in which their services
were usually recompensed ; in a word, the con
stant routine of passing from one province to
another furnished us occasions more than sufficient
to confirm whatever they had disclosed to us, and
even to observe many things of which we had
been ignorant.
One circumstance which, more than any other,
awakens our sympathy for that unfortunate people,
is to see them entirely stripped of their lands ; for
although, at the period of the conquest and of the
laying out of townships, certain portions had been
reserved for the purpose of being allotted to the
caciques and Indians belonging to the township,
avarice has gradually curtailed them to such a de
gree, that the tracts which remain to them are cir-
cumscribed within narrow limits, and the greater
part has been wrested from them altogether.
Some Indians have been despoiled of their lands

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 87
by violence ; others, because the owners of the
neighboring estates have compelled them to sell at
any price they may choose to give ; and others,
because they have been induced to surrender them
under false pretences.
The first cacique whose acquaintance we made
in the Province of Quito was of the town of Mu-
lalo, in the district of La Tacunga. His name
was Sanipatin, a very worthy individual, and so
much attached to the king that he could not dis
guise his sentiments of loyalty. On one of the
many occasions we had to pass through his village,
always taking lodgings at his house, the subject of
the "repartimientos," or division of lands, was in
troduced, and, among other grounds of complaint,
he informed us that having two lots of ground
which belonged to him, and in which he sowed his
wheat fields, a neighboring Spaniard, owner of an
estate, wishing to enlarge his own by usurping
what belonged to another, entered his name before
the Audience of Quito as purchaser of one of
those lots ; and although the cacique immediately
presented himself in support of his claim, he could
not substantiate it, but was afterwards stripped of
his plantation, in spite of entreaties, remonstrances,
representations, and urgent appeals to his patron
to undertake his defence. It is in this way that
the lands of the Indians are alienated every day,
in case the claim should be persisted in with

88 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
resolution. The illegality proceeds from the fact
that, as the Indians have no other title to them than
the right of possession, (for even were documents
in existence, they are incapable of pointing out the
office or archives where they are deposited,) they
are claimed as unoccupied lands, and sold as such,
injustice sheltering itself under this false pretext.
In this way, the greater part of the estates owned
by the Spaniards individually, or in a corporate ca
pacity, have been gradually augmenting, while the
cultivated grounds which belonged to the Indians
have proportionally diminished, and the number of
inhabitants has decreased in the same proportion.
On the estate of Guachala, we were eye-witnesses
of another of those instances of usurpation to
which the Indians of that country are always ex
posed. We happened to arrive on the plantation
at the time the proprietor was there, and, not long
after we came into the house, he sent for an In
dian who possessed lands in his vicinity, and, in
venting a ridiculous story relative to the motive of
our arrival, induced him to abandon his lands in his
favor for a very trifling consideration ; and as he
entered at once into possession, having concluded
the bargain with the Indian, he himself gave us an
account of the transaction. It appears that the
Spaniard had been pressing the Indian for a long
time to part with his lands, but he would not con
sent ; and not being in favor with the Audience, so

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 89
as to get them adjudged to him as unoccupied
lands, he was eagerly pursuing other measures to
secure his object, when his malicious heart sug
gested to him that he would intimate to the Indian
that we, in company with the French gentlemen,
had arrived with orders from the king to recon
noitre all the lands, which the Indians had usurped
from the Spaniards, to wrest them from their
hands, and to restore them to their lawful owners.
He then informed him that the lands which he
claimed did not belong to him, for there could be
no doubt they were usurped, situated as they were
in the immediate vicinity of his estate. He ad
vised him to give them up of his own accord, and
he would bestow on him some trifling charity in
consideration of their value ; but if he refused to
listen to his advice, as we were there on his estate,
and as this was the express object of our tour, he
would present a complaint against him, by means
of which he would not only be deprived of his
lands by a legal process, but would be punished as
a usurper of another man's property. The In
dian, whose simplicity (which is natural to the
whole race) could not penetrate the depraved de
sign of the man who deceived him, supposing that
artfully contrived falsehood to be true, did not hes
itate to abandon them, and leave them free from
encumbrance ; and in order to make it impossible
that they should revert to him, should he discover
8*

90 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the fraud, the Spaniard purchased the seeds which
had already been sown.
Others avail themselves of measures still more
iniquitous than the preceding ; instigating the over
seers of their estates to persecute them ; stirring
them up to anger, in order to find an occasion for
oppressing them, and inducing them by these means
(driven as they are to desperation by the proximity
of the Spaniards) to sell their lands for any thing
they are willing to give them, and to retire to
some more remote district, where they may enjoy
repose. The owners of estates secure to themselves two
important ends in despoiling the Indians of their
lands : the first is, that they enlarge thereby their
own estates, as we have just seen ; and the second,,
that those Indians who have been thus disabled
from working on their own account may be com
pelled to perform a voluntary meta service. On the
other hand, it is scarcely known to the governor
and curates that the Indian has received the pro
ceeds of a forced and profitless sale, than they de
vise means — the former by fomenting quarrels,
and the latter by celebrating saints' days — to get
that money into their own hands, the poor Indian
being stripped of his lands, as well as of the paltry
price he had received for them. The persecuted
wretch, finding himself destitute of means to
support his family and pay the tribute money

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 91
when it becomes due, to escape famishing in a fac
tory, is compelled to sell himself on an estate that
his master may assume the debt ; hence has re
sulted the unpeopling of the whole country, inas
much as poverty, anguish, and unremitting toil
waste away the health of whole families, until they
die worn out with fatigue and hunger.
In the same way as the Indians are stripped of
their lands, when they are weak and defenceless,
they are also deprived of whatever pertains to
them in the form of an inheritance, an evidence
of which may be found in what is actually taking
place in Quito. Among the nunneries erected in
that city, there is one of St. Clair, a royal founda
tion, which was instituted in behalf of the daugh
ters of the caciques, that they might take the veil
in it ; for although noble by birth, they were re
fused admittance into the other corporations until
their complaints came to the knowledge of his
majesty, when he decreed that this should be built
for their benefit. Few Indian women were in
clined to take the veil ; and to augment the number
of the nuns, it was proposed 'to receive those who
belonged to Spanish families ; but as the number
of the latter gradually augmented, they took the
control of the convent, and refused to receive, in
the character of nuns, any more inmates of Indian
extraction ; and it is only in case of great impor
tunity that they condescend to receive them as

92 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
laics, that is, as maid-servants, with the privilege
of wearing the habit of the order. Several ca
ciques (and among them one who would not con
sent that his daughter should take the habit of a
laic, instead of the black veil, and who met with
opposition from the other nuns) presented their com
plaints to the Audience, entreating the protector to
defend their suit ; but they failed to obtain redress,
not being able to find either in the courts or in the
protector the justice and protection they desired.
In this way they lost the privilege of having their
daughters admitted as nuns in the only convent
that had been constructed for their benefit, The
result is the same in every thing relative to their
privileges and immunities, for the disadvantage is
always on their side ; this infringement of their
rights depending on the want of patronage on the
part of the protector.
In proof of our assertion that it is against the
Indian that the persecution is directed, and upon
him that the weight of injustice falls most heavily,
although we regard the statements already made
as quite sufficient to convince every one of the
facts in question, we think it proper to add what
took place in respect to the Indians under our own
observation. In 1741, when Vice Admiral Anson laid waste
Payta, with a view to defend the port of Atacames
and to protect the road just opened to Esmeralda?,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 93
felons and culprits were released from prison, and1
sent thither from Quito, and, being divided into
several companies, some were destined for Guaya
quil, and others for Atacames and Esmeraldas.*
In order to transport these troops and carry the
necessary supplies, the mules were seized with
their drivers for this purpose ; and as the end pro
posed was the service of the king and the common
cause of the country, it was determined that no
compensation should be made to the owners.
This measure would not have been ill judged if,
as it comprised the Indians, it had been made to
extend equally to all the inhabitants of Quito and
other wealthy towns, where large droves are pas
tured on the estates to carry the produce to market ;

* It is still customary to employ the mules of the Indiana
at a reduced price in the service of the government. When
Mr. Pickett, late commissioner to Quito, arrived at Baba-
hoyo, in 1838, he applied to the governor for pack mules
to facilitate his journey to Quito. The same evening, he ob
served that the number he had asked for were placed in an
enclosure near his lodgings ; but, having noticed the mu
leteers standing at the gate, he went out to ascertain the
cause of it. He was told that they had sold their vegetables
in the port, and were to take in exchange a quantity of salt,
an article which some in the interior never taste, on account
of its scarcity. The commissioner, moved with pity, in
formed the governor that he should not accept the mules on
such conditions, but should restore them to their owners.
The result was, that they were immediately laid hold of for
the benefit of a less scrupulous traveller. Even unsuccessful
efforts to do justice are worth recording. — Tb.

94 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
but, although it might have been so intended,
it was riot executed in that equitable manner ; for
not only the clergy, but those of the laity, who
had a greater interest than other classes in the
defence and safety of their country and wealth,
resisted the order, and excused themselves, some
alleging their immunities as ecclesiastics, and
others the dignity of their rank, the whole burden
falling ultimately upon the Indian, to aggravate
his misery. These poor men, whose whole stock
consists of four or six mules distributed to them by
the corregidor, and whose service furnishes them a
support, as well as the means of paying the trib
ute, were by these measures deprived of this tri
fling source of profit. They were compelled to
perform the journey, and, owing to the roughnesses
of the road, the mules became exhausted and in
capable of travelling ; to this result the change of
climate contributed not a little, for those animals,
being accustomed to the cold paramos or heaths
of the Province of Quito, had to undergo the heat
and continual moisture of the forests which lay on
their route. So great was the destruction of
mules on that occasion, that not a twentieth part
of those who set out on their journey reached their
destination, and those which returned from the
coast perished in passing through the forests. of
Esmeraldas, some before and others after they
had reached the paramo, so that the loss to the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 95
owners was total, and without any indemnity for
their hire or for the expense of the journey. It is
easy to imagine in what condition these wretched
men were left, for, as they have no other occupa
tion than that of mule-drivers, and possess no
other resources than the hire of their mules, they
were deprived even of the hope either of recover
ing their loss, of supporting their families, or of
paying their annual contribution.
The existence of these evils being admitted, it
remains to be seen whether any remedy can be
devised ; and, as it is undeniable that they originate
in the unfaithfulness of the Indian protectors, we
shall consider the two causes from which, in our
opinion, this want of fidelity proceeds. The first
is, the fixed determination of all who go to Amer
ica, holding public stations, to amass a fortune,
without scruple as to the means used ; for the
Indian advocates are not in general less eager
than others in their desires to accumulate wealth.
The second cause is, that these functionaries are
not ordinarily acquainted with the language of
those tribes in whose behalf they are employed —
an acquisition quite as necessary to them as it is
to the parish priests ; nor will a superficial knowl
edge be sufficient, for, as the language of the In
dians abounds in figures and allegory, in order to
the right understanding of these, a thorough knowl
edge of their idiom is indispensable. Such being

96 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the case, only one resource occurs to us, which
will excite surprise, merely because it has never
been reduced to practice ; and this is, that the va
cancies of the fiscal advocates, together with the
titlesj authority, and privileges annexed to them;
should be filled by the eldest sons of the caciques,
This idea, which at first view may appear mon
strous, as it has never before been suggested, and
as it is apparently liable to serious objections, will,
when viewed more nearly, be stripped of its
imaginary terrors ; for, after mature reflection, it
will be found to have so much weight as not only
to remove every objection, but to recommend it
self as the only effectual means of securing the
due accomplishment of the laws, so wisely enacted
by our sovereigns in favor of the Indians. By this
means only would they be protected against the
unrestrained warfare now carried on against them
by their corregidors, as well as from the lawless
impositions of the parish priests and the inhuman
outrages committed upon them by landholders,
mestizoes, and other petty tyrants. We shall be
met at once with the first objection and the most
powerful one which the avarice of their oppressors
has to advance against so admirable a provision ;
for, as it in no wise tends to their emolument, they
would be eager to assail it with atrocious false
hoods, in order to perpetuate their tyranny.
The first measure employed to displace these

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 97
protectors would be, to allege that the Indians,
availing themselves of the authority and protection
conceded to them, would cast off fear, and rise in
rebellion, constituting to themselves a king of their
own nation. This is the phantom invented to in
timidate, in order that no innovations should be
made in the government which they have so in-
iquitously instituted ; but these imaginary fears
would have no influence in the minds of the sec
retaries in Spain, if they had an accurate idea of
the peculiarities, the nature, and genius of the In
dians, who are by no means predisposed to riots
or insurrections. Nothing proves this assertion
more clearly than a view of the imposts heaped
upon them by caprice, to which they submit with
out having their minds irritated, or affected by any
other emotion than that of grief, which is inherent
in beings of a mild and childlike disposition, True
it is that, when once got into the fray, — as the
phrase is there, — they are not intimidated by chas
tisement or death ; all means of reconciliation are
unavailing, until they are exterminated ; but this
arises from the fact that, when they are driven to
these desperate resolutions, they count it a greater
happiness to die in the onset than to return again
to a state of bondage. Hence it is that those who
once rebel, and abandon their villages, cannot be
reconquered or held again in subordination; the
truth of which we experience in the Araucanian
9

98 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PER0.
• *
Indians of Chili, the inhabitants of Quixos and
Macas, frontiers of the Province of Quito, and
lastly, in the Chunchos, all of whom have thrown
off their allegiance to their sovereign.
In order to ascertain the firm basis on which
this opinion is founded, we have only to look back
to the last rebellion of the Indians of the modem
missions, bordering on the Provinces of Jauja and
Tarma. Although it had been in contemplation
for forty years, it was confined at its commence
ment to two thousand Indians, and the grand mo
tive which induced them to throw off their allegi
ance was to rid themselves of the vexations and
persecutions of the parish priests ; for, not having
been as yet subject to tribute, the argument em
ployed by their chief to entice them was, that he
wished only to rescue them from the oppression of
the Spaniards. Had they been a people inclined
to revolt, not an Indian would have remained in
all the settlements of Peru, but they would all
have gone over to the rebel party, so much have
they to undergo, and such is the cruelty and con
tempt with which they are treated. Should any
doubt still remain on this point, let the masses of that
nation be compared with those in Europe, where
there is scarcely a demagogue who raises a cry in
any province but he is instantly joined by a greater
part of the population, and we shall see how di
verse from this is the spirit of the Indians, in spite

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 99
t
of the oppression they are made to suffer. But to
form a more accurate idea of what we have just
advanced, we shall relate an occurrence which
took place during our residence in Quito, and
which will be sufficient to confirm the truth of it.
In the jurisdiction of Ibarra, in the town of
Mira, there lived a parish priest with whom we had
some degree of friendly intercourse ; he was also
one of the many in whom the passion of avarice
predominates with unbridled excess ; and although
recently presented to the benefice, he sought to
oppress the Indians by attempting to strip them of
all their lands, and to make them over to himself.
His ambition appears to have had no bounds, inas
much as he obliged the owners of the lands to cul
tivate them, by converting their personal labor te
his own emolument. The Indians became so strait
ened by these and many other acts of extortion,
and the cacique finding that the tyranny of the
priest had driven the people to desperation, went
to Quito, to present a complaint to the bishop. It
appeared to that prelate, who had a sense of jus
tice, that a severe admonition would suffice to put
a stop to the encroachments of the priest; but
quite the contrary took place ; for, being enraged
at the rebuke, he hurled his vengeance upon the
cacique, and accused him of a project of rebellion,
with a view to proceed with other Indians to the
mountains, and thus depopulate the village. He

100 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
sent up this false summary to the Audience ; and,
hoping to provoke the cacique to some imprudent
act, which would justify the measure, he laid hold
of his eldest son and made him a servant, sending
him out to do the office of stable boy. The ca
cique was exceedingly wounded by this insult, but
did not vent his anger in the way the curate sup
posed he would ; but, anxious to avenge his honor
by a legal process, he proceeded to Quito, pre
sented himself before the Audience, taking with
him some Indians as witnesses, and acquitted him
self of the charge so maliciously preferred against
him by the priest. He complained before the tri
bunal of the dreadful outrages committed by the
priest, not only against him, but against all the In
dians of his chiefdom, and of that which he had
just been guilty of in degrading his eldest son to
such a low station. The Audience referred these
just complaints to the bishop, that he might enter
a suit against the priest. The bishop summoned
him to appear, and rebuked him with still greater
severity, commanding him to give satisfaction to
the offended cacique, and to reform his conduct,
The revengeful priest promised so to do, and the
bishop, believing his feigned show of repentance
to be sincere, gave him a license, after some days,
to return to his curacy.
The priest set out to go to his village, and had
scarcely arrived, when he sent for the cacique, to

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 101
execute upon him his premeditated vengeance.
The cacique promptly appeared before him, and
the priest, bursting with rage, ordered him to lie
down on the floor, as he would a slave whom he
was going to punish, — insulting, by such vile
treatment, the person, the dignity, and the ad
vanced age of the cacique, — telling him after
wards that he did all that to let him know
the consequences of having presented complaints
against the priesthood. The abashed cacique
removed from that town to another of the same
department, and despatched several Indians to
Quito to lay before the Audience the inefficacy
of the measures they had adopted. About this
time we arrived at Mira, and the Indians of the
town communicated to us all that had taken place ;
but nothing wounded the cacique more deeply
than having had imputed to him falsely the charge
of rebellion, thereby fastening upon him the infa
mous blot of treason, and he inquired with great
discretion for what cause he was to offend his lord
the king by an , act of rebellion, when he had re
ceived such favors from his royal clemency, and
when it was the curate only who did him the
wrong ; or how he could commit a base act to
compromise his honor and fidelity, that the curate
might triumph at the expense of his reputation
and good conduct. This he repeated to us again,
and uniformly held the same language to his
9*

102 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
townsmen, as we have heard them frequently say,
In view of the last complaint made by the injured
cacique, and of others, presented by the Spaniards
and mestizoes of the town, the Audience named a
judge to make an investigation and substantiate
what had there occurred, the bishop having previ
ously named a substitute for that curacy. The
attorney came to reside at the farm-house where
we had taken up our quarters, and the proceedings
were instituted with great formality, inasmuch as
the whole vicinity were comprised in the aggres
sions of the curate ; for had the Indians alone
been the sufferers, there is no doubt but injustice
would have triumphed. We returned to Quito,
and as we enjoyed the confidence and esteem of
the bishop, he begged us, when we visited him, to
acquaint us with the truth : we did so, and that
prelate was deeply affected with the extreme suf
ferings of the Indians, assuring us that, while he
held the office, that priest should return neither to
the curacy of Mira nor to any other, notwithstanding
many proofs of consideration which the bishop
had shown him previous to that unrighteous act
In fine, the cacique and the Indians owed their ac
quittal to the accidental visit we made there, having
been ourselves eye-witnesses of his bad conduct —
a circumstance without which, notwithstanding the
excess to which he carried his tyranny, the priest
would have repelled all the charges alleged against

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 103
him, the Indians would have remained in a worse
condition than before, and the cacique under the
odious imputation of treasonable designs.
Let us reflect, now, whether the suffering under
gone by this cacique and his Indians would not
have been sufficient, in any other tribe less unre
sisting and more warlike and turbulent, to stir
them up to insurrection, and to take vengeance on
the priest for themselves ; and the more so, when
there was no one in that village who could with
stand them ; and should not this be the case, would
it be possible to impede their penetrating as far as
the Andes, had they wished to do so, especially as
this chain of mountains is so contiguous to that
village, that, within four hours' time, they could
have made their escape to a free country, inhabited
by Gentile Indians — a distance which would be to
those natives only what it is to us to cross a street ?
No doubt can remain that their not having done it
at that time was the effect of their passiveness and
loyalty. Being then no longer able to submit to
such injustice and cruelty, they abandoned their
villages and wretched huts, and spread themselves
over others belonging to the same jurisdiction, al
lowing time for the fearful tempest which had
been raised against them to subside. In view of
this, we cannot entertain the belief that they would
be guilty of treason, under a less rigorous system
of government, when we find they are not so, in

104 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
spite of so many injuries and provocations ; for
how can we believe that cruelty or severity should
inspire them with sentiments of loyalty and love to
their king, and that kind treatment should trans
form them into rebels — above all, when they are
so fond of attention and caresses, that they ac
count it an excess of kindness on the part of a
master, when he throws them the fragments of
what he has partaken of himself, esteeming as
they do a morsel of bread bitten by his mouth, or
the licking of a plate from which he has eaten,
more than a handful of viands which he has not
touched ? It is regarded by them as a mark of es
teem on the part of those whom they serve to have
assigned them a place near to themselves, to enjoy
the privilege of lying upon the floor, near to the
foot of their master's bed ; even any circumstance^
however trivial, which argues a feeling of regard,
is to them a matter of satisfaction and boasting.
If, on the other hand, we turn our attention to
their loyalty, we shall find no nation in the world
who speak of their sovereign with more respect
and veneration. They never take his name into
their mouths without prefixing the title of Lord, as
we have already observed ; at the same time un
covering their heads, a ceremony which neither
the parish priests nor the governors have taught
them, for these do not put it in practice, nor have
they seen the example in any Spaniard, and yet

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 105
they never fail to be scrupulous in the observance
of it. Their usual mode of address is, " the Lord
King," and sometimes, agreeably to the subject,
" our Lord the King," as if it were irreverent to
speak of the sovereign in any other manner.
Doubtless this is owing to the fact, that, having
heard the titles, Lord- Viceroy, Lord President, Lord
Bishop, (this being an established usage in those
countries,) they have persuaded themselves, and
not without reason, that if such respect is due to
subjects, it is much more becoming to observe it
towards a sovereign. All this manifests the ven
eration, esteem, and love with which they treat his
Majesty, and it is a thing worthy of admiration in
a tribe so rude and so destitute of mental culture,
and who have come to know only by information
from a distant source that they have a king ; and
hence it is that they become more entitled to have
their loyalty and love to their prince rewarded by
kind and humane treatment, as well as by marks
of esteem, when they have not rendered them
selves unworthy of it by any improper behavior.
Should any apprehension of a rebellion exist
on the part of any of the inhabitants of the south
ern countries, it ought to fall on the Creoles or
mestizoes, who are the chief cause of tumults,
addicted as they are to idleness, and wholly aban
doned to vice ; but as we are to treat of this sub
ject more in detail, we shall leave it for the chapter
to which it corresponds.

CHAPTER IV.
Extortions which the Indians suffer»from the Parish Priests,
— Corrupt Morals and scandalous Life of the Clergy, both
secular and regular.
In view of all that has been said relative to the
rapacity of the corregidors in their unjust repar
timientos, the barbarity of the meta, the sequestra
tion of landed property, want of protection in the
courts of justice, and the rapid diminution of the
Indians, occasioned by unremitted toil while they
are in health, and in the utter want of resource in
time of sickness, it appears as if a greater degree
of wretchedness could not fall to the lot of this
people, or that the burdens under which they
already groan would be sufficient to crush them.
But as they are found to have strength to suffer in
necessity, and a disposition, owing to the simplici'
ty of their nature, to submit to authority, the re
sources of avarice are never exhausted, and the
desire of domineering is never satisfied ; and the
result is, that even those from whom they ought to
receive consolation, and to whom they are to look
for redress, impose upon them still heavier bur
dens, render their sufferings more acute, and drive
them to the very verge of despair.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 107
All these calamities are brought upon the In
dians by_ Jheir jaarish priests, who, while they
should be their spiritual fathers and their pro
tectors against the unrighteous extortions of the
corregidors, do themselves go hand in hand with
the latter to wrest from the poor Indian the fruit
of his incessant toil, even at the cost of the blood
and sweat of a tribe whose condition is so deplora
ble that, while they have' abundant means to en
rich and aggrandize others, are destitute of a
scanty allowance of bread for their own meagre
sustenance. In the preceding chapter we men
tioned incidentally the avarice of that unfeeling
priest who not only oppressed his parishioners until
his tyranny became insupportable, obliging them
to abandon their wretched hovels as soon as he
learnt the complaints which the chief had mod
estly laid before the bishop and Court of Audience,
but forged to this prelate, for malicious purposes, a
heap of charges, the very idea of which made
that noble and respectable Indian shudder. This
is the reason why the corregidors accuse the chiefs
with impunity, when they endeavor to resist the
endless extortions made upon their villages, name
ly, that the curates cannot confront them at the
tribunal, because they are even more guilty than
they, by using artifices no less iniquitous, and im
posing taxes no less unjust. .
The curacies of Peru are of two sorts — some

108 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
of them being superintended by a bishop, and
others by the provincial of one of the religious
orders. In the former, appointments are made by
wrangling, or a public disputation, and the dispu
tants are required to undergo an examination in
the language of the Inca, by which is meant the
language of all the Indians of Peru. The wran
gling for presentation to vacant curacies being con
cluded, the proceedings of which are held in the
palace of the bishop, in presence of the dignita
ries of the church, who sit as judges, the votes are
taken, and the bishop makes a list of those who
have most distinguished themselves, of which
number he selects three for each curacy, one of
whom is afterwards nominated by the viceroy or
president, who delivers him the credentials or de
spatches to which he is entitled.
As soon as the parish priests are promoted to
their cures, they usually bend all their efforts to
amassing wealth ; and for this purpose they have
devised various measures, by which they appropri
ate to themselves the pittance which may have
remained to the Indian, and which has escaped the
rapacity Of the corregidor. One of their devices
is that of the fraternities, and they have formed.
such a number of them in every village that every
corner of the churches is filled with images, and
each of these has its corresponding fraternity,;
and in order not to withdraw the Indians from their

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 109
tasks, the celebration of those saints' days which
occur during week-time is postponed to the follow
ing Sunday.
The Sunday at length arrives on which a saint's
festival is to be celebrated, and the sum of four
dollars and a half is to be collected by the over
seers, which is the fee for high mass, and an equal
amount for the sermon, which consists in merely
repeating four words in praise of the saint, without
any other labor or study than enunciating in the
Peruvian language the first thing that suggests
itself to the mind ; and when this is over, the In
dians are required to; defray the expense of the
procession, the wax, and the incense. All this is
to be paid in ready money, as soon as the fes
tival is over, (for church fees are always to be
paid instantly ;) to this is to be added the custom
ary offering which the overseers are compelled to
make to the curate on every saint's festival, which
consists of two or three dozen hens, as many
chickens, guinea pigs, eggs, sheep, and a hog, if
they happen to have any ; so that when the saint's
day arrives, the curate sweeps off all that the In
dian has been able to collect in money during the
whole year, and also all the fowls and animals
which his wife and children have reared in their
huts, so that his family are left wholly destitute of
food, or have no other aliment than wild roots or
plants which they cultivate in their small gardens.
10

110 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
The Indian who has not been able to rear a suffi
cient number of animals for the customary offer
ing, is bound of necessity to purchase them ; and
should he not have the money, as is usually, the
case, he is to take it upon a pledge, or hire it for
the time required, in order to obtain it and pay it
without delay. As soon as the sermon of the
day is concluded, the curate reads a paper on
which he has inscribed the names of those who
are to be masters of ceremonies for the festival
of the following year, and if any one does not
accept it of his free will, he is forced to give his
consent by dint of blows; and when his day
comes, there is no apology that can exonerate
him from having the money ready ; for, until it is
all collected and delivered to the curate, mass is
not said, the sermon is not preached, and the whole
service is deferred until three or four in the after
noon, if necessary, to allow time to collect the
amount, as we have had occasion to observe re
peatedly. In order to be more thoroughly acquainted with
the excess to which this is carried, and the enor
mous profits made by the curates at these festivals,
it seems proper to mention here what a curate of
the Province of Quito told us as we were passing
through his curacy, which was, that, including the
festivals and the commemoration of departed souls,
he collected every year more than two hundred

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. Ill
sheep, six thousand hens and chickens, four thou
sand guinea pigs, and fifty thousand eggs, the
record of which is preserved as it was originally
written in our manuscript. It should be remarked
that this curacy was not one of the most lucrative.
Let an estimate, then, be made on these data of
the amount of money that might be obtained,
and on the supposition that the whole is raised
from a nation or tribe who have no other means
of gain than their personal labor, or a very re
duced salary when they labor for others, — how is
it possible that such stipends should be paid to the
curates ? We are forced to the conclusion that
such contributions could be sustained in no way
but by tasking to the utmost not only men and
women, but a whole family, in order to exact the
payment of the sum total of their earnings during
the whole year.*
* The same custom prevails still throughout the Province
of Quito. While I was at Otavalo, a gentleman informed
me that the parish priest of that town had sold the offerings for
the dead (collected in November) for three hundred dollars.
Being on a tour in the country in the year 1835, 1 observed
that the offerings of bread and various articles of food (such
as had been most to the taste of the deceased) were depos
ited near the grave. On further inquiry, I learned that they
were afterwards collected and sold by the curate, although
the deceased was supposed to have partaken of the sub
stance of them. A gentleman informed me that he had
seen a bull tied near the grave of a man who had distin
guished himself at bull-fighting, as if such a testimony of
remembrance would solace his departed spirit. — Te.

112 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
Besides the feast of the fraternity, (for some
saint's festival never fails to be celebrated every
Sunday and holiday,) they have that of All-
Souls' month, when it is required of every Indian
to carry his offering to the church, which , consists
of the same articles as those of the ordinary feasts ;
and after they are placed on the graves, the curate
passes round to say a response over each of thera,
while his servants collect the offerings. This con
tinues the whole month of November ; and in
order to have no day omitted, the curate divides
them among the estates and villages annexed to
his curacy ; the Indians of such estates or villages
meet on the day allotted them, and besides the
pfferings, they are to pay the alms gift usual at
mass. What takes place with regard to the wine
deserves more particular mention, wine being one
of the customary offerings for the dead ; but that
climate does not produce it, and it is very difficult
to obtain it in those provinces which are so remote
from the coast ; ingenuity, however, has devised
means of supplying the want of it. For the pur
pose in question, the curate orders a portion of that
which is used at mass to be put in one or two bot
tles, and it is hired out, at two or three reals, (ac
cording to the quantity,) to the first Indian woman
who stands waiting with her offering to have a
response said ; and when this is done, the offering
is collected in baskets, but the wine (being again

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 113
hired out) passes to another grave, and so contin
ues to make the whole circuit of the church, earn
ing as many fees as there are graves, this process
going on every day during the whole month of
November. On all the Sundays on which the " doctrine " is
prescribed to be read to the people prior to mass,
every Indian woman is to carry an egg to the cu
rate, as the statutes require, or something equiva
lent ; but in addition to this, which is the whole
extent of their obligation, the curates compel the
Indians to bring to them each a bundle of sticks,
while the Indian boys and girls, who come every
afternoon to the " doctrine," are to bring a truss
of hay, according to the measure of their feeble
ability, to feed the horses and cattle which belong
to the parish priest. By having recourse to such
methods, they have no occasion to spend money
for any thing ; and while they are maintained by
the Indians, they become rich at their expense, for
all the offerings they can accumulate are sent to
market to the neighboring cities, hamlets, and
mining towns, and are converted into money. By
these means, they augment the revenue of a cura
cy to such a degree, that, although the customary
fees might not exceed seven or eight hundred
dollars, it gives them an income of five or six
thousand dollars annually, and there are many
which greatly exceed that amount. But all which
10*

114 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
has been said hitherto scarce deserves to be named
in comparison of what takes place in curacies held
by monks, for it appears as if in these the spirit
of Oppression had been carried to its utmost
bounds. This arises in part from the fact that, as
these priests are subject to be removed, they en
deavor to raise in the mean time the greatest
amount possible, having no other object in view
than to retire upon an estate, after their term of
office has expired.
As it_jSspects_rotatipn _in_P.ffiee, two methods
are adopted : one is practised in the Province of
Quito, which is that of declaring vacancies and
filling them up at the meeting of every chapter ;
the other obtains in all the rest of Peru, where the
curates are allowed to hold their office as long as
they wish, unless some good reason be assignedy
which may make it necessary to depose one and
substitute another. To supply these vacancies', no
examination is requisite, but merely the form of
presenting the names of three candidates to the
provincial, who makes choice of one, as he does
in the case of the secular clergy ; but in what way
soever the vacancy be filled, the curate who
comes into office, or who continues in office, must
always contribute to the provincial of his order
the amount stipulated for each curacy ; and should
any one come forward and offer more, the resident
curate is obliged to make up the amount, or other-

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 115
wise the vacancy will be filled by his competitor.
The_sum-given for each curacy is so enormous as
to exceed all credibility. At present it will suffice
to say that this is based upon the revenue that it
can be made to yield. This tax falls directly
upon the Indians ; for, in addition to what the cu
rate expects to raise for his own benefit,- he must
likewise raise the amount to be contributed to the
provincial ; and as this is repeated at the meeting
of every chapter, it is impossible to give an ade
quate idea of the burdened condition of the In
dians, for the monks are more cruel and oppressive
than the secular clergy. The measures which they
resort to in order to accumulate wealth, and which,
however painful the task, we are about to describe,'
may offend the ear, and exceed the bounds of
credibility, so difficult is it to yield our assent to
them. We do therefore protest, that, in regard to
every statement we have to make, nothing has
been added, and nothing has been exaggerated,
and we have always scrupulously observed a dis
tinction between what we have ourselves seen and
what we have learnt by report.
It is natural to suppose, that, after the curates
have availed themselves as far as possible of the
service of the Indians, they would do the same with
the Indian women and children ; for which purpose,
while the priest on his part keeps the " mill at
work," (this is another phrase for tyranny, as used

116 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
by the curates,) he instructs his concubine to do the
same on her part. This woman, who is known as
such, and without exciting surprise, because it is
every where so common, takes under her charge all
the Indian women and children, and, converting the
whole village into a manufactory, she assigns to
some, tasks in spinning wool or cotton, and to oth
ers, pieces for weaving ; and to the aged, and to
those who are incapable of performing this service,
she gives hens, and imposes on them the obligation
of delivering to her, within a definite time, ten or
twelve chickens for each one ; it being their duty
to feed them at their own expense, and, if .they
should die, to replace them with others ; and by
these means no one is exempted from contributing
something to the revenue of the curate.
His own farm is to be cultivated on Sundays and
holidays, and for this purpose some one of the In
dians must be present with his cattle, and those who
have none must appear in person ; and they per
form the operations of sowing, harrowing, and
reaping, at no greater cost than a mere word of
command. Thus, on those days which God re
quires to be wholly devoted to his service and ado
ration, that all may rest from the labors of the
week, the curate relaxes the obligation of a solemn
precept for his own emolument, or for the benefit
of a concubine; and because these things. are so
repugnant to reason as to become incredible, we

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 117
shall cite an example, of which one of us was an
eye-witness, in order that the statements which fol
low may not be regarded with distrust.*
It is customary, in all the curacies, to apportion
the days of Lent among all the estates in the dis
trict, in order that they may send their Indians to
confession, at the time prescribed by the church.
In the year 1744, one of our company was re
siding on the estate of Colimbuela, near to a moun
tain pass where we had to make observations in
the Province of Quito, and not far from a curacy,
to which its spiritual jurisdiction belonged ; and
on this account he went to that village to hear
mass on a feast day, where he found assembled a
number of Indians of the same estate, to make
confession ; but the priest, instead of administering
to them this sacrament, kept both the men and
women in constant employment — the latter in the
corridors of the yard, where they were weaving
the tasks of cotton and wool, which had been as
signed them by the lady of the curate, and the
former, in ploughing and sowing the fields, so that
* In the year 1836, I spent a few days in Cotocollo, a
beautiful country town in the vicinity of Quito. On Sunday
morning, I observed a number of Indians working silently
in the neighborhood of a farm-house. On expressing my
surprise that no day of rest should be allowed to the Indians,
I was told that the field belonged to the curate, who claimed
the right to set aside the divine precept, when any service
was to be performed for the good of the church.— Tr.

118 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
they had been at work the whole day, mass having
been said at a very early hour, in order to gain
time. The overseer of the estate, who happened
to be in the village that day, remarked that after
they had concluded their tasks they went home,
but that he did not know the manner or time in
which the curate confessed them, assuring him
that this practice was generally adopted in respect
to the Indians of the other estates ; and thus,
during the whole period of Lent, and for a month
and a half following, the priest enjoyed the same
advantage, having at his disposal as many Indians
as he required.
What occasioned greater scandal was, that those
who made up the choir of the church were busj
at weaving, nor did they suspend their work dur
ing the time that mass was saying, so that it is
easy to imagine what a degree of irreverence was
occasioned by the bustle of the hand looms. After
mass had been said, and the people were gone out,
the church was closed, and the Indians were shut
in, just as they are in the mills ; and their occupa
tion could not be disguised, because the noise of
the frames or weaving-rods could be distinctly
heard from without.
The unfeeling manner in which they are treat
ed after their death, corresponds with the conduct
observed towards them while they are living ; for
they would consent to havi their carcasses exposed

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 119
on the highway, to be mangled by dogs, and de
voured by vultures, rather than give them burial, or
show any semblance of pity, until the charity of
survivors has collected and paid the whole amount
of the church fees. Of this there are palpable
instances at almost every step, in journeying from
one farm to another ; but if the deceased has left
aught behind, the curate becomes universal heir,
collecting together utensils and live stock, and
stripping his wife and children of every thing they
possessed. The method of doing it, as well as the
mode of legalizing the fraud, is very peculiar ; it
consists in making for the deceased a sumptuous
funeral, however repugnant it may be to the views
of the interested parties ; and this furnishes pre
text enough for the curate to engross it all to him
self. In vain do the heirs enter a complaint ; in
vain does the protector demand satisfaction ; for
the curate presents his account of burial expenses,
— the tolling of the bell, the masses and prayers
said over the body, — and, as the whole is in con
formity with the tariff, he maintains his ground
and is finally acquitted.
The wretched state of the Indian is to be attrib
uted to the vices of the priests, the extortions of
the .corregidors, and the bad treatment which they
generally receive from all Spaniards. Unable to
endure their hardships, and longing to escape from
bondage, many of them have risen in rebellion,

120 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
and found their way to unconquered districts, there
to continue in the barbarous practices of their idol
atrous neighbors; and in view of the foregoing,
what conclusions are they to form from the scan-
dalous lives of their parish priests? especially
when we reflect that the Indian is but partialy
civilized, and taught rather by example than by
precept. Religious instruction can make no im
pression upon them if they witness just the reverse
of what is taught in the conduct of their spiritual
guides ; for, although they are enjoined to love
God with all the heart, and their neighbors as them
selves, if they find neither the one precept nor the
other exhibited in the lives of those who are to
point out to them the way, it is not strange that
they should slight religion, and treat it with con
tempt, regarding it as a thing so superficial and
external as to make it consist only in words, and
not in faith or works. *
The village of Pimampiro, attached to the de
partment of the city of Miguel in Ibarra, presents
a melancholy example of the evils resulting from
the unjust extortions of the parish priests. Agree
ably to records which are still existing, that town
consisted of more than five thousand^ souls, all
Indians, and it was a flourishing settlement. The
behavior of the curate drove them to desperation.
Uniting in one body, they rose in rebellion, and
proceeded by night to the Cordilleras, where they

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 121
merged themselves with the Gentile Indians, with
whom they have continued until the present time.
The site they now occupy is so near to the limits
of that department that the smoke of their huts
may be seen by merely taking the trouble to
ascend the neighboring summits. Some of these
Indians have occasionally appeared in the town
of Mira, the nearest settlement to their villages,
and have disappeared again with the greatest
precipitation. Examples of the same nature may be found in
the loss of the famous city of Logrono and the
village of Guariboya, which constituted the chief
part of the jurisdiction of Quixos and Macas,
whose capital, Seville, (Sevilla del Oro,) now re
duced to ruins, exists only as a sad memorial of
the ruin that befell them. This country is so rich
in gold that the capital derived its name from the
abundance of that metal which it yielded, and its
inhabitants still preserve the scales in which the
amount of one fifth was weighed, to be deposited
in the king's exchequer ; but the corregidors on
the one hand, and the curates on the other, re
duced the Indians to such straits* by compelling
them to labor for their benefit, that they were
driven to the necessity of rising in rebellion, and,
in imitation of what was executed upon Pedro
Valdivia by the natives of Arauco, Tucapel, and
others, they melted a great quantity of gold, and
11

122 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
poured it into the ears and nostrils of the Span
iards ; they put all the men to death, reserving the
women, whom they took with them in their retreat
to the wilderness of Macas, after having laid,
waste that city and other neighboring towns.
Seville and Zuna were the only settlements that
escaped the vengeance of the Indians ; but they
have become so depopulated by frequent incur
sions of hostile tribes, that the township is so re
duced and impoverished that no money circulates
among them. But to show how unfriendly the
scandalous conduct of the parish priests is, not
only to the preservation of the villages origi
nally conquered, but to the conversion of Gentile
tribes, we shall present a case which occurred of
late years, and which proves our assertion beyond
a doubt. An Indian, who appeared clandestinely in the
town of Eiobamba, left the site where once stood
the village of Goamboya, and proceeded imme
diately to the house of a clergyman who resided
there, and whose integrity was unquestionable, to
whom he observed that he came in behalf of his
own tribe and of several others of the same neigh
borhood, to notify him that they would like to have
him for their curate, to baptize them and say mass,
and that they would give him his maintenance in
return, and if the terms were agreed to, they
would furnish him as much gold as he required

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 123
and as many wives as were to his liking, but that
he must go alone, accompanied neither by Span
iards nor mestizoes, nor any other priest whatever,
and concluded by saying that the reason why they
were so favorably inclined towards him was, the
good report they had had of his conduct, having
learnt that his avarice ' was not so insatiable as
was that of his associates. The clergyman, jeal
ous of the barbarity common to Indians, replied
that he could not then answer him, but would do so
within a stated time. The Indian showed signs of
disappointment; but having named a day when he
should receive the reply, he pointed out a pass
among the paramos to which the said clergy
man only should repair, and would there be re
ceived by him in company with others of his
tribe, that they might escort him to their territory,
in case he should accept the proposal, but under
the indispensable condition that no one should
accompany him. The Indian again disappeared,
and the ecclesiastic, confounded by the occurrence,
proceeded to Quito, to communicate it to the bishop
of that city, Sr. Paredes, who had been promoted
to that office a short time previous to our arrival in
the province. This prelate inspired him with
Christian boldness to go and undertake the conver
sion of as many unbelievers as were disposed
through his instrumentality to embrace the gospel.
The clergyman, being fully resolved to do so,

124 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
under the first impulse of the fervor inspired by
the arguments and persuasions of the bishop, re
turned to Riobamba; but the pusillanimity of his
irresolute mind wrought such an effect upon him,
that, becoming wholly disheartened, he had not
sufficient resolution to go to the place appointed,
when the period agreed upon had arrived. The
Indian resorted thither, accompanied by others of
his tribe, and lay hid several days ; but finding
that the priest did not appear, he returned to Rio
bamba by night, and visited his favorite curate,
who, although he offered to accede to his request,
added the condition that he was to go in company
with a few Spaniards for security — a thing which
was extremely repugnant to the Indians. The
messenger, finding that he could not secure his
object by dint of entreaty, nor by giving him such
coarse expressions of confidence as his limited
capacity dictated, absented himself the same night
from the town, overwhelmed with disappointment.
The priest immediately spread the news of the
Indian's second visit, and, naming the place where
he had told him he would wait for him, with oth
ers of his tribe, several persons went to reconnoi
tre it, and found manifest indications of people
having been there ; but, although they endeavored
to penetrate farther, for the purpose of discovering
the paths through which the Indians had made
their retreat, they. were unable to do so, every

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 125
vestige of them having disappeared after they had
proceeded a short distance.
This occurrence occasioned great sensation in
that province, and, although it might seem strange
that they should apply to that priest, and should
be acquainted with his character, when they have
no intercourse with those Indians, it will not ap
pear so if we reflect that many Indians of those
villages, harassed by their curates, oppressed by
the corregidors, and grieved at the cruel treatment
they receive on the plantations, disappear, and re
tire to those unconquered wilds to live with the
Gentile Indians, to whom they communicate in
detail every thing that occurs in the conquered
territory and settlements, making them so disaf
fected towards the Spaniards that their reduction
is rendered more difficult than ever. There is no
doubt that the individual who came twice to Rio
bamba was one of this class ; for, besides the cir
cumstance of knowing the priest, and going directly
to his house, he spoke with accuracy the language
of the Incas, which is riot in use among those
tribes of Gentile Indians.
We find in this example sufficient evidence both
of the extreme avarice and scandalous lives of the
priests, as well as of the opinion the Indians must
necessarily entertain of them by what they see in
them and by what they experience from them,
which may be clearly inferred from the declaration
11*

126 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
of the Indian messenger to the priest, that they
would have none but himself to instruct and gov
ern them ; for they believed that he would not en
slave them, as the rest of the Spaniards do, nor
would he consent that others should go with him,
lest, the road being discovered, they should enter
in great numbers, seize their grounds, and enslave
their persons.
The most amusing characteristic of that simple
people, and which most contributes to make them
known to us, is the offer made to furnish the curate
as many wives as he would like ; for the Indians,
having observed that the priests are accompanied
by a female, as the married laity are, and by a
family of children in her train, they are persuaded
that this horrible sacrilege is a lawful act ; while
they, as well as every body else, are eye-witnesses
of such licentious practices, that it is enough to
make the most fearless tremble to see with what
unconcern and self-complacency those priests rise
from the couch of criminal indulgence to cele
brate the holiest sacrifice that the imagination can
conceive. Although the subject is one to be de
plored in silence, rather than to be inscribed on
paper, an earnest desire that such accursed licen
tiousness may be reformed obliges us not to dis
semble or palliate it ; and in further proof of the
unrestrained lewdness of those ecclesiastics, we
must be permitted to mention an instance very

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 127
generally reported in the whole Province of Quito,
although it took place some time previous to our
arrival in that country.
In a village belonging to the jurisdiction of Cu-
enca, the curacy of which pertains to one of the
orders, a friar was serving as curate at a time
that the cacique of the town had a young daughter
who, for an Indian girl, possessed no ordinary
share of beauty.. The curate had used every ar
tifice to accomplish her destruction ; but her own
firmness, as well as the estimable character of her
father, had saved her from falling into the fatal
snare. The curate could not tolerate the contempt
of the Indian woman, and had the impudence to
make known his designs to her father ; but the
latter prided himself so much on the rank of his
family, as well as on the circumstance of his
daughter's being the only heiress of the chiefship,
that he rejected with scorn the wicked and shame
ful proposal. The curate, discovering that the
cacique was unfavorable to his designs, invented a
falsehood (to set aside the difficulty) as perverse
as could be dictated by the infernal spirit himself.
He went to the cacique to ask her in marriage ;
and, with a view to overcome the repugnance
which such a novel occurrence might excite, he told
him that he would obtain a license from his bishop,
in which case he would be allowed to marry. He
further attempted to remove all the doubts which

128 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
might suggest themselves to the mind of the cacique
on the subject, by informing him that, although this
practice was not a common one, such licenses were
generally refused only on the ground that they
could not be burdened with the expense of main
taining the widows and children which might be
come dependent upon them, but that this circum
stance did not obtain in him, inasmuch as he pos
sessed an estate adequate to the support of a fam
ily, not to mention the terms of intimacy in which
he had always lived with the bishop. Finally, he
cited to him false precedents and fictitious docu
ments, by which the cacique was convinced of his
sincerity, and promised him his daughter in mar
riage as soon as he should obtain the requisite per
mission. In order to deceive the cacique, he im
mediately sent an express, although for a very
different purpose; to the provincial of his order in
Quito, and, while awaiting his return, he drew up,
with the aid of his assistant, a false patent, in
which he set forth that that prelate had granted
him a license to marry. The messenger returned,
and when the cacique called , at the curate's to
know the result, he showed him the document, and
the cacique, with evident marks of satisfaction,
congratulated him on the favorable result. The
mock nuptials were celebrated that very night, and
the curate's assistant officiated as priest, without
the presence of witnesses, or any regard to the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 129
usual forms ; for the priest maliciously insinuated
to him that these were not requisite in cases of that
kind. The ceremony was performed, and from
that day they continued to lead a married life.
The Indians of the village spread the report of
the curate's having married the cacique's daugh
ter, but no one could persuade himself to believe
that it could have been so in reality, but supposed
he had taken her as a concubine, it being so com
mon to have such. The occurrence did not attract
much notice at first, and they continued living
together for many years, until, after having had a
numerous family, the fraud was discovered, and the
priest suspended for a time from the duties of the
priestly office. The unfortunate Indian woman
was burdened with children, and the cacique,
grieved for the reproach he had suffered, died soon
after, the heaviest part of the punishment ulti
mately falling on those who had been guilty of no
other crime than that of having listened with cre
dulity to the protestations of a priest.
The credibility of this circumstance rests on its
general notoriety in those countries ; elsewhere, it
might be regarded in the light of a fable ; but, in
a country where a licentious life is so common,
any thing may admit of belief. We cannot assert
it as a positive fact ; but, from what we have ex
perienced, it is by no means difficult to believe it.
During our travels, we used to beguile the tedious-

130 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
ness of the way, by entering into conversation
with our Indian guides ; and the first information
they gave us related to the family of the curate
of the village to which we were going, it being
quite enough to ask after the health of the irife
of the curate, that they might acquaint us with the
number of those whom he had known in that char
acter, the sons and daughters belonging to each
of them, their lineage, and even the most trivial
circumstances connected with the ordinary occur
rences of the village.
From what we have witnessed in respect to
these curacies, we may infer that the whole aim
of those monks, in soliciting such preferments, is
to straiten the Indians, in order to enrich them
selves at their expense, and to live with entire free
dom from restraint ; hence there is not one among
them who covets the rural curacies, which consist
of the modern missions ; for, as those Indians are
not subject to church contributions, the curates are
not at liberty to impose them, and to enforce the
payment of them, as is the case in other districts;
and although the Indians of their own accord cul
tivate one of their farms for the benefit of the cu
rate, yet, as its produce is merely sufficient to sup
ply their necessities, and not to accumulate, it is
not enough to satisfy the cravings of avarice.
Hence those who go to them do so as a penance,
or from caprice, or to make a merit of it, in

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 131
order to secure some benefice in an old settle
ment, rather than from the single desire of employ
ing themselves in the instruction of the Indians ;
and for this reason the few who accept these cura
cies spend the greater part or almost the whole
year in the villages or cities, which they prefer,
and reside on their curacy only during the annual
celebration of the church festivals, which are all
comprised within the short term of fifteen or twenty
days, and they take their departure from them as
soon as the ceremony is finished.
The name of rural parishes is given to those
which lie on the spurs of the lofty chain of the
Andes, through the whole tract of country which
extends easterly on this side, and westerly on that
which belongs to the other side. The climate of
those latitudes is hot and moist, and on that ac
count not well adapted to those who are accus
tomed to the hill country. It is this which renders
them little to be coveted, and which furnishes a
pretext for the curates who accept them not to
take up their residence in them. But were they
animated with zeal to promote the cause of re
ligion, or stimulated by a desire for the salvation
of those souls, they would not stop at difficulties,
nor find fault with a change of temperature ; but
as their zeal is directed only to the increase of
their revenue, and not to the propagation of the
faith, every thing is difficult and repugnant, except

132 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
it be to live after the licentious customs which
have become inveterate in the older settlements.
Having described the tyrannical policy of the
curates towards the Indians, their atrocious con
duct, and their dissolute habits, it remains to ex
amine the method adopted for the education of the
Indians, and their instruction in the dogmas of
religion, on which subject we have already ob
served that on Sundays the Christian doctrine is
rehearsed a short time previous to saying mass.
At this ceremony all the Indians, male and female,
great and small, are to present themselves, and,
gathering in the cemetery or square in front of
the church, they sit upon the ground, arranged
according to age and sex, and the catechizing or
doctrine commences in the following manner : —
Each curate employs a blind Indian, whose
duty it is to repeat the doctrine to the rest. The
latter is stationed in the centre of them all, and,
with a kind of recitative, which is neither singing
nor prayer, he repeats the collects or offices word
for word, and the audience responds in the form
of dialogue. The doctrine is sometimes rehearsed
in the language of the Inca, (which is that of the
Indians,) and sometimes in Spanish, which is not
intelligible to any of them. This saying of prayers
lasts somewhat more than half an hour, and it
comprises all the religious instruction which is
given to the Indians — a method from which they

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 133
derive so little benefit that old men of seventy
know no more than the little Indian boys (cholitos)
of the age of six, and neither these nor those have
any further instruction than parrots would obtain
if they were so taught, for they are neither ques
tioned personally, nor are the mysteries of faith
explained to them with the needful simplicity, nor
are they examined to see if they understand what
they say, nor do they endeavor to make it more
intelligible to those who are dull of comprehension
— a duty so much the more obligatory in propor
tion to the degree of their insensibility or luke-
warmness in the concerns of religion. As the whole
instruction is confined rather to the tone of the
recitative than to the sense of the words, it is only
by singing that they are able to rehearse detached
portions ; for when they are questioned upon any
distinct point, they cannot join two words together,
and they possess so imperfect an idea of the little
they do know, that, when they are asked who the
most Holy Trinity is, they sometimes answer, " The
priest," and sometimes, " The Virgin Mary ; "
and when they are urged seriously to listen to the
question, they change the answer, being always
inclined to admit whatever may be said to them,
even if it were the most ridiculous jargon. The
curate has no other object in view than to make
every one bring the little presents required ; and
when he has collected these, (which consist of what
12

134 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
they may happen to have,) and has taken a note
of those who have failed to bring any, in order
afterwards to call them to account, he thinks
he is discharged from any further obligation.
This method of teaching the Indians is so common
in all the villages, that, even in those whose curates
are the most exemplary, no other is practised.
In like manner, there is upon every plantation
another hlind Indian, who is supported by the
charity of the planter for the same object. The
Indians are collected two or three days in the
week in the farm-yard, usually at three in the
morning, so as not to lose time from the work
they have to perform through the day ; they re
peat the same prayers, precisely as is observed in
the church, but the ceremony is accompanied
neither by preaching nor by any effort whatever
to explain the mysteries of the faith.
The eagerness of the curate to celebrate all the
church festivals is attended with consequences of
a most pernicious character, as we have often had
occasion to witness ; for at the close of the church
festivity, that of the " masters of ceremonies "
comes in course, and being made to consist of their
common orgies, which are to intoxicate themselves
with the drink of chicha, they not only effect their
own ruin, by consuming the scanty allowance of
maize on which they depend for their support,
but, being deprived of sense and reason, fathers

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 135
are crowded together with daughters, brothers
with sisters, without distinction of sex, and with
out respect to relationship or regard to age. The
curates do not rebuke the disorder, on account of
the gain resulting to them from the celebration ;
and as it is they who furnish the occasion of scan
dal, it is necessary for them to tolerate it, or to
pretend, as they do, not to be aware of it. In view
of their heinous conduct, in fomenting and multi
plying occasions of offence among the Indians,
their religion does not resemble the Christian any
more than it resembles that which they had while
they were in a state of paganism ; for, if we exam
ine the subject with care, it will be found that, not
withstanding the nominal conversion of these tribes,
the progress they have made in knowledge is so
inconsiderable that it will be difficult to discover
any difference between the condition in which they
now live and that in which they were found at the
period of the conquest.

CHAPTER V.
Showing that the Unwillingness of the Gentile Indians to
receive the Gospel and to submit to the Authority of the
Kings of Spain is to be attributed to the extreme Suffer
ings of the civilized Indians, as will appear from the
limited Influence and partial Success of the Catholic
Missions. By examining attentively all that has been said
in the four preceding chapters, we shall see the
reason why the unconverted Indians abhor the do
minion of the Spaniards, and the motives which
incline them to regard with contempt the Catholic
faith, in which it is proposed to indoctrinate them,
inasmuch as they look upon religion, as they are
taught it, as the instrument used to bring them
under the cruel yoke of despotism. Under this
conviction, it is not strange that they should appear
so obstinate and unwilling to receive it, when they
have before them the melancholy spectacle of
what takes place in respect to the converted In
dians of their own tribe ; nor can we wonder that,
in the enjoyment of freedom, they should prefer a
wandering, uncertain, and barbarous life to the
comforts of a social condition which brings them
to the very doors of servitude.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 137
It was one of the principal points contained in
our instructions that we should inform ourselves
of the places still in possession of savage Indians,
their proximity to our settlements, the tribes which
compose them, and the difficulties and facilities
arising from their genius and habits in effecting
their civilization. In the present chapter we shall
merely present a history of the missions sustained
by the religious orders among the unconverted
Indians of the Province of Quito, of which we
possess sufficient knowledge to be able to do it
with the accuracy which the subject demands, giv
ing an account both of the places and individuals
connected with each of the several stations.
We may safely affirm that, of the whole extent
of South America, the only portion peopled by the
Spaniards, and in which there are towns that
recognize the government of the king, is the tract
comprised between the two principal chains of the
Andes and that which reaches from the western
chain to the coasts of the South Sea ; and it should
be observed that in these there are immense tracts
which are entirely uninhabited, either because
they form spacious pampas, where no facilities
exist for colonizing, or because they are occupied
by savage hordes, which have never been con
quered. This is the case along the coast from Arica
to Valparaiso, and from Conception to Valdivia,
12*

138 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
although not in an unbroken line, but in most of
the principal thoroughfares of the interior.
The Spanish settlements of the hill country
reach eastwardly as far as the western declivities
of the eastern chain of the Andes, as has been
already observed in the description of the Province
of Quito, in the first volume of our travels ; and
from the eastern declivities of the same chain, (a
wooded, moist, and hot country,) onward towards
the east, the settlements of the savage Indians
have their commencement, and they are situated
at so short a distance from those of the Spaniards,
that, by merely ascending the mountain summits,
(as deer hunters are wont to do,) we may see dis
tinctly the smoke of the Indian huts ; from this
point their territory extends eastwardly till it meets
the coasts of Brazil, over a surface of more than
six hundred leagues.
The tribes which inhabit all those tracts, of such
immense length and breadth, are very numerous,
and every village has a distinct language, unlike
that of the neighboring ones ; and, although in gen
eral there may not be a marked difference in their
manners and customs, some diversity may be no
ticed among them, whether it be in the absurd
rites of their idolatrous worship, or in the system
of their government, or in their general charac
teristics.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU- 139
Very few of these tribes receive missionaries,
and the most unyielding are those who are situ
ated nearest to the Spanish settlements. There
are none, however, so obstinate in this respect
as those who have been guilty of insurrection and
murder ; for, as they live in apprehension of de
served punishment, there are no means adequate
for their complete subjugation. The same takes
place with the insurrectionists of the Spanish set
tlements ; and in these an additional circumstance
obtains, which is, that of escaping from the ill
treatment they have suffered ; hence follows the
immense mischief they occasion, by making it
known to the tribes in whom they are merged, and
to those in their neighborhood, that they may learn
to abhor even the name of Spaniard, and obstinate
ly resist the introduction of the Catholic faith.
We cannot deny that the Indians, being natu
rally inclined to indolence, to idolatry, and to
every thing which accords with the brutish state
in which they live, — for among all the nations
of the earth it is natural, as well as a matter of
experience, that each one esteems those customs,
manners, and religion in which he was born as the
best, and any other whatever as foreign to them, —
we cannot deny, we say, that they are averse to it,
and will not accede to it without repugnance. In
this view it not only ceases to be strange that the

140 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
Indians are made to receive customs so distinct from
those to which they are inured, inasmuch as labor
stands opposed to indolence, and civilization to the
savage state, but it is worthy of admiration that,
without encountering great obstacles, some tribes
should be found of so docile dispositions as to
receive missionaries and adopt the rites and pre
cepts of a religion which obliges them to abandon
their false gods, to lay aside their ancient and
almost connaturalized habits, and to tear them
selves away from the superstition and sorcery with
which the infernal spirit has beguiled them, the
more effectually to reduce them to hopeless
bondage. Inasmuch as hatred and opposition to any other
laws, human or divine, diverse from those estab
lished among them, are characteristic of all na
tions, as is also a fixed purpose not to abandon their
ancient customs, we shall lay it down as granted,
that, of the two circumstances which render the
reduction of the Indians difficult, this holds the
first place, and we are to regard it as natural and
general among them, and not as being limited to
any one tribe ; the second is, the ill treatment they
are exposed to by becoming subject to the Span
iards, after they have been conquered. Even
without this circumstance, that of forcing them out
of a loitering, idle, and easy life, to inure them

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 141
to another which is laborious and constrained,
would of itself suffice to create repugnance on
their part to the exchange, although they should
suffer no ill treatment from the Spaniards. All
these circumstances together conspire to render
the instruction of the Indians difficult, and to make
them regard the Christian religion with little es
teem, and even with aversion, it being the first step
in the ladder by which they ascend to the theatre
of their labors and sufferings.
It is not to be inferred that the reason why all
the tribes of Gentile Indians have not had mission
aries is, that they have refused to receive them ;
but it is also because no effort has been made to
introduce them. In some portions, the cause may
be found in the great distance of those parts from
the mountain chain, which keeps the Spaniards in
ignorance of them ; in others, it is owing to the
fact that the brokenness of the country and un-
healthiness of the climate make it undesirable
except to those who are brought up from in
fancy in those latitudes. At the same time, we
have no doubt that missions might be undertaken
and sustained, should a settlement be once com
menced, and that such articles might be raised as
are adapted to the climate, as is the case in others
which are as warm and moist as those which
have continued unknown until the present time.
The only districts where missions are found even

142 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
now are those which are best known on account
of their proximity to the mountain chain, or to the
banks of the largest rivers, as we find to be the case
on the Maranon ; and there are very few even of
these that have missionaries, the Indians not being
willing to receive them, because they entertain a
strong prejudice against civilization, in consequence
of what they have heard of the sufferings of the
conquered tribes.
The Gentile tribes bordering on the Province of
Quito are so numerous, that the missions there
established are proportionally few, and the religious
orders who consecrate themselves to them with
evangelic zeal are still fewer ; for, with the ex
ception of the Jesuits' order, who have for many
years sustained the mission of Maynas, all the others
either have no missions, or keep up a station here
and there, which is barely enough to serve as an
apology for calling over missionaries, the latter
being afterwards employed for the private ends
and emolument of the order itself, for it is never
known that they go to preach and spread the gos
pel among the heathen. This is so general, that
there is no religious order which does not adopt
the same course, for it is also the practice of the
Jesuits ; so that, of every twenty individuals who
go from Spain, there is scarcely one, or, at most,
two, who join the mission, because the order itself
does not appropriate a greater number for this

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 143
service. It is true that the order of Jesuits sustains a
greater number of stations among the Gentile In
dians than any other order ; but the number it
retains permanently in the colleges is not less on
this account than those retained by the former,
but, on the contrary, far exceeds that of the others,
which arises from the fact that they send for mis
sionaries more frequently, and receive a greater
number of them by every arrival from Spain.
In Spain, it is generally supposed (and the same
opinion obtains in the convents themselves) that
the missionaries who go to the Indies are to pro
ceed immediately to the conversion of the natives ;
and many of them, full of zeal for the propaga
tion of the faith, offer to go and connect them
selves with the missions ; but as this does not take
place, they are disappointed when they arrive
there, finding how different their situation is from
what they had anticipated, and that it is impossible
ever to get back again. The case with the mis
sionaries who are sent is, that immediately on
their arrival there, they are distributed, if Jesuits,
in the colleges, or, if of other orders, which use
rotation, in the convents of all the provinces ; and
some devoting themselves to professorships, others
to the pulpit, others to attorneyships, and others to
the management of the farms, precisely as is
practised in Spain, they keep them employed in
these functions, or exchange them, by transferring

144 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
them from some to others, but always for the ben
efit of the convents. Hence it appears that the
only proper object of missionaries and missions is
that which is least thought of; for when the lim
ited number of stations which compose the mission
is furnished with curates, it is only when one dies,
or another wishes to retire, burdened with the
weight of years, that a substitute is appointed in
his place, and a long period frequently elapses
without the occurrence of either event.
Preaching to the heathen not being the object
of the appeal made by the orders to send mission
aries to the Indies, they must necessarily have
some other in view, which will result in some ad
vantage ; for, if it were not so, they would not
run into the expense incurred on their own ac
count (besides what is contributed from the royal
exchequer) if they could avoid it, and this is the
point which we are going to elucidate.
The orders which practise rotation in all the
offices belonging to them must necessarily avail
themselves of emigrants from Europe, for other
wise they would be liable to lose their immunities ;
and having no other pretext for bringing them over,
they lay hold of that of the missions as the most
plausible ; but as this measure has no reference to
Creoles, agents are always sent to invite missiona
ries, when the office devolves in course upon a
European ; and as a small number of emigrants

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 145
suffice for this object, the orders limit themselves
to these, with the exception of the Jesuits, whose
objeots are distinct, being entirely confined to their
own order. These are to preserve an equilibrium in
all the colleges between Europeans and Creoles,
and to make the good habits and education of the
former to predominate over the had ones acquired
from childhood by the latter, in order that the col
leges may not decline from that high standard of
discipline which is peculiar to the Jesuits, both in
Spain and in all Catholic kingdoms, or wherever
their order extends, and that they may employ
Europeans to manage the revenue of the colleges
with proper diligence, fidelity, and economy, as
there are few Creoles in whom these circumstances
concur ; hence they are unfit for offices of trust,
neither can they be employed in the missions, their
conduct not being of a nature to qualify them for
such a charge.
In the year 1744, when we are about taking
leave of those countries, one of the Jesuit missions
arrived at Quito, having lately come from Spain ;
and it was composed of a large number of indi
viduals. They were persuaded that, immediately
on their arrival, they should be appointed to go
among the Gentile Indians, to engage in preaching
the gospel ; and, finding that no such measures
were adopted, they soon began to make known
their dissatisfaction, which had reached such a
13

146 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
degree, that, if they had had means of returning
to Spain, scarcely one would have consented to
remain. They said, that in case they were
to continue in the colleges, it would be more
agreeable and advantageous to them to do so
in Spain; so great was their disappointment
on discovering how far they were from secur
ing the object proposed to them when they re
solved to proceed to the Indies ; and the same
may be affirmed of all the rest, until, in the
lapse of time, they become accustomed to the
country, and lose their zeal for the conversion of
the Indians.
All the missions scattered over the vast Province
of Quito are confined to those of the Jesuits on the
River Maranon, and five settlements belonging to
the order of St. Francis, about the head-waters of the
River lea in Sucumbios ; but neither those of the
Jesuits, nor of the Seraphic order, have priests in
all the settlements, as they ought to have. But
that this statement may be made more circumstan
tial, we shall avail ourselves of a report drawn up
by Dr. James Peralta, curate of the parish of St.
Barbara, in the year 1745, which is the most com
plete and accurate that has been made since the
origin of those missions, and the most instructive,
as it makes us acquainted with their present con
dition. The Seraphic order have only five towns in the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 147
missions of Sucumbios, namely, St. Michael, St.
Joseph, St. James of the Palmars, Yaunque, and
Nariguera ; and these missions belong to the de
partment of Pasto, although dependent on the gov
ernment of the Audience of Quito.
The missions of the company commence from
the city of Archidona, whose curacy belonged to
the clergy, and was exchanged by them for one
owned by the company in the forests of the Prov
ince of Guayaquil.*
* J. The curacy of Archidona has three others annexed to
it, each at the distance of six or seven leagues from that
city ; and they are Misagualli,' inhabited by Spaniards, mes
tizoes, and negroes, Tena and Napo, both inhabited by
Indians. 2. Mission of St. Michael of Siecoyas. The Indians of
this town rose upon the father missionary, and, on the 9th
of January, 1745, put him to death, and afterwards burnt
him, with two other youths which he had associated with
him. The name of this priest was Francis Real, and he had
under his charge, besides the principal village, in which he
constantly resided, six other towns, the names of which are
St. Bartholomew of Moya, St. Peter, St. Bstanislaus, St.
Luis, St. Croix, and Emmanuel de Aguarico ; all these towns
take their name from the River Aguarico, on the banks of
which they are situated. In these six annexed towns there
were only 2063 persons of both sexes and of every age,
1628 converts and 435 catechumens ; and although they were
acquainted with the atrocious crime committed by the in
habitants of the principal village, they would not imitate
their bad example, but, on the contrary, waited quietly in
their villages until a new missionary should be sent to them,
intimating that they regarded with horror the sacrilegious
deed of the other Indians. This missionary was one of

148 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
The result of our inquiries is, that the missions
of Maynas and Quixos, which are under the
charge of the company, consist of 40 settlements,
and employ in them 18 missionaries, 17 priests,
and 1 assistant, comprising in all 12,853 souls,
9858 baptized and 2939 catechumens. It is cer
tain that many of these towns, which are annexed
to one diocese, might need a separate missionary
for their support and greater advancement ; but,
notwithstanding this want of missionaries, these
those who had arrived at Quito with the last mission which
had come from Spain; and being ignorant of the genius,
habits, and peculiarities of the Indians, was wanting in that
kind of authority which that tribe demands, in order not to
exasperate by reproof, nor to be too severe in endeavoring to
rescue them from the barbarous customs and vices which
have become to them a second nature.
3. Mission of St. Joseph of Guajoya. Its rector, Father
Pietragrosa, had under his charge, besides the principal vil
lage, named Mary, three others of St. Xavier de Icahuates,
St. John the Baptist, and the Queen of the Angels, in
which, as the settlements had been recently formed, a
brother of the company resided, whose name was Salvador
Sanchez, to teach the Indians to pray and to instruct them
in Christian doctrine.
4. Mission under the charge of Perez — St. Xavier de
TJrarines, likewise a settlement recently formed. The follow
ing are the old stations of Maynas on the River Maranon : -—
5. Mission of St. Francis de Borja, capital of the govern
ment of Maynas, so depopulated as to consist of only 143
souls, of both sexes, and of every age, and 66 Spaniards be
sides. It has annexed to it the towns of St. Ignatius of May
nas and the upper Andoas. Father Magnori is the curate.
6. Mission of St. Thomas of Andoa, under the charge of

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 149
stations are in a better condition, beyond compari
son, than those of St. Francis ; for the persons
destined for these missions by the company con
stantly reside in the benefices, and frequently
visit those that are annexed ; their churches and
chapels are in good order, and the decorations,
although not of much value, are neat and well
Father Fransen, with the towns of Semigaes and St. Joseph
of Pinches.
7. Mission of Concepcion of Cahuapanas, under the care
of Father Francis Rem.
8. Mission of the Presentacion of Chayavitas and the En-
carnacion de Paranapuas, under the charge of Father Igna
tius Falcon.
9. Mission of the Concepcion de Xibaros, under the paro
chial charge of Father Michael.
10. Mission of St. Jago de Laguna, under the care of
Father Scheffen, who had for his associate William Gremez.
This town, being the head-quarters of the mission, contains
1107 souls.
11. Mission of St. Xavier of Chamicuros and St. Anthony
Abad de Aguanos, both under the care of Father Bamonte.
12. Mission of our Lady de las Nieves de Jurimagas, St.
Anthony de Padua de Nainiches, and St. Francis Rexis del
Paradero, under the care of Leonard Deubler.
13. Mission of St. Joaquin de Laqueran Homagua ; mis
sionary, Adam Widman.
14. Mission of St. Paul of Napanos ; missionary, Father
Iriarte. 15. Mission of St. Philip of Amaona ; missionary, Father
Herraez. 16. Mission of St. Simon of Nahuapo ; missionary, Father
Aranjo. 17. Mission of St. Ignatius of Pevas and Caumares ; mis
sionary, Father Falcombeli. 13*

150 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
made. There we see displayed Christian zeal
and diligence, and great solemnity in the celebra
tion of public worship. It is not so in the mission
villages of Sucumbios, belonging to the Seraphic
order, for the priests reside there but a short peri
od ; the churches are wholly out of repair, and in
a dilapidated condition ; their priests do, not minis
ter to the spiritual wants of the Indians ; and,
owing to the entire absence of religious fervor,
instead of making progress, they are in a retro
grade condition.
Having spoken already of the missions of May
nas, it would be unjust to overlook their origin and
the progress the company has made in them, espe
cially as the history of them will confirm what we
have said on this subject.
A Portuguese fleet, consisting of forty-seven
large guns, commanded by Captain Texeira, hav
ing ascended the Marafion, the Audience of Quito
determined that, on their return to Para, whence
they had proceeded, for the purpose of discovering
the course of that river, two of the father Jesuits
should go down with them, in order to examine
those territories more minutely, ascertain by what
tribes they are inhabited, and notice other partic
ulars which should contribute to a better knowl
edge of their condition. The company, whose
attention had been for many years directed to the
discovery of that vast country, with a view to

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU; 151
extend the religion of Jesus Christ among the many
barbarous tribes which inhabit it, accepted the
charge with great satisfaction, and named Fathers
Acuiia and Artieda for this object.
It was on the 18th of October, 1637, that the
Portuguese fleet left the neighborhood of Para^
and it employed eight months in reaching the port
of Payamino, which was their first stopping-place-,
in the Province of Quixos. Captain Texeira,
leaving his crew there, with the greater part of
the naval force, proceeded to Quito with some
of his officers, and there gave an account of his
voyage ; and, as soon as the fathers appointed by
the company and approved by the Audience could
get ready, they all left Quito on the 16th of Feb
ruary, 1639, and, taking the road through Archi
dona, went to join the fleet at the port of Paya
mino, where it had remained.
Jesuit missionaries had already been stationed
on the Marafion ; only, however, in the vicinity of
its head-waters, for the Prince of Esquilache being
then Viceroy of Peru, the administration of May
nas was given to Don Diego Vaca during his life
time, and afterwards to his eldest son, Don Pedro
Vaca. This gentleman had solicited and effected
the conquest of those countries at his own expense,
and, after having subdued- the tribe of Maynas and
founded the city of St. Francis de Boya in the
year 1634, making it the capital of his domain,

152 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
he was induced by such an auspicious commence
ment to implore the company and the Audience of
Quito to nominate persons of that order to enter
upon the mission, which was granted him with
great pleasure, both by the court as well as by
the company, and Fathers Cuxia and Cueva were
immediately appointed to found a missionary sta
tion. The missionaries arrived at Maynas in the
year 1637, by the way of Patate ; and as soon as
they reached the city of Borja, they took charge
of that curacy, and began to exercise their func
tions by instructing the Indians already reduced,
and endeavoring to reduce all the rest of the tribe
who were not yet civilized.
After suffering great hardships, Fathers Acuna
and Artieda arrived safely at the port where the
Portuguese fleet was waiting for them, and reached
that city the same year, in December, 1639,
after ten months' journey by land and by water.
After having rested from the fatigue they had
undergone, they set sail for Spain, in order to
inform his majesty of every thing that had occurred
in the discovery, and of all the observations they
had made. In 1640 they reached the court of
Madrid, and, having made a representation of
what they had seen, and having waited there more
than a year to solicit supplies for that extensive
conquest, they could not secure their object, be
cause the state of anarchy in Spain, which had

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 153
resulted from riots connected with the rebellion of
the kingdom of Portugal, naturally occupied the
thought and demanded the attention of the mon
arch and his ministers. The Jesuit fathers, find
ing how difficult it was to obtain what they wished
on an occasion so critical that it allowed no time
for any thing but to prepare an army to check the
encroachments of the rebels, Father Artieda de
termined to leave the court and to return to his
Province of Quito, there to give impulse to the
mission through the Audience and his college, in
whom he confided all his hopes. In the year
1643, he returned to Quito. He gained the atten
tion of the college, and, with a view to inspire
greater fervor in the work, he again made a tour
to the Marafion, and, passing through the capital
of Maynas, took with him Father Cueva, his
assistant Borja, and several soldiers, with whom
he penetrated among the tribe of Omaguas, and
took legal possession of all that province and river
in the name of the Catholic King Philip IV., as is
stated in the report of Father Francis Figueroa, a
member of the Jesuit order.
Father Acuna thought it proper to continue
some time at court, to see if haply the insurrec
tions might be quelled, and his solicitations and
appeals might produce a favorable result; but,
finding that the tumults were augmenting more
and more, and the progress of the rebels was

154 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
giving the court still greater anxiety, he resolved
to follow his companion in the galleys which sailed
soon after, and, having proceeded from Panama
to Lima, to which city he was called by business
of a different nature, he died there.
As the first missionaries who penetrated into
Maynas for the purpose of preaching to the In
dians found so much fruit in the conversion of
those tribes that their strength was not adequate
to such a conquest, the Indians having received
the gospel without repugnance, they applied to
Quito to have new associates named to aid them
to gather in such a harvest as was likely to result
from the docility of those Indians, and the readi
ness they manifested to become Christians. Their
petition was so reasonable that it could not fail to
be heard ; and, in consequence of it, the College
of Quito named Fathers Perez and Figueroa ; but
this reenforcement not sufficing for the great har
vest produced in those countries from the seed of
the gospel, Father Cuxia was compelled to pro
ceed in person to Quito, in the year 1650, to ask
for new laborers. The College of Quito granted
him three in addition, and he returned with them
to his station, where, being in all seven in number,
and spreading themselves over those provinces of
Gentile Indians, it was admirable to witness the
vast number of souls brought to the knowledge
of the true God by dint of their labor, and the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 155
fatigue and inconveniences of their travels, and
the dangers to which they were every moment
exposed in attempting to rescue them from such
ignorance and blindness.
In the year 1666, they had already formed
thirteen large settlements, well peopled with In
dians who had been converted ; and for this pur
pose they brought together several of those wan
dering tribes, on whose account they gave to the
settlements the names of the most numerous.*
These thirteen towns, large and populous as
they were, had only seven missionaries, and it
was natural that each one should have its special
missionary, to be constantly resident in it ; but, as
they were destitute of them, besides being distant
from each other six, eight, and even more leagues,
we cannot fail to perceive the simplicity and sin
cerity of those Indians, and the facility with which
they are induced to comply with whatever may be
required of them, when once we discover the
method best adapted to their genius to introduce
them to the rites of the Christian religion and the
customs of civilized life by channels which are
best suited to their ideas. The old Christian
settlements require to have each a special parish
* The names of the settlements are as follows : Xeveros,
Pambadeques, Ataguates, Cutinanas, Guallaga, Loreto de
Paranapuras, TJcayale, Barbudos, Aguanos, Roa-Maynas,
San Antonio, Zapas, Coronados.

156 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
priest for the spiritual nourishment of those who
compose them, and with far more reason is this
measure necessary in the new, because these are
more exposed to perish in inconstancy and unbe
lief, their own imagination perhaps bringing to
mind the independence of which they had de
prived themselves to receive the gospel, — their
ancient rites, and the freedom in which they
lived, without submitting either to divine or human
law : the restraints of civilized life, the precepts
of religion, and the observance of laws and cus
toms wholly opposed to those which are natural to
them, presenting themselves to the minds of these
Indians as uncongenial and burdensome. The
want of missionaries in these new conversions of
the Marafion should not be attributed to the Jesuits,
for all that this order did previously was at its own
•expense, having no other resources but those of
their own revenue to defray the expenses incurred
by these missions; and besides this, there were
very few missionaries sent over from Spain until
that time, either because this order had no occa
sion to do it, and because the supply had not been
furnished with as much regularity as afterwards,
not that a reenforcement was not sent at all, but
because they arrived after longer intervals, or were
composed of a smaller number of individuals —
reasons which did not obtain in subsequent times,
nor do they now obtain, for, on account of the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 157
early spiritual conquests made by the company,
missionaries were sent over more frequently and
in greater numbers.
In the year 1681, fifteen years after the census
of the first conversions, the settlements had aug
mented with the addition of eight new towns, but
not so the number of missionaries, although in the
interval of these fifteen years many missionaries
had proceeded from Spain to Quito, and quite
enough to have those missions supplied with labor
ers. By the catalogue which follows we shall
come to a knowledge of the settlements formed
of converted Indians until this year, and the num
ber of. missionaries appointed to take charge of
them.* The result, then, is, that all the missions of
Maynas were then composed of twenty-one settle
ments, and, as Father Rodriguez says in his His
tory of the Marafion and Amazons, there were
only four missionaries in them, which are those
already named, and all who had been employed
* First Mission. — 1. San Luis Gonzaga ; 2. San Ignacio ;
3. Santa Teresa.
Second Mission. — 1. Roa-Maynas ; 2. Los Coronados ;
3. Gayes.
Third Mission.— 1. Xeveros; 2. Paranapuras; 3. Chaya-
vitas ; 4. Muniches. , .
Fourth Mission. — 1. Ucayales; 2. Xitipos y Chipeos ;
3. Tibilos; 4. Aguanos; 5. Guallaga; 6. Marapinas; 7.
Mayurunas ; 8. Otanabis. 14

158 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
from the year 1638, in which they had their first
establishment, until the beginning of 1681, in
which that station was commenced by missiona
ries going among those tribes, were twenty-four
fathers of the company and three lay brethren, of
whom nearly all died.
The tribe of Omagua Indians, which was one
of the most numerous that inhabited the valley of
the Marafion, had despatched messengers to the
town of the Lagoon, in the year 1681, entreating
Father Lucero, at that time superior of those sta
tions, to send them missionaries, because, in con
sequence of the kind treatment of the other tribes
which had become subject to them, and the ad
vantages they enjoyed after having been brought
under a system of government so wise and just,
they desired to add their tribe to the number, to
enjoy the same benefits, and, with them, the
preaching of evangelical doctrine ; but the mis
sions were so destitute of laborers that they had
not the number sufficient to supply the settlements
already formed, and it was impossible at that time
to accede to their request. All that the superior
could do was to give them reason to hope that, on
the arrival of the first supply of missionaries, their
wishes should be complied with, some one of
them being appointed to take them under their
charge, acting their curate, which was not car
ried into effect until the year 1686, when a

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 159
mission composed of many individuals having ar
rived from Spain to Quito, some, although few in
number, were appointed to lighten the burdens
of those who were already in the work, and one
of the individuals so appointed was Father Samuel
Fritz, a native of Bohemia, to whose lot it fell to
go to the new mission of the Omaguas ; for, as
soon as these Indians had intelligence that new mis
sionaries had arrived at the Lagoon, and that one
of them-gas disposed to come down to their ter
ritory, rrey went forward to receive him, and
ascended with more than thirty canoes as far
as the Lagoon, in order to escort him to their
country. Father Viva had succeeded Father Lucero in
the office of superior of the stations, and being a
person of extraordinary capacity and endowments,
as soon as he saw Father Fritz, he formed so high
an estimate of his qualities, that it appeared to
him that the choice could not have fallen on any
one better qualified for that undertaking — an
opinion the wisdom of which was justified by the
wonders he wrought in a short time by his preach
ing and instructions among those tribes and sev
eral others which he reduced to the bosom of our
Catholic faith.
It may be readily inferred that, in a tribe who
of their own accord applied for missionaries, it
would not be necessary to toil so hard in order to

160 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
draw their attention to what is preached to them,
or to make them receive in sincerity the religion
of the true God in which they are instructed, as
it is in those other tribes in which, as preparatory
to the preaching of the gospel, it was necessary
to contract relations of friendship by going to look
for them among the mountains, forests, and hidden
ravines, where they are scattered like wild beasts.
As soon as the Omaguas were in the presence of
their father, regarding him as the redeemer of
their souls, they returned with him to raeir terri
tory, full of mirth and joy, as was abundantly
evident by the festivities with which they solem
nized the occasion, transferring him, for this
purpose, from one canoe to another, as long as
the voyage up the river continued. As soon as
they reached the first outposts within their juris
diction, thinking it unsuitable that he should make
his entry on foot, they vied with each other in
bearing him on their shoulders, in company with
the most distinguished personages of the suite ;
and in the midst of dances and the varied music
of flutes, pipes, and other instruments, after their
style, they took him out of the canoe on their
arrival, and conducted him to the quarters which
they had in readiness for him near their cabins.
After some days of rest at that outpost, (for it had
not as yet the importance of a settlement,) they
proceeded to take him to the other islands inhabited

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 161
by the same tribe of Omaguas, which were more
than thirty, that they might all know him and
begin to look upon him as their shepherd. And
in this way that great mission had its origin, which
became so prosperous, that, in less than three
years, almost all the adult Indians were baptized,
being already capable of receiving baptism, Father
Fritz having administered this sacrament from the
beginning to all the children, the latter not re
quiring to be instructed in the mysteries of the
faith in childhood, as is necessary in the case of
adults. While Father Fritz was employed in the reli
gious instruction of the Omagua Indians, he re
ceived intelligence of some neighboring tribes
scattered along the banks of the river, as the Yu-
rimaguas, the Ayzuares, the Baromas, and others,
and learning that they would not refuse to embrace
the Catholic religion, proceeded to them, and found
them so ready to receive it that he began immedi
ately to catechize them, in order to administer to
them the rite of baptism. So great was the suc
cess that attended these missions, that, in the year
1689, the Omagua stations were thirty-eight in
number, (the capital of which was San Joaquin;)
another belonged to the Turimaguas, and two to
the Ayzuari tribe; all these were under the
charge of Father Fritz, so that, as he himself re
lates, in his private report, he had scarcely time
14*

162 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
sufficient in the course of a year to make one visit
among them all, and was able to sojourn with each
tribe only long enough to instruct the adults, and
to baptize those who had been born since his last
visit. All the remainder of the year, those Indians
were left to live alone, without any other restraints
than their own will, which was so well inclined
that no occasion of disturbance ever occurred
among them, nor did they abandon the religion in
which they had been instructed, to return to the
false rites of Gentile superstition, which they had
been forbidden to practise.
Father Fritz, being exhausted by the fatigue and
hardship consequent on a life of continual journey
ing from one settlement to another, found his
health impaired ; and his illness increased so rap
idly as to make it necessary for him to go down
to Para, in the year 1689, to take the advice of
the physicians of that city. The Portuguese sus
pected that his illness was only a pretext for
making a survey of all the remaining valley of the
Marafion, from the mouth of Black River (the
boundary of his mission) as far as Para, and con
sequently detained him there, after he had recov
ered, at the same time communicating the intelli
gence to the court of Portugal. The result (which
was as favorable to Father Fritz as could be Idesired)
•did not reach Para until the middle of the year 1691,
when he was restored to the mission. The Por-

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 163
tuguese government appointed an officer and seven
soldiers to accompany him, under pretence of
showing him respect ; and as soon as they entered
the tribe of the Azuaris, Father Fritz wished to
dismiss them, because those Indians had discovered
a friendly disposition towards him during his pas
sage down the river, by going up to meet him.
The soldiers did not yield to his earnest request,
having in view other objects distinct from those
they had intimated to the father, as was afterwards
admitted by the Portuguese officer, when they
reached the town of Mayavara, the last of the
Yarimaguas. Father Fritz again importuned the
Portuguese to return, as he was already within the
limits of his mission ; to which the officer said in
reply, that his not having done so already was, that
he had orders from his governor to take possession
of that territory as far as that of the Omaguas in
clusive, in the name of the King of Portugal, as
being comprised within his jurisdiction, and that
he would notify him at once to withdraw from it
and leave it unoccupied. Father Fritz wondered
at this determination, and the more as it was op
posed to the decision given by the court of Lisbon,
in consequence of representations made by the
father himself from Para ; and having confronted
in this manner the Portuguese officer, he prevailed
upon him to let him return without urging his suit
any further for that time ; and having descended

164 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
one day's navigation, they landed at Guapatate,
opposite a town of the same name, cleared a plot
of ground, and left for a boundary a large tree,
known by the name of Samona, indicating that the
territory as far as that point belonged to them, and
leaving word with some Indians that they should
soon return, to make a settlement on that spot.
Father Fritz, foreseeing the evil consequences
that would result to the missions by the excessive
insolence of the Portuguese, unless measures were
taken in time to check them, and having commu
nicated the matter to the superior of the missions
and the governor of Maynas, it was determined,
agreeably to the opinion of both, that Father
Fritz should proceed personally to Lima, to inform
the viceroy of the prosperous state of the missions,
and tbe danger which threatened them, that he
might devise measures to thwart the designs of
the Portuguese. The Viceroy of Lima, Count of
Monclova, and after him the whole city, were as
tonished at the success which had attended the
preaching of the gospel by Father Fritz, and the
account filled them all with admiration ; but when
they came to the principal point, which was to pre
vent any further encroachments, on the part of the
Portuguese, upon the Spanish domain, as well as
upon that mission which extended from the mouth
of the River Napo to that of Black River, he dis
covered in the viceroy little disposition to under-

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 165
take the defence of that territory. This was af
terwards confirmed by the reply given by the
count to the memorial of Father Fritz, as appears
from the manuscript narrative of this missionary,
which was in substance as follows : " That, inas
much as the Portuguese were Catholic Christians
as well as the Spaniards, and a warlike nation, he
had no means at his command adequate to in
duce them to confine themselves to their own ter
ritory, without coming to a rupture, which was un-
advisable in the present case, those uncultivated
forests yielding no revenue to the King of Spain,
unlike many other provinces which ought with
more reason to be protected against hostile inva
sion ; that in the vast extent of the Indies there
were lands sufficient for both crowns. At the
same time, he would lay the petition before his
majesty as soon as possible." Certain it is, that if
these reasons had not been recorded by a person
of such virtue, and who possesses such claims as
that missionary, we should refuse to give him cre
dence, for they seem more becoming a man who
had thrown off his allegiance to princes lawfully in
vested with the territory, than of a minister and
governor general of Spain in those very Indies,
whose defence against usurpation Father Fritz was
soliciting. The stations which this eminent father had
founded were composed of forty-one villages, and

166 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
so remote from each other, that between the first,
on the upper waters of the river, and the last, on
the lowest, there intervened a distance of more
than one hundred leagues. All these missions are
made up of the union of vagrant tribes, who have
always inhabited the banks of that great river, and
who are obliged by forming settlements, to live to
gether in a rational and social state, the missionary
himself being their priest and magistrate, who in
structs them in the arts of civilized life, as well as
in the doctrines and precepts of the Christian
religion. Most of these towns consist of Indians
who have been converted long since, and brought
to a state of civilization ; to these are occasion
ally added other Gentile Indians, who, finding
themselves worsted in the continual wars which
they carry on with the neighboring tribes, and fly
ing from the cruelties with which they are threat
ened, come to seek shelter under the covert of the
missionary fathers, a respect for whom keeps their
enemies in check. In these cases, they improve
the opportunity to preach to them and to teach
them, preparing their minds to receive baptism ;
but they are usually so fickle, that, although they
hear the gospel with sufficient attention, mani
festing a desire to receive it, they soon throw
off that fervent zeal which was awakened by the
fear which induced them to leave their lands, or
by a sense of obligation imposed upon them by the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 167
memory of gifts bestowed, and when they come
to believe that the anger of the tribes with whom
they were at war is pacified, they return to their
brutal customs. At other times, the curates
despatch messengers to the neighboring tribes,
when they know they will receive the benefit to be
bestowed upon them, or the missionaries go to look
for them in their cabins, to attract them by a pres
ent of some gewgaws, by which means they suc
ceed in making them teachable, and inclined to
have a fixed place of residence, by forming a set
tlement, not far from which the missionary has his
place of rendezvous, in order to go and visit them
frequently, and to instruct them in the precepts of
religion, that they may become proper subjects of
baptism. When these new towns are in a condition to
support special missionaries or parish priests, and
there is any security of their stability, they are
then sent to them ; but these conversions make
such slow progress that many years elapse without
the addition of one new station to the old ; but
notwithstanding this interval, some fruit never fails
to be secured, in recompense of such incessant
labor. This advantage results exclusively from
the missions which the company have under their
charge, because they pursue it with zeal, and per
severe with unabated fervor in such undertakings,,
not being deterred from them by the fickleness of

168 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
the Indians, nor disheartened by the fatigue and
suffering they must necessarily undergo in coun
tries and climates to which they have not been
accustomed. Conducted on these principles, it is evident that
if there were zeal in the religious Orders to con
vert the Indians, missions would be sustained in all
the possessions of Spain in that country, each one
endeavoring to gain the good will of the Indians
by gentleness and civility,* as is the case in Maynas,
* The Incas, although governed only by a simple natu
ral law, have left us the admirable system of their policy in
the maxims they observed to conciliate the Indians, and re
duce them to obedience, so as to be beloved by them to the
degree they were, and that their laws might be observed with
scrupulous exactness, which, while they were mild and just,
did not fail to be severe whenever it was necessary that rigor
should predominate over clemency. They conquered the
provinces (when it could not be done by mild measures) by
force of arms ;¦ and even when these means were resorted to,
their subjects lived without aversion to the authority which
held them in subjection, as it: could not be otherwise under
a mild and beneficent policy. The same methods ought to
be adopted now towards those tribes, that they may not ob
stinately refuse to come under the Spanish rule ; for if the
Indians should discover that the king's vassals live comfort
ably, that they are treated with consideration, and that only
their own welfare is consulted, they would no longer enter
tain the idea they now have of the Spaniards, as fearful
tyrants, and their conversion would become practicable. The
laws enacted for their benefit are admirable: a failure to
comply with them is the source whence all their sufferings
originate ; but should these abuses be reformed, and should
the Indians be treated as men have a right to be treated, it

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 169
a Jesuit mission ; and if such be not the general
practice, it is because the whole aim of those indi
viduals is to obtain curacies, from which they can
derive an income without labor or encumbrance ;
and this not being possible in the missions, because
in them they must divest themselves of regard to
interest, and shun covetousness altogether, there is
no individual who desires the work, and no zeal in
the Orders to carry it forward. It is one of the
great calamities we have to bewail in those coun
tries, that, while the convents are so numerous and
all so wealthy, the Indians should not have the
benefit of the most insignificant portion," either
of the superfluous riches of their inmates, or of
the enormous revenue accruing from their es
tates, to be employed in securing their salva
tion by means of preaching and teaching the
Word of God, which ought to be the grand and
only object and employment of them all. But in
the concluding chapter, in which we are to speak
more in detail of the monasteries, it will be made
to appear how diverse are the pursuits and con
duct of those ecclesiastics from what belong to
the character of missionaries.
might be hoped that the missions would have a favorable re
sult, and those great objects accomplished in a short period,
which have not been effected in the, long period which has
elapsed from the time of the conquest until now.
15

CHAPTER VI.
Prevalence of Party Spirit between Europeans and Creoles. —
Its chief Source, and the Evils resulting from it in the
Cities and large Towns.
It can never fail to be unseemly, numerous as
the examples may be of this nature, that, among a
people of the same country, of the same religion,
and even of the same blood, such enmity, rancor,
and hatred should exist, as are found to prevail
in Peru, where the cities and large towns have be
come a theatre of discord and perpetual wrangling
between Europeans and Creoles. This enmity is
the source of the repeated tumults which happen
there ; for the hatred engendered between the two
opposing interests becomes more and more virulent,
and the exasperated parties never lose an opportu
nity to breathe out vengeance, and give loose
rein to the passions and jealousies which are so
deep-rooted in their hearts.
To be a European, or Chapeton, as one is called
in Peru, is reason enough for avowing one's self
an enemy to the Creoles ; and to have been born
in the Indies is a sufficient cause for hating Euro
peans. To such a height is this mutual ill will car-

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 171
ried, that in some respects it exceeds the unbridled
frenzy with which nations in open war vilify and
outrage each other ; for if, in these, we may hope
it will gradually subside, it is not so with the Span
ish colonies in Peru, and, instead of being weak
ened by more frequent intercourse, by the influence
of family ties, or by other motives which are
adapted to promote harmony and friendship, quite
the reverse takes place ; for the closer their con
tact, the higher do the flames of discord rise, and
their somewhat smothered rancor being kindled
again by renewed discussion, the fire gains strength,
and the conflagration becomes inextinguishable.
Throughout Peru, the spirit of party is a malady
which prevails in all the cities and large towns,
notwithstanding the slight differences which may
be occasionally observed, in the greater or less
degree of scandal which attends it. The dis
ease is so general, that none are exempt from
it, neither the first magistrates of the city, nor
the highest dignitaries in the church and in the
religious orders ; for it attacks even those who
have a reputation for wisdom and sanctity. The
towns are made the open theatres of the two op
posing parties ; irreconcilable enmity disgorges its
venom on the seats of justice ; and even in the
monasteries, the sparks of discord are kindled to a
raging flame. Private dwellings, likewise, where
the ties of parentage bind together both Euro-

172 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
peans and Creoles, become storehouses of anger
and recrimination, so that, upon due consideration,
it would be tame to describe the scene as the purga
tory of minds, since it comes to be a hell of living
beings, who are kept in a state of perpetual disquiet,
by numberless occasions of discord, which serve
as fuel to the flames of hatred.
It is in the cities of the mountainous districts
that party spirit rises to the greatest height, which
proceeds, no doubt, from their isolated position ;
but in the towns on the coast, where intercourse
with strangers is more frequent, although their in
habitants do not fail to cherish a spirit of mutual
animosity, the scandal is not so public as in the
former, where the attention cannot be diverted
from party questions by subjects of a different na
ture. These dissensions, which are there so common
and so violent, that, from the time one arrives in
those parts, he is made acquainted with them, and
very soon becomes implicated in them, must have
had their origin in some powerful cause ; and while
this is not removed, the former must continue.
Our object in the present chapter will be to inves
tigate it, for if it is not discovered, it will be im
possible to form an adequate idea of it, or to apply
the remedy which the evil demands.
Although the party feeling which exists between
Europeans and Creoles may have originated from

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 173
various sources, there are two which appear to
have more influence than all the rest — the exces
sive vanity and overbearing manners of the Cre
oles, and the forlorn and penniless condition of the
Europeans who emigrate to that country. The
latter accumulate a fortune with the aid of rela
tives and friends, as well as by dint of labor and
industry, so that within a few years they are ena
bled to form an alliance with ladies of distinction ;
but the low condition in which the Creoles first knew
them is not wholly effaced from remembrance ;
and on the first occasion of misunderstanding be
tween the European and his relatives, the latter
expose, without the least reflection, the mean origin
and profession of the former, and kindle the flames
of discord in all hearts. The Europeans espouse
the cause of their injured countrymen, and the Cre
oles that of the native women, and thus the seeds of
dissension spring up, which had been sown in the
mind from the remote period of the conquest.
It may be readily supposed that the vanity of
the Creoles, and their lofty pretensions to a noble
ancestry, rise to such a height that they are per
petually discussing the order and line of their de
scent ; so that it would appear, as it respects
nobility and antiquity, they have nothing to envy
in the most illustrious families in Spain, and,
treating the subject with the ardor of enthusiasm,
they make it the first topic of conversation with the
15*

174 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
newly-arrived Europeans, in order to acquaint
them with their noble origin ; but when this is in
vestigated impartially, we are met, at the first step
we take, with so many difficulties, that a family
can rarely be found that has no mixed blood, not
to mention objections of minor importance. In
such cases it is amusing to observe how they be
come mutually the heralds of each other's low
birth, so that it is needless to investigate the sub
ject for one's self; for while each one strives to
unfold and present to view his royal descent, de
picting the illustrious origin of his family in such
a way that it may not be confounded with others
of the same city, he brings to light all their defec
tive titles, and the foul blots which stain the purity
of his neighbor's. The same is repeated by these
last in regard to the former, until every circum
stance respecting their families is brought to light,
and their true origin exposed. Europeans them
selves, who marry ladies of rank, and who are not
ignorant of their defective titles, become resentful
when they are taunted with their former poverty
and low condition, and upbraid them with the
flaws of their boasted nobility, and this always fur
nishes materials enough for both to keep alive a
sensitiveness to the insults and injuries heaped
upon them by the opposite party.
This very vanity of the Creoles, which is more
observable in the mountainous districts, owing to

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 175
the want of intercourse with foreigners, except
such as settle in the different towns, keeps them
aloof from labor, and from engaging in trade —
(the only occupation in the Indies which can enable
them to preserve unimpaired their inheritance,) and
allures them to the practice of vices which are in
herent in a life of inaction. Hence it is they soon
see the end of all which their parents have left
them, by wasting their money, and neglecting the
cultivation of their estates ; and the Europeans,
availing themselves of the advantages which the
neglect of the Creoles affords them, turn them to
account, and amass an estate ; for by engaging in
trade they soon succeed in getting upon a good
footing, enjoy credit, accumulate money, and are
solicited for marriage by noble families ; for the
Creole women themselves, aware of the wasteful
and indolent habits of their countrymen, hold
Europeans in high esteem, and prefer to be allied
with them.
The preference which the Creole women give to
Europeans for the reason just mentioned, the
fact that they are the owners of the richest estates,
acquired and preserved by their industry and econ
omy, and that they have in their favor the confi
dence of magistrates and ministers, because their
behavior entitles them to it, are no small motives
to stir up the envy of the Creoles ; hence they
complain that the Europeans arrive barefoot in

176 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
their country, and soon acquire a greater estate
than their fathers and country have given them,
they being in reality lords of the soil. This is lit
erally true, for as soon as they are married they
are made regidors, and immediately obtain the
place of ordinary alcalde, so that in the space of
ten or twelve years they are found at the head of
one of the chief cities, and have become objects
of general esteem and applause. The man who
occupies this position was once crying his wares
in the streets, with a pack upon his shoulders, deal
ing out finery and trinkets, which he had bought
on credit, to set himself up in trade ; but the fault
of this is in the Creoles themselves, for if they
would enter into an extensive trade, while they
have means for it, they would not waste a fortune
in the little time that a European needs to acquire
one. If the Creoles would eschew vicious prac
tices, and maintain their own wives with honor and
decency, they would not give occasion to their own
countrywomen to treat them with aversion and
hatred ; and if they would regulate their conduct
by the principles of virtue, they would always
have on their side the favor and esteem which
strangers carry with them ; but as nothing of this
kind is congenial to their nature, the root of envy
strikes too deeply to allow such sentiments to gain
access to their minds, nor do they reflect that it is
they themselves who give to Europeans all the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 177
esteem, authority, and advantages which they
enjoy. From the very birth of the children of foreign
ers, or from the time that the first glimmerings of
reason, however faint, begin to appear, and as soon
as reflection draws aside the veil of innocence, the
workings of hatred to Europeans begin to exhibit
themselves ; for when their minds are imbued with
injurious impressions of their parents, which they
imbibe from their relatives, and which are taught
them by the abominable example of those who
ought to give them a right education, they cherish
a spirit of enmity towards those who begat them ;
and, as their hatred to Europeans becomes more
inveterate, they need no other motive than this to
declare themselves in after life their avowed ene
mies, which they do from the first opportunity
they have to exhibit it, even without fear or scru
ple, and perhaps in the very presence of their
parents. It is a common thing to hear them re
mark that, if the blood of the Spaniards, their
fathers, could be drawn from their veins, they
would let it out, that it might not be mixed with that
which they have received from their mothers — an
absurd, and more than absurd, supposition, for,
were it possible to drain them of their Spanish
blood, no other would flow in their veins but that
of negroes or Indians.
The Europeans or Chapetons who arrive in

178 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
those countries are generally men of low origin in
Spain, or of a pedigree very little known, besides
having neither education nor any good quality to
recommend them ; but the Creoles, disregarding
distinctions of this nature, treat them all with
equal friendship and courtesy : it is enough that
they have come from Europe, to be honored as
persons of distinction, and to become entitled to
every mark of esteem ; and their courtesy is car
ried so far that even families of the highest rank
give a place at their table to the very meanest who
emigrate from Spain, even if they should go in
the character of servants ; hence they make no
distinction between them and their masters, when
they meet at one of the Creoles', a seat being
given them at their side, although their masters
may be present ; and it is owing to this obsequious
courtesy that many Europeans, who, on account
of their inferior birth and education, would never
dare to rise above their low condition, being flat
tered, after they arrive in the Indies, with such
tokens of regard, raise their thoughts above what
is meet, until they reach the highest post to which
ambition can aspire. In pursuing such a course
the Creoles have no better ground to rest upon
than merely to say that they are white, and this
sole prerogative entitles them to some distinction ;
nor do they stay to inquire what their profession
is, nor to infer, by what it really is, what rank

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 179
they hold in society. Disastrous consequences re
sult to the Indies from this abuse. The origin of
it is, that, as few families there are legitimately
white, — for this distinction is confined to the most
distinguished, — the mere circumstance of being
white entitles one to a position which ought to
belong only to a higher order of nobility; and,
therefore, being European merely by birth, apart
from every other consideration, they are supposed
to merit the same courtesy and esteem which are
lavished upon more distinguished individuals, who
go with an appointment from government, the
honor of which ought to distinguish them from the
bulk of emigrants.
In regard to those who in Spain enjoyed no
advantages of birth, the facility afforded them of
seeking promotion and forming an alliance with
those who constitute the nobility is in proportion to
the attentions which are bestowed, in some cities
more than in others, upon all Europeans indiscrim
inately, without regard to the rank or office of each
individual ; for, apart from the consideration that the
possession of an estate may serve as an offset to
the lack of nobility, the emolument of having
been born in Europe, as well as that of being a
white man, are sufficient to warrant the expectation
of connecting themselves with some of the most
distinguished families of that country.
The Creoles pass from this extreme to another,

180 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
no less pernicious, when they are provoked by a
real or supposed injury to give vent to a spirit of
revenge in the use of insulting and opprobrious
language ; they then denounce and vilify the Eu
ropeans in a mass, just as they had obsequiously
cringed to them at first ; and they do not scruple
to revile them as a worthless, low-born race, as if
there were no degraded condition, no ignoble ori
gin, and no infamous blot which might not be at
tributed to them ; whence it is that those on whom
the reproach falls avenge themselves by bringing
to light the flaws which are incident to their own
families, and these being closely allied with each
other, all are in danger of being consumed by the
raging flames. The Creoles, in order to vilify the
Europeans, fasten upon them the circumstance of
their forlorn condition at the time they arrived in
the country, as well as what they slanderously
report of each Other in regard to the meanness of
their origin, so that all become exasperated by the
exposure of their mutual defects, and live in con
tinual disquiet and turmoil.
This is the grand source of that disunion which
is wont to create such tumults in the settlements
of Peru, and even in those cities where nothing is
wanting to the liberty or comfort of their citizens,
and where they might pass the most agreeable
and tranquil life that could be desired. A spirit
of opposition keeps them in continual warfare,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 181
being full of acrimony and evil surmisings, and
plunged in a sea of dissensions and animosities,
the fruit of their own uncontrolled passions and of
the eagerness with which each individual strives to
defend the interests of his own party.
As we have already remarked, it is owing to
the ill-advised courtesy with which the Creoles
treat the Spaniards, when they view them with a
friendly eye, and especially on their first arrival,
as they are pledged to no party, that the latter
carry their ambitious views far beyond what their
profession and antecedents would justify ; hence it
is that those who have learned a trade in Europe
refuse to follow it as soon as they arrive in the
Indies, and this is the reason why the mechanical
arts never reach any greater degree of perfection
than they had at the time of- the conquest, the
Indians and mestizoes being the only classes who
are employed in them. Thus, while Spain is de
populated by the vast numbers who emigrate to
the Indies, those countries gain no benefit, each
individual being bent upon his own interest, with
out contributing in any degree to the general pros
perity of the nation.
There is also another circumstance which con
tributes to the want of order in the social con
dition of that country, which is, the custom intro
duced at an early period, and perhaps from the
time of the conquest, of granting the fueros, or
16

182 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
patents of nobility, to all Spaniards who would go
and take up their residence there. Its introduc
tion, which might have been justified at that time,
both in recompense of military service and to pro
mote the more rapid settlement of the country, is,
under the present circumstances, prejudicial to
Spain as well as to the Indies ; to Spain, on ac
count of the great number who emigrate from it
to acquire in the Indies the two possessions which
are most esteemed among men, and which all do
not here enjoy, namely, wealth, or the goods of
fortune, and nobility ; the privilege of the latter
being freely bestowed upon all who go there, en
abling them to hold offices and perform acts which
are reserved for the nobles, the bare name of
Spaniard being the best patent there can be in
those parts ; it is also pernicious to the Indies, for,
besides the tumults it occasions, the reproach it
brings upon the order of nobility, and the idleness
and vices that are consequent upon it, the mechan
ical arts, as well as all the arts of industry, which
are essential to a well-ordered republic, are com
pletely abandoned, being held in contempt in that
country by those who have no occasion to neglect
or despise them in this 
The inhabitants of the Indies, both Creoles and
Europeans, and especially those of Peru, of whom
we are now speaking, should they continue to be
the loyal subjects of the king, and remain steadfast

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 183
in their fidelity, can have no motive to covet
another kind of government, which shall be more
advantageous to them, or a more perfect degree
of freedom than that which they now have, or
greater security for their property. They all live
there after their own caprice, without the burden
of any other impost than that of the excise of the
Alcdbala, which is paid very irregularly ; they
acknowledge no other obligation or duty to magis
trates than such as they are willing to render, and,
regardless of the decisions of the tribunals, they
scarcely acknowledge themselves as vassals, for
each one is a sovereign in his own esteem ; and
they are such absolute proprietors of the country
and of their possessions that they are utter stran
gers to the fear of losing any portion of them, in
the event of prolonged wars in Europe, which ex
haust the revenue of princes, and to carry on which
the latter are obliged to lay new taxes upon their
subjects. A man who owns an estate there disposes
of it, as well as of its produce, just as he wishes ;
the trader has an undisputed right to his goods and
merchandise ; the capitalist entertains no appre
hension lest his estate should be impaired by a
forced loan, or that he should be compelled to
incur exorbitant expenses ; the poor man does not
absent himself from his family, and become a
fugitive, for fear of being pressed into service
against his will ; and so far is the government

184 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
from imposing fines upon the whites or mestizoes,
that, if these could appreciate the advantages they
enjoy, they would be envied by all nations, both
for the degree of liberty to which they have at
tained, as well as for the excellence of the system
of government under which they live.
Every proprietor becomes so arrogant on ac
count of what he possesses that he is regarded as
a petty sovereign in his own dominions, being the
absolute disposer of them, and subject to no other
law than that of his own caprice. In the cities,
villages, and hamlets, where the landholders reside,
they are the oracles of the people, and all the au
thority which the corregidors possess is only what
is conceded to them by the good pleasure of the
most distinguished- citizens, who are imitated in
this respect by those of inferior rank. If the cor
regidor keeps in favor with them, he occupies the
position of an honest citizen, like any one else ;
but if he: comes into collision with them before the
tribunals, or attempts to make any display of au
thority, he is; resisted by force of arms, and, as
there are none left to render obedience, his post is
virtually vacant ; and, should he proceed to exe
cute his designs, it would be enough to effect
his ruin.
There are towns in which contempt of author
ity has reached such a point that threats are often
carried into execution ; and if the conduct of the

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 185
magistrate is not the most prudent and wary, he
will have little security of life. It is true this is a
case which rarely or never happens, because the
corregidors study to promote their own interest,
and leave the government, or the greater part of
it, in the hands of the alcaldes, and by this means
rid themselves of subjects which give them any
uneasiness ; but, as cases occur in which no dis
simulation can be used, it is in these that the
caprice of those people shows itself without dis
guise ; and, in order to make it better understood,
we shall quote one of the numerous instances
which occurred in those provinces while we were
residing there.
In a town in the interior, which held, in point of
population, about a middling rank, an altercation
took place between a Creole gentleman and a Eu
ropean, which resulted in a mutual challenge, and
the parties went into the field, accompanied by
their seconds. One of them was so much injured,
that, without bringing the quarrel to a close, he
turned his back upon his opponent, and made his
escape, (after being wounded,) in order not to lay
down his arms. This circumstance became so
generally known that the individual who was
worsted in the affray, and who determined to seek
revenge, not having courage to make a second
attempt, had recourse to the base artifice of fur
nishing himself with weapons, and seeking his
16*

186 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
antagonists when they were off their guard. The
parties had gathered strength, and the Europeans
or Chapetons having raised their flag on one side,
and the Creoles on the other, the scandal became
excessive, and the mutual recrimination insupport
able. The result of the matter was, that they
patrolled the streets for several nights in search
of each other, and at an hour when daylight had
scarcely disappeared. Although the corregidor
was there, he did not attempt to use any measures
to keep them in check, for, his friendly interven
tion having failed of success, he thought he had
not a force sufficient to justify any decisive meas
ure. The rumor of this tumult having reached
the capital city of the province, orders were sent
to have the guilty seized and punished. As soon
as the latter had received intelligence of the order,
they put themselves in an attitude to resist it,
should the Audience attempt to put it in execu
tion, augmenting their force with that of the mes
tizoes, servants, -and others dependent upon them,
and seizing fire-arms wherever they could find
them. The corregidor, urged on the one hand by
the order of the tribunal, and fearful, on the other,
of resistance on the part of the delinquents,
availed himself of an artifice suggested by pru
dence to conciliate all parties, without hazard to
himself, and that was, to send them a polite mes
sage, requesting permission to visit their houses,

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 187
under a pledge that he would not approach the
apartment to which they should retreat. The lat
ter, aware that they should incur no risk by so
doing, and that the result to them would be favor
able, consented to let him in, and they withdrew
to a room which, on being closed, served for a
place of defence. The corregidor arrived with
his secretary, high sheriff, and several inferior of
ficers, signifying by that formidable array that the
prisoners were to be apprehended, and commenced
searching the house, without venturing near the
apartment where the culprits lay hid, (which was
as well known to the secretary and his suite as it
was to the corregidor,) and not having found them
in any of those rooms which had been examined j
the process was concluded, and satisfaction given
to the Audience by the testimony of competent
witnesses. As soon as the corregidor had with
drawn, the others emerged from their retirement,
and began to appear in public, as if no attempt
had ever been made to seize them. The Audience
knew all that had occurred, but winked at it, on
the ground that it was not possible for the corregi
dor to adopt more efficient measures. We arrived
in that town about six months after this took place,
and having received attentions from both parties,
we succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between
them, and thereby preventing any further evil
results from that scandalous division.

188 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
The domineering spirit both of the laity and
clergy, who introduce these dissensions, prevails
in both in an equal degree, yet it exists to such an
excess in the latter as to awaken new zeal and
give greater impulse to the former, who confident
ly rely on their assistance whenever occasion
should require. The whole clerical staff is impli
cated in these riots, and the religious orders exceed
all the rest, (that of the Jesuits excepted,) by in
terfering in subjects which do not belong to them,
and which are not appropriate to their profession.
Not only those who wear the habit, but even their
servants and dependants, have the insolence to
cast reproach upon the civil magistrate ; and the
pernicious example which they give to the laity is
the reason why the latter assume a bolder front,
and trample on the authority of their superiors.
It is in those countries that contempt of law
serves as pastime to ecclesiastics, who, in reliance
upon the immunities they enjoy, have the effron
tery to make sport of the civil magistrate, what
ever rank he may hold. Perhaps in no other
country in the world do we see priests with arms
in their hands boldly defying a corregidor even in
his own house, and exposing him to the scorn of
the populace. There, too, may be seen bands of
monks, of twenty or more, in masks, rushing
through the streets and provoking tumults, such as
would be looked for only from the lowest and

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 189
most reckless mob. It is there they have the au
dacity to enter the prison, armed, and, without fear
of resistance, to set at liberty culprits under the
just sentence of the law — an occurrence which
took place in Cuenca only a few days before our
arrival in that city in 1740. It is there that the
high sheriff has not courage to violate the sanctu
ary of the private dwellings of the priests, to ar
rest criminals that have taken refuge in them, as
we ourselves witnessed in the town of Lambayeque
in the year 1741. As we passed through that
town on our way to Lima, it happened that a com
mon priest had the insolence to attempt to beat the
corregidor, because he went to his house to seize
a culprit, who had just stabbed a townsman, and
had fled thither for refuge. In a word, it is there
where justice has no power to enforce her de
mands. It is by such examples as these that the laity
are emboldened by the clergy to treat their judges
with contempt, and to practise their detestable
vices without restraint.
It will not be thought strange that ecclesiastics
should show such contempt for justice, when they
exhibit the same temper towards their prelates, this
being another reason why it is impossible to lay
hold of them, and to chastise their insolence, as
much so as it is to attempt to reform the compli
cated machinery of abuses introduced into that

190 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
country, and which have become inveterate from
the days of the first colonists that emigrated
thither. These disorderly proceedings, the sources
of which are such and so various, are incorrigible :
their causes cannot be removed, and should any
attempt be made to reform them in part, it would
be impossible to stay their future progress. The
wise choice of rulers and magistrates, who are dis
interested, impartial, of sound morals, condescend
ing to all, and severe only towards those whose
unrighteous conduct renders them deserving of
punishment — this is the only method of reform
which can be introduced, and if this fails to im
pose the necessary restraints, and to bring those
people back to their reason, we know of no other
which is adequate to the object proposed ; for,
whatever be the means that can be devised, it ap
pears as if they wholly lose their efficacy in the
distance itself, as well as in the mode of putting
them in operation.
Note. The authors of the "Secret Expedition" have
expressed their opinion that some of the Creoles are qualified
to hold oflices under government ; but they have merely
alluded to the unwise policy of the mother country in the
selection of public functionaries who became a reproach to
the nation.
The church livings in America were numerous, and richly
endowed, but almost all vacancies were filled by ecclesiastics
from Spain. It was a common thing to see the whole staff
of a cathedral, from the bishop to the lowest officer, made up
of Europeans. A successor was nominated to a see long

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 191
before the post became vacant, and the candidate only awaited
the news of the death of a dignitary in order to get his cre
dentials sealed, and to go and take possession of his incum
bency. The Creoles were still more rigorously excluded from
the judiciary. The regents, oydors, and fiscals of the Audi
ence, as well as the governors and their assistants, the secre
taries and assessors, all went from Spain. It was the same
in the branch of the exchequer. The collectors, comptrol
lers, and even appraisers of the custom-house ; the intend-
ants, treasurers, officers, and other functionaries of the royal
exchequer, were exclusively Europeans. As to promotions
in the army, there was scarcely an officer in the regular
troops : the military honors to which a native of the country
could aspire, however rich or distinguished he might be, were
confined to the rank of colonel of a regiment of a militia
that had never passed muster. Even the monks maintained
a kind of warfare in the convents, to prevent any Creole col
league from being chosen provincial or prior in the capitu-
, lary elections.
But the chief source of irritation and discontent was the
character of tbe individuals promoted to office. The domes
tic of a secretary of state was confident of having his obse
quiousness rewarded by an appointment in America ; the
brother of a courtesan lady, who enjoyed the protection of
some one of the grandees, was named intendant of a prov
ince ; the intriguing jurist, who had 6erved as the instrument
of defending the suit of some favorite at court, was ap
pointed regent or oydor of an Audience ; the hair-dresser of
some royal personage confidently expected to see his son
promoted to the office of collector of customs. If an officer
in the family of one of the grandees had dishonored his sta
tion by cowardice or vile conduct, he was sent to the Indies,
with the rank of general, inspector, or commander of a for
tress ; or if an ignorant chaplain were found there, he was
promoted either to a bishopric or to the deanery of a cathe
dral ; or if a son were thought to be incorrigible, and had be
come the reproach of his family, he was sent to America,
bearing some important commission. Several Creoles, it is

192 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
true, have been appointed bishops in America, and generals in
Spain, but these were either the sons of those European func
tionaries, who were promoted by their parents, through the
influence of their relatives and friends in the peninsula, or
those who had been sent to Spain in boyhood, and who had
continued to reside there permanently, and who are not to
be ranked with the natives of the Indies. At the same time,
the king's ministers alleged instances like these, however
rare, to prove that the posts of honor and emolument were
equally accessible to Europeans and Creoles. It is not,
therefore, strange that quarrels should have ensued ; it is
rather to be wondered at that the Creoles have borne the
yoke so long and so patiently. Having none to ljsten to
their complaints, their only alleviation was the wretched re
source of vilifying and hating the usurpers of their rights.
This motive alone would have been sufficient to justify the
emancipation of those countries. — David Barry, Esq.

CHAPTER VII.
Gross Licentiousness of the Clergy in general, and particu
larly of the Monks. — Tumults attending the capitulary
Elections. — Their principal Cause.
We enter upon this chapter of our report with
some diffidence, both on account of the subject in
general, as well as of the peculiar nature of its
details, which must be communicated with due
regard to the elevated station of the individuals
of whom we are to speak ; while, on the other
hand, we should make ourselves liable to the im
putation of partiality or injustice, were we to pass
over in silence the dissolute practices which are
observable in them. The offence is of a public
nature, and hence no artifice can be used to screen
it from the observation of the secretaries ; and if
this were practicable, it would preclude the possi
bility of devising suitable measures of reform.
The ministers are the safest channel through
which our sovereigns can come to the knowledge
of the state of government in their dominions, the
conduct of their envoys and judges, and, finally,
of the system of jurisdiction under which the col
onists live. To attempt to conceal this information
17

194 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
would be to wish that it might never reach the
ears of the prince, and, consequently, to discoun
tenance the reform of immoral practices, which
would be the same as to connive at their existence.
Even if we were entitled to no other consideration
than that which belongs to any of his majesty's
subjects, it would suffice to warrant the discussion
not only of this topic, but of every other compre
hended within the sphere of our inquiries ; but
when we add the powerful one of having had
assigned us, among other offices of trust, that of
examining the government and condition of those
kingdoms, it would be culpable in us, after hav
ing discharged this duty, to withhold the result of
our investigations ; for, although the sacred char
acter of the persons interested might entitle them
to some consideration, that very character, as it
renders their crimes more aggravated, furnishes
an occasion of severe rebuke, inasmuch as reli
gion itself is implicated, which tolerates no form
of connivance or excuse.
In Peru, the body of ecclesiastics is made up
of two orders — the secular and regular clergy ;
the former comprising the parish priests, and the
latter the monks. The individuals who compose
both these orders are guilty of such licentiousness,
that, making due allowance for the frailties to
which human nature is liable, and the weaknesses
to which men of every class are subject, it would

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 195
appear that those ecclesiastics regard it as their
peculiar privilege to go before all others in the
career of vice ; for while they are under the most
sacred obligations not only to practise virtue, but to
correct the errors incident to frail nature, it is they
who, by their pernicious example, sanction the
practice of iniquity, and in a measure divest it of
its heinous nature. >
The parish priests are extremely vicious in their
habits ; but, whether it happen that an error or
crime in them attracts less notice, or whether they
are more careful to conceal it, or for both reasons,
which is the most probable, disgraceful as the
consequences are known to be, they never reach
such a degree of scandal as do those of the monks ;
for the latter, from the first step they take, and
even without leaving the monasteries, pursue a
course of conduct so notorious and shameful that
it becomes offensive in the extreme, and fills the
mind with horror.
Concubinage, as being the most general and
scandalous, holds the first place among the vices
of Peru. All are implicated in it — Europeans,
Creoles, the single as well as the married, and the
priests, both secular and regular. A remark so
comprehensive in its nature might be deemed hy
perbolical ; but, in order to substantiate the truth
of it, we shall give some examples which we have

196 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
had occasion to observe, and we shall cite them in
the order which the subject seems to demand.
Concubinage is so general in those countries
that the practice of it is esteemed a point of honor,
particularly in the small towns ; and when • a
stranger arrives and continues his residence there
for some time without having adopted the customs
of the country, his continence is attributed not to
a principle of virtue, but to the passion of avarice,
as it is generally supposed that he lives so in order
to save money. Soon after our arrival in the
Province of Quito, we proceeded, jointly with the
French company, to a plain a little more than four
leagues distant from that city, where we were to
make our first measurement, as a basis of subse
quent observations ; and in order to be in the
vicinity of our encampment, we took lodgings on
one of the numerous plantations in that valley,
and on Sundays and holidays we were accustomed
to go to the neighboring villages to hear mass.
After we had been there some days, the people
of the village asked after our concubines, directing
their inquiries to those who lived on the planta
tions ; and on being told that we lived without
women, they could not refrain from expressing
their astonishment that such a thing could take
place, notwithstanding that it is so common every
where except in that country.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 197
This vice having become so prevalent, it will
not be thought strange that those who are bound
by their profession to avoid it should participate in
it ; for a practice which is so general easily insin
uates itself among those who strive to keep them
selves from the contagion of it, and, as a love of
reputation fails to oppose any obstacle, the invet
erate habit gains strength, until it triumphs over
all sense of shame and all the salutary restraints
of fear.
Want of discipline in the convents opens the
door to licentious practices. In large cities, the
greater part of the monks live in private houses,
for the convents furnish an asylum to those only
who cannot keep house, or to the choristers, novi
tiates, and such like, who live there from choice.
The same is true of the small cities, villages, and
hamlets. The doors of the monasteries are kept
open, and the monks live in their cells, accompa
nied by their women, and lead in every respect
the life of married persons.
In order to live without the walls of the con
vent, a monk of any of the orders (except that
of the Jesuits) must have one of the following rea
sons to allege — either that he has an incumben
cy, or that he has bought an estate with his own
property, or that he has taken a lease of some one
of the many which are owned by the convents,
and which are abandoned for want of cultivation.
17*

198 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
Any one of these circumstances furnishes him a
sufficient excuse for keeping a house in the city,
and for making it his home whenever he has occa
sion to go there, rather than to live in the convent.
Those, likewise, who hold masterships, and who
have been promoted to the highest honors in the
gift of their order, although, usually residing in
the convent by virtue of their institute, are allowed
to keep their private houses in the city, where
their women and children usually live, and where
they pass most of their time. They do this with
so much freedom and sense of security that the
moment they , are threatened with serious illness
they take up their abode there, as they would in
an infirmary, abandoning the convent altogether ;
and even when they have no such pretext, they
usually absent themselves, and visit the monastery
merely to say mass, and to pass their time there
when it suits their caprice or convenience.
In addition, to the above-mentioned facts, these
individuals use so little care to disguise their con
duct that they appear to make incontinence a
matter of boasting ; they would imply as much as
this, when they go on a journey, by taking with
them their concubines, children, and servants, as
if to publish to the world their abandoned mode
of living. We have met them very frequently on
the highway in this style, but have noticed them
more particularly on the assembling of the chapters ;

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 199
for all who are present on these occasions enter
the city publicly with their whole family, having
either a vote to cast or a living to solicit ; and
when the election is over, they go out in the same
manner, some to take a higher rank in other con
vents, and others to be installed over, a vacant
curacy. We happened to be residing in Quito
when the time arrived for assembling the chapters
in the order of St. Francis, and, having taken
lodgings in that neighborhood, we had an opportu
nity of seeing distinctly all that was taking place.
For the space of fifteen days prior to the meeting
of the chapters, it was a source of amusement to
idle persons to look at the monks as they entered
the city with their concubines, and, for more than
a month after the chapters were closed, it was
equally amusing to see those who were on their
return to their new destination. It happened at
this time that, while a monk was living with all his
family opposite to the house where we were re
siding, one of his sons suddenly fell ill and died.
The same day, at two in the afternoon, the whole
body of friars went to sing a response over him,
and, at the close of it, each individual came for
ward to express his sympathy for the mourner.
This could be seen distinctly by us, the balconies
of one house being opposite to those of the other,
exposing the whole to view, although the ceremo
nies were performed without any design of con
cealment.

200 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
Strange as this may seem, it is nothing in com
parison with what sometimes occurs. It is natu
rally to be supposed that there is scarcely one who
escapes the contagion of vice, whether he reside in
the city, on an estate, or in his own curacy ; for,
whether it be in one place or another, they all live
in the same loose and profligate manner. But the
most notorious circumstance of all is, that these
convents have been converted into public brothels,
particularly in the smaller settlements, and that,
in the large towns, they have become the scene
of such unheard-of abominations and execrable
vices that the mind wavers in uncertainty as to what
opinion the inmates have formed of religion, or
whether they live in the knowledge and fear of the
Catholic. In the smaller towns, under the pretext that the
monks are few in number, the doors of the mon
asteries are kept open, and women go in and out
at all times for the purpose of cooking, washing,
and waiting on the friars, and performing all the
services which usually devolve upon the lay
brothers. Likewise the concubines have free
access at all hours, not only without impediment,
but without so much as attracting notice,* of
which we shall give two examples, which will
place the truth of it beyond a doubt.
* The women of the monks no longer live in the monas
teries, but in the streets in the vicinity. — Tr.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 201
It was on the eve of our departure from Quito,
on our tour to Cuenca, that we visited one of the
convents to take leave of some of the inmates,
whose acquaintance we had made during our stay
in that city. We entered one of the cells or
apartments, in which we found a monk, accom
panied by three females of respectable appear
ance, who were seated by the bedside of the friar
to whom our visit was made, but who was so ill
that he did not recognize us. The females were
busy in applying remedies suited to effect his re
covery. On inquiring of the first monk the occa
sion of this sudden illness, he told us, in few
words, that the young woman who seemed most
officious in her attentions, and betrayed evi
dent indications of deep sympathy, was his con
cubine, with whom he had had a quarrel the
day previous, and, exasperated as he still was
with her, she very imprudently seated herself at
the door of a church attached to a nunnery, where
he happened to be preaching at that hoitr. Her
presence threw him at once into a transport of
rage, and the attack which occasioned his illness
seized him so unexpectedly that he could neither
proceed with his discourse nor recover the use of
his reason. The said monk took occasion from
this circumstance to speak at large of the miseries
of this life, and, when he had concluded, he in
formed us that, of the other, two young women,

202 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
one belonged to him, and the other to the superior
of the convent.
On another occasion, a French gentleman, who
was associated with us in our expedition, being
present at one of the numerous fandangoes or
balls which are so common there, entered into
conversation with a lady who had been invited,
and, as midnight was then approaching, she ex
pressed a desire to return home. The gentleman
offered to accompany her. She accepted the offer,
and, without making any apology, proceeded di
rectly to one of the convents of friars, ascended
the steps, and knocked. The French gentleman
knew not what to think of it, but waited, somewhat
confused, to see where it would end, which he soon
discovered to his astonishment; for when the
porter opened the door, the lady bade him good
night, and, thanking him for his politeness, went
in. We may imagine the surprise of this gentle
man, who until then had not been accustomed to
such open profligacy of manners ; but as such oc
currences were frequently repeated afterwards
under our own eye, neither he nor ourselves re
garded them any longer with surprise.
Were we to enumerate all the similar occur
rences which took place during our stay in those
countries, they would fill a large volume ; but we
have said enough to explain what that is of which
we speak, without trespassing too far in recording

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 203
facts of such a revolting nature. But at the same
time, we shall not neglect the opportunity of com
municating whatever the subject before us seems
to demand.
The greater part or all of the enormities commit
ted in those wanton fandangoes, which are so com
mon in those countries, appear to be inventions sug
gested by the infernal spirit himself, to keep those
people in greater bondage ; but it is exceedingly
strange, and even incredible, that the choice of in
struments to begin and carry on such dissolute prac
tices should be such as it is, and so fitted to excite
horror and aversion. These fandangoes, or balls,
are usually devised by the members of the religious
orders, or more properly by those who call them
selves religious, although, in fact, they are far
from being so ; for it is they who pay the expense,
who attend in company with their concubines, and
who get up the fray in their own houses. Simul
taneously with the dance, the immoderate use of
ardent spirits begins, and the entertainment is grad
ually converted into acts of impropriety so un
seemly and lewd, that it would be presumption
even to speak of them, and a want of delicacy to
stain the narrative with such a record of obsceni
ties ; and, letting them lie hid in the region of
silence, we shall only remark, that whatever the
spirit of malice could invent in respect to this sub
ject, great as it might be, it could never fathom

204 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
that abyss into which those corrupt minds are
plunged, nor give any adequate idea of the degree
of excess to which debauchery and crime are car
ried. The peculiar position of those who take the
lead in those scenes of riot excites surprise, not
merely that the members of a religious order
should inconsiderately abet the scandals of the
laity, but that they should in this manner originate
them, and serve as pioneers to those who are en
tering upon the paths of vice. We have nothing
to corroborate the truth of this but experience itself,
together with actual occurrences and the publicity
of facts, which are of such a nature that children
inherit the titles of rank held by their parents ; and
we see, not without surprise, in a city like Quito,
scores of lady provincials, prioresses, lady guardi
ans, lady readers, &c, as well as of every titled
office in the order ; so that children are known in
public by no other name than that of the title of
the post of honor to which their fathers had been
elevated. So far are they from accounting such
titles as derogatory, that they are esteemed as a
badge of honor, and the more so as the rank of
the individual is greater. In the same way as the
rank of an individual is designated by his title, the
merit of the children is graduated by that of their
parents ; and the former, regardless of illegitimacy
or sacrilege, esteem themselves happy in making
a boast of their elevated station in society, nor

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 205
does it occasion them any sense of shame to be
known by the honorary titles which had been con
ferred on their parents in the monastery.
The preceding gives proof enough of entire dis
regard to appearances in the monks ; for, if we
except the baptismal records, we have no means of
distinguishing their offspring from those of the
laity. They, lead a married life with the women
they take, and no one dares to censure them ; and
having become lost to all sense of decency, they
trample on the sanctity of the prohibition. It ap
pears as if this insensibility wrought in them more
powerfully than in others ; for they live without the
least restraint, and go far beyond the most infa
mous of the laity in the practice of licentiousness.
Under pretext of celebrating these orgies in the
house of one of the monks, it is reason enough
why no justice of the peace should violate the sanc
tity of their domicile ; and however disguised the
managers of the ball may be, by assuming the dress
of the laity, common report is enough to identify
them with certainty.
It may be thought strange that the superiors of
the orders should use concealment, and not apply
a remedy in this matter ; for, if they were actu
ated by no other motive than the reputation of the
Order, they would do it for this sole object ; but
the reply to this is by no means difficult. They
do, indeed, assign several reasons which they
18

206 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
suppose to be weighty, such as, that the custom has
become inveterate, and that it has ceased to give
offence, because it is so generally admitted in all
those countries. But the truth is, they want au
thority to restrain these excesses, because they are
as much implicated in them as are the inferior
clergy ; and, as the fatal example originates with
them, there is no room, under such circumstances,
for salutary admonition, nor is it possible for the
guilty person to be brought to the knowledge of
his error, and to be made to reform his life. Of
the truth of this, the following anecdote will fur
nish sufficient evidence. In one of the towns sit
uated within the Province of Quito, the living was
held by a monk who had at a former period been
elected provincial of his Order; but he was so
loose in his morals, and so perverse in his whole
conduct, that he kept the village in a state of tur
moil by his unbridled licentiousness, until at length
the complaints of the inhabitants came to the ears
of the President and Bishop of Quito. The latter,
no longer able to disregard such repeated solicita
tions, earnestly entreated the acting provincial to
restrain the excesses of the monk, who was ac
cordingly summoned to answer to the charges
alleged against him. At first, however, the pro
vincial gave him a friendly admonition, and coun
selled him not to be unmindful of his advanced
age, and of the elevated station which he had

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 207
once held in the convent. He then urged upon
his attention every motive that could possibly influ
ence him to abandon his reckless life, and thereby
cut off any further occasion of complaint from the
president and bishop. The monk received the
admonition with great calmness, and as soon as the
provincial had concluded, he commenced speak
ing, and, availing himself of the freedom of mu
tual friendship and confidence, not to mention
other circumstances, which set aside even the
forms of respect and subordination, he said to him,
with an air of indifference, that if he needed the liv
ing for any thing, it was only to maintain his concu
bines, and to carry on his amours ; for, as it respected
himself, so long as he had a frock and hood, and his
daily allowance of bread, it was quite sufficient for
his maintenance ; that if he (the provincial) intended
to infringe his liberty in any respect, he might take
the living for himself, for he had no need of it what
ever. The result was, that the monk returned to
the village, and continued to live, as before, in the
same vicious practices.
But what admonition shall a superior give to an
inferior concerning a crime in which both are
equally implicated, and who, when occasion offers,
go in company to the dwellings of their concubines
without the least reserve ? for they meet in the house
of the provincial, just as they do in that of a pri
vate monk, to celebrate their nightly orgies. Hence

208 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
it is that such a mode of life as the priesthood
lead does not strike the laity with surprise ; but
what does give occasion for reproach is the wran
gling that takes place between them and their con
cubines, between the children belonging to one
and those which belong to another, and among the
women theimselves, who lead this abandoned life,
especially when it happens that a priest is dissatis
fied with one, and gives occasion of jealousy to
another. On this account, there exist unceasing
brawls and riots, which are more violent in small
towns, especially if the inhabitants come to take
part in them. They are also wont to spring from
the supremacy which the concubines and children
of priests wish to maintain over those of the laity,
trampling upon them and degrading them to ser
vile occupations, as if they were fit only for me
nial offices. Here, then, we have the real occa
sion of offence, which is not in the fact that a
priest is burdened with a numerous offspring, nor
that he lives openly with a woman in a state of
matrimony, but in the incessant quarrels and tu
mults which have their origin in a course of con
duct in every view unseemly and reproachful.
It is a circumstance very worthy of remark in
the fandangoes to which we have before al
luded, that it is by such deeds of revelry that
the assuming of monastic vows is commemorated ;
it is in such orgies, in which there is no abominable

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 209
crime which is not committed, and no indecency
which is not practised, that the solemn occasion of
chanting the first mass is celebrated, which seems
like presenting to the young friars a model on
which to form their subsequent conduct ; and they
appear to make use of the lessons of depravity
with so much fidelity, that they never deviate in
the slightest degree from their observance.
Although this licentious life comprises both
priests and friars, the former are more continent
and less scandalous before the public, and in both
orders there are wont to be individuals who live
in a more exemplary manner. But we find, on
further inquiry, that these are aged priests, who
have been induced by advancing years to change
their habits, and to lead a more virtuous life ; and it
usually happens in regard to both, that, if any one
retires from the world to live virtuously, it is nOt
until he is burdened with children and old age, and
is naturally on the borders of the grave.
All the seclusion of these priests, who are ac
counted models of virtue, as well as all their pen
ances of mortification and fasting, consist in lead
ing a life of continence, by withdrawing from the
society of their concubines. This might appear
at first view an inconsiderable triumph ; but it
comes to be very important when we reflect that
there are many individuals in whom these circum
stances concur, and who continue to live in a state
18*

210 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
of concubinage until the very moment of their
death. Numerous examples of this kind might
be quoted, but we shall confine ourselves to one
only, which will be sufficient to corroborate what
we have stated.
On the pampa where our first observations were
taken relative to the measurement of the earth,
there were various plantations belonging to friars,
and one of them was superintended by a monk of
such distinguished talents that he had been repeat
edly promoted to the dignity of provincial. This
estate was so near to that on which we were re
siding, that we frequently preferred going there to
hear mass on Sundays and holidays. By this fa
cility of communication, we had sufficient oppor
tunity of knowing what was occurring on that es
tate, as well as on the neighboring ones ; but even
without this circumstance we could not be ignorant
of it ; for the occurrences were so public, that, at the
very time the tenants made known to us the names
and divisions of the estate, they made us ac
quainted with every thing relative to the owner of
it, without omitting the circumstances of his pro
fession and mode of life. This monk was already
more than eighty years old, but was still living, as
a married person, with a young and good-looking
concubine, who was frequently mistaken for some
one of the daughters of his own family, for this
was the fourth woman with whom he had contracted

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 211
alliance ; and as children had descended of all
these, there was literally a swarm of them, be
tween great and small. This whole family kneeled
together in the chapel to hear mass, the concu
bine, herself presiding, and occupying for this pur
pose a conspicuous place. The father said mass,
and one of his sons did the office of assistant.
But the most remarkable circumstance was, that,
although this priest had received the extreme unc
tion three times, being at death's door, he could not
be persuaded to make this young woman withdraw
from his bedside ; and at length, after having had
the rite administered for the fourth time, he died, as
the phrase is, in her arms. It will not, therefore,
be thought strange, if attention has been given to
what we remarked above, that those who become
ill in the convents should retire to a private house,
and continue there, attended by their concubines,
until they recover or die.
The regular clergy, as well as all those who are
forbidden by their vows to marry, not only live in
the married state, but secure to themselves advan
tages over those who are lawfully married, for they
are at liberty to change their women, either when
they cease to be congenial to them, or when age
has rendered them less attractive ; and it is their
practice so to do whenever it suits their caprice, or
whenever they have an opportunity to mend their
fortune. To those whom they abandon, a weekly

212 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
allowance is granted for their support, and this is
continued for life, if the individual concerned is
one who possesses property, or holds a high rank
in the church or in the Order to which he belongs.
From examples like these, some conclusion may
be formed of the state of religion in that country
— the sacrilege committed in the face of day, the
irreverence attending the .celebration of religious
rites, and the want of security for the propagation,
or even the existence, of the true faith. Let this
question be left to the judgment of each individ
ual, as it would be inexpedient to make it a sub
ject of discussion, and augment the sense of grief
and disappointment which naturally originates
from it.
So far, however, is this mode of life from being
disreputable, or prejudicial to the good name and
decorum either of man or woman, that the promo
tion of a married priest is an occasion of mirth
and festivity to the woman with whom he has con
tracted alliance ; so that when a monk has been
promoted to an honorable station in his Order, his
concubine receives the customary congratulations,
as one who shares in the honor of the new ap
pointment. What takes place in regard to one is
applicable also to the other, for by it they secure
a greater revenue, which is the object desired.
The monks possess advantages over all others
in regard to the rank of the women who belong to

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 213
them, which arises from the fact that, while they
are in a situation more favorable to the acqui
sition of wealth, they have less to spend for their
personal maintenance ; hence it is all applied to
the benefit of their women, which is not the case
either with the laity or with other ecclesiastics ;
for, although both the former and the latter main
tain them, they do not lavish upon them their
whole estate, as is the case with the monks ; for
these, as they say themselves, carry their whole
wardrobe on their backs, and their only pecuniary
obligations are such as they impose upon them
selves ; so that whatever they earn, either within
or without the convent, reverts to these women,
and is applied to the maintenance of their fam
ilies. Hence it is that the men, not having scruples of
conscience, inclining them to forsake such a course,
nor the women sufficient modesty or love of virtue
to do the same, it will not seem repugnant to rea
son that the practice should have become so gen
eral as to comprehend all classes, without ex
ception ; yet we shall not venture to affirm so
much as this, lest we should brand with such a
foul reproach those who may never have incurred
it ; but we must declare, that, in regard to several
individuals, whom we knew and esteemed as pos
sessing moral worth, and who, to appeatfnce, had
always lived circumspectly, time disclosed to us

214 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
quite the contrary, and under circumstances that
gave us occasion to doubt even of those who had
exhibited externally satisfactory evidence of vir
tuous conduct.
This licentiousness, both of the laity and priest
hood, is universal in Peru, so that what is said of
Quito and Lima may be affirmed of all other cities
and towns. The root of the evil is, that, those
countries having been conquered and settled by
persons of a low rank in society, the abuses which
they introduced at the commencement continued
to prevail and multiply, until they had become
universal.* We shall conclude this chapter by alluding
again to the tumults occasioned by the capitulary
elections, in order to show how little the monas
teries contribute to the object for which they were
established. The revenue attached to preferments in the re
ligious Orders is the source of all the unreason
able and extravagant behavior of the members :
* There are not wanting in Quito bright examples of virtue
among the laity, which shine with more lustre in contrast with
the surrounding darkness of infidelity and superstition.
An aged friend of mine in that city once informed me that,
having applied to a Canon of the church for counsel in regard
to the way to be saved, that dignitary labored to quiet his
apprehensions by assuring him that we had not evidence
enough of a future state to give ourselves any concern
about it. — Te.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 215
hence it is that they pay little or no attention to
the continuance and increase of the missions, and
neglect their appropriate duty of preaching for the
conversion of infidels. They appear in public to
promote the interests of their own party, and to
kindle more and more the flames of discord among
individuals, when duty calls them to interpose their
friendly offices to allay the spirit of party ; hence
the perverse, disorderly, and scandalous life which
they all lead, from first to last, making it evident
that those who constitute the religious Orders have
no claim to the character of religious persons.
The chapters assemble at certain intervals, to
make choice of a provincial, or superior of a con
vent, who has under his control all the minor con
vents of his Order which are comprised within the
limits of a province. This dignitary fills up all
vacancies that occur in office, or for once grants this
prerogative to his predecessor, in case the latter has
espoused his cause ; so that the individual chosen
makes this concession to the one who chooses him,
and either one or the other nominates priors or guar
dians for all the convents of the province, remodels
all the benefices, promotes the curates, or nominates
others in their place — all which yields him an im
mense revenue ; for what has been said of the
system of bribery practised in the election of a
corregidor applies to all the honors and preroga
tives conferred by the provincial, the amount

216 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
which each; individual has to contribute being reg
ulated by a fixed tariff or scale of prices ; whether
it be under the denomination of a pension, or alms
giving, or benevolence, or any other term that may
be applied to it ; for, whatever be the pretext, it is
well known that the vacancy is not filled unless
the stipulated sum should be paid previously, or an
obligation given to pay it in full as soon as the
office begins to yield an income. Although the
new provincial should cede to his predecessor the
prerogative of filling up these vacancies, the va
cancies thus filled do not fail to yield him an im
mense revenue ; for, besides what the interested
parties give to him who directly bestows the emol
ument, they also remunerate the provincial who
concedes the right to bestow it, which leaves them
both with an enormous income ; but even this is not
to be named in comparison with what they after
wards collect,, during their parochial visits, and in
the interim of the meeting of the chapters, which
is the source whence they derive their chief
emolument. ....
The only recompense bestowed by the provin
cials on those who have espoused their party con
sists in promoting them to office, on payment of
the stipulated alms, which does not diminish aught
from the merit of the living conferred, for it always
enables an individual to get a clear income of
twelve thousand dollars or more, during his term

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 217
of office, even if he have advanced a gratuity of
three or four thousand dollars, or have discharged
his debt to the provincial from the very proceeds
of the benefice bestowed.
But what in this respect forces itself upon the
attention is, that a religious Order, like that of St.
•Francis, should handle money bags of a thousand
dollars each as they were maravedies or beads of
the rosary ; that it should set up and manage its
fair of guardianships and livings, as other con
vents do ; that the provincials, in a three years'
term, should 'accumulate a greater sum than is ac
cumulated by any one presiding over other orders,
-the number of livings in their gift exceeding that
of the rest ; that, in the same proportion, guardi
ans and curates increase in riches, purchase es
tates, and keep up private establishments ; and, in
a word, that there should be provincials, and even
friars, of elevated rank, rich and ostentatious, and
the fame of whose pomp and pride echoes through
the towns and cities where they reside.
In addition to the wealth accumulated by the
provincials during their term of office, as soon as
this term expires they are entitled to one of the
best (that is, of the richest) livings or guardian
ships in the gift of the Order, and they are at lib
erty to select for their own use the most valuable
estate within the province, and, by paying the rent
prescribed by ancient usage, to hold it as their own
19

218 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
during their lifetime. To these emoluments oth
ers are added, which yield such a revenue as to
provide them with every thing that could be de
sired. As it is undeniable that all the Orders in the In
dies possess immense wealth, and that they have
no occasion to employ it to advantage, it is evi
dent that they make an improper use of it, by
rendering it subservient to their corrupt propensi
ties. Hence it is that the members of the religious
Orders take the lead of every other class of men
in the practice of vice ; for, if reference be had
to concubinage, none are guilty of it to such a de
gree as they are, for there are none who maintain
a greater number of women ; if to, the use of ob
scene language, it makes one shudder to listen to
them, when they let loose their tongues, and
make them the instruments of the most filthy and
opprobrious language that can be imagined. Be
sides this, they play at games of hazard more
than any class of persons ; they drink to greater
excess than the laity, and there is no vice with
which they have not made themselves familiar ;
all which has its source in superfluous wealth ;
for, having no objects on which to lavish it, and no
occupation to fill up their intervals of leisure, they
make them both subservient to their detestable
vices, and continue to live in them even to their
last hour.

SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU. 219
It being so manifest that the profligacy of the
monks in Peru is owing to the riches they hoard
up, and that these are derived from the livings,
the evil might be remedied by nominating the sec
ular clergy to the benefices ; for the priests, cruel as
they are to the Indians, are not so tyrannical as
the monks : the reason is, that the former receive
their appointments for life, and are not compelled,
like the latter, to contribute the customary fee or
bribe at the meeting of every chapter, nor have
they the same occasion to straiten to the utmost
their parishioners, in order to render the curacy as
lucrative as possible.
On the other hand, if such a measure were
adopted, and friars should be excluded from the
benefices, the scandal of profligacy would not be
avoided ; for the secular and regular clergy are
equally depraved in their morals. But, exter
nally, the difference is in favor of the priests, for
these are more wary, as we have already observed,
and endeavor to hide their weaknesses ; there is
more of decorum in their manners ; their language
is not so revolting, nor their lives so scandalous ;
so that if we would describe the difference between
the profligacy of the monks and the frailty of the
priests, we should say that the latter are not more
abandoned and loose than are the laity in general ;
and if there is any difference between the two
classes, a greater regard to appearances may be

220 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
predicated of the priests ; but the monks, under
all circumstances, are more profligate than the
laity. Thus, although the reform of such mis
chievous abuses could not be wholly. effected, it
might be secured in part, and the hope entertained
that, through the influence of worthy ecclesiastics,
who should be sent from Spain, the vices which
now prevail might be rooted out, or held in some
degree of restraint, and a new order of adminis
tration be set on foot. Although this object should
not be secured, neither as a whole nor in part,
other advantages would result from it, which would
be of great importance to the king and his sub
jects, and which are so indispensable at the pres
ent moment, that, otherwise, we cannot rely on the
permanent possession of those kingdoms ; at least,
no reasonable hope can be entertained that the set
tlements will ever be extended over that vast ter
ritory, which hitherto has recognized no sovereign
but the barbarous Indian, and no proprietor but the
beast of the forests.

NOTES.

Among other instances of maladministration and bribery,
communicated, by the author of the Secret Expedition, to
the Spanish ministers, the following are selected as having
occurred during their residence in the colonies : —
During the administration of a viceroy whose avarice has
left a blot upon his memory, a judicial inquiry came before
the Audience, and the interested individual, being fully aware
that he had no color.of justice to enable him to get a decis
ion in his favor, used every endeavor to conciliate the good
will of the viceroy. The individual obtained all that he de
sired, and on the day that a vote was to be taken, at their
meeting, the viceroy expressed himself in such terms as to
make it evident that he was deeply compromised in the re
sult of the question, and this indication sufficed to incline
all the oydors to adopt his opinion except one, whose con
science was more in accordance with justice. The meeting
closed, and the viceroy, having returned to his palace, was
followed very soon after by the judge who had expressed his
dissent from the decision of the Audience, and, addressing
himself to the viceroy, made an apology, and begged he
would pardon him, as his conscience would not permit him
to do otherwise, especially in a case that was too plain to be
misunderstood. The viceroy allowed him to say what he
pleased, and replied by assuring him that he should continue
to be his friend, notwithstanding his having acted in oppo
sition to his wishes. But after the conversation had termi
nated the viceroy asked him, in great confidence, if any
attempt had ever been made to gain his vote by means of
19*

222 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
bribery, and if he had rejected the bribe, in order not to
forego the claims of duty or of justice. The minister as
sured him that it had been the case, and went on to mention
some occasions on which it had occurred. The viceroy com
mended him highly for his integrity and disinterestedness,
and, going up to a table which stood in the middle of the
room, he raised a cloth, and, exposing to view a large vessel
of gold, loaded with boxes of gold, dust and doubloons, told
him that he was not surprised at his scrupulous regard to in
tegrity, for perhaps all the temptations with which he had
been assailed might have been nothing more than a gold
box, a few candlesticks, and other pieces of silver, which
were contemptible for their small value; but had he been
tempted with such _ present as that before him, he would
have been capable not only of sacrificing the principles of
justice, but even of committing a thousand acts of sacrilege,
if so many were required of him.
"When we made the passage over the Isthmus of Panama,
that Audience was found in so corrupt a state, and its decisions
had become so discreditable,, that, among the persons who con
stituted that tribunal, there was one whose recklessness was
more notorious than that of his colleagues, whose office it was
to settle lawsuits, and make a bargain with the interested par
ties about the amount of the reward to be contributed by them.
This was practised with so little caution, that justice was
put up to sale, and bid off to him who would give most ; so
that, after he had contracted with one of the parties, without
coming to a final settlement, he sent for his antagonist, and
feigning a desire to do him a kindness, he made known to
him the sum which the other had offered, pressing him to
advance somewhat more, in order to induce the other minis
ters to take his part. After the bargain had been agreed
upon, and the terms settled definitively, all the ministers
eagerly espoused the cause of the litigant who had been the
most bountiful, and the gain was divided among them.
It happened, during our residence there, that the owner of
a ship obtained the signature of the president to a license
authorizing him to make a voyage to the ports of New Spain,

NOTES. 223
to exchange the surplus produce of the isthmus for other
necessary provision — a privilege granted to the presidents,
which, if not abused, would secure important advantages to
commerce. The shipowner, confiding implicitly in the favor
of the president, did not take the precaution to gain over the
oydors, and as the time approached for getting in readiness
to go on the voyage, the ship being laden and ready for sea,
the Audience had her detained, and the reasons of the deten
tion being presented with decision, the license was with
drawn, and the ship was ordered back to Peru, after consid
erable loss to the owner, and the license was soon after
granted to another, it having been refused to the first be
cause he did not know how to manage his suit.
The most remarkable case that occurred in that Audience
was in connection with an individual who carried on a law
suit, the result of which was so inauspicious to him, owing
to the decided opinion expressed by the judges in favor of his
opponent, that he had given up all hope of obtaining a favor
able decision. Finding himself on the point of losing a pos
session, which had been usurped by his opponent, and con
vinced that he could not get a favorable hearing, he agreed
to resign his claim in favor of a lady, the niece of one of the
ministers; and, having conversed with the latter, he inti
mated to him that, having no legal heirs, he had determined
to alienate that property (which was an estate), in favor of
his niece, for his only object was that his opponent should
not continue in possession of an estate which had been un
justly acquired. The minister from that time began to attend
to his cause, and to disabuse the minds of the others of the
false impression they: had formed of him, so that he suc
ceeded in gaining them over to his side, and by means of
further examination, to put him in possession of his estate.
Having now become the owner of the property by the final
decision of the court, he went to visit the minister who had
acted the part of a protector, and told him that he must ex
cuse him if he did not fulfil his promise, for he was so im
poverished that he could not afford to be courteous with what
he needed for his own maintenance, and which was his in

224 SECRET EXPEDITION TO PERU.
equity ; that the offer he had made was designed only to
secure his object, finding that there was no other way to re
strain him from committing an act of injustice ; but, as the
laws of gratitude dictated, he wished to recompense him for
the service as soon as the farm would produce an income, but
his means were so limited as not to admit of it for that time.
By so doing, he remained in possession of his property, to
the no small chagrin of the minister, who, on finding his ex
pectations disappointed, spared no pains to avenge himself
of the joke.
In further proof of the recklessness with which the judges
receive bribes, from all quarters, without caution or conceal
ment, we will relate what took place with respect to the
French captains of the two ships, the Deliberanza and the
Liz, which took a cargo of manufactured goods to the South
Sea. The case was, that the Spanish merchant, who loaded
these ships, entered a suit against the captains. The lat
ter gained the cause, and, agreeably to established usage
throughout the country, they proceeded to pay a visit to the
ministers of the Audience, to thank them for the efforts
they had made in their behalf; and as one of them, in par
ticular, had distinguished himself in his exertions to sustain
them, on going to pay him their compliments, they carried
him a case containing a hundred doubloons, some boxes of
gold dust, and a variety of articles of smaller value ; but as
all this was not adequate, according to established custom,
to the importance of the subject in hand, they went with the
apprehension that the amount might appear too inconsider
able, and that they should be received with coldness. They
presented themselves before him, and after the formalities
usual on such occasions, put the bribe into his hands. The
minister received it with evident marks of satisfaction and
gratitude, and the whole was immediately exposed to view
and carefully examined. He then began to count the doub
loons very deliberately, and, as soon as he had finished,
wrapped them up again in the package in which they came,
and, arranging the whole in the same form in which it had
been presented, he returned it to the captains, remarking to

NOTES. 225
them that he had examined it all, and counted the money, in
order to see how much he was indebted to their generosity :
that he acknowledged it as received, but begged them to ac
cept it from his hand as a. new courtesy he had to show
them ; that he was much gratified to have such an opportu
nity to be of service to them ; and what he chiefly desired of
them was, that, on their return to Europe, they would make
mention publicly (against the prevailing opinion) of the im
partiality and integrity with which he had managed their
business, — in doing them justice, because justice was on
their side, and not from selfish motives. The captains re
turned very well pleased to have had so successful an issue
in the affair, but forming a very different opinion of the min
ister from what he supposed they would from his gallantry,
for they knew he had affected it in order not to lose his credit
among foreigners, who were inclined, in distant countries, to
expose the maladministration of public functionaries ; and
that he had given them a favorable reception at the tribunal
merely as an acknowledgment of the presents they had made
him beforehand, in having sent him several valuable articles
of the merchandise they had imported. The rest of the
oydors received the portion of the recompense which fell to
them, with the exception of those who had expressed a con
trary opinion, and the Frenchmen were amazed to see the
freedom and recklessness with which all parties admitted
bribes, tampering with the votes of the judges, and making a
public fair of the decisions of the tribunals.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 03462 4487