ven said of him that he made grants of
commendaries in consideration of a certain per centage on their annual
produce. Besides this, he appointed his own brother Berrio alcalde-mayor
of the town of Guaxaca, where he oppressed and ill-used the inhabitants
in every possible manner to obtain gold. This auditor likewise
despatched a person of his own name as commandant to the township of
the Zapotecs, whose conduct was equally infamous there as that of Berrio
in Guaxaca. The other auditor, Matienzo, was a man far advanced in
years, and the only one who had not abused his power; but against the
others so many bitter complaints were made, and these so well confirmed
by letters from the monks and prelates, that the emperor ordered the
council of the Indies immediately to recall all the members of the royal
audience, to severely punish them, and to appoint other men of integrity
and intelligence. His majesty also desired that an inquiry should be
made as to the number of slaves which had been marked in the province of
Panuco. Matienzo was commissioned to make the inquiry, as this aged
auditor had shown greater love of justice than his colleagues.

From this moment all the permits which had been given to mark slaves
were considered as invalid, and the marking-irons were destroyed
wherever they were found, and henceforth it was forbidden ever again to
mark slaves. It was even ordered that a census should be taken of all
the slaves in New Spain, in order to prevent their being sold out of the
country, or even from being sent from one province into another. In the
same way it was declared that every distribution of commendaries made by
Guzman and his colleagues to their friends, relations, and other persons
of no worth, should be considered as invalid, and the property these
persons had obtained in this manner was immediately to be delivered up
again.

These commands produced endless lawsuits, for those in possession
employed every artifice to retain what they had once got. Some
maintained they belonged to the body of the Conquistadores, though there
was not a word of truth in it; others asserted that they had been
settled in the country for many years. Some, who could offer no good
excuse, asserted, at least, that they never belonged to the household,
or to the table companions of the auditors; declaring that they had only
called upon these gentlemen from time to time, and appeared in their
suite, to pay them the respect which wa