he laymen, they asked if I had come to force on
them any tribute, a thing which they so much fear. In the instructions
which the governor, Don Geronimo [_sc._ Gonzalo], recently gave to
Captain Juan Pablo de Carrion, who made the expedition to Cagayan,
there is a clause stating that "tribute shall not be demanded from
them for one year"--which marks the beginning of some respect for
your Majesty's orders; and I hope to God that it is to be one of much
importance, in order that those Indians, who three or four times have
been so wronged and scandalized, may now have peace.

147th. Clause 147 is quite forgotten, nor can those who govern be
persuaded that this so holy manner of preaching the gospel be tried;
besides, your Majesty leaves no authority to the bishops or to other
prelates to attempt the apostolic preaching of the gospel, but all
the authority is given to the governors, or is assumed by them. If
this clause were to be observed, the bishops and not the governors
would have to reform whatever is needed. The preachers go either
alone or with an escort; hence it is that the governors attempt
more than the conversion of the Indians. They never find place for
the fulfilment of this clause. It is without doubt a shameful thing,
and unworthy of one who professes such a law as ours, that we should
not trust in God, for sometimes the preachers would do more alone,
unaccompanied by arquebuses and pikes; and, although I do not deny
that this may be lawful and sometimes necessary, it would not be a
bad plan that this be tried the other way, at some time. But it will
not be done if your Majesty does not order otherwise.

148th. It is very necessary to observe clause 148 in this country,
since the Indians are thinly scattered, and are settled amid rivers
and marshes where they are found with much difficulty. Hence it is
very desirable that the encomenderos do as they are here commanded,
and not wait for the religious or ecclesiastics, who can not do it with
the same facility as can the encomenderos. Moreover, since the removal
of the Indians from their former homes is a thing very odious to them,
and they change their homes very unwillingly and with much hardship,
it would be better that they be vexed with the encomendero than with
the minister--who has to teach them, and through whom they have to
learn love, and who in all things strives for their good. The same
is true of building the churches and monasteries.

_Relati