lives of the many thousands of men
who are known to have come to these islands--not to mention all those
valiant soldiers who serve his Majesty throughout his realm. At the
conclusion of so many toils and misfortunes--after we had made this
discovery, and had pacified and brought under the royal crown the
many vassals who today are to be found throughout these islands,
and had brought to the bosom of our faith the great number of souls
who have already received baptism--his Majesty and the governors
in his name have rewarded us by allotting to us a certain number of
natives. But these grants are under such limitations and the tributes
are so moderate that the most prosperous among us (and there are but
few) are living in straitened circumstances, and the others do not
receive the half of what is necessary for their sustenance; many of
these have no recompense. Although our possessions are so scanty, we
have been content therewith, inasmuch as we consider them as being a
reward which we have won with our blood and so great labors; for we
are thereby encouraged to serve our Lord and his Majesty--enjoying,
as we do, these tributes and encomiendas in tranquil and peaceable
possession of them, after they have been assigned to us. The king,
our lord, also is profited by those who hold positions in the service
of his royal crown; for they, with the tributes, assist in the great
expenses which his royal patrimony incurs for the churches, religious
orders, and ministers of the evangelical teaching, and for the
supplies necessary for their maintenance. In this state of affairs it
seems that on the part of the bishop of these islands and some of the
religious thereof--not only generally, in sermons and in the pulpit,
but privately, in the confessional--obstacles and difficulties are
imposed upon our consciences by maintaining that we cannot exact the
[_illegible in MS._] his Majesty those which he exacts, and that we
are going straight to hell [_illegible in MS._] and that we are under
obligation to make restitution for them. For this reason they refuse
us the sacraments of absolution and communion; and, finally, they
so obstruct us in the collection of this slender means of livelihood
that we, and in fact the whole colony, are continually disconsolate
and afflicted, and our consciences disturbed and ill at ease. We know
not what plan we are to pursue in making these collections; for if we
submit to the constraint which the afores