elty,
killing, and cutting off the hands and noses of many men and women,
and destroying many people.
18. Another time the captain sent the afore-named cruel man, with
certain Spaniards to the province of Bogota, to make inquiry as to
who had succeeded to that dominion since they had tortured the
universal lord to death: he marched through many leagues of country,
capturing as many Indians as he could.
19. And because the people did not show him the lord who had succeeded,
he cut off the hands of some and gave others to ferocious dogs,
which tore them to pieces both men, and women; and in this way he
killed, and destroyed many Indian men and women.
20. One day, near sunrise, he went to attack some lords, or captains and
many Indians who felt tranquil and secure, because he had assured
them and given them his word that they should receive no hurt or
harm; confiding in this assurance they had come down from the
mountains, where they were hidden, to dwell in this town on the
plain; thus he captured a great many of these unsuspecting and
confiding people, women and men, and making them put their hands
flat on the ground he himself cut them off with a scimitar, saying
that he punished them because they would not tell where the new
lord, who had succeeded to that kingdom, was hidden.
21. Another time, because the Indians did not give a coffer full of gold
that this cruel captain demanded, he sent people to make war on
them, in which they killed numberless persons, and cut off the hands
and noses of so many women and men that they could not be counted:
they gave others to fierce dogs that tore them to pieces and ate
them.
22. Another time, the Indians of a province of that kingdom, seeing that
the Spaniards had burnt three or four principal lords, retreated in
fear to a strong rock to defend themselves from enemies so devoid of
humanity; and according to the witnesses, there may have been four
or five thousand Indians on the rock.
23. The above-named captain sent a great and notorious tryant, who
surpassed many of those who have charge of destroying those
countries, with a certain number of Spaniards, to punish those
Indians who had fled from such a great pestilence and butchery: and
he declared they were in revolt, seeking to make