indifferent to the future that he signs
any burdensome obligation provided he gets some money, and he only
takes account of what they give him without thinking of what they are
going to get from him. For example, the alcalde gives him 60 duros
as an advance for forty measures of sugar at the harvest time. The
harvest is bad and he can only give 20. In such case the reckoning is
after the following fashion: 'The sugar has been sold for 4 duros, and
hence 20 measures will amount to 80 duros. You cannot pay them to me,
consequently they can just as well remain as an advance for the coming
year at one and one-half.' In consequence of that the farmer signs a
paper by which he enters under obligation to deliver 53 measures at the
next harvest. Harvest time comes, and if it is bad, he only presents,
say, 13. Therefore, 40 measures at 4 duros amount to 160 duros of debt,
and at one and one-half make 108 measures for the following year. In
this way the man keeps on adding more and more until all his goods
are at the disposal of the alcalde. Besides, there are innumerable
other vexations to which he must subject himself. For instance: he has
to deliver to the alcalde 100 cabans of rice; when he presents them
the alcalde measures them out with a larger measure than that used
in the market. Hence, in reality, the alcalde exacts from him more
than he is bound to pay. The same thing happens with indigo. For, a
discussion arises as to whether the indigo is, or is not, very damp,
and some libras must be taken off for waste; or, whether it is of
poorer quality than the Indian promised, and so on." "But surely it
must needs be that it is fitting to take money advanced, since there
is one who seeks it, and it is worth more for a farmer to cultivate
his land in this way than that he leave it without cultivation for
lack of the necessary capital. In regard to the tyrannies which the
alcalde tries to commit, it seems to me that they might be avoided by
the countryman borrowing the money from a private person who is not
in position to annoy him." "That is all very well thought out, but
I will tell you what happens. The Indian borrows money very easily,
but it is very difficult to get him to pay it, and he generally avoids
doing so, if possible. If a private person lends him money and does
not collect it when due, he has to go to the alcalde in order that
the latter may force payment. The latter either does so coldly, or
pays no attention to th