o pay the tribute. This is
not true of whole villages, but of certain individuals, who, as they
seldom obey their chiefs, do whatever wine incites them to. All this
is no reason to detract from the prosperity and riches of the natives;
for if some Indians go without robes and loin-cloths, they must be
slaves and laborers--not because they lack cloth, since it costs them
so little to make a robe that there is no one who cares to work who
has not one; and not only robes, but many other valuables. For all
these causes and reasons, then, although the "Opinion" of the father
provincial and the other religious has been given with good and holy
zeal, it is, nevertheless, exceedingly harmful to the augmentation
and settlement of this land, and the perpetuation of the Spanish
rule therein. To the natives themselves it is pernicious; because,
if they do not pay tribute to the Spaniards, the latter have to
take from them their provisions and such things as they possess, in
order to support themselves--as was done before the land was divided
into repartimientos, and before the natives paid tribute. It is,
therefore, most useful and profitable for the natives to pay tribute,
by which the said Spaniards can be supported comfortably, and without
vexation to them; and if the tribute is too small and the Spaniards
can not be supported on it, it will come to the point of taking away
their property on the sea, as was done before the land was divided
into repartimientos, but does not happen now. On the contrary the
natives are all very secure and quiet, and come and go to trade,
and are altogether much profited and enriched by the repartimiento.

_Guido de Lavezaris_.
_Juan Maldonado_.
_Martin de Goiti_.
_Andres Cabchela_.
_Luis de la Haya_.
_Salvador de Aldave_.
_Joan de la Ysla_.
_Amador de Arriaran_.
The licentiate _Chacon_.
_Gabriel de Rribera_.

In my presence,

_Fernando Riquel_

Two Letters from Guido de Lavezaris to Felipe II

Sacred Catholic Royal Majesty:

In the past year of seventy-three, I sent to your Majesty, by two
ships despatched to the kingdoms of Nueva Espana, a written account of
what had occurred in these regions until that time. A few days after
the departure of these two ships, I despatched another one, which had
taken more time in its preparations. The last-named vessel followed a
different course from the others, and put into a harbor again, after
having sailed all around this island of L