f an incentive to the stirring up of mischief where frequently
none was intended. Such official bribes as these, however, were wont to
be more than counteracted by the private inducements held out by many of
the foreign adventurers and traders themselves, and after a while a
great number of the officials found it very much to their profit not
only to wink at the wholesale commerce and smuggling that was being
carried on, but even actively to promote it and to participate in its
benefits.

This method of keeping Spanish America as the close property of the
Crown was one which grew more and more difficult to preserve as time
went on. In the first place the authorities had merely to cope with the
foreign seamen and the fleets of adventurous traders who were
determined, at all costs, to win their share of financial profit from
these golden shores. After a while, with the growing population of the
Continent, a new situation asserted itself, and the influence of the
colonists themselves had to be considered.

[Illustration: SECTIONS OF A SLAVE SHIP.

Typical of the small vessels employed in taking African slaves to South
America. The hundreds of negroes were packed between decks in the
incredible fashion shown in the sectional views.]

In order that the full financial profit, as it was then understood, of
the colonies should continue to be passed on to Spain, it was essential
that the colonists should continue a negligible factor. The permanence
of this state of affairs could only be affected in one way: it was
necessary that no equipment such as would provide independence of
thought or action should be allowed to be at their service. Books, of
course, were considered as one of the most mischievous potential engines
of the kind. The Spaniards determined that none of the learning of their
country should pass into the colonies. A certain number of volumes were
permitted to cross the sea, it is true, but these were of the species
that might be readily understood by a child of a few summers, and were
ridiculously inadequate to the most ordinary intellect of adults in
civilized regions. These themselves were subjected first of all to a
close inspection on the part of the Inquisition in Spain. After this
they had to pass the Board of Censors appointed by the Council of the
Indies. Even here the precautions did not end, for on their arrival in
the colony they were once again inspected as a safeguard, lest any
secular matter or w