bastian, in consequence of which
the king was always inclined to treat for peace.

By the entrance of our forces upon the hill, that place lost its
worship and esteem; for the soldiers turned it all upside down, and
dug it up in the hope of finding some treasure, and found no trace of
a human body. The Indians were terrified at their boldness, and asked
whether those who dared to do so much would not die. Thereupon, those
people were left with only the staff [of that teacher], which the Kasis
[caciques] keep; for that is the staff of all virtues, and in going
out with it (which is at the time of any necessity), all make it great
reverence, and attend to all that is asked of them. For if they do not
do so, he excommunicates them, with two blows with it which he gives
on the house or the boat, and there can be neither health in the one
or good luck in the other. All these are the artifices of cupidity,
which holds them fast in a deceitful fear by vain terrors.

The other relic is the cap, [58] which is the hereditary possession
of the kings, and to swear by it is to use the sanction of a great
sacrament.

Notwithstanding so many lies that are made up to sustain this deceit,
there are but few who esteem it; and in general they are all atheists,
and those who have any religion are sorcerers. For as Moros, beyond not
eating pork, and practicing circumcision, and [having] a multiplicity
of women, they know not anything. They drink wine more than we do, and
all their happiness consists in drunken revels--[to them] a positive
act of greatness; and thus all their knightly deeds consist in emptying
more or fewer jars [of wine], and there is a wedding in which they
empty two hundred. All their festivals consist in this. They live in
all respects like men without any law who do not know God, and without
any mode of worship, and unmindful that there is such in the world. All
regard the law as little more or less, and, according to the land they
inhabit, follow its customs and laws. Accordingly they are neither
Moors, heathen, nor Christians, but barbarous atheists. Corralat,
who has civilized his country somewhat, has his mosque, and makes
his people attend it. But when they leave their village, each one
does as he pleases--except some of the chiefs, who, following the
example of the king, have made it a point of honor to appear to be
Moors. But the common people, assuredly, lay no stress on that point.

What they believe in tho