it.

49. I have been told that, although a few of the encomenderos of
the said islands, who fear God and their consciences, are trying to
establish ministers of religious instruction in their encomiendas,
others are not doing this, and refuse to do it as they are obliged,
and as is advisable, notwithstanding that there are plenty of the
said ministers; that there are encomiendas which have been paying
tribute peacefully for fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years, without
the Indians of them ever having seen a minister or heard a word
of Christian instruction; and that also many other encomiendas pay
tribute by pure force of soldiers and arquebuses, who rebel and revolt
because of the oppression and severity with which they are treated,
without knowing the reason why they should pay it, since they have no
instruction. Since, besides the obligation to procure the welfare of
those souls, their conversion, instruction, and teaching, which should
be the chief constraining force; and since even for temporal affairs,
for the peace and tranquillity of the country, so that those pacified
should not revolt, and so that those in revolt should be subdued, the
best method is that of instruction--for which the common treatment,
mildness, upright life, and counsels of the religious and ministers
of the gospel incline and regulate their minds: therefore I charge you
that, after consulting with the bishop you shall, in my name, provide
what is advisable in this, so that the necessary instruction may be
furnished, that my conscience, and his, and your own may be relieved.

50. I have also been informed that, in collecting the tributes from the
Indians, there has been in the past, and is at present, great disorder,
because the former governors of the said islands have done things very
confusedly and haphazardly. Because the tribute of each Indian is
of the value of eight reals, paid in what the Indian might possess,
some persons take advantage of certain words of the said assessments,
and of the articles in which tributes are designated--such as cotton
cloth, rice, and other products of the country--to cause the said
lawlessness. This disorder has consisted in each one collecting
whatever he wished, to the great offense and injury of the said
Indians; for when gold is abundant, their encomenderos demand coin
from the Indians; and when coin is abundant and gold scarce, they
demand gold, although the said Indians have to search for and bu