s synopsized will appear
in brackets.]

Letter from Salazar to the Governor

[Replying (February 8) to the governor's letter, the bishop makes
various suggestions. He considers that the responsibility for deciding
questions connected with the tribute rests upon himself and the
governor, and that it is unnecessary and undesirable to refer them
to the king in ordinary cases.] This has been done for the welfare
of these natives, or, to speak more exactly, in order that our holy
faith may be received in these realms. On account of the many and
glaring instances of lawlessness and disorder, this result is not
yet accomplished in the greater part of these islands; and even
those who have accepted the faith have received from it very little
benefit. [Salazar urges the governor to meet this responsibility,
and with him to determine the amount and methods of collection of
the tributes. He remonstrates with the latter against his intention
of collecting the whole or most of the tributes from the pagan
Indians. Salazar says:] You state that the encomenderos will not
desire the encomiendas, since they will obtain from them so little
advantage, but will abandon their holdings; that the Indians will
become unmanageable, and it will be necessary to pacify them anew,
in order to have them instructed; and (which would be still worse)
when the encomenderos can not be supported it will be necessary to
abandon the country, and the faith will be ruined. This is certainly
a very great difficulty, and would be the greatest which could befall
us. But God, who has established here the faith, will not permit it
to be so easily destroyed. Accordingly I maintain, first, that what is
assigned to the encomenderos is not too small to support adequately any
one of them whatsoever--not with the opulence and abundance that they
desire, but as the extreme poverty and wretchedness of the Indians
allows, and as the little that they have accomplished and are doing
requires. For, if the encomienda be of good size, the encomendero
can support himself very comfortably with the third part of the
tribute, if it is expended in the same encomienda, where goods are
held at lower prices; and if the encomienda be small, he may, by way
of equity--although by the letter of the law he should take no more
than does he who owns a large one--be allowed to collect the half of
the tribute, since it would seem that he could not support himself
with less. If they must h