nor the threats of men are effectual to produce
any moderation, nor do the manifold outrages cease to be felt.

The spiritual state, which is my concern, is in the sorriest condition,
because there is no more respect for the things of God than if we
were not Christians. I refer to the Indians and their instruction; and
because entering on this subject is like embarking on a bottomless sea,
I have determined to send to your Majesty a relation of the islands and
towns of this bishopric which are without instruction, in order that
your Majesty's conscience may be relieved by commanding that the remedy
be applied. Therefore I shall now proceed with the said relation.

The cause of ruin in these islands--which is very menacing, although
it is not declared in Espana--is that both the villages of your
Majesty and those of encomenderos are places where the curacy is so
ill-supplied with chalices and ornaments that it is a shame to see
them. Many of the churches are so indecent that when I visited them,
from pure shame I was obliged to command that they be torn down; they
were not fit to be entered by horses. There are two principal causes
for this: the first is that the encomenderos are penurious and allow
little for the proper ornamentation of the church; and the second,
that some or the majority of the encomiendas are so small that they do
not suffice to support their encomenderos, who thus cannot attend to
matters of divine worship. Consequently, the natives come to regard
the things of God as of little worth, and have little esteem for our
faith and the Christian religion, seeing that we who profess to be
Christians pay so little attention to them. Moreover, the natives of
these islands are so harassed and afflicted with public and private
undertakings, that they are not able to take breath; nor do they have
time to observe the instruction, and hold it of so little account that
when they lack for anything, it must be in the instruction and not in
temporal affairs. I cannot picture to your Majesty, nor declare what
I feel in my heart about this matter. Moreover, I am very sure that
all the chastisements given us by God, the hardships, misfortunes, and
calamities sent us, all are because of evil treatment of the Indians
and the little heed taken for the principal reason for our coming--that
is, their conversion and protection. The remedy therefor is not that
your Majesty send decrees and orders charging good treatment of the