which casts blame on the community in general, because
the instructions that the governors have given and
do give, whenever any expedition is made, are Christian
in tone, and quite in conformity with those which they
have from his Majesty. If sometimes the commanders
have inflicted injury or waged any war, it is because
the malice of the natives is so great, that wherever
they sally out in war, with their ambuscades and other
treacheries they provoke the Spaniards to self-defense.
If the latter go with the mailed hand, it is for the
security of their own persons; for, if they were unarmed
and unprepared, the natives would kill them—as
they have done to many Spaniards whom they have caught
astray and alone, killing them and practicing great
cruelties upon them. Therefore it is necessary
to go everywhere with weapons in hand, for the security
of the Spaniards; for there is so little justice and
reason among these natives, and they never obey one
another, or have lords or headmen among them, but
all sorts of disorders, clans, and factions.
Before the Spaniards came hither, the natives killed
one another in their own villages for very slight causes.
Wherefore it is clear that wherever the Spaniards
go, they must go ready and prepared to defend themselves,
as they are but few among many infidels, and loyal
among traitors. Therefore it is a perfectly good
argument to say that wherever they go they go with
weapons in hand. As to the matter of maintaining
the natives in peace and justice, it is a just one.
Therefore we try in every way to protect those who
are friendly to us. Those who are in the neighborhood
of the Spaniards are very well protected and defended—not
only from their enemies, who aforetime were wont to
make war on them, but even from their servants and
the members of their households, who among them were
wont to kill, punish, and enslave one another, a thing
not done now. And if this is done in any remote
district, it is in places in which, on account of
their remoteness, no remedy can be had from the Spaniards.
Thus it is of great use and profit that the Spaniards
have come to the natives hereabout, on account of
the security that they have from one another, and
because they have free recourse to their trade and
interests without being hindered or robbed by any
one. They were not accustomed to this security
before the Spaniards came hither, because it is a
thing publicly known and notorious that even in their
own houses they were captured and robbed. They
were not free to go fishing on the sea without being
captured. Now not only are they safe in their
houses, but they go safely to different places, without
any harm being done them. If there are piracies,
they are very far from this town and in places where
the Spaniards do not go. It is a very ancient
custom that the natives had among themselves, of capturing,
robbing, killing, and imprisoning one another.
Now there are few injuries committed, in comparison
with what used to be committed before the Spaniards