or towns were called upon to furnish men to encomenderos and officials, or for pretended royal service, to transport provision and material to the settlements, or for armies, The burdens and pressure to which such impressed natives were submitted were quite appalling, hundreds perishing on the road, there to be left as carrion.[1] To stop the impressment was impossible, as available beasts of burden were too few, and as there was no other way to utilize certain natives who were accustomed to carrying. Nevertheless restrictions were introduced, with limits on the burden, the distance, and the proportion of the imhabitants to be thus employed. Married men were allowed to employ four carriers, bachelors, two, who must volunteer for the work and receive in payment one hundred cacao beans daily.[2] All natives, indeed, must be paid for work, the rate and number of hours being determined by the audiencia.[3]
In these and other tasks of reform this body was aided by native alguaciles, instructed by Spanish officers and intrusted with the staff of office, as a step to teaching them the administration of municipal affairs.[4] A further step was the establishment of the town named Santa Fé, near Mexico, for converted natives, especially those who had left the monasteries, and here under the care of friars in their convent hospital they were to be confirmed in the knowledge
- ↑ The Huexotzincas, who bordered on the mountain passes leading to Mexico Valley, were constantly impressed for scaling the ranges with burdens, a strain under which hundreds perished, as Zumárraga writes in his oft-quoted letter.
- ↑ Fuenleal, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 212. He suggests on a later page, that enough beasts exist to dispense with much of the carrying, and urges the continued introduction of live-stock. Guzman favored the same idea for Mexico, but not for New Galicia, where few beasts could be found. Id., xiv. 86-7, 92-3. Beaumont adds his comments. Crón. Mich., iii, 447-8. Herrera, dec. v. lib. i. cap. vi., alludes to the limit of 30 leagues for certain transportations, with proper care and maintenance of the carriers.
- ↑ Puga, Cedulario, 77, 85. The audiencia speaks in 1531 of 'un demicelemin de mais par jour' to workers on a convent. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. v. 178. At a later date the pay was a silver cuartillo daily, and Mendoza recommended the increase to ten maravedís, owing to the rise in prices generally. Relacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 506-7.
- ↑ The audiencia did not find the Indians civilized enough to form town councils. Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. v. 168.
