This has reached so shameless
and bold a pass that no one--not only natives but Spaniards--dares to
go among the said islands. Those enemies have rendered the said natives
very liable to revolt, by coming daily to plunder them, and to carry
off their possessions, and their wives and children captive; and in
fact they have revolted several times, and taken to the mountains,
saying that since the Spaniards do not provide for their defense,
they will not pay tribute. Some, who are more loyal, say that,
if they are allowed to carry arms as before, they will defend their
country. After examining the cause of these troubles with great care,
the following considerations have presented themselves.
First, that, according to the command of one of your Highness's royal
decrees, such men [_i.e.,_ the Moros] cannot be slaves. As they are
a race from whom the soldiers can get no other booty, because the
Moros do not possess it, they fight unwillingly. If the soldiers
could make captives of them, they would become very eager, and that
would be a great incentive for the soldiers to destroy them. There is
less incentive for them to capture those people than to kill them,
as they do now. Again it would be very useful to the said islands,
for the natives would also be encouraged to go to war because of their
eagerness to possess slaves to cultivate their fields. Therefore, will
your Highness be pleased to order that those people be made slaves,
since their enslavement is so justifiable and of so great service
to God; or that this matter be committed to the royal Audiencia and
archbishop and bishops to determine, inasmuch as they have the matter
in hand.
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