ABSTRACT
IN some respects, as already indicated, the Indians were treated worse than slaves, since they had no master who was economically interested in their preservation. But the grievances which they suffered were not due to any action decreed by the king, but rather to the malevolence of officials in America, who did not comply with the king’s orders. They were the result of the tyranny of the corregidors, and of the extortions and other abuses practised by the curas, or parish priests. The corregidor’s purchases for sale in his district were not always such as the Indians would have selected independently. Silk stockings and razors were among the articles they were obliged to take at extravagant prices; but silk stockings for men who wore no shoes and razors for men who had no beards were not articles of prime necessity. 1
