A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies

Of the Province of NICARAQUA.
The said Tyrant An. Dom. 1522. proceeded farther very unfortunately to the
Subjugation of Conquest of this Province. In truth no Person can satisfactorily or
sufficiently express the Fertility, Temperateness of the Climate, or the Multitude of the
Inhabitants of Nicaraqua, which was almost infinite and admirable; for this Region
contain'd some Cities that were Four Miles long; and the abundance of Fruits of the
Earth (which was the cause of such a Concourse of People) was highly commendable.
The People of this place, because the Country was Level and Plain, destitute of
Mountains, so very delightful and pleasant, that they could not leave it without great
grief, and much dissatisfaction, they were therefore tormented with the greater
Vexations and Persecutions, and forced to bear the Spanish Tyranny and Servitude,
which as much Patience as they were Masters of: Add farther that they were peaceable
and meek spirited. This Tyrant with these Complices of his Cruelty did afflict this
Nation (whose advice he made use of in destroying the other Kingdoms) with such and
so many great Dammages, Slaughters, Injustice, Slaver, and Barbarisme, that a
Tongue, though of Iron, could not express them all fully. He sent into the Province
(which is larger than the County of Ruscinia) Fifty Horse-Men, who put all the People
to the Edge of the Sword, sparing neither Age nor Sex upon the most trivial and
inconsiderable occasion: As for Example, if they did not come to them with all possible
speed, when called; and bring the imposed burthen of Mahid (which signifies Corn in
their Dialect) or if they did not bring the Number of Indians required to his own, and
the Service or rather Servitude of his Associates. And the Country being all Campaign
or Level, no Person was able to withstand the Hellish Fury of their Horses.
He commanded the Spaniards to make Excursions, that is, to rob other Provinces,
permitting and granting these Theiving Rogues leave to take away by force as many of
these peacable People as they could, who being iron'd (that they might not sink under
the Burthen of Sixty or Eighty Pound weight) it frequently hapned, that of Four
Thousand Indians, Six only returned home, and so they dyed by the way; but if any of
them chanced to faint, being tired with over-weighty Burthens, or through great
Hunger and Thirst should be siezed with a Distemper; or too much Debility and
Weakness, that they might not spend time in taking off their Fetters, they beheaded
them, so the Head fell one way, and the Body another: The Indians when they spied
the Spaniards making preparations for such Journeys, knowing very well, that few, or
none returned home alive, just upon their setting out with Sighs and Tears, burst out
into these or the like Expressions.
Those were Journeys, which we travelled frequently in the service of
Christians, and in some tract of time we return'd to our Habitations,
Wives and Children: But now there being no hope of a return, we are for
ever depriv'd of their Sight and Conversation.