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Of <strong>the</strong> Province <strong>of</strong> St. _MARTHA.<br />
The Province <strong>of</strong> St. Martha was rich in <strong>the</strong> Neighbouring Golden Mines, and a fruitful<br />
Soil, nay <strong>the</strong> People were very expert and industrious in those Mine-works: Upon this<br />
<strong>Account</strong>, or Temptation it was, that from <strong>the</strong> Year 1540, to 1542, abundance <strong>of</strong><br />
Tyrants sailed thi<strong>the</strong>r, laying waste <strong>the</strong> whole Country by <strong>the</strong>ir Depredations,<br />
slaughtering <strong>the</strong> Inhabitants at a prodigious and bloody rate; and robbing <strong>the</strong>m <strong>of</strong> all<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir Gold, who dayly fled to <strong>the</strong>ir Ships for Refuge, moving sometime to one place,<br />
and sometime to ano<strong>the</strong>r. And thus those Provinces were laid waste, <strong>the</strong> greatest<br />
Outrages being committed on <strong>the</strong> Sea-shore, which lasted till <strong>the</strong> Year 1523, whi<strong>the</strong>r<br />
<strong>the</strong> Spaniards <strong>the</strong>n came to seat <strong>the</strong>mselves, and fis <strong>the</strong>ir intended Habitation. And<br />
becuase it is a plentiful Region and Opulent withal; it was subjected to several Rulers,<br />
who like Infernal Fiends contended who should obtain <strong>the</strong> Palm, by out-staining <strong>the</strong><br />
Sword <strong>of</strong> his Predecessor in Innocent Blood; insomuch, that from <strong>the</strong> Year 1529 to this<br />
very day, <strong>the</strong>y have wasted and spoiled as much good ground as extended Five<br />
Hundred Miles, and unpeopled <strong>the</strong> Countrey.<br />
If I design'd to enumerate all <strong>the</strong> Impieties, Butcheries, Desolations, Iniquities,<br />
Violences, <strong>Destruction</strong>s and o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> Piacula and black Enormities committed and<br />
perpetrated by <strong>the</strong> Spaniards in this Province, against God, <strong>the</strong> King, and <strong>the</strong>se<br />
harmless Nations; I might compile a Voluminous History, and that shall be<br />
compleated, if God permit my Glass to run longer, in his good time. It may suffice for<br />
<strong>the</strong> present to relate some passages written in a Letter to our King and Lord by a<br />
Revernd Bishop <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se Provinces, Dated <strong>the</strong> 20th <strong>of</strong> May, An. Dom. 1541. wherein<br />
among o<strong>the</strong>r matters he thus words it.<br />
I must acquaint your Sacred Majesty, that <strong>the</strong> only way to succour and support this<br />
tottering Region is to free it from <strong>the</strong> Power <strong>of</strong> a Fa<strong>the</strong>r in Law, and marry it to a<br />
Husband who will treat her as she ought to be, and lovingly entertain her, and that<br />
must be done with all possible Expedition too, if not, I am certain that she will<br />
suddenly decay and come to nothing by <strong>the</strong> covetous and sordid Deportment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Governours, &c. And a little after he writes thus, By this Means your Majesty will<br />
plainly know and understand how to depose <strong>the</strong> Prefects or Governours <strong>of</strong> those<br />
Regions from <strong>the</strong>ir Office if <strong>the</strong>y deserve it, that so <strong>the</strong>y may be alleviated and eas'd <strong>of</strong><br />
such Bur<strong>the</strong>ns; which if not perform'd, in my Opinion, <strong>the</strong> Body Politick will never<br />
recover its Health. And this I will make appear to your Majesty that <strong>the</strong>y are not<br />
Christians, but Devils; not Servants <strong>of</strong> God and <strong>the</strong> King, but Traitors to <strong>the</strong> King and<br />
Laws, who are Conversant in those Regions. And in reality nothing can be more<br />
obstructive to those that live peacably, <strong>the</strong>n Inhumane and Barbarous Usage, which<br />
<strong>the</strong>y, who lead a quiet and peacable Life, too frequently undergo, and this is so<br />
fastidious and nauseous to <strong>the</strong>m, that <strong>the</strong>re can be nothing in <strong>the</strong> World so odious<br />
and detestable among <strong>the</strong>m, as <strong>the</strong> Name <strong>of</strong> a Christian: for <strong>the</strong>y term <strong>the</strong> Christians<br />
in <strong>the</strong>ir Language Yares, that is, Devils; and in truth are not without reason; for <strong>the</strong><br />
Actions <strong>of</strong> those that reside in <strong>the</strong>se Regions, are not such as speak <strong>the</strong>m to be