Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir

customs.”
Luckily, the Spaniards had already had experience
with taming wild Indians in Mexico and in parts of
South America, such as Peru. A very smart Peruvian
Indian named Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
learned how to read and write, and in 1615 he began
to write a long letter to the king of Spain.
In fact, it was so long that it took Guaman Poma
thirty years to write! Poma used Spanish (although
he made many mistakes) and, when he didn’t know
the Spanish word for something, used Indian
dialects written with Spanish letters. He told the
king about Peruvian and Andean history, culture,
and experiences with Spaniards.
In his letter, Poma provided a little catalog of
Spanish punishments for Indians that included
flogging (first being tied to a llama or post), hanging
upside down, and being put in the stocks. The
Peruvian wanted the king to take action against what
he felt were unreasonably harsh punishments
experienced by Indians who worked in gold and
silver mines.
Although Guaman Poma spent most of his life
researching and constructing this letter, it was lost