Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/214

 Pampanga, whence all this country used to be supplied with rice, wine, and fowls, a great number of Indians went to the mines of Ylocos, where they remained during the time when they ought to have sowed their grain. Many of them died there, and those who returned were so fatigued that they needed rest more than work. As a result, in that year followed a very great scarcity of rice, and for lack of it a great number of Indians in the said Pampanga died from hunger. In Luvao alone, the encomienda of Guido de la Vaçares, the dead exceeded a thousand.

Second: in regard to the many occupations in which the Spaniards employ the Indians, such as setting them to row in the galleys and fragatas despatched by the governor and officials on various commissions, which are never lacking. At times they go so far away that they are absent four or six months; and many of those who go die there. Others run away and hide in the mountains, to escape from the toils imposed upon them. Others the Spaniards employ in cutting wood in the forests and conveying it to this city, and other Indians in other labors, so that they do not permit them to rest or to attend to their fields. Consequently, they sow little and reap less, and have no opportunity to attend religious instruction. It sometimes happens that while these miserable creatures are being instructed for baptism the Spaniards force them to go to the tasks that I have mentioned; and when they return they have forgotten what they knew; for this reason there are today many Indians to be baptized. In some cases when I have gone to a village to administer confirmation, I have returned without confirming any one, be