Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/173

Rh. The first revenue obtained from New Spain had been the fifth of presents, of extorted treasures, and of slaves. Even before the death of Montezuma, Cortés had compelled the captive emperor to surrender his tribute-rolls for the guidance of Spanish collectors, who after the fall of Mexico went forth again to complete their task. The rolls contained the names of three hundred and seventy tributable towns, with the amount and kind of taxes to be paid, usually one third of everything made and produced, and in due proportion where service was exacted. The collection too! place at different intervals for different towns, though generally once every eighty days.

The Spanish collectors took advantage of this to guide them in their search for treasures, fabrics, and other valuable effects, one following another in quick succession to extort all that could be obtained, by menace, assumed patronage, and barefaced robbery. Then the encomenderos stepped in and took what they could from what was left, watching in their respective tracts over the steady production of raw and manufactured material, which must thenceforth be the main reliance. During the first years the caciques aided both encomenderos and collectors, in receiving the tribute in service and produce; but the pressure to which they were subjected tended to impoverish them, partly because their vassals grew less submissive, and so they gradually yielded the position to unscrupulous strangers. So great was the extortion practised that Motolinia calls it the fifth plague. As usual cédulas