Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/601

Rh, and not against the property. Miners could not be imprisoned for debt except in their own district, and even then they were entitled to certain hours to look after their affairs. One of the first laws issued for New Spain had temporarily reduced the duty on gold obtained by mining from one fifth to one tenth; subsequently efforts were made to collect the original rate; but owing to the continuous petitions the crown several times extended the exemption, always for a limited period, until in 1716 it was made perpetual. Evidence of the royal wish was in the laws which required the audiencias and corregidores to compel vagrants, Spaniards as well as mixed breeds, to work in mines. Criminals sentenced to hard labor could also be thus employed, their wages being turned into the royal treasury.

Soon after the working of the mines was begun steps were taken to secure the natives against the oppression of the Spaniards, but this tended, among other results, to keep the Indians from disclosing the existence of veins. It was ordered that the rewards assigned in such cases should be religiously paid, with exemption from tribute of discoverers and their descendants. Their territorial rights should also be duly respected, so as to leave them the ownership of mines situated within the limits of their property. Under certain conditions Indians could be employed to work in the mines, but strict regulations existed to ensure them a fair compensation, and the abuses from which they suffered in the sixteenth century gradually