Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/677

Rh orders were issued on the 25th of October, 1522, requiring payment of tribute to be made to the royal treasury officer. This tax was discharged either by the payment of a sum of money and contributions in kind, or by labor which was employed on public works and buildings, and in the cultivation of plantations. The amount paid was regulated by the quality of the soil cultivated by the Indians, and consequently varied in different districts, the land being appraised by the corregidores or sworn commissioners. Those towns which did not pertain directly to the crown paid the tribute to the respective encomenderos, who in turn paid to the officers of the crown the royal fifth.

At first the impost levied upon the Indians was probably the same as that paid to Montezuma, namely, one third of all produce, or an equivalent wholly or in part in the precious metals; but it soon became evident that so oppressive a tribute could not be borne, and reductions and exemptions were repeatedly made during the period from 1550 to the close of the eighteenth century, when the tax which generally prevailed was about two pesos and a quarter per annum.

Meanwhile the importance of this source of revenue was such, and the increase of business in the treasury department became so great, that in 1597 a general